Saskatchewan Highway 9

Highway 9 near Elcott at dawn

Starting at the Port of Northgate and Elcott,[7] which are unincorporated areas of Enniskillen No. 3 Rural municipality, the highway crosses the Souris River before reaching Alameda, a town which had a population of 308 residents in 2006.[8] The highway then crosses Moose Mountain Creek before passing through Carlyle on its way north into the Moose Mountain Upland. As of 2016, Carlyle's population was 1,508 people.[8] Carlyle is located at the intersection of Sk 9 with Sk 13, the Red Coat Trail.[9] The town has been dubbed the "gateway to the Moose Mountain resorts."[10] Carlyle Lake Resort, White Bear, Kenosee Lake, and Moose Mountain Provincial Park are north of Carlyle along the route.[11]

The land in this area was surveyed by 1881 ... A space of sixty- six feet wide between sections was left for a road allowance, every mile running north and south and every two miles running east and west.[12]

The prairie dirt trails were the first used. Walking ploughs could loosen up earth, then two horse scrapers called fresnos could grade the low places. These projects could be undertaken by pioneer settlers who wished to work to help pay homestead taxes. Two horse teams were replaced by fours horse teams and larger scrapers. Crawler tractors eventually replaced horse teams to pull larger scrapers and graders.

Abandoned Highway 9 Bridge that crosses Moose Mountain Creek, about 8 km south of Carlyle

No. 9 was surveyed in 1929 and graded in 1930-31. These roads were first gravelled in 1930-31 and 1933. This made for safer driving in rainy weather, but very dusty in dry weather. Sometimes these clouds of dust were the cause of accidents on the highways. Next these roads were re-built for oiled surfaces - No. 9 to the lakes in 1956, and south of town in 1964-65....The oiled surface reduced the dust hazard, but kept breaking up under heavy loads...When potash was discovered...better surfacing was requited. So the highway were once again built up to make them wider, and No. 9 got heavy-duty paving to withstand the heavy loads. This was done in 1969-1970...[13]

A government road project of 1931 connected White Bear (Carlyle) Lake to Fish Lake. Harry Cochrane and his crew began in the south at White Bear Lake, Bill Henderson and his crew began in the north at Fish Lake.[11] The first name of Kenosee Lake was Fish Lake.[14] The Scenic Highway Relief Project was begun travelling south to north west of the present highway. The route was blazed, trees felled, stumps dynamited, and the cleared area ploughed, in order to prepare it for the construction.[15] All this work as soon overgrown with native flora, and the road was never developed between McGurk Lake to the south and Stevens Lake and Hewitt Lake at the north end.[13][16]

About 1952, rural municipal councils realized they had to improve their road system to accommodate heavier loads and faster traffic.... road standards were set by the Government. Finally it was agreed the Government would pay sixty percent and the municipality the remainder[13]

Carlyle was the headquarters for 725 kilometres (450 mi) of highway and six separate Department of Highway crews. These crews provide winter maintenance such as removing snow and ice, and summer maintenance such as drainage, sign and guardrail repair. Langbank is an unincorporated area of Silverwood No. 123 Rural municipality.[8] Pipestone Creek is traversed by Sk 9 between Langbank and Whitewood.[7] Whitewood had a population of 869 in 2006[8] and is located at the intersection of Sk 1 TransCanada Highway and Sk 9.[9] The Qu'Appelle River and Round Lake demark the northern perimeter of Ochapowace Indian Reserve. Stockholm, a village of 323 in 2006,[8] is situated at the beginning of the concurrency of Highway 9 with Sk 22.[1] Dubuc a village of 55 folk[8] is north of Crooked Lake and Crooked Lake Provincial Park.[9] In 1926, Bangor was located on Sk 9 and not Dubuc.[7] Kaposvar Creek is crossed en route to Crescent Lake[7] an unincorporated area of Cana No. 214 Rural municipality.[8] Leech Lake is west of the Highway 9. Upper and Lower Roussay Lakes, Crescent Lake, and Leech Lake are south of Yorkton. Yorkton[8] is at the intersections of Sk 9, Sk 10 and Sk 16 the Yellowhead.[9] In 1922 a severe flood covered about 50% of the land between Yorkton and Canora taking out road and railway grades.

Grades on which there has been no water for the past nine years have been submerged. The Canora road is under water for two miles, and the only mode of transportation to the Reman school is by boat. Almost all the bridges in Wallace Municipality are washed out....the roads between Canora and Yorkton are washed out in so many places that it will be well into the summer before auto traffic between these places will be possible.[17]

Ebenezer a village of 139 people in 2006[8] is next on the journey. Whitesand River is traversed on the way to the town of Canora. Canora[8] is located at the intersections of Highway 9 with Sk 651 and Sk 5. Crooked Hill Creek is crossed en route to Sturgis. The Assiniboine River, and South Etomami River pass near Sturgis.[18] Sturgis & District Regional Park is located south of the highway.[19] The Assiniboine River also ran alongside the town of Preeceville.[19] In 1926, Preeceville was the northern terminus of Sk 9.[7] It has grown to be a town of 1,050 residents (2006).[8] A few places sprang up along the rail line between Preeceville and Hudson Bay, according to the 1948 Waghorn's Saskatchewan map.[20] This area between Preeceville and Hudson Bay is the Porcupine Provincial Forest.[20] Crossing the Red Deer River, the next settlement is Hudson Bay. The Etomami River, Little Swan River, and Swan River are south of Hudson Bay. First incorporated as the Village of Etoimami (also recorded as Etoimomi)[21] on August 22, 1907, then the village of Hudson Bay Junction in 1909. On November 20, 1946, the Town of Hudson Bay Junction was created, and on February 1, 1947, the term junction was dropped becoming the town of Hudson Bay.[21][22] The Junction was the Fir River, Etoimami River joining with the Red Deer River.[21] The town of Hudson Bay was termed "Saskatchewan's Port of Entry to the Port of Churchill and Gateway to Hudson's Bay."[21] The town has a population of 1,646 on the 2006 census.[8] Quite a few rivers were traversed after Hudson Bay before crossing the Manitoba-Saskatchewan provincial boundary en route to The Pas, Manitoba. Fir River, Chemong River, and Waskwei river are all near Wildcat Hill Provincial Park in the Pasquia Hills.[9] The Wildcat Hill Provincial Park was previously the Pasquia Hills Forest Reserve.[20] Carrot River marks the northern perimeter of Highway 9, as the road runs parallel to this river before leaving Saskatchewan and after entering Manitoba.

From south to north:

County	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Eniskillen No. 3	Northgate	0.0	0.0	ND 8 south – Bowbells, Stanley	Continuation into North Dakota
				Canada–United States border at Northgate Border Crossing
	​	26.7	16.6	Hwy 18 west – Estevan	South end of Hwy 18 concurrency
	​	28.5	17.7	Hwy 18 east – Oxbow, Carnduff	North end of Hwy 18 concurrency
Moose Creek No. 33	Alameda	32.3	20.1
	​	37.0	23.0	Hwy 700 west – Steelman
	​	47.8	29.7	Hwy 361 west – Lampman	South end of Hwy 361 concurrency
	​	51.0	31.7	Hwy 361 east – Alida	North end of Hwy 361 concurrency
	​	54.4	33.8	Hwy 702
Moose Mountain No. 63	Carlyle	73.5	45.7	Hwy 13 east (Red Coat Trail) – Redvers	South end of Hwy 13 concurrency
		74.2	46.1	Hwy 13 west (Red Coat Trail) – Weyburn	North end of Hwy 13 concurrency
Wawken No. 93	Kenosee Lake	96.8	60.1	Hwy 209 west – Moose Mountain Provincial Park
	​	105.6	65.6	Hwy 48 east – Wawota, Virden	South end of Hwy 48 concurrency
	​	107.2	66.6	Hwy 711 west
	​	108.8	67.6	Hwy 48 west – Kennedy, Kipling	North end of Hwy 48 concurrency
Silverwood No. 123	​	128.7	80.0	Hwy 709 – Kipling, Moosomin
Willowdale No. 153	Whitewood	155.5	96.6	Hwy 1 (TCH) – Regina, Moosomin, Winnipeg
Fertile Belt No. 183	Ochapowace No. 71	175.7	109.2	Hwy 247 west – Round Lake
		176.0	109.4	Hwy 637 east – Esterhazy
	Stockholm	193.6	120.3	Hwy 22 east – Esterhazy	South end of Hwy 22 concurrency
Grayson No. 184	Dubuc	207.4	128.9	Hwy 638 south – Broadview
	​	211.6	131.5	Hwy 22 west – Grayson, Killaly	North end of Hwy 22 concurrency
	​	221.4	137.6	Bangor Access Road
Cana No. 214	​	232.9	144.7	Hwy 15 – Melville, Churchbridge
Orkney No. 244	No major junctions
City of Yorkton		265.2	164.8	Hwy 10 west (Queen Street) – Melville, Regina Hwy 16 (TCH/YH) east – Langenburg, Winnipeg	South end of Hwy 10 / Hwy 16 concurrency
		266.8	165.8	Hwy 10 east – Dauphin Hwy 10A west / Hwy 16A (TCH) west (Broadway Street) to Hwy 52 – City Centre, Ituna	North end of Hwy 10 concurrency
		268.6	166.9	Hwy 16 (TCH/YH) west (York Road) – Saskatoon	North end of Hwy 16 concurrency
		270.3	168.0	Grain Millers Drive to Hwy 10 / Hwy 52A	Bypass route
Orkney No. 244	Ebenezer	283.4	176.1	Hwy 309 east – Rhein Hwy 726 west – Springside
Good Lake No. 274	​	298.2	185.3	Hwy 229 west – Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park
	Canora	313.5	194.8	Hwy 5 east – Kamsack	South end of Hwy 5 concurrency
		314.9	195.7	Hwy 5 west – Wadena, Humboldt, Saskatoon	North end of Hwy 5 concurrency
Buchanan No. 304	​	323.2	200.8	Hwy 754 – Buchanan
Keys No. 303	​	337.4	209.7	Tadmore access road
Clayton No. 333	​	343.5	213.4	Hwy 49 east – Norquay	South end of Hwy 49 concurrency
Preeceville No. 334	Sturgis	355.5	220.9	Hwy 664 south
	Preeceville	363.1	225.6	Hwy 49 west to Hwy 47 south – Kelvington	North end of Hwy 49 concurrency
	​	374.7	232.8	Hwy 753 – Lintlaw, Danbury
	​	386.0	239.8	Hwy 759 west – Endeavour
Hudson Bay No. 394	​	418.1	259.8	Hwy 983 – McBride Lake
	Bertwell	436.8	271.4	Hwy 23 north – Porcupine Plain
	​	452.7	281.3	Hwy 982 south (Little Swan Road) – Swan Plain
	Hudson Bay	476.5	296.1	Hwy 3 west – Tisdale, Melfort, Prince Albert	South end of Hwy 3 concurrency
		477.7	296.8	Hwy 3 east – Swan River	North end of Hwy 3 concurrency; paved section of Hwy 9 ends 8 km (5 mi) north of Hudson Bay
	​	484.3	300.9	Paved highway ends
	​	566.3	351.9	Hwy 55 west (NWRR) – Nipawin, Prince Albert	South end of Northern Woods and Water Route concurrency
Northern Administration District	​	606.2	376.7	PR 283 east (NWWR) – The Pas	Continuation into Manitoba
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Route transition

• Roads in Saskatchewan
• Transportation in Saskatchewan

• How Roads Were Built
• Unofficial Saskatchewan Highways website
• Moose Mountain Provincial Park