Lloydminster Border Markers - Alberta / Saskatchewan

The border markers that stand tall accentuate the story of Canada's border city. It's a story of a town, but two provinces. Lloydminster straddles the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, and there are four giant red border markers at about 100 feet tall each in the center of town around the vicinity of City Hall and the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16 in both provinces). Near the crossing of Highway 16 and Highway 17 (which follows the border between the two provinces) next to Lloydminster City Hall, the four markers stand on the boundary, representing the four themes of the story of Lloydminster, which includes the oil and gas industry, the Barr Colonists that founded Lloydminster, agriculture, and First Nations and Métis peoples. The gap between the steel pillars of each monument represents the actual border, and the border markers were erected in 1994.

Lloydminster was first settled by the Barr Colonists in 1903, which predated the creation of the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, which became a province in 1905. The provincial border runs through the middle of the city through the Dominion Land Survey's Fourth Meridian, also known as the 110th meridian west. In 1930, Lloydminster was chartered in both provinces, thus making it the only municipality in North America to be chartered in two jurisdictions. However, modern GPS has shown that the border and meridian are slightly off. In 2005, it was discovered that the Fourth Meridian, which was surveyed during the 1870s, had turned out to be inaccurate. As a result, the true meridian doesn't run north-south along Lloydminster's 50th Avenue, but rather a few blocks to the east. However, the border markers are not going anywhere, standing as a testament to Lloydminster's unique status in the world.

Traveling east on the Yellowhead Highway (AB 16/SK 16), where a sign marking the border has been placed near one of the tall border markers.

Traveling west on the Yellowhead Highway, you can see two of the border markers (one is obscured by the trees). AB/SK 17 follows the provincial border as well.

How to Get There:

Sources and Links:
Tourisme Alberta - Border Markers
Tony Bloom Studios - Border Markers
City of Lloydminster - Border Markers
Behind the Hedge - North Along the Fourth Meridian
Conde Nast Traveler - The Strange Story Behind One Canadian City's Border Confusion (Ken Jennings - February 23, 2015)

Comments

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County. The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume. Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947. Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume. The Kings River Lumber Company had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin. This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood." The co...

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934. The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park. By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove. In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park. The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed. Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno. The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard. Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...

Interstate 99 at 30

When it comes to the entirety of the Interstate Highway System, Interstate 99, when fully completed, is nothing more than 161 miles of a roughly 48,000-mile system (0.3% of total length). Yet, to more than just a handful of people, the number '99' rubs them the wrong way. Interstate 99 follows the path of two US Highway Routes - US 220 from the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bedford north to Interstate 80 and then to US 15/Interstate 180 in Williamsport. It then follows US 15 from Williamsport north to Interstate 86 in Corning, New York. Interstate 99 runs with US 220 through much of Central Pennsylvania. (Doug Kerr) US 220 from Cumberland, Maryland to Interstate 80 and US 15 north of Williamsport were designated part of the Appalachian Highway System in 1965. Construction to upgrade both corridors progressed steadily but slowly. In 1991, the two corridors were included as a National High Priority Corridor. The route from Cumberland to Corning consisted of High P...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog