Monday, June 23

We had entered the prairies between the Manitoba border and Winnipeg, and today we drove through them all day . In western Manitoba they were gently rolling hills, with quite a few trees scattered here and there; after we crossed into Saskatchewan the land became flatter. Many people find the prairies boring, but I don't; I love the varied colors of green and the great expanse of sky. We passed enormous grain elevators with many railroad cars beside them. And we saw so many long freight trains, some with double layers of cars. The railroad parallels the trans-Canada highway much of the way, and it appeared that more goods were being transported by train than by truck. When we got to Moose Jaw, however, we learned that there was no longer any passenger-train service there, and the lovely old Canadian-Pacific train station had been converted to, among other things, a liquor store. This seemed to match Moose Jaw's reputation as a center of bootlegging during U.S. prohibition, earning it the
nickname "Little Chicago of the Prairies." The city takes pride in all aspects of its history, as shown in numerous murals painted on the sides of buildings, including the one pictured here from River Street, the former red-light district. But Moose Jaw seems to have quieted down, at least in the Riverview campground, where we were entertained by the songs of the birds.