Kandahar, Saskatchewan

Kandahar
Candahar Post Office

The road into Kandahar in May 2003
Kandahar

Location within Saskatchewan

Coordinates: 51°45′29″N 104°21′43″W / 51.7581°N 104.3619°W / 51.7581; -104.3619Coordinates: 51°45′29″N 104°21′43″W / 51.7581°N 104.3619°W / 51.7581; -104.3619
Country Canada
Province Saskatchewan
Rural Municipality Big Quill
Provincial Constituency Constituency of Arm River-Watrous
Government
 • Member of the Legislative Assembly Greg Brkich, (SP)
Time zone Central Standard Time (UTC−6)
[1][2][3]

Kandahar is a small hamlet on Highway 16 near Wynyard, Saskatchewan, Canada, named by Canadian Pacific Railway executives in the late 19th century for a British military victory in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The hamlet is too small to be enumerated on its own, so its population belongs to the Rural Municipality of Big Quill No. 308. It is located near the south shore of Big Quill Lake, the largest inland body of salt water in Canada.

Many of the first settlers in the Kandahar district arrived were immigrants from Iceland or of Icelandic descent. A significant number arrived from the Argyle settlement in Manitoba.[4] An Icelandic immigrant, Thorvidur Halldorson (born Þorviður Magnússon), served as the district's first postmaster in 1910. From 1910 to 1913, the spelling of the post office was Candahar. Kandahar became a village in 1913, following a petition from its inhabitants. In 1925, Kandahar was listed as a Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. Station on the Minnedosa, Saskatoon, Edmonton Section, CPR. Businesses included a printing press, Prentsmiðja A. Helgasonar, run by Andres Helgason (1867-1939), who was a skilled bookbinder and printer.[5]

The one room school house was named Kandahar School District #3333.

Until the 1970s, Kandahar was a thriving town with various stores and attractions, including a popular steak house. However, in the late 1980s the village's only school closed, and the population has steadily decreased since.

Area statistics

References

  1. ↑ Government of Saskatchewan, MRD Home, Municipal Directory System, archived from the original (– Scholar search) on March 21, 2005, retrieved 2007-04-24
  2. ↑ Canadian Textiles Institute. (2005), CTI Determine your provincial constituency, retrieved 2007-04-24
  3. ↑ Commissioner of Canada Elections, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada (2005), Elections Canada On-line, retrieved 2007-04-24
  4. ↑ Lindal, W. J. (1946). The Saskatchewan Icelanders: A Strand of the Canadian Fabric. Winnipeg: Columbia Press. pp. 165–167.
  5. ↑ Oleson, G. J. (1 February 1939). "Ferð til Vatnabygða". Heimskringla. p. 2.
 Quill Lake
Dafoe Wynyard
   Kandahar / Candahar  
  • Product
  • Copeland
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