Stoughton, Dominion Day
celebrations, 1927.
Town, pop 720, located 60 km E of Weyburn and 60 km N of Estevan at the junction of Hwys 13, 33, and 47. About three years prior to the CPR arriving in the district in 1904, a small settlement by the name of New Hope had begun to develop a short distance from today’s community. When the railway surveyed and named the present townsite Stoughton, New Hope disappeared as people relocated to be on the rail line. Stoughton was incorporated in 1904, with tracks running northwest to Regina and east into Manitoba. The line from Regina still remains the longest straight stretch of track in North America, and is the second longest in the world (the longest is in Australia). The community faced a significant downturn during the 1930s, but in the years following World War II growth was steady. The area economy is mainly based upon agriculture (grains, oilseeds, and pulse crops), oil and gas production, and related oilfield support services. One of the best-known rinks in Canadian curling history, the Richardson rink, came from Stoughton. The Richardson rink was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and skip Ernie Richardson was honoured with the Order of Canada in 1978.
David McLennan