Editing Val Marie (section)

== History ==
The first European investigation of the area was conducted by the [[Palliser Expedition]] (1857–1859), supported by the [[Royal Geographical Society]] and the British Government, and led by John Palliser, a wealthy Irish landowner. He was accompanied by geologist James Hector, and various cartographers and botanists. They studied the natural resources and agricultural potential of the Palliser area — including Val Marie — and reported the place as dismally dry, prone to drought, and unfit for habitation. The dismissive conclusions slowed settlement in the area for decades.

Artifacts of native civilization are significant. In 1877, Tatanka Iyotake [[Sitting Bull]] crossed from the USA into Canada along the [[Frenchman River]] (which flows through Val Marie) after his victory over [[General Custer]] at [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]].

The community of Val Marie – Valley of Mary – was founded in 1910 by Father Passaplan, Louis Denniel, and the brothers François and Léon Pinel. Most of the early settlers were ranchers and farmers from [[Quebec]] and [[France]]. Val Marie was incorporated as a village on September 13, 1926.<ref name=Incorporation>{{cite web | url=http://municipal.gov.sk.ca/Municipal-History/Urban-Incorporated-Dates | title=Urban Municipality Incorporations | publisher=Saskatchewan Ministry of Government Relations | access-date=June 1, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015042810/http://municipal.gov.sk.ca/Municipal-History/Urban-Incorporated-Dates | archive-date=October 15, 2014}}</ref> By 1939, two irrigation reservoirs were built near Val Marie by the PFRA ([[Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Agency]]) in coordination with [[Ducks Unlimited]]. Over {{convert|10000|acres|km2}} are irrigated through the system which provides some stabilization through droughts that plague the area.

Originally settled by French ranchers, the village remained largely ethnically French and by the 1950s had 450 people. Amenities then included three gasoline stations, a hospital, convent, bakery, bank, and several cafes and stores.  The population declined significantly with low grain commodity prices and droughts in the 1980s. English is now universally spoken as the last unilingual Francophone resident died in 1981.<ref>http://www.badbeekeeping.com/badbeek.htm Bad Beekeeping - Val Marie, 2004, pp 87-88, Ron Miksha</ref>  The Grasslands National Park has attracted some new people into the area; full-time and seasonal employees for the park, as well as recent retirees now call Val Marie home.

On August 14, 2004, ''Grasslands – Where Heaven Meets Earth'', a [[site-specific art]] performance, was held in the community and park.  The event was a collaboration of Canadian artists including Bill Coleman, [[Edward Poitras]], [[Gordon Monahan]], and [[Margie Gillis]].