Rockglen, Saskatchewan
Image by Tjflex2
Located in the wooded hills of the Wood Mountain Uplands, the community of Rockglen is central to an area rich in Indigenous and archeological history. It is a full-service community that offers a variety of businesses and facilities to its residents and visitors alike. The town and surrounding area provide endless choices for recreational activities including boating, hiking, touring, photography, hunting and a variety of local events.
Vestiges from before the last ice age, a land of hidden treasures, petrified wood and fossils, hammers and arrows of the Assiniboine, Plains Cree, and Blackfoot peoples. But it is the followers of Sitting Bull who left one of the strongest impressions. Following the Battle of Little Bighorn 5,000 Lakota Sioux Lakota fled to the Wood Mountain Uplands where they were under the jurisdiction of the North-West Mounted Police under the command of Major James Morrow Walsh. The hills, first surveyed by the Henry Youle Hind expedition in 1858, were used for hunting by day, and at night fires could be seen of meat being smoked. In 1879 the U.S. Cavalry set fires in Montana that spread and burned the grasslands of Rockglen, causing the ensuing famine and leading to the toponym "The Burning Hills".
It is in these Burning Hills where the Ferbane ranch was located. By 1910 the homestead became a post office, soon German and Austro-Hungarian settlers built homesteads out of tar paper shacks and sod huts. Wood building were built for businesses, such as the pool hall, which also contained the Wesley Methodist church, which became the Wesley United Church of Canada in 1925; Valley City became an unofficial community.
To the north the Kent homestead became a post office in 1915. Soon thereafter Beromé Prefontaine built a store and by 1917 Joeville, named for Joseph Prefontaine, was founded as a village. In 1926 Joeville was a prosperous community when the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed a rail line south from Assiniboia, Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Alberta Pacific both built elevators along the line. Joeville split into the French community of Liseux near the new elevators and 26 buildings were moved south to the new CPR junction near Valley City. Valley City was relocated north of the tracks and incorporated as the Village of Rockglen in 1927.
Services were soon established in the tiny village. Mr. Sproul ran a school out of the Pinking Hotel on Centre Street. It was a community effort with desks and blackboards furnished by local carpenters and fundraising organized by Mr. Sproul. To the relief of Centre Street commerce a proper school house was built in 1928. It had three rooms: Mr. Preston as principal and two classes instructed by Miss Campbell and Miss Jarvis. In 1929 the Red Cross built a hospital, and a permanent post office was built, as was a branch of the Imperial Bank of Canada, and Charlie Switallo’s hardware store, which was the longest running Rockglen business to date.
Electric lighting was provided from 1929–1950 by the Rockglen Power Company, which ran every day from dusk to midnight, when three flashes indicated shut down. It wasn’t until 1950 when the Saskatchewan Power Corporation came to Rockglen that full 24-hour 120- and 240-volt electric service came to Rockglen.
The depression caused rural decline which was furthered by mechanization of agriculture during the later stages and in the time following the Second World War. Nearby Constance and Strathcona were dissolved and the one-room rural school houses were replaced by a system of buses and Bombardier tracked vehicles for winter use. Rockglen grew to a population of 500 persons when incorporated as a town with L. J. Bolster elected the first mayor. During the 1960s a new school was constructed, as well as a new post office, school office, Imperial Bank of Canada, and hotel.
The late 1970s saw a rise of inflation, combined with exceptionally high grain prices; many farmers retired and moved into Rockglen. In 1975 construction began on the Poplar River Power Station in nearby Coronach commissioned in 1981. 1981 also saw the construction of a new Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator. This is currently the last elevator in Rockglen and is owned by Poplar Valley Producers Co-operative. The resulting population influx had led to development of homes along Second Avenue and construction of Hillcrest Drive. To date, these are the newest housing developments in Rockglen. In 1988, Rockglen resident Jack Wolfe was elected as a Progressive Conservative Member of Legislative Assembly a position in which he served until 1991.
