page_title: Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Echo Creek, arising immediately north of the town of Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan and draining into the Qu'Appelle Valley at Fort Qu'Appelle
context_page_description: Qu'Appelle is a town in Saskatchewan, located on Highway 35 approximately 50 kilometres east of the provincial capital of Regina.
  Qu'Appelle was for a time the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the major distribution centre for what was then the District of Assiniboia in the North-West Territories and is now southern Saskatchewan. The town is situated in a lush rolling parkland, with intermittent coulees containing steady-flowing creeks running into the Qu'Appelle Valley, poplar bluffs and sloughs.
  Qu'Appelle had at one stage been credibly anticipated to be the major metropole of the North-West Territories by both the federal government and the Church of England. It was under serious consideration by the federal government as district headquarters of the District of Assiniboia and territorial headquarters of the North-West Territories. The Church of England had in anticipation of Qu'Appelle's future urban importance designated it the cathedral city for the Diocese of Qu'Appelle, which geographically corresponded precisely to the District of Assiniboia in the North-West Territories.
context_section_description: Qu'Appelle is located in the Indian Head Plain of the Aspen Parkland ecoregion on the parkland of the Qu'Appelle flood plain. Qu'Appelle's elevation is 662.90 m (2,174.9 ft) above sea level. The area is characterised by lush rolling grasslands, interspersed with poplar bluffs (in prairie Canadian terminology poplar groves surrounding sloughs) and open sloughs. Qu'Appelle is located in the transition zone between the Qu'Appelle River and the corresponding Qu'Appelle Valley and the Canadian Prairies.
  To the visitor, southern Saskatchewan Qu'Appelle Valley might, at first glance, appear to be a mirage. Bordered by seemingly-endless farmland flatness, the dramatic physical features of the valley appear somewhat out of place.
  Echo Creek (occasionally known as Springbrook Creek) rises immediately to the north of Qu'Appelle and opens out into a broad coulee immediately to the south of the Qu'Appelle Valley. In the past it ran dry by late summer; global warming or other factors have caused it to run freely throughout the summer and to have fish swimming freely in it till the fall freeze-up. Beavers occasionally dam the creek in the spring using the poplars that line its coulee; at various points it opens up into ponds where in the past when the Qu'Appelle region was amply populated farm children swam.
  Natural features of Egg Lake (20.6 km (13 mi)); Echo Creek (14.8 km (9 mi)); the Fishing Lakes (25.1 km (16 mi)) and Strawberry Lakes (27.7 km (17 mi)) are near Qu'Appelle. The Fishing Lakes—Katepwa, Mission, Echo and Pasqua Lakes—immediately to the north of the Qu'Appelle in the Qu'Appelle Valley, are all fed by the Qu'Appelle River.
  "[I]in the years prior to World War I ...he recreational potential of the district began to be exploited and numerous cottages began to appear on the area lakes." The lakes afford swimming, boating and other water related activities in summer and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing in winter. There is also Echo Valley Provincial Park located between Echo Lake and Pasqua Lake. The park provides an RV park, camping, swimming, boating and fishing.
  The Indian Head Bird Sanctuary, maintained by the Canada Agriculture Experimental Farm Tree Nursery is located 14 km (9 mi) east of Qu'Appelle. The sanctuary is a mixed-grass prairie eco-region and wetlands created by the damming of the Indian Head Creek.
caption: Echo Creek, rising immediately north of the town of Qu'Appelle and flowing into the Qu'Appelle Valley at Fort Qu'Appelle
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