to the northern terminus of Highway 58 is Chaplin. A major attraction for bird watchers is the Chaplin Shorebird Site at Chaplin Lake. Approaching this town, there is a large American avocet statue beside the road in tribute to the many bird watching sanctuaries. Chaplin is home to diverse industry such as a shrimp processing plant, sodium sulphate mining and pulse and oilseed agriculture. The highway passes through five rural municipalities, including Waverley No. 44, Wood River No. 74, Gravelbourg No. 104, Shamrock No. 134, and Chaplin No. 164. History The rural municipalities (RM) were created to provide a civic government to rural residents, such as police, health, and fire protection, education, as well as bridge and road maintenance and construction. The early roads in Saskatchewan began as dirt roads along the township and range roads surveyed by the Dominion Government land surveyors around homestead allotments. Two and four horse teams would plough and grade these roads before graders and scrapers were bought by the various rural municipalities. The RMs would also hire crews to maintain the road ditches, and keep the roads clear of snow during the winter months. Joint funding with the provincial government and RMs provided oil surfacing and asphalt highway surfaces. Attractions National Historic Site, Louis Pierre Gravel honours the arrival of the abbot Louis-Pierre Gravel, a missionary-colonizer and the Franco-Americans who settled Gravelbourg. The memorial site is located south of Highway 43 and just east of Highway 58. Thomson Lake Regional Park, a man-made lake along Highway 58 near Lafleche, is 81 hectares (200 acres) in size and hosts swimming lessons, camping, picnicking, boating, and golf. Thomson Lake was created in 1958 by Dr Thomson as a reservoir for Lafleche and Gravelbourg creating water resources in the dry, desert-like area historically known as the Palliser Triangle. Thomson Lake Regional Park became the first regional park in the province of Saskatchewan. Notukeu Creek is traversed by Highway 58. Shamrock Regional Park is in size and features camping, a playground, and baseball diamonds on the Wood River. Chaplin Lake is a saline lake which has an area of 52 kilometres squared (20 mi2), making it the second largest saline lake in Canada. is a haven for many varieties of shorebirds. The Chaplin, Old Wives, and Reed Lake complex is a site in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and was dedicated as having global importance in May