Road map Lloydminster and Vermilion surrounding area (Alberta, Canada)

Around Lloyd minster, towns dot the prairie land-i scape on a  mixed palette of boreal forests, indigo lakes, sandy beaches, and marshy  wetlands. This is the heart of Alberta's Lakeland region, an area  rooted in agriculture and services, and steeped in First Nations,  French, and Ukrainian history. Its friendly citizens make Lakeland a  warm destination year-round, but in summer people head out to fairs,  festivals, u-pick farms, or the beach. The fur-trading era is remembered  in local museums; key battles during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885  are documented in small historic sites.

Fort George/ Buckingham House Provincial Historic Site [A3]  Alberta's earliest fur-trade history took place on the banks of the  North Saskatchewan River near Elk Point, where rival traders of the  Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company set up shop in 1792.  Visitors can stroll along interpretive paths, peruse the artifacts in  the museum, or visit the archaeological sites of both forts.

Frenchman Butte, Saskatchewan [B7]

Five kilometers northeast of town is Frenchman Butte Historic  Site, which preserves gun pits from an 1885 battle between the Cree and  the North West Mounted Police. Just west of town is Fort Pitt National  Historic Park, a fur-trading post from 1829 to 1890. Interpretive panels  cover the fur trade and the effect the Northwest Rebellion had on Fort  Pitt's residents.

Lloydminster [D5-D6]

First settled by British colonists in 1903, Lloydminster's  main street forms both the 110th meridian of longitude and the Alberta/  Saskatchewan border. The Border Marker Promenade Walk interprets the  history of this unusal split. The Barr Colony Heritage Cultural Centre  combines diverse attractions, including a large indoor museum  commemorating the mass influx of English colonists who came with Rev.  Isaac Barr, the Fuchs' Wildlife display, Heavy Oil Science Centre and  the Imhoff Art collection-all under one roof. Several good bird-watching  sites surround the town in a region renowned for North America's few  remaining turkey vulture breeding sites.

Paradise Valley [E5]

The Climb Through Time Museum, built in the former Alberta  Wheat Pool elevator and grain bins, offers a unique look at growing and  harvesting wheat on the Alberta prairie. As you climb the elevator,  dioramas, models, and displays outline Native culture, farming,  homesteading, and other aspects of rural life. A railway station has  been restored and relocated nearby, and a tearoom and gift shop are also  on the premises.

Vermilion [C3] Named after the red clay found in the nearby  Vermilion River, this town has an urban lakeside provincial park at the  end of 62nd Street that sports more than a dozen kilometers of hiking  and biking trails through aspen parkland and grasslands. Firefighters  come from all over the province to train at the world-class Alberta Fire  Training School; plans are in the works for a Canadian Fire Museum and  Discovery Centre to open in 2005. The aquatic center and gardens at  Lakeland College are also open to visitors.

LOCAL LORE

The Town That Was Split in Two When the Rev. Isaac M. Barr  scouted the surveyed route of the Canadian Northern railway in the fall  of 1902 and decided that the intersection of the railway with the 110th  meridian was the site for his dream colony, little did he know that its  main street would one day be split right down the middle.

When the North West Territories were dissolved and the  provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan created by the federal government  in 1905, Ottawa decided that the 110th meridian would form the border  between the two, riving the village of Lloydminster in two.

Neighbors awoke to find one set of school regulations applied  on one side of Main Street, and another set across the way. Motorists  had two sets of driving regulations to follow, and property sales  sometimes involved title searches under two jurisdictions. There were  two separate municipal councils, two fire departments, and two of every  other governing body. For a time, Lloydminster's biggest industry was  red tape.

In 1906, the Alberta side of the community obtained village  status. A year later, its Saskatchewan twin became a town. This  town-village arrangement persisted for nearly 25 years. In May of 1930,  by mutual government consent, the two communities merged as one town.  Lloydminster achieved city status on January 1, 1958.