Gladstone

Gladstone, Manitoba, incorporated as a town in 1882, population 879 (2011c), 802 (2006c). The Town of Gladstone is located on the Whitemud River, 138 km northwest of Winnipeg and 30 km west of the southern tip of Lake Manitoba. Ontario farmers seeking new land settled in 1871 at the Third Crossing where the North Saskatchewan Trail crossed the Whitemud for the third time.

The community - known first as Palestine and later as Gladstone after the noted British PM - was on the fringe of prairie settlement, and became a takeoff point for pioneers travelling farther W. A population and land boom occurred, sparked by construction of a railway link with Portage la Prairie, but soon collapsed, leaving the town in debt. Today, Gladstone serves the surrounding mixed farming district and has an important cattle auction mart.