OUR HISTORY

The R.M. of Rosedale No. 283 is made up of the area surrounding the town of Hanley, the area north of the village of Hawarden, East of Glenside and bordering the villages of Kenaston and Bladworth. It is comprised of 10 townships. Settlers are first said to have come into the present Rosedale area around 1883, but it wasn't until the 1900's when the Canadian Northern Railway was extended from Regina to Saskatoon that settlement on a farming basis began to any extent. The early settlers came primarily from the mid-western United States, eastern Canada, the British Isles, Scandinavia, Russia and Germany. These people came not to build homes but to establish communities in a new, unchartered country. In order to do so, they realized the need to set up a form of municipal government. The new settlement needed roads, bridges, schools, telephones, medical assistance and advice for farmers, and, for those reasons, they elected men to a Local Improvement District (LID) Council.

The earliest records of the area now known as the R.M. of Rosedale No. 283 begin on June 2, 1906, when it was recorded that the councillors of the LID 15-B-3 assembled in the Hanley Schoolhouse at 2:00 p.m. Thomas Lawrence was elected chairman and first councillors to work with him were Thos. V. Hodgson, Jno. O. Aasen, Gust Errengren, Thos. McPherson, and Duncan McPhee. Taxation was set at 2 1/2 cents per acre "for every owner or occupant in the district for all land owned or occupied by him." That same year, another Local Improvement District, LID 15-C-3, held its first meeting on July 26th at William Link's house. William Link was the first chairman and the councillors listed were John Carlson, Sam Burgess, W.D. Maunsell and Alex McPherson. A committee of these two LID applied to the department of Municipal Affairs in August 1909 for the organization of a Rural Municipality. The men who formed this committee were T.H. Martin, D.M. Dilley, J.R. Hamilton, J.R. Walker and Macbeth Malcom. The committee chose 'Rosedale' as a name for the proposed area and following an election on September 11th, which showed a majority in favour of the organization of a municipality, the municipal commissioner in Regina ordered the formation of the R.M. of Rosedale No. 283 comprising Township 28, Range 3, Townships 29, 30, 31 Ranges 3, 4, and 5 , West of the 3rd  Meridian, such order to take effect on December 13th, 1909. 

The first Reeve of the R.M. of Rosedale No. 283 was Macbeth Malcom and the councillors were P.W. Larson for Division 1, W.C. Guy for Division 2, John Carlson for Division 3, J.R. Walker for Division 4, A.L. Wunsch for Division 5, and T.H. Martin for Division 6. The council held their first meeting on January 17th, 1910, in the Hanley Town Hall and, although Ben Rolleston acted as secretary for that meeting, Mr. Abraham Holm became the first secretary-treasurer of the rural municipality. Taxation was set at 5 cents per acre. 

The chief business during the early years was the construction of roads and bridges, the approval of telephone lines, and the approval of the boundaries of school districts in the new area. The first telephone lines appear to be those of the Beaver Creek Rural Telephone Company approved in 1912.  Nine schools were in operation when the municipality was formed, but the first district to be approved after the formation of the municipality was Pleasant View. By 1945, these have disappeared to make way for larger school units. Beaver Creek originates in the southeast corner of the municipality and branches out into almost every part of the area, thus making bridging a major problem in road construction. As far back as 1907, we find resolutions brought before council for the building of bridges "so that settlers may market their produce". There were 59 bridges in Rosedale in 1955, but many of these have disappeared to make way for large diameter culverts. 

The earliest roads were prairie trails described by pioneers as "rutted so deep that you could scarcely cross over them" and it became the task of the councillors to make passable roads out of them. Horse drawn slush scrapers filled in sloughs and blade graders were used to cut down hummocks and fill badger holes to make roads suitable for the buggies and wagons of that era. Later, fresno scrapers made longer and wider grades across the sloughs and, by plowing along the edge of the road allowance and pulling in the dirt with road graders, it was possible to build roads suitable for the early cars. The ever changing pattern of transporation has demanded a continued improvement in road construction, and the municipal records reveal the purchases over the years of equipment such as an elevating scraper, dump wagons and maintainers. Now, the municipality possesses fully modern road-building equipment, all of which makes it possible to build the class of road that can be gravelled and is well suited for winter travel. Three government highways pass through the municipality - Highway No. 11, Highway No. 19, which was extended through the municipality in 1926, and Highway No. 15 in 1932.    

The R.M. of Rosedale No. 283 was largely a mixed grain and livestock area with wheat being the predominant grain. The average farm comprised of 3 quarter sections during the province's Golden Jubilee in 1955. Today, the farms are considerably larger and the term 'sections' is used extensively in describing farm holdings. Crops have become more varied and growing them has become a specialty. Farm animals, too, are being raised for adaptability to the producer's particular aims in farming. 

It is well here to consider the topography of the municipality. Some of the land that was considered as submarginal in the southeastern portion of the municipality in 1955 is now being farmed through the use of modern farm machinery. The municipality, however, still leases 4 sections of land here from the Department of Agriculture and this land continues to be used as community pasture. The extreme northeastern portion of the municipality is rolling but good farm land. The northwest area of the municipality, known as 'The Sandhills' during 'The Hungry Thirties' and in the early 'Forties' is still being used as a community pasture. This pasture is made up of eight sections of land that was fertile farmland before the drought and winds of the thirties turned it into a desolate dust-bowl. The remaining part of the municipality is generally level and is arable farm land.

The municipal records show repeated council meetings called during the drought years to deal with grasshopper control and relief applications for seed, fodder, tractor fuel, twine, machine repairs, food, clothing, household fuel and freight assistance for families forced to move elsewhere to earn a living. The Rosedale population in 1926 was 1,789, but by 1951 it had dwindlesd to 881. The advent of larger, mechanical farms was, in part responsible for the decline, but the drought of  'The Hungry Thirties' was the largest contributing factor. Several small irrigation projects, undertaken in the municipality in the late seventies, have proven beyond all doubt the benefits that can be derived from the Saskatchewan River Dam Project. 

Seventeen reeves and fifteen secretary-treasurers, now called administrators, have guided the councillors in their work over the last 115 years. The people who serve on the municipal council as servants of the people face no easy task. As the municipality has progressed, additional reponsibilities are added, both in times of depression and inflation. In 1955, Rosedale's assessment was $2,300,000 with a mill rate of 14 mills. In 2024, Rosedale's assessment is $307,170,300 with a mill rate of 8 mills. The praire trails haven given way to a network of improved roads. Power lines criss-cross the country and people enjoy comfortable homes and well-kept farms. We possess a glorious heritage in the freedom to govern ourselves and choose our way of life, and as we look back and rejoice, let us remember the debt we owe to the people who gave their time, energy, and their thought to establish and maintain this Rural Municipality of Rosedale No. 283.

 

 

Information from Hanley Ripples and Reflections, 1982 and municipal records.