Redwater is a town in northern Alberta

Northern Alberta

Northern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.Its primary industry is oil and gas, with large heavy oil reserves being exploited at the Athabasca Oil Sands and Wabasca Area in the east of the region...

, 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...

. It is located 52 kilometres (32.3 mi) north of Edmonton on Highway 38, in Sturgeon County

Sturgeon County, Alberta

Sturgeon County is a municipal district in Alberta's Edmonton Capital Region, Canada.It begins at the north end of Edmonton, with 97th street turning into Highway 28. It extends east to Fort Saskatchewan and west to Calahoo. It is located in Division No. 11....

. Its population, as of 2006, was 2,192.

Redwater is placed in the federal riding

Electoral district (Canada)

An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

 of Westlock—St. Paul

Westlock—St. Paul

Westlock–St. Paul is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004. It includes the counties of Westlock, Sturgeon, Thorhild, Smoky Lake, St. Paul and the municipal district of Bonnyville.-History:This riding was created in...

 and the provincial riding of Athabasca-Redwater

Athabasca-Redwater

Athabasca-Redwater is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 83 mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting....

.

History

In the early 1900s, the area where Redwater stands was settled first by Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 settlers, and followed by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 settlers. The name Redwater is a reference to the nearby Redwater River

Redwater River (Alberta)

The Redwater River is located north east of Redwater, Alberta, Canada, and is where the name of the town was derived from. The original settlers noticed the copper tint to the water in the river and named the town as such. The river runs threw miles of local farm land and has a bridge for train...

, an ochre-coloured tributary that drains into the North Saskatchewan River

North Saskatchewan River

The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. It is one of two major rivers that join to make up the Saskatchewan River....

.

The survey of the Redwater area was registered on September 7, 1906. The original post office, established in 1907 at a location to the east of present day Redwater, was moved in 1919 to the current town site when Redwater was established as a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

. On December 31, 1949 it was incorporated as a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

, becoming a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 a year later on December 31, 1950.

Originally, Redwater was primarily a farming community. The 1948 discovery of oil in the area transformed the hamlet of about 160 people into a town of 1,306 by 1951.

Geography

Redwater is surrounded by wide, flat expanses of some of the best farming soil in Alberta. Some of the major geographical features in the area are the Sturgeon River

Sturgeon River (Alberta)

Sturgeon River is a 260 km long river located in central Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the North Saskatchewan River. The stream crosses Sturgeon County, which was named for this river....

 which travels roughly east-south-east about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of the town and flows into the North Saskatchewan River

North Saskatchewan River

The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. It is one of two major rivers that join to make up the Saskatchewan River....

. To the east and south-east, there are vast areas of sandy soil known locally as sand hills, some of which support a thriving silica sand and gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

 industry. These differing zones support two major types of forest; coniferous, including Jack Pine

Jack Pine

Jack pine is a North American pine with its native range in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains from Northwest Territories to Nova Scotia, and the northeast of the United States from Minnesota to Maine, with the southernmost part of the range just into northwest Indiana...

, Scots Pine

Scots Pine

Pinus sylvestris, commonly known as the Scots Pine, is a species of pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Scotland, Ireland and Portugal in the west, east to eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and as far north as well inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia...

, White Spruce

White Spruce

Picea glauca is a species of spruce native to boreal forests in the north of North America, from central Alaska east to Newfoundland, and south to northern Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine; there is also an isolated population in the...

, Black Spruce

Black Spruce

Picea mariana is a species of spruce native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to Alaska, and south to northern New York, Minnesota and central British Columbia...

, and some Balsam Fir

Balsam Fir

The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...

; broadleaf

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

 trees including Birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

, Poplar

Poplar

Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....

 and Aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

.

Demographics

In 2006, Redwater had a population of 2,192 living in 898 dwellings

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

, a 0.9% increase from 2001. The town has a land area of 7.95 km² (3.1 sq mi) and a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 275.6 /km2.

Amenities and services

Redwater is home to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

 detachment of 8 police officers, a large health centre

Redwater Health Centre

The Redwater Health Centre is a 21-bed facility, 14-bed acute care including 1 palliative care bed and 7 long term care bed facility located in Redwater, 65 kilometers northeast of The City Edmonton. The health centre offers many of the main services to the community of Redwater including public...

, several health clinics, a dentist, ambulance services, a volunteer Fire Department

Fire department

A fire department or fire brigade is a public or private organization that provides fire protection for a certain jurisdiction, which typically is a municipality, county, or fire protection district...

, an elementary K to grade 4 school(Ochre Park School), a grade 5 - grade 12 school (Redwater School), a nine-hole grass green golf course

Golf course

A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...

, hardware stores, a grocery store

IGA (supermarkets)

IGA is a brand of grocery stores active in more than 30 countries. Contrasting with the chain store business model, IGA operates as a franchise through stores that are owned separately from the brand. Many of these stores operate in small town markets and belong to families that manage them...

, and many thriving shops and businesses.

Industry

In addition to the farming industry that surrounds the town, numerous large industrial sites are located nearby in Alberta's Industrial Heartland

Alberta's Industrial Heartland

Alberta's Industrial Heartland, also known as Upgrader Alley or the Heartland, is a joint land use planning and development initiative between five municipalities in the Edmonton Capital Region to attract investment in the chemical, petrochemical, oil, and gas industries to the region.Alberta's...

. Agrium Inc

Agrium

Agrium Inc. is a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North and South America, a leading global wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and the premier supplier of specialty fertilizers in North America through its Advanced Technologies...

, a Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

-based fertilizer plant, has a large operation about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Redwater. Degussa AG, a Germany-based chemicals producer, has a large operation near the Agrium plant. Williams Energy has a petrochemical plant south of the Degussa operation. Shell Scotford

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

 has a multi-billion dollar upgrader and refinery operation

Scotford Upgrader

The Shell Scotford Upgrader is an oilsand upgrader, a facility which processes crude bitumen from oil sands into a wide range of synthetic crude oils. The upgrader is owned by Athabasca Oil Sands Project , a joint venture of Shell Canada Energy , Marathon Oil Sands L.P. and Chevron Canada Limited...

 (part of the Athabasca Oil Sands

Athabasca Oil Sands

The Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray...

 development project) about 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) from Redwater on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River

North Saskatchewan River

The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. It is one of two major rivers that join to make up the Saskatchewan River....

. These industries have spawned an array of offshoot businesses such as shipping, oilfield services, heavy equipment, and other support services.

In 2005, there were several announcements to the media indicating further petrochemical

Petrochemical

Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....

 and oilsands upgrader

Upgrader

An upgrader is a facility that upgrades bitumen into synthetic crude oil. Upgrader plants are typically located close to oil sands production, for example, the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada or the Orinoco tar sands in Venezuela....

s were planned for the area. As of March 2006, pre-construction had begun on two separate large scale industrial projects.

External links

• Town of Redwater