Eastend, Saskatchewan - Dino Country

Where is Eastend?

A pretty town nestled in the Frenchman River Valley, now being promoted as the Valley of Hidden Secrets for the wealth of palaeontological and historical sites in the area. Eastend also contains the boyhood home of Pulitzer Prize winning author Wallace Stegner, best known to Saskatchewanians for his 1955 book, Wolf Willow.

The current townsite was also chosen by the Northwest Mounted Police who moved their post from Chimney Coulee to a site adjacent to the river. The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed to the community in 1914.

Before the white man came to the area, the Cypress Hills and the surrounding area was regarded as a particularly rich buffalo hunting area. Buffalo populations in the area remained high after they were slaughtered in the eastern prairies. Especially after the buffalo population was decimated further east, the Blackfoot and Piegan Indians to the west and the Cree and Assiniboine Indians to the east fought regularly to determine control over this essential resource.

The first known European settlement in the area was at Chimney Coulee, (about 6 kms north of the current town site). Fur traders had established a post there, and from the mid 1800s, Metis traders and hunters regularly wintered at this site which eventually became the location for a North West Mounted Police outpost (1876)

The first white man to attempt agricultural settlement in the area was Tom Doyle who established a cattle ranch in Eastend in 1883. Between then and the turn of the century, numerous ranches were established in the Eastend - Ravenscrag area.
The community of Eastend is located on the site of the original 76 Ranch, adjacent to the Frenchman River. The original ranch house is still in Eastend and remains occupied.