~Travel & Tourism~

WHY NOT SASKATCHEWAN ?

By A.S. Penne

Jones Peak, Eastend, Saskatchewan
(Photo Courtesy of A.S. Penne)

In the fall of my twentieth year, I packed a suitcase and drove cross-country from Vancouver to Montreal .

“You’ll hate the prairies,” people warned.  “Nothing to see but miles and miles of wheat.”

But when I hit that alien ocean of gold, I wondered how so many people could be so wrong.  Three decades after that first visit to Saskatchewan , I’m still in love with the place.

The draw is simple:  beyond each prairie town nothing but utter solitude and quiet.  And even those who think the prairies nothing but empty space will have their opinion altered in Saskatchewan ’s southwest.  

Leaving the Trans Canada at Maple Creek, Highway 21 winds through the short-grassed prairie before giving way to a hilly landscape.  These are the beginnings of the Cypress Hills where, as the highest point of land between Ontario and the Rockies , they make an obvious lookout.  The American whiskey traders took advantage of that fact during the Cypress Hills massacre in 1873 and shortly thereafter the Northwest Mounted Police arrived in the territory.  A sign marks the turnoff to Fort Walsh , the outpost established by the NWMP and the visit is well worthwhile for history buffs. 

Continuing south on Highway 21, a sudden descent takes you into the Frenchman River Valley .  Here, especially arriving at dusk, the draw to get out and stare at the changing light on the green valley floor and contrasting hills is too strong to ignore. 

Once known as the Whitemud River (for the quantity of white clay available on its banks), the slow-moving Frenchman snakes its way east before heading south to Montana .  Though Highway 18 (aka Redcoat Drive ) parallels the river’s route, it is invisible from the road until cresting the hill above Eastend.  Here, winding its way lazily through an oasis of green trees the Frenchman River stands in stark contrast to the hurried tempo of modern life. 

Frenchman River, Saskatchewan
(Photo Courtesy of Richard Stoker)

Surrounding the river valley are the ancient lands of the dinosaurs.  At various times of the day layers of colour dominate the hills, revealing visible striations from forgotten eras.  Eons ago this valley was part of an ocean.  As the waters receded (shades of our own future?) dinosaurs freely roamed the lush flora and fauna.  Never was this fact so poignantly brought home than with the discovery of Scotty, the T. rex skeleton found in Eastend. 

At the T. rex Discovery Centre snugged into the north hills overlooking Eastend, visitors can compare the skull of Scotty (named for the bottle of scotch used to celebrate the dinosaur’s discovery) to replicas of other T. rex finds.  As well as the displays and guided talk, there are a film about Scotty’s discovery and a viewing area where spectators may watch working paleontologists uncasing bones. 

Scotty’s discovery may have contributed to the nickname for the local area—Valley of Hidden Secrets—but there are still more secrets to discover here.  

Along the road to Ravenscrag, an early settlement in the valley, there is the 1876 encampment where Sitting Bull sought refuge after the battle of Little Big Horn.  Closer to Eastend is the marvel of Chocolate Peak , a large outcropping of rock from which a well-meaning farmer tried to burn the layers of coal.  (He ended up causing months of smoke and turning the peak brown.) 

On the east side of town is an 1871 Hudson ’s Bay trading post site.  Built by settlers with the help of the Métis, Chimney Coulee was intended to encourage peaceful trade between the locals and the Blackfoot on the upper Saskatchewan River .  (The name Chimney Coulee comes from the stone chimneys left standing after the buildings burned.)

Chimney Coulee, Saskatchewan
(Photo Courtesy of Richard Stoker)

Eastend itself was named for being the easternmost post of the NWMP at Fort Walsh .  Scattered across the bench land above the town are the white stone markers tracing the trail ridden by the policemen between their Cypress Hills fort and the settlement of Eastend.  Standing at Jones Peak , the town’s highest vantage point, it’s possible to have a view of more than 50 km, from Ravenscrag in the valley to the grain elevator in Shaunavon and across the Montana border.

A person of international note from Eastend’s history is the Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner.  Stegner’s childhood house is lovingly maintained by the Eastend Arts Council and is open for public viewing by arrangement (http://www.stegnerhouse.ca).  From the riverbank behind the house, a copy of Wolf Willow in hand, it is still possible to wander the pristine world where the young Stegner spent his formative years. 

And Eastend is still in the business of encouraging the arts.  Besides regularly offering artist residencies at Stegner House, there is a myriad of creativity within the town’s permanent population. 

At Whitemud Clay ( 115 Fir Avenue, North ; phone 306 295 3669) you’ll meet Stephen Girard and Shon Profit, local potters whose work is internationally known.  Timing a visit to their showroom is an art in itself:  arriving soon after the unloading of their kiln you’ll be hard-pressed to choose from the variety of wares offered.  Beyond the bowls, vases, platters, serving dishes, mugs and more are Shon’s ‘Glad Bags,’ handmade bags incorporating a variety of materials including pottery beads or medallions.

 

Other local galleries to visit are Patrick Jacobs’ Cypress Gallery on Redcoat Drive;  Art Markings Healing Art Studio (223 Front Street; phone.306 295 7172) where Trea and Bronwyn Schuster display their own art as well as offer a variety of healing and creative workshops.  ZanJ Emporium on Tamarack Avenue North (306-295 3656) offers everything from curios to art.  And the proprietors of Wilder Art (306 295 3777), Linda and Grieta Krisjansons, create functional and nonfunctional works of clay, glaze, rice paper and paint. 

In nearby Robsart (corner of Highways 13 and 18) is the Robsart Art Works (http://www.robsartartworks.com) housed in an old lumber yard office and featuring fine photography, prints, drawings, more pottery, cards, paintings, woodworking, soaps and knit goods from locally raised and processed sheep’s wool. 

One of the best ways to view the art in this part of the Palliser Triangle is to join in the South West Quest for Saskatchewan Art and History.  A self-guided tour of historical and artists’ studios between Consul and Eastend, the route follows the Horseshoe Scenic Route (exiting the Trans Canada Highway at Gull Lake or Maple Creek).  Watch for the black and yellow signs clearly marking the participating stops open from 10:00 AM til 9:00 PM during the SW Quest, July 25 and 26, 2009.  Many artists will also open their studios by appointment as well.  Check the website:  www.ArtandHistoryQuest.com.

And if you’re not into the art scene, there are plenty of alternatives.  A few hours east of the Valley of Hidden Secrets lies the mesmerizing vista of Grasslands National Park .  Here are the wild, open, rolling hills that most of us only see in cowboy movies.  A visit to this park reminds how vast and open this country is, and how insignificant we are in the face of nature.  If you visit during the summer, remember that temperatures in the middle of the day can be overwhelming and the park is a national wilderness area.  Bring plenty of fluids (stop in Val Marie at the general store and take a picture of the grain elevators while you’re there) along with some snacks, and plan to enjoy a long, leisurely drive through the park, stopping every so often at the marked hiking trails. 

And on the Claydon grid, closer to Eastend, is the Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area:

(http://www.natureconservancy.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=sk_ncc_work_projects_omb1).  Once a family farm belonging to the Butala family, this site provides visitors with an opportunity to learn how early settlers ranched the windswept land.  Now a bison reserve, the roaming herds offer a rare glimpse of how life used to be when the animals lived in their natural environment.

But it’s the land that is the real discovery here.  Surrounded by hills whose colors change with the sun’s path and give an other-worldly effect, dawn’s silver-grey shadows shift to shades of yellow and brown then slip into deep mauves and browns at dusk.  On Jones Peak at sunset, a full palette of color at your feet and the horizon blazing neon orange, the landscape feels positively alien, and then it is no great leap to wonder whether you’ve been abducted by beings from another planet.  But there is also a moment when, sensing the solidity of ground beneath your feet, you respond to the prairie’s beckoning and feel found.  

“Come to the Valley of Hidden Secrets and find yourself in the middle of nowhere,” says a bumper sticker from Eastend.  It may indeed be the middle of nowhere, but when you arrive, you’ll wonder what took you so long to find it.