Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Ponteix

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Country
  
Canada

Census division
  
No. 3

Post office Founded
  
1908-10-01

Area
  
109 ha

Local time
  
Thursday 3:45 PM

Province
  
Saskatchewan

Region
  
Saskatchewan

Rural Municipality
  
Auvergne

Time zone
  
CST

Population
  
605 (2011)

Area code
  
306

Ponteix

Weather
  
14°C, Wind NW at 23 km/h, 32% Humidity

The town of ponteix


Ponteix (/ˈpɒntɛks/) is a town in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, 86 km (53 mi) southeast of Swift Current. It is located on Highway 628 just north of Highway 13.

Contents

Map of Ponteix, SK, Canada

July 2 2016 storm between ponteix swift current sk


History

In 1908, Father Albert-Marie Royer from the Auvergne region in France established a parish and hamlet called Notre-Dame d’Auvergne north of Notukeu Creek. Five years later, the townsite was moved south of the creek when the Canadian Pacific Railway laid track south of the creek. After the move, the community was renamed Ponteix after Father Royer's former parish in France (Le Ponteix, commune of Aydat).

Demographics

According to the 2011 federal census, there were 605 residents in Ponteix, of whom 175 spoke both official languages (English and French).

Attractions

  • Plesiosaur Statue: Near Ponteix was the site of a plesiosaur find in the early 1990s. In 1995 community members and students of Ponteix school contributed small articles to this plesiosaur statue before it was filled with cement and painted by the townspeople in a ceremony commemorating the discovery of the original plesiosaur's bones.
  • Notukeu Heritage Museum located in Ponteix features prehistoric artifacts.
  • Notre Dame D'Auvergne Catholic Church, a brick and concrete structure in Ponteix built in 1929, features twin steeples and houses a large wood carving of the Pieta. The Pieta statue came to Canada in 1909 and was saved when the 1916 church was destroyed by fire in 1923. A description of the oak statue in 1954 by Abbot Jerome Webber of St. Peter's Abbey claims it was made in France over four hundred years ago, was saved by peasants during the French Revolution and was once covered in pure gold.

    • Notable residents

    Mark Lamb, a former professional hockey player and now assistant coach for the Dallas Stars, was born in Ponteix.

    References

    Ponteix Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA