SASKATCHEWAN. The middle member of the three Prairie Provinces of Canada, lies between 6o° N. and 49° N. and io° W. and 102° W. Physiographically it is divisible into two main areas by a line from about 53° 3o' N. on the eastern border (just south of Cumberland Lake) to 56° 3o' N. (just south of Buffalo Lake), on the west, i.e., a line running somewhat to the south of the course of the Churchill River within the Province.
The area to the north of this line comprising about one-third of the Province is a lowland—mostly over i,000 ft. but under 1,200 ft.—developed upon Pre-Cambrian Rocks, with a narrow border of Palaeozoic sedimentaries along its southern margin. The Pre-Cambrian, i.e., Laurentian Shield area is a hummocky wilderness of rock, lake, forest and swamp, with drainage to the Mackenzie system in L. Athabasca to the north, and to the Hudson Bay system via the Churchill River, to the south. This northern area has a wealth of timber, pulp wood, water power and probably metallic minerals at present untouched. and to some extent, climatic conditions, are such as to preclude any immediate likelihood of farming development, and north of the Churchill River—if we except a limited quantity of mer chantable timber in the valley of the Clearwater and about the shores of L. Athabasca—even the forests have at present little value except as a game and fur-bearing animal reserve. South of the Churchill River to the latitude of Prince Albert, there is on the Saskatchewan a commercial forest belt which, because of muskeg and fires, contains little saw timber, but is about 25% covered with potential pulp wood. This commercial timber belt overlaps the southern physiographic division which differs from the northern, (i.) in being higher (1,70o ft-2,000 ft. in the north to over 3,00o ft. in the extreme south-west) ; (ii.) in being de veloped on little disturbed sedimentaries of Cretaceous age, with some plateau-like tertiary residuals; (iii.) in the tabular nature of its major land forms.
The rise from the northern limits of this Cretaceous tableland is not quite gradual to the south-west, but is interrupted by ex tensive plateau masses rising some 5oo ft.-800 ft. above the general levels. Such are Moose Mts., Beaver Hills and Bear Hills. An irregular but generally perceptible low scarp facing north-east runs from Estevan on the United States border to about Battleford—a continuation of the Missouri coteau of the United States. South-west of this line the plateau is higher—a part of the so-called third prairie steppe—and in the extreme south is itself overtopped by Cypress Hills and Wood Mts., scrub covered plateau-like masses developed on tertiary sedimentaries.
Apart from these last and a belt of grove country in the north, the land south of the north Saskatchewan river is unforested. The larger rivers, e.g., the north and south Saskatchewan, flow in trench-like courses and glaciation has left its trace in innumerable lakes, abandoned coulees, and a general mantle of drift which thins out on the higher plateau.
Precipitation over most of the Province is between 13 in.--i8 in. and over 6o% occurs in the growing season (May–September). In the south-west of the Province—between the south Saskatche wan and the Cypress Hills—precipitation is, relative to evapora tion, too low for effective farming. Here and on the Wood and Cypress Hill areas, open land is best used for ranching. However, the larger part of the prairie area has proved abundantly suitable for wheat farming, while mixed farming and dairy farming are developing in the northern parts of the prairie and in the grove belt. Saskatchewan leads the Prairie Provinces in agricultural production, including dairy farming, which has now assumed a very great importance. In the prairie belt the summers are a little hotter than in south-east England, but drier and much brighter. The winters are intensely cold, but dry, bright and in vigorating. Rapid variations in temperature are frequent, espe cially in winter. The snow cover is very light.
Lignite is mined (472,00o tons in 1925) near Estevan in S. Saskatchewan. The Province has 1,087,756 h.p. water power (un developed) chiefly on the Lower Churchill, Saskatchewan, Rein deer and Black rivers, all in the Northern unpopulated part of the Province and too remote for immediate development.
In the settled prairie portion of the Province there is now a fairly dense network of railway.
History, Administration, Etc.—In 1905 the Dominion Government created out of the North West Territories the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In the decade 1911-21 population in Saskatchewan increased 439%—representing one of the greatest rushes for farm lands in the history of the world. The Provincial Government is vested in a Lieutenant-Governor and a Legislative Assembly of 63 members elected for five years. Women are enfranchised and eligible for election to the Legisla ture. Regina is the seat of Government. The Province is repre sented by six Senators and twenty-one members of Parliament in the Dominion Government.