I live in a small prairie city renown for coal, oil, and farming. Estevan is in the southeast corner of the province of Saskatchewan. Only 9 miles from the Canadian/United States border.
This was our old sign as you came into the city.
Here is our new one.
We are known as the Energy city because of the oil wells and coal mines that surround us. We are also known as the Sunshine Capital of Canada as we have more hours of sunshine here than any other city in Canada. Or at least we did have more.
Loaded into these huge trucks and taken to one of our two power plants.
The oldest power plant in the city is just south west of us on Long Creek and is known as Boundary Dam.
The newer one is to the east of the city and is the Shand Power Station. It also has a green house attached to it where people can purchase trees suitable for prairie planting.
These two power plants supply power to southern Saskatchewan, some parts of Western Manitoba, and even some of North Dakota, and South Dakota. Both plants are due to be phased out in the coming years.
Many oil companies have offices here in the city, though with the price of oil right now I don't know how long they can survive. Harvey worked in the "patch" for 35 years and we have seen many ups and downs. Nothing this long or bad though.
Most of the farmers haul their grain to large terminals like this one on the west edge of the city. The smaller elevators in the various small towns around us have been torn down over the past ten or so years. Farmers no longer use small grain trucks either. Usually they are large semi trailers hauling grain. Harvey calls them v trains...whatever that means.
This photo shows our courthouse in the forefront and part of the oldest section of the city, which is where I live.
I will leave off here before I make you all fall asleep from boredom. Promise to carry on tomorrow with more of the tour.
Everybody have a wonderful evening.
God bless.
Nice collection of photos. I LOVED the cartoon on the first sign the best, but then, I really love cartoons. Sunshine is pretty darn good too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. It wasn't bring - I really enjoyed seeing where you live!
ReplyDeleteSeeing your city was wonderful, thank you. I often wonder where the towns and cities are of bloggers.
ReplyDeleteA great tour, it is always a joy to learn something new. Looking forward to the next instalment.
ReplyDeleteNo boredom!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCome on, we are all in the same boat! Wondering what to post next? But hopefully, determined to Keep Posting!!! To keep in touch. And.... In _Defiance_ of this Miserable, Rotten, Horrible, Deathly COVID-19!
We are determined to not let *IT* completely knock us down!!!
So yes, a tour of your city, is a good idea!!!! You have shown the big things. Now, how about the streets where people live? -smile- Not necessarily your street! I don't like to give out toooooo much of personal details, on the Web. But.... Streets... Maybe?
🌱🌸🌱🌷🌱🌺🌱
Estevan is a cute town, at least the last time I saw it which was about 25 years ago driving through. Yes, the oil patch is really hurting now but so is everything else. Hopefully when the world reopens things will improve for the oil patch as well.
ReplyDeleteThat was interesting to learn more about the town in which you live. I look forward to tomorrow's post.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that funny, I was thinking you were on the other side of the province in Swift Current. I'm not sure why I had that in my head.
ReplyDeleteI was in Estevan several times over the past 25 years or so, for work. I did have an aunt, now deceased, who lived there with her husband too. I should mention, my memories are mostly of the restaurants we visited, the names of which I've forgotten. Eddy Websters, maybe and the one with the great steak - Allies or Tower Cafe I think. And then there was the Chinese restaurant that served the best ginger beef I've ever tasted. I recall the city grew a lot between my first visit and my last. (Maybe I remember more than I originally thought.) I never made it out to the damn but a couple of the guys I worked with went fishing out there.