Lumsden

Lumsden

Lumsden, Sask, incorporated as a town in 1905, population 1631 (2011c), 1523 (2006c). The Town of Lumsden is located 26 km northeast of REGINA, nestled in the rolling terrain of the QU'APPELLE RIVER valley. The first settlers arrived in 1881 and named their community Happy Hollow. The name was changed to honour Hugh Lumsden, a senior engineer with the Qu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan Railway and Steamboat Company, after the company's line between Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert went through the community in 1890. This railway was one of a number of railway ventures constructed north of the Canadian Pacific Railway main line on the prairies in the 1880s and 1890s to serve homesteaders who had taken up land north of the main line. Several floods of the Qu'Appelle River led the town to redirect the river from the townsite and to build a dike system. An oxbow lake is a reminder of the river's old path.

While the plains above the Qu'Appelle River valley are dominated by grain farming, the valley supports the growing of fruit and vegetables in market gardens. Lumsden is also located on Highway 11, the main highway linking Saskatoon and Regina. This has helped Lumsden develop as a local service centre for highway travellers and the surrounding farm population.