RM of Lipton’s story
The Rural Municipality of Lipton No. 217 incorporated on December 11, 1911. Its municipal office is in Lipton, and the RM surrounds the Village of Dysart.
Long before the municipality was formed, a section of the Carlton Trail ran through the area. Known as the Fort Qu'Appelle-Touchwood Hills Trail, it linked the Touchwood Hills with the Fishing Lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley. Traders, settlers, Métis and First Nations people used it regularly from the 1850s until the railway came through in 1890, and the Dominion Telegraph line was built alongside it. In 1885 General Frederick Middleton led his column of militia along the trail on the way to Batoche during the North-West Rebellion. Locals kept using it after the railway arrived, but the automobile eventually brought it into disuse, and many stretches were ploughed over. A section is now commemorated with a cairn beside Highway 35 north of Fort Qu'Appelle, where Red River cart ruts can still be seen in the prairie grass.
Three heritage properties also recall the RM's settlement. The Lipton Jewish Cemetery, established in 1902, is the resting place of early Jewish immigrants. Hayward School, built over the years 1904 to 1952, includes a one-room schoolhouse and barns. The Tomecko House, built in 1917–18 by Stephen Tomecko, served as a gathering place for dances after harvest.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Rural Municipality of Lipton No. 217” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.
