RM of Blaine Lake’s story
The Rural Municipality of Blaine Lake No. 434 incorporated on December 9, 1912. It reaches east to the North Saskatchewan River and north to the village of Marcelin, and it surrounds the town of Blaine Lake, where the RM office is located.
Some of the area's earliest settlement was Doukhobor. The village of Petrofka was established near the river in 1899 and abandoned in 1929. Today the Petrofka Recreation Site, a small, free provincial campground and recreation area founded in 1991, carries its name. It is on the west bank of the North Saskatchewan River and holds two historical sites: Petrofka Springs, a natural spring, and the Petrofka Ferry Historical Monument. The Petrofka Bridge replaced the ferry in 1962.
The RM is also home to the Blaine Lakes, two shallow saline lakes recognized as an Important Bird Area. They are habitat for birds such as the rusty blackbird, sanderling and whooping crane.
In 1917, one of Canada's most sensational murders took place close to Blaine Lake. Sgt John Wilson, the only Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer ever hanged for murder, killed his wife Polly and their unborn child so he could marry Jessie Patterson of Blaine Lake.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Rural Municipality of Blaine Lake No. 434” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.
