Geography

History

At the time of settlement in the late 1800's, the land of the municipality was a flat field for as far as the eye could see. The insight of the local government at the time instituted a program to plant trees and shelter-belts between fields and around farms. The municipality supplied seedlings to residents who wished to plant them. The program paid off during the "Great Depression" when fields in Wallace did not suffer near the erosion problems of communities nearby. The progressiveness of the municipality was again demonstrated in 1913 when Wallace was the first municipality to take advantage of the Provincial Government's legislation aimed at establishing better roads in the province. The Good Roads Program as it was called in Wallace, required every landowner to devote a few days a year to road construction and maintenance. The program soon earned the municipality the reputation of having the best roads in the province.

Economic Base

Many residents of the Wallace area earn their living from farming and related agricultural services. Grains and oilseeds thrive in the rich soils of the surrounding rolling plains. The area also sits above a large underground pool of crude oil. The area's landscape is dotted with hundreds of pump-heads, derricks, and wells. Local residents and businesses cater to the oil extraction industry, and earn their living from sending the crude to markets. The area is one of the prairies largest producers of oil, second only to the vast productions of Central Alberta to the West.