The 100th Meridian

Me debunk an American myth?
And take my life in my hands?
Where the great plains begin
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
Where the great plains begin

As a Canadian, I’m ashamed to say the furthest west I’ve ever travelled in our remarkable country is Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. But after getting married two years ago, I gained a whole new branch of the family and my wife, and I decided that it was high time I met them. And earlier in the month, Heather and I went out beyond the hundredth meridian and dived deep into the great plains. While not a photo-heavy trip, as we were there mainly to visit family. Uncle Randy and Aunt Pat were more than happy to show us around driving us around Regina. During the first two days with a visit to the Legislature and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and a visit to Scotty who is the world’s oldest and largest Tyrannosaurus Rex.

It would not be a trip to Regina without a visit to the RCMP Depot, Regina is the historic home of the RCMP and its predecessor, the Royal North-West Mounted Police. Today those landmark buildings make up the Training academy. During the summer they run a series of Sunset Ceremonies to provide additional learning for the cadets with marching, artillery demonstration, music, and manoeuvring. The family again got Heather and I VIP seats with Uncle Tom and a quick behind the scene’s tour after the fact.

If you scratch the surface, you will find the dark underbelly of history through the province. We couldn’t make it out to any of the battlefields from the North-West Rebellion; we did visit Moose Jaw. For many of the post-war (World War One) years, Moose Jaw was the centre of a great deal of criminal activity connected to the mob, specifically Al Capone. We even went underground and took in the Little Chicago tunnel tour, which was a bit more show than history but a fun trip all the same. The city itself shows the slow march of time but makes for great photography.

One thing I quickly learned about the Province is that places are not that far distant from each other. We rarely ranged further than an hour outside of Regina; it seems that way because of the lack of geographical changes. It is mostly flat, there are some hills, plenty of valleys, but when you can see a city centre from twenty-four clicks away. You know you’re in the prairies. Speaking of hills, the second highlight of the trip was the visit to Claybank. Located in the Cypress Hills, clay had been discovered there in 1886, and the clay found it’s way into area brick plants. It wouldn’t be until 1912 a plant found itself built near the source. The coal fire kiln produced bricks that were put into historical buildings across Canada and the firebricks into locomotives and destroyers. But as times changed the plant shut down in 1989, abandoned in place and now a place to visit. As a former explorer, a place like Claybank proved precisely why I explored.

As vacations go this one proved far more relaxing than most, and our final day in the province would be spent at the shore of Last Mountain Lake where more family has a cottage, although we did see some wildlife, a moose and a pelican.

Now, these photos are just a small taste of the images I captured on the trip; you can go and check everything else over on my Flickr site. And even these only scratch the surface of everything the province has to offer and Heather and I are certainly planning a return trip. That list of places is only getting longer these days, but hey, it means we’ll never be out of ideas of places to go. And as someone from the East, I’m now rather fond of Western Canada.