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Yellowhead
Trans Canada Highway
Manitoba-
Saskatchewan Section
 Imagine
your auto (or railway coach) is a time-capsule;
cruising down a broad ribbon of Canadiana, in the
wake of nomadic hunters, voyageurs, missionaries,
traders, sodbusters, fortune-seekers and railroad
builders. From Lake Manitoba to the Haida Gwa'ii
(BC's Queen Charlotte Islands) , it's a 2600 km
journey into history, with Indian encampments older
than Egypt's great pyramids, national parks,
ancient shrines and battle sites. Ethnic dances and
pageants salute every facet of our heritage.
Before we
dim the lights and start the movie, you're curious
to know how the name Yellowhead was derived --
right? In the 1870s, a roving Iroquois guide,
dubbed Tete Jaune for his golden locks, gave title
to a mountain Pass near Jasper House and gained
instant immortality. Fly-Drive
Holidays are all the
rage, in an age when time has become more valuable
than money. You can fly the "Air Highways" to
dozens of gateway airports; then take your pick of
ground transport.
 Poetry:
Little Mocassins by Robert W. Service
Poster (right) Saskatchewan Tourism
The Yellowhead- Skeena
Route, made popular by the Canadian National
Railway, offers options and combinations aplenty:
Train, auto rental, RV, ferry, pocket cruise or
love boat ... seaplane ... you name it.
Get out the fishing rod,
thermos jug and picnic basket! This great drive
might easily be called a Great Canadian Taste Tour.
Why? -- the Yellowhead crosses rivers and streams,
skirts lakes and fjords, visits orchards, ranches,
farmers markets and dining spots. You'll feast on
Winnipeg goldeye, rainbow trout, Pacific salmon,
oysters and clams, prairie chicken, moose steak,
buffalo burgers, award-winning Alberta beef and
Okanagan wines. Add the world's finest cereal
grains and 1001 varieties of ethnic fare -- how
near to heaven can you get? And if you like to sing
on long car trips? -- here's a cinemascopic
backdrop to enhance any performance; prairie skies,
tumbleweed, moose pastures, rippling waterfalls and
pristine mountain lakes. Can't you hear Rose
Marie's "Indian Love Call" echoing in the
distance?
Yellowhead:
Manitoba and Saskatchewan
Section
Compared to my first
encounter, today's Yellowhead Highway is a magic
carpet ride. Many moons ago, heading west from
Portage La Prairie, we ran a gauntlet of detours,
construction delays and a prairie monsoon.
Somewhere beyond Battleford, waves of red muck
engulfed my ancient Chev coupe, drying on contact
like plaster of Paris. Visibility zero! What to do?
-- get out in the gumbo, and wipe like mad each
time a semi trailer slithered by. Can't recall the
whole ordeal, just that the lights of Alberta's
Capital cast a mirage on the midnight sky, taunting
me for what seemed like 100 miles away.
Winnipeg
at The Forks:
Call it Chicago North,
Canada's Crossroads, or simply "The Peg" --
Manitoba's capital is home to 50 ethnic groups, all
of which take part in Folklorama -- a Manitoba
Mardis Gras. Winnipeg is also the largest center of
French culture outside Quebec. Check your map; see
how Winnipeg's
streets converge like spokes on a giant bicycle
wheel. Three historic rivers, the Red, Assiniboine
and Seine, merge here at a place called The Forks.
Not long ago, trains shunted back and forth, and
river craft dumped their cargo at this downtown
site.
Today it's the "in place" --
an oasis of greenery, scenery and people-watching,
with shops, sidewalk cafes, and a river front
promenade. To many first nations people, The Forks
is where their ancestors hunted, fished and camped
for centuries. The Forks National Historic Site
preserves that 6,000 year legacy with interpretive
programs, displays, sculptures, festivals and
special events.
Lower Fort
Garry National Historic Site:
North America's oldest stone fur trading post
stands as a lone sentinel on the Red River.
Launch-point for York Boat brigades, off to
Hudson's Bay, Mackenzie or Athabaska Country, and
Red River carts bound for Minnesota, it was a
bastion of Empire. Plan to stay awhile -- fresh
bread's baking in the stone oven at Governor
Simpson's Big House -- dinner's on, and a magic
lantern show is about to tell the fort's unique
story.
It's a short drive
to
Portage La Prairie, Mile
"0" on the Yellowhead Highway. Here, muscles of
steel were needed to tote one's canoe overland.
Today, Portage is a major food processing center,
amidst some of the world's richest farmland. Lake
Manitoba's beaches bring fond memories from my air
force days. Macdonald Air force base, near Portage,
was my hub of activities for several years as an
RCAF weatherman --it was a fascinating area. I met
a group from Southport
at the Abbotsford Airshow and was pleased to learn
that the city's other base is alive and thriving as
a training and technical center. You'll hear much
more about their projects in a future issue of Air
Highways Magazine.
At
Minnedosa, voted
Manitoba's most beautiful town, a side trip leads
to Riding Mountain National Park. In this "island
of the prairies", buffalo roam and 500 species of
wildlife thrive. Remember when we were kids, wolves
used to whistle -- right? Well you can take wolf
howling lessons here, but the Plains Indians'
relationship with the buffalo is the top item on
the agenda. Bathers can enjoy Clear Lake's sandy
beach; those afoot and on horseback, can rove the
meadows, aspen groves and evergreen forests on a
network of trails.
Saskatchewan:
Breadbasket, Good Spirits and Vacation
Farms
 ..
Canada's breadbasket begins at the Saskatchewan
border. Your first stop is Yorkton, with its
Western Development Museum. Further down the
Yellowhead is Big Quill Lake, one of 94,000 that
dot the face of Saskatchewan. Over half contain
fish -- and 90% of these have never been fished.
With 68 species hatching each year, small wonder
our forebears always kept a spare canoe in the
driveway. A side trip from Lanigan leads
to
Watrous
and Lake Manitou, (Lake of Good Spirit), whose
mineral waters rank with Europe's great spas. After
18 holes at Manitou Beach Club, a plunge will set
you up for dinner.
Why not enjoy it at an
authentic homestead? Saskatchewan's
"Country Vacation Farms"
offer Bed and Breakfast with a delicious
difference. You even get to help with the chores.
Fresh milk anyone? Not your average sod shanty, and
well worth seeing is Motherwell Homestead National
Historic Park, near Fort
Qu'Appelle. Called
Lanark Place, it was the gracious homestead of
William R. Motherwell, Saskatchewan's first
Agricultural Minister and an M.P. in Ottawa. The
main residence is an Italian-style mansion, built
in 1897 of
cut fieldstone. Saskatchewan Country Vacation
Farms. Beatrice Magee (306) 672-3970.
A 'Toon'
with a Berry Named After it:
I went to school in Saskatoon
for a term, and have seen the city from all angles
-- by bicycle, raft, horseback, train, aircraft and
the Chev coupe I spoke of earlier. The Ukrainian
Museum of Canada salutes an ethnic group whose
names appear in cities, hamlets and hockey rinks
throughout the west. A center of scientific
research, Wanuskewin Heritage Park has an on-site
archaeological lab, diggings and trails devoted to
the Plains Indians cultural legacy. An hour north
of here at Batoche is a sadder legacy -- one of
civil unrest.
A Gattling gun, military
installations, and grave sites, give testament
to the last armed conflict on Canadian soil. An
audio visual show at Batoche
National Historic Site,
north of the city, relives the days during the
1880s Northwest Rebellion, when Louis Reil's Metis
faced off against the British Empire. Hollywood's
Mountie movies pale compared to the real McCoy.
Fort Battleford National Historic Site is an
example. Here on the Battle River, Chief
Poundmaker's Cree ransacked Battleford, then
Capital of the Northwest Territories, sending 400
settlers scurrying to the fort's sanctuary, and
Colonel Otter's force off in hot pursuit.
Government House,the stockade, and several original
buildings remain.
Side
trip: Prince Albert National
Park: White
pelicans, bald eagles, beaver, badgers, bison,
wapiti and woodland caribou, plus numerous species
of fish and fowl -- it's like Noah's Ark. And the
hills are alive with flora; meadow rue, prickly
rose, high-bush cranberry and wild sarsaparilla,
aspen parkland and boreal forest. Small wonder,
world famous naturalist Grey Owl, called it home.
At Waskesui Lake, a golf course, riding stables,
paddle-wheeler cruise, and interpretive center
await visitors. Lobsticks -- trees from which
Indian trailblazers lopped off the lower branches,
mark some of the park's 140 km of hiking
path.
Click
to continue: Yellowhead
Highway:
Alberta and BC Section
Visit
the Yellowhead Trans Canada Highway Web Site:
http://www.transcanadayellowhead.com/main.htm
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