Fort San is a former sanatorium

Sanatorium

A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

, now a resort village, surrounded by the rural municipality of North Qu'Appelle No. 187

North Qu'Appelle No. 187, Saskatchewan

thumb|right|Sacred Heart Church in [[Lebret, Saskatchewan|Lebret]]North Qu'Appelle No. 187, Saskatchewan is a rural municipality in south eastern Saskatchewan. North Qu'Appelle No. 187 RM was formed December 12, 1910- Communities :...

, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The village is located approximately 77 km northeast of Regina

Regina, Saskatchewan

Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...

 and 3 km west of Fort Qu'Appelle. With the closure of the sanatorium the area was repurposed originally as a venue to house the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts and later as a resort village housing the Echo Valley Conference Centre.

History

Fort San was opened in 1917 during a time when tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 infections were increasing, and was built to house 358 patients. It was a self sufficient institution with vegetable gardens, livestock, a power house, and an extensive library for patients provided by World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 veterans. Fort San was a medical purgatory where hundreds died and thousands suffered. Isolation, loneliness and pain were a way of life for its citizens; some of whom lost years of their lives, if not life itself. Fort San is considered one of Saskatchewan’s most haunted locations.

Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts

After tuberculosis became less of a threat in the early 1960s, the sanatorium building's purpose was repurposed to house the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts in 1967. For thirty years, thousands of young people received summer tuition in dance, music, visual art, writing and theatre. Through the 1970s the facilities were expanded and improved to support the school; over its 30 years; with 1,200 children and adults attended the seven-week program over the summer of 1968.
The school was closed in 1991 due to lack of funding. The Sage Hill Writing Experience is one of the spin-offs of the school that continued to operated using a variety of venues around the province.

HMCS Qu'Appelle Cadet Summer Training Centre

Fort San was run as a Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Camp named HMCS Qu'Appelle Cadet Summer Training Centre during the summers of the nineties to 2004. The programs offered were:

• Music
• Sailing
• General Training

One of the operating rooms was even converted to a 4 bunk barrack room and the cadets taking sailing or general training generally slept directly over the morgue.

It is an urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

 that Fort San is haunted by patients who died at there in its early years. Several authors have documented different accounts of strange occurrences which transpired in the time since it was retired as a sanatorium.

Echo Valley Conference Centre

The Echo Valley Conference Centre, a provincial government run conference facility is operated out of the historic building on the site. The conference centre makes use of Arts and Craft/Tudor Revival style building built from 1912 to 1922 for use by the sanitarium. On September 30, 2004 a decision was made by the Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation to shutdown the Centre and offer it for sale.

Demographics

External links

• Municipal Affairs - Fort San
• Map of Fort San at Statcan