Birtle, Manitoba

Birtle

Location of Birtle in Manitoba

Birtle is a small town of 690 people (2001 Census), located on the prairies of western Manitoba, Canada at the junction of Highways 83 and 42.

History

Incorporated in 1884, the town lies in the Birdtail River valley and is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Birtle. It features a well kept golf course, campground, and tennis courts, and baseball and soccer leagues. Birtle has a park with facilities for swimming, tennis, and picnicking.

Another attraction is the Birdtail Country Museum, housed in an historic^{[citation needed]} stone building on Main Street. The building was built in the early 1900s to be used as the Union Bank. Later it was purchased by the Royal Bank of Canada. The main floor was the bank premises. The second floor was the bank manager's living-quarters.

In 1983, the building was purchased by the Town and Rural Municipality of Birtle. It officially opened as the Birdtail Country Museum on May 24, 1984, as a joint centennial project of the Town and Rural Municipality of Birtle. Inside are more than 4,000 artifacts related to the area, including such historical items such as the diaries of original settlers (Alfred Morton's, from 1878), button hooks for ladies' boots, and ice-saws and ice-tongs used for harvesting ice from the Birdtail River in the winter. The Museum houses the trophies awarded to Samuel Larcombe, one of the early settlers of Birtle. In 1917, Larcombe, the "World Wheat King", developed a variety of rust-resistant wheat. The second floor of the Museum is set up to resemble a Victorian home. People often come to the Museum to do genealogy research through the microfilm reader, which contains every edition of the Birtle Eye Witness newspaper, dating back to 1891.

Geography

The Birdtail River is quite small and slow flowing, but is dammed just above the Birtle Park, creating a small lake suitable for canoeing, fishing, and swimming. Hockey and Curling are popular pastimes, and the town possesses both a hockey rink and a curling rink for such pursuits.

Climate

Summers are warm, with a mean temperature of 17.9 °C (64.2 °F) in July. Winter are long and cold, with a mean temperature of −18.3 °C (−0.9 °F) in January.

Climate data for Birtle
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	7.8 (46.0)	13 (55)	19 (66)	34 (93)	36.5 (97.7)	40.6 (105.1)	40 (104)	38.3 (100.9)	37.2 (99.0)	32.5 (90.5)	18.9 (66.0)	13.3 (55.9)	40.6 (105.1)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	−13.1 (8.4)	−9.1 (15.6)	−1.5 (29.3)	9.2 (48.6)	18.4 (65.1)	22.3 (72.1)	24.5 (76.1)	24 (75)	17.5 (63.5)	10 (50)	−2 (28)	−10.8 (12.6)	7.4 (45.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−18.3 (−0.9)	−14.4 (6.1)	−6.7 (19.9)	3.1 (37.6)	11.4 (52.5)	15.7 (60.3)	17.9 (64.2)	17 (63)	11 (52)	4.1 (39.4)	−6.5 (20.3)	−15.6 (3.9)	1.6 (34.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−23.3 (−9.9)	−19.6 (−3.3)	−12 (10)	−3 (27)	4.3 (39.7)	9.1 (48.4)	11.2 (52.2)	10 (50)	4.5 (40.1)	−1.8 (28.8)	−11 (12)	−20.2 (−4.4)	−4.3 (24.3)
Record low °C (°F)	−45.6 (−50.1)	−44.5 (−48.1)	−45.6 (−50.1)	−28.9 (−20.0)	−13.5 (7.7)	−6.1 (21.0)	−4.4 (24.1)	−4 (25)	−12.8 (9.0)	−26.7 (−16.1)	−38 (−36)	−43 (−45)	−45.6 (−50.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	20.5 (0.81)	15.3 (0.60)	21.6 (0.85)	27 (1.1)	48.8 (1.92)	85.1 (3.35)	70.8 (2.79)	65.3 (2.57)	50.7 (2.00)	28.7 (1.13)	19.9 (0.78)	19.4 (0.76)	473.1 (18.63)
Source: Environment Canada^[1]

Facilities

The Birtle General Hospital is a surprisingly full-featured hospital for a town of this size. The local high school (grades 7 to 12), Birtle Collegiate Institute, draws students from surrounding communities, swelling its enrolment to 175 students.

Economy

The main industries of the area are agriculture and livestock: cattle and hogs primarily, and to a lesser extent sheep, goats, dairy cows, etc. The climate and soil are best suited for hard grains such as wheat, rye and barley, but canola also thrives. Crops are sown in spring (May) and harvested at the end of summer (August/September).

Demographics

Most residents are multi-generation Canadians, mainly descended from Europe, with pockets of Ukrainian Canadians and French. About 10 km (6.2 mi) south of the town is Birdtail Sioux First Nation, home to 315 people (2001 Census). English is the primary language of the town and surrounding area, except for St. Lazare, a vibrant French-speaking community about 20 km (12.4 mi) to the west.