Ogema, Saskatchewan

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[edit] Geography

Latitude - Longtitude - 45 degrees 35'00" N - 104 degrees 55'00" W

Municipal Address - NW Quarter of Section 22 Township 7 Range 22 West of the 2nd

Ogema is a town located in south Central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately 115 kilometres south of Saskatchewan's capital city, Regina. Ogema is located midway between Weyburn and Assiniboia on Highway 13. The town of Ogema is naturally an internal drainage basin, with rolling hills and shallow sloughs . Typically, these sloughs mark regional low spots and are fed by a series of interconnected sloughs called kettle chains.

[edit] History

The first settlers arrived in 1908, however it wasn't until 1911 that a post office was established with the name of Ogema. Ogema was incorporated as a town in 1912 when it reached a population of over 500 people. Many of the settlers came from Ontario; some came from the United States, British Isles and other parts of Europe. The pioneers had selected the name Omega, which is the Greek word for end as at that time, the settlement was at end of the rail line. On making application for registration of the town name, they were told by the authorities that there was another town with that name and no two communities with the same name would be allowed. The settlers then changed the name Omega to Ogema, which gave the town an original name, yet retained all letters of the original name. The name Ogema is a Cree Indian word meaning big chief. The lots for the town of Ogema were sold by the Canadian Pacific Railway, who were then building a branch line through the wilderness of southern Saskatchewan.