Saskatoon

Largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River; population (1996) 221,400. It is the commercial, processing, and distribution centre of a vast grain-farming area. Related manufacturing plants produce flour, linseed oil, glycol, glucose, mixed feeds, and agricultural equipment. Other industries include meat-packing, oil-refining, biotechnology, telecommunications, electronics, and the production of chemicals and fibre optics. Potash is mined nearby. The University of Saskatchewan was established here in 1907.

Founded in 1882 as a Methodist temperance colony, the city is named after a local native berry.

The railway reached Saskatoon in 1890, but the city only expanded rapidly with the influx of immigrant settlers to the prairie lands in the first decade of the 20th century.

Features include the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, a branch of the Western Development Museum, the Mendel Art Gallery, and the Wanuskewin Heritage Park, commemorating the native culture of the northern Plains Indians.