Chief Poundmaker Historical Centre
From Paynton: 12 km S, West to location
battle site between Militia and Chief Poundmaker’s Warriors
Interpretive Centre
walking paths and plaques
Forest Bank Church
The church was completed in 1910 by volunteers from the congregation on the southwest corner of the SE quarter of Section 14 49-24-W3. The first service on September 19, 1909 was a Harvest Festival service and regular services are still held today. The Anglican church and cemetery is located 8 miles north of Waseca and 2.5 miles east.
Fort Pitt Trail
The marker is located 12.5 miles north of Maidstone on the west side of Highway 21. The trail linked Fort Pitt and the Battleford settlements in the 1700′s. The junction of the Fort Pitt and Edmonton Trails was at Bresaylor. From Bresaylor the Fort Pitt Trail angled northwest towards the Gully Creek crossing (approximately on half mile east of Silver Lake Regional Park), then continued northwest exiting the municipality very near the northwest corner of the Tweedsmuir district. The Trail followed a very contoured course with no steep gradients.
The Trail was the service and construction route for building and maintenance of the Dominion Telegraph line, which was constructed on an almost parallel route. With the abandonment of the Dominion Telegraph in the twenties, the trail also became obsolete in favor of a surveyed road plan.
There are still traces of the Trail in the sand hill to the northeast of Maidstone. The Midwest Archaeology Society is endeavoring to preserve the remaining trail.
Pine Island
This small island, lying just off the mouth of the Gully Creek in the North Saskatchewan River, was the site of as many as five fur trading post between 1785 and 1793.
The best known trading post was Manchester House, the Hudson’s Bay Co.’s post. Fierce competition lead to fighting and ending the activity with the destruction of the forts in 1793. Although the site is inaccessible now, the view from the river banks above is breathtaking.
A huge stone and plaque were erected there in 1991 and tell the story.
To visit the site, travel north of Maidstone on Highway 21 to the Silver
Lake Regional Park road (8.5 miles). Follow this road east across the Big Gully, then follow the signs east and south.
Shiloh Baptist Church
Thirteen miles north of Maidstone on Highway 21 a sign directs you to Shiloh Church. Three miles east on that cross road and one and a half miles north will bring you to the little log church. It was built about 1912 by black settlers who emigrated from Oklahoma in 1910 and 1911 in search of a better life. Their strong faith prompted the building of this little place of worship. Perhaps it is fitting that it, alone, remains as evidence of a once prominent settlement.
Crosses mark the graves of family members who rest there beneath the huge spruce trees. The fragile little church nestles beside a dense caragana hedge and a cluster of poplars, home to hundreds of birds each summer.
Local people, realizing the importance of preserving this spot, have worked to maintain it. However, the ravages of time are winning the battle.
The church, inside and out, is as it always was, even the benches. A plaque tells the story.
Kenderdine Memorial
In 1971, the memorial to Augustus “Gus” Frederick LaFosse Kenderdine was erected top the Pikes Peak Hill near the site of the home of one of Saskatchewan’s most famous artists, teachers and promoters. He, a pioneer in the area, became the first Professor of Art at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1935, he founded the Summer School of Art at Emma Lake which attracted students from all over Canada.
Gus was an outstanding artist, well respected by his fellowmen, preserving on canvas the original beauty of our area. His paintings can be found prominently in galleries, legislative buildings and elsewhere across Canada.
Directions to the Memorial – travel 15 miles north of Maidstone on Highway 21, then 6 miles west to a bend leading down a high hill. A gate on the left will lead you up this hill to the memorial and a spectacular view, one Augustus (Gus) Kenderdine loved and painted.
Wesson Memorial
The memorial was dedicated in 1971 and was located at the site of homestead overlooking the Gully. It was moved to the Maidstone Museum grounds in 1998.
Born in 1887, in Sheffield, England, John “Jack” Henry Wesson came to Canada with this parents and siblings in 1907 and chose a homestead near Maidstone. He was very active in and for the farming community. He served on the board of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association. He became the first president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (1936-1940); was president of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool from 1937 to 1960; was the president of the S.W.P. Insurance Company and the Canadian Pool Agencies Limited. He was a Wheat Pool delegate from 1924 to 1960, leading the Farmers’ March on Ottawa in both 1942 to 1959.
In 1938, he represented Canadian producers at the Empire Producers’ Conference in Australia, and was a delegate to the International Federation of Agricultural Producers’ Meetings in London and Holland, taking part in discussions leading to the World Wheat Agreement. He was advisor to the Canadian delegation to the International Wheat Agreement talks in Washington and Geneva.
He received the Commander of the British Empire in 1946. He also received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan.
Jack passed away in 1965 and was buried in the Forest Bank Cemetery north west of Maidstone.
