Mortlach

History

Mortlach incorporated as a village on January 1, 1949. While there are several theories about the origin of the name Mortlach, such as: it was named after an English village; it is a Gaelic translation of 'low hills'; and it may be a French term for 'dead lake' or Lac du Mort. The one that is generally accepted is that the village was named by George Stephen, the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), for his home parish of Mortlach, Scotland. Other community names such as Parkbeg, Caron and Craigellachie, site of the 'Last Spike', also hail from his home parish. A church in Dufftown in Banffshire, Scotland, with origins dating back to AD 525, bears the Mortlach name. In 1904, the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CPR) new line became operational and the Village of Mortlach came to life on land originally homesteaded in 1902 by a Khamis Michael, a native of what is today Iraq. By the spring of 1905, many people who had homesteaded the summer before along with new homesteaders began building. The first store, post office, and lumber and coal supply would be owned by Mr. E.B. Tedford. Scribner and Wheeler built the first hotel in 1905 and the first school was built that fall. One year later, in 1905, Mortlach already had a Board of Trade with a strong business district including two businesses, three general stores, lumber and coal suppliers, post office, livery, hotel, meat market, and an implement and harness dealer. In the fall of 1905 there was a section house but no station until 1906, built along with an elevator. The first Royal North-West Mounted Police were stationed here in 1905 the same year that the Province of Saskatchewan was created. These were exciting times. The first weekly Mortlach newspaper was printed in Caron and the Methodist Church…