User:Lesko20r/sandbox

Railway Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway is a short line railway company located in southwest Saskatchewan, operating on former Canadian Pacific Railway tracks. After the 1983 removal of the Crow Rate, a railway subsidy that benefitted farmers, then forced farmers to pay to ship their grain through larger mainline terminals. Adding to this, by favoring establishing grain terminals on their mainlines, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Railway deprived their thousands of miles of track of the Canadian prairies. Railway companies were forced to abandon some lines in Saskatchewan. These two developments decreased the amount of cars moving via railway and forced the Canadian Pacific Railway to abandon the Southwest Saskatchewan Railway portion of Great Western Railway. In January 2000, the Canadian Pacific Rail contacted a company from Abbotsford, British Columbia, Westcan Rail , to sell 550 km (330 miles) of track in southwest Saskatchewan. Then in May, Westcan Rail began negotiations with CP Rail to purchase the 4 branch lines. By June, there was an agreement and 4 subdivisions were formed. The line subdivisions include: The Notukeu Subdivision, between Consul and Val Marie (100 miles); The Altawan Subdivision, from Shaunavon and Consul (63 miles); The Shaunavon Subdivision, from Limerick and Shaunavon (106 miles); The Vanguard Subdivision, between Meyronne and Wymark (76 miles). The Great Western Railway is a fully owned Saskatchewan subsidiary of Westcan. It was decided that GWR headquarters would be located in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan. Finally on September 13th, 2000, Westcan Rail received provincial government approval to complete the purchase of the lines. However, in 2004, Westcan Rail wanted to sell the short line. In the fall of 2004, a group of local farmers and municipal governments formed a company and purchased the branch lines to keep the GWR running. The private investors raised almost $4 million toward the $5.5-million purchase, and the remaining $1.7 million was supplied by a provincial loan. Currently today it is still locally owned and operated. Great Western Railway moves 6,400 cars annually. The initial goal in 2000, was 4,000 cars per year, which is equivalent to getting 30, 000 fully loaded axle trucks off the roads. It is the longest short line in Saskatchewan. Grain, fertilizer, corn, crude oil and recycled rubber are the main resources transported, as well as running a prosperous storage car business. GWR also owns 23 original grain elevators, and of these, the company kept 16 in use today.

Oil Development: Shaunavon’s Industrial Park A plan for the Shaunavon Industrial Park started in 1981, with the development of 65 acres of serviced land. The park is located on the west side of Highway #37. This highway connects Shaunavon to the United States and the Trans- Canada north at Gull Lake. The extremities planned on including electrical, natural gas and water. The first park development was Foothills Pipelines (Sask.) Ltd. In 1983, land sold for $8,500- $9,500 an acre, marketed by SEDCO (Saskatchewan Economic Development Corporation). In 2011, empty lots were created and ranged from $20,000- $50,000, depending on size. Oil-field based companies are the main parties interested in the industrial property. Today the industrial park is home to a wind turbine that powers the Crescent Pont Wickenheiser Centre.

Crescent Point Energy Today, the oil industry continues to be a prominent part of Shaunavon. With Shaunavon’s unfolding development of oil, its history goes back to the discovery in 1952. Following this initial discovery, five major and eight smaller fields were developed. A pipeline was completed in 1956, which carries the asphaltic base crude. Seismographic crews were again present in the area in the early 1980’s. The construction of the Alaska Highway Gas Pipeline in 1981 from Burstall at the Alberta border reaches to Monachy at the US border. The pipeline passes 2 miles west of Shaunavon. Wave Energy drilled the first successful horizontal well, however, a $665 million purchase in 2009 , made Crescent Point the predominant company. Crescent Point Energy is an oil and gas company based out of Calgary, Alberta. In 2009, Crescent Point Energy became the main oil company to invest in Shaunavon, owning approximately 90%.