Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center, Whitehorse

Posted on June 29, 2022 by liv2rv

The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center, located next to the Yukon Transportation Museum, is a small but wonderful facility detailing the Beringia time period of the Yukon. Beringia represents the land bridge that once existed between Yukon and Siberia. During the Ice Age period, this area remained free of ice, as the glaciers did not form here. When the glaciers surrounding the area melted, the Bering Sea filled back up.

Animals were able to migrate from Euroasia to the America’s, and evidence of wooly mammals, lions and camels have been found in this region. As the climate changed over thousands of years, temperatures changed as well as the landscape, Boreal forests appeared, and a different species of land animals survived in the interglacial forests.

The highlight of the museum is a full cast of the Woolly Mammoth that was found in a farm field in Wisconsin. It was one of the most complete skeletons found. You can read more about that discovery here. Mammoths disappeared from Beringia when the Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago.

You may have recently heard on the news about the discovery of a baby Wooly Mammoth, and that was found in this region. You can read more about this exciting discovery here.

Below is the menacing looking Jefferson Ground Sloth. While it may look ready to attack it’s prey, this mammal is a herbivore, not a carnivore, and the claws are for tree-climbing. According to the display, they are named in honor of US President Thomas Jefferson, who is considered to be the first paleontologist in North America. They roamed Yukon 75,000 years ago during an interglacial period. (which is what we are in now)

Giant Short-faced Bears lived in Yukon and Alaska until about 20,000 years ago, disappearing at the last Ice Age. Remains have been found throughout North America.

A single bone found in 1977 in northern Yukon was the first evidence that the wild bore (picture on wall behind the cast skeleton), a Flat-Headed Peccary, made it this far north in the America’s.

Fossils of the Scimitar Cat have been found in Texas and England, but rarely in the Beringia region. A limb was discovered in a gold mine in the permafrost near Dawson City, Yukon and DNA sequencing revealed these cats did roam this far north. The cast skull in the bottom of the photo is from a Sabretooth Cat found in California. There is no evidence of these cats in the Beringia region.

Skulls of (left to right) Black Bear, Grizzly Bear and the Giant Short-faced Bear

Comparison of Wolf and Grizzly Bear skulls

Our tour guide gave a demonstration in the use of the ATLATL, a spear throwing mechanism used to hunt animals. The arrow was placed on a lever, used to throw the arrow. As she put it, think of it as the ”chuck-it” dog toy thrower that you attach an arrow to.

Al trying his luck at getting ”dinner!” As you can see from all the arrows laying on the ground on the right side, none of us were successful at hunting!

Evidence of lions has been found.

As well as camels. Yes, camels roamed the Yukon!

On our way into the museum, there is a statute of a Giant Beaver. Little did I know, these actually existed! So the model I’m standing next to, is really a life-size model. Nose to tail, they were 8 feet in length. They were the size of today’s black bear. It is the largest rodent known from the Pleistocene Epoch.

Below is a skull of the modern day beaver in comparison to a cast skull of the Giant Beaver!

If you go to the museum, make sure you take the time to watch the movie about the Beringia era. If was very informative, and discussed how the men digging for gold during the Klondike Gold Rush actually discovered many fossils that were stuck in the muck, also known as the permafrost region, which is about 60 meters deep in the Yukon.

Quote of the Day: ”We were meant to explore this earth like children do, unhindered by fear, propelled by curiosity and a sense of discovery. Allow yourself to see the world through new eyes and know there are amazing adventures here for you.” – Laurel Bleadon Maffe

Yukon Transportation Museum, Whitehorse

Posted on June 27, 2022 by liv2rv

Whitehorse has several museums to visit, but with limited time, we chose just two of them to see. The Yukon Transportation Museum and the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre are located next to each other, and have a combo pass for $12 Canadian. They both exceeded our expectations. There is room for RV’s in both parking lots. I’ll split the museums up in two posts, so it won’t get too long. .

Directly in front of the museum sits the world’s largest weathervane, a 1942 Douglas DC-3. You can read more about the history of this plane here

The museum contains a wide variety of exhibits covering the history of transportation in the Yukon. An early form of transportation in the Yukon.

This Concord stagecoach was used in the early 1900’s, by the White Pass and Yukon Route for use on the Overland Trail. The extreme weather and terrain proved to be too tough for this vehicle, and ended up being used as a mail truck in town.

A 1992 Chevrolet Caprice Classic was used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 1995, the blue was phased out, and all RCMP vehicles are now white.

A 1965 International Harvester Travelall 1000 Ambulance

The “old” and the “new” forms of vehicles that modernized the city of Whitehorse.

In September of 1945, after the war was over, the US and Canada agreed to let a bus service operate on the Alaska Highway. The British Yukon Navigation Company (BYN) operated a twice weekly bus service between Dawson City and Whitehorse until 1965. This is an old BYN Passenger Bus that was preserved in the condition it was found.

A 1954 Bombardier J5 Tractor, nicknamed “Fluffy the Snow Cat.” It was used by the Yukon Electric Company to pack and groom trails along the power lines that were not accessible by roadway.

A crop duster plane.

This HIller 360 CF-FAV Revival Gang helicopter was used for topographical surveys in the Yukon. In 1952, the pilot crashed due to a faulty fuel pump, and the pontoons snagged on the ground causing the helicopter to flip. The occupants were not injured and they abandoned the helicopter. Sixty-two years later it was recovered and restored for the museum.

A 1969 Bombardier 335 Olympique Skidoo was the successor to the 330 model which was used in the 1968 Expedition to the North Pole. Snowmobiles were, and continue to be, widely used to reach remote areas in the winter in the Yukon.

In 1974 the Yukon Status of Women Council formed a commission to study public transportation needs for women and children in Whitehorse. By 1975, the Yukon Women’s Mini-Bus Society was created, and they pursued a grant from Transport Canada. In 1976, this green passenger mini-bus, manufactured by Fleury Industries in Saskatchewan, Canada, was purchased by the city of Whitehorse with money awarded by the grant. The Women’s Mini-Bus Society operated the city’s only public transportation, providing women with non-traditional job opportunities. In 1978 the Whitehorse City Transit Commission was formed and took over the operation, but kept the original women employee’s on in their positions.

In 1920 Eva Hasell founded the Canadian Sunday School Caravan Mission. It was a way to provide Sunday school services to children in isolated communities in Western Canada. The van was staffed with two women, one trained in religious education, and the other as the driver/mechanic. The van had beds and camping gear in the back, and the women were known as ”Vanners.” This white 1956 Ford Chassis F-350 was converted into a Frontier Mission Van.

Below is a photograph from the museum with the above vehicle used at Haines Junction, Yukon, in the 1960’s.

I always try to find something from our home state of Wisconsin in our travels. This 1950 Oshkosh W7000 (serial number 3780) truck was used for many tasks in the Yukon, from snow plowing, to a water tanker to minimize dusty conditions on the Alaska Highway. It remained in service until 1964.

This 1942 Fordson 9N tractor reminded Dan and I of the yellow tractor that he used the past six summers working at Teton Cabins. I’m not sure what the make/model of ”big Yellow” as Dan called it was, but it looks very similar to this.

After finishing up the Yukon Transportation Museum, the four of us walked next door to the Beringian Museum, which will be the next post.

Quote of the Day: “A visit to a museum is a search for beauty, truth, and meaning in our lives. Go to museums as often as you can.” – Maira Kalman

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Posted on June 22, 2022 by liv2rv

Karen and Al caught up to us in Whitehorse, after getting their 5th wheel repaired. They had no issues, despite all the bumps, potholes and frost heaves. Whitehorse is the last big city before arriving in Alaska, and there are plenty of things to see and do in the town. If coming through this area, you should definitely plan on spending a few days here.

While driving around downtown, there was a tall statute outside a hotel that caught my eye, so Dan was instructed to turn around and pull into the parking lot.

And then I found a fuzzier version of the RCMP the next day.

We did a quick exterior tour of the SS Klondike Riverboat, which was built in Whitehorse. It was used to carry silver-lead ore through the narrow, winding rivers. It is currently undergoing renovations. Hopefully it will reopen later this year, and maybe we will consider stopping at it when we come back through in August.

The riverboat paddle wheel was covered up by a tarp for repairs.

Lumel Glass Blowing Studios was another stop on our tour of Whitehorse. A young man was busy making a glass for a local real estate agent. She gives them out as gifts to clients. It took about 15 minutes to make the glass, and then it “cools” in a 500 degree oven for 9 – 12 hours. He did a nice job explaining the process as he was making it. He has been doing this for 15 years. They keep the doors open as much as possible, as it gets close to 100 degrees inside the building.

He was using various tools to shape/form the glass. Notice the woman behind him, heating up some glass in another oven.

The woman is adding what will become the base of the glass to the other piece.

I was surprised by how involved this process is. They have a lot of beautiful glass work on display, and they do many custom orders.

I did post a video of him making the glass on Instagram. For those not on IG, you can watch it here. If there’s no sound, you can “unmute” it on the bottom right corner of the video.

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We also toured two museums, and I will do a separate post on those.

Quote of the Day: “Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” – John W. Gardner

Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

Posted on June 20, 2022 by liv2rv

We have entered our third province, or rather territory, in Canada: Yukon. It’s our last section before we enter into Alaska. The Alaska Highway goes in and out of Yukon and British Columbia seven times.

The big touristy thing to do in Watson Lake is a stop at the Sign Post Forest. During the construction of the highway, the United States Army had put up a directional sign for Watson Lake. Private Carl Lindley was injured during the construction of the road, and was recuperating in Watson Lake. He was ordered to repair and paint the directional posts and he decided to make a sign for his hometown of Danville, Illinois and added it to the post. Eventually other soldiers added their hometowns to the post, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In September of 1992, Carl and his wife Elinor returned to Watson Lake to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Highway. I took a photograph of that photo at the museum. Unfortunately no one knows what happened to the original sign post. This place is now on the registry of Yukon Historical Sites. So it will be forever preserved.

Thirty years after Carl and Elinor, we have arrived!

They estimate there are now over 100,000 signs posted here in the Sign Post Forest. The place is amazing! When we first started walking towards it, I told Dan that it seemed smaller than I thought it would be. After a few minutes of wandering around, he asked if I still thought it was small – no it is not! I think a lot of cities/towns and villages are missing some street signs – they can be found here! All 50 states and many countries are represented.

Quote of the Day: “When we are lost in the woods, the sight of a signpost is a great matter.” – C. S. Lewis

The Alaska Highway – Dawson Creek Mile 0

Posted on June 18, 2022 by liv2rv

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, setting in motion the creation of the Alaska Highway, formerly known as the Alcan (Alaska-Canada) Highway. On February 11, 1942 President Roosevelt authorized construction of the highway, for the military to get supplies up to Alaska, so North America could defend itself against the Japanese.

Construction officially began on March 8, 1942 near Dawson Creek, British Columbia and was completed just eight months later on October 25, 1942. It was a remarkable feat of design and engineering. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the highway.

QUICK FACTS

*The original highway was 1,523 miles. Over time, road improvements shortened the highway by 35 miles.

*11,000 US troops worked with 16,000 American and Canadian civilians to build the road with 7,000 pieces of equipment.

*Over 133 bridges were constructed along with 8,000 culverts.

*The total cost to complete the highway was $140 million dollars.

*The road opened to public use in 1948.

Here’s a help wanted ad regarding the highway (sounds enticing!)

MILE 0 DAWSON CREEK

Dawson Creek, British Columbia is the beginning of the Alaska Highway, and is a popular stop for travelers on the way to Alaska. The visitor center has a big sign with the flags of Canada, US and the province of British Columbia. If there’s a sign, we will be stopping!

The “official” mile marker is two blocks away from the visitors center, and most people seemed to miss it. But then again, it’s right smack dab in the middle of an intersection so you have to watch for traffic in all four directions….which we did!

The visitors center has a nice museum, a long movie about the building of the highway, and some displays of wildlife that we hope to see on our journey. The red arrow on the bottom right is pointing to that elusive porcupine. I’ve been looking…still no luck!

The people running the visitors center obviously have a good sense of humor, as some of the mannequins have masks in their hands! All the locals have been patiently waiting for the tourists (and our money) to return!

We went out to breakfast with Karen and Al at Stuie’s Diner in Dawson Creek. The 1950’s themed diner is in an old railroad car, and has a lot of Elvis memorabilia. Definitely worth a stop – the food was good and reasonably priced!

I’m going to use this sign on the wall at the diner for my Quote of the Day:

June 1st – 15th Instagram updates

Posted on June 15, 2022 by liv2rv

If interested, here are the Instagram posts from June 1 to June 15, 2022. I will continue to use Instagram for quick status updates, and the blog for more detailed posts. Karen and Al arrived yesterday afternoon, happy to be back on schedule.

We hope everyone is doing well. We have spent the last six summers in the Grand Tetons/Yellowstone National Park area, and the photos that we have seen from the flooding are devastating.

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Quote of the Day: “Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the trip.” – Babs Hoffman

Current Status Updates

Posted on June 13, 2022 by liv2rv

Today is Monday, June 13, 2022, and I’m going to give a current update on our travels. We are driving today from Teslin, Yukon to Whitehorse, Yukon where we will be for 4 nights, before making our final 387 mile stretch into Alaska. If all goes according to plan, we will cross the border for our summer stay in Alaska on Saturday, June 18th.

BUT NOT EVERYTHING GOES ACCORDING TO PLANS…

On Wednesday, June 1, Dan and I, along with our friends Karen and Al, arrived at Pink Mountain, British Columbia, for a quick one night stay. Unfortunately, Al and Karen noticed a serious issue with their Grand Design Solitude 5th wheel. There was a crack along the bottom on the front of their 5th wheel. And when they were hitched up, the crack expanded, indicating they may have broken a weld somewhere on the frame. This crack was not there the day before, so it happened while driving between Dawson Creek and Pink Mountain.

To make a long story short, Al made dozens of calls to try and find someone that could look at and repair their RV. He contacted many places in Fort Nelson, which was our next stop, but had no success. He was able to find a place in Fort St John, about 100 miles East of our location that would look at it, but getting it there safely was another issue. They have Good Sam Roadside Assistance (we use Coach-Net) and had a very positive experience with Good Sam in locating a towing company that could safely do the job of moving their RV. This is why having an RV specific roadside assistance program is an absolute must if you own an RV.

This is a sight you don’t want to see when RV’ing. Al had to drive the truck/5th wheel on to the flat bed. It’s the only way to get the 5th wheel on to the flatbed. Their dog Cody was not allowed to ride in the tow truck, and had to stay in their truck for the 100 mile drive.

Karen and Al wanted us to continue on our journey, so we said our goodbyes, and we have been traveling on our own since June 2nd when we departed Pink Mountain. I’m posting this now, because I’m happy to report that Karen and Al found a place that was not only willing to do the repair, but made it a priority and worked all day, every day on it for 5 days straight.

Here are some photos, from Karen and Al, of the damage. The weld broke on both sides, and the repair shop had to remove the damaged beam and replace it with a new one. The repair shop had to remove the skin and doors off the front panel of the RV. The circled area is where one of the two cracks occurred.

Here is a close-up of the damaged beam.

They had to remove the old beam, and put in a new beam.

It was a very extensive repair, but they are back on the road, and putting on a lot of miles to catch back up with us. Hopefully by Tuesday they will arrive in Whitehorse and we will be back traveling together.

Once we knew things would be repaired, we decided to stay in Teslin for a few days, to give them time to catch up. The campground here is nice, right on the water. And it has good wi-fi, so I have been able to get caught up on writing some blog posts. I have several ready to go in the next few days.

We have a nice view of the water from our spot. This campground fills up every night, and empties every morning. We have enjoyed watching the RV’s arrive and depart. There has been one issue that has come up during our stay.

You can see the lake off in the distance. Since we have arrived, it has rained and rained. The lake has risen, and has started to flood this campground. We are fine, but are happy to be leaving. Our lake view site is becoming a lake front site.

All of the white posts along the bushes in the photo below are the electrical posts for the waterfront sites.

They moved the picnic tables from those sites, but if the rain continues, they may need to move them again.

According to the weather forecast, the rain should stop by Wednesday. Hopefully the water will quickly recede and not cause any further issues for this campground.

Quote of the Day: “Every problem is a gift. Without them we wouldn’t grow” – Tony Robbins

Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum

Posted on June 12, 2022 by liv2rv

We left St Albert and continued on our journey towards Alaska, stopping in Grand Prairie, Alberta for a few nights. Since the weather had rain, rain and more rain in the forecast, we opted to stay a few days in Grand Prairie. Going to museums are always excellent ideas on rainy days, so the four of us headed out to the Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum, located about 15 miles from Grand Prairie.

According to a plaque in the museum, Philip Currie found a toy dinosaur in a cereal box when he was six years old, and he decided to be a paleontologist. While he was working on his PhD, he started working for the Provincial Museum of Alberta (now called the Royal Alberta Museum) in Edmonton. Dr. Currie helped to found the Royal Terrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta.

This museum is located near the Pipestone Creek Bonebed, where the remains of a Pachyrhinosaurus was discovered by a local teacher, Al Lakusta, in 1974.

The museum has a platform with displays on the top floor, overlooking the main exhibits. It’s a bit hard to see the dinosaur’s hanging from the ceiling. There was a light of natural light in the museum, which made it hard for photos.

The Thalassomedon was a sea-dwelling reptile belonging to a group of plesiosaurs called elasmosaurs. They are known for their very long necks (62 vertebrae) and small heads. They have large, paddle-like limbs, and were around 40 feet in length.

The Tylosaurus is marine reptile, not a dinosaur. It was found in southwestern Manitoba, and was about 33 feet long.

The two big fish (about 12 feet) next to the Tylosaurus are called Ichthyodectes. Fossils of these fish have been found from Canada all the way down to Texas.

A Saurornitholestes and some other unknown creature!

Below is a Struthiomimus, a two-legged dinosaur that looked like an ostrich. It has a small head on a long neck, with long legs that allowed it to run quickly.

The Pachyrhinosaurus was a large four-legged dinosaur. This was the species found in the nearby bonebed back in 1974.

All of the humerus bones (upper arm) below were found at the Pipestone Creek bonebed. They are all from Pachyrhinosaurus’s of various ages.

This Styracosaurus skull was found in southern Alberta.

The Gorgosaurus skeleton, found in southern Alberta, is lizard about 26 feet in length, nose to tail.

The museum has an educational area, where you can look at slides of insects and other tiny specimens.

This is the Fossil Prep Lab where volunteers and staff are currently working on cleaning and stabilizing fossils that are found in the nearby bonebed.

A separate portion of the museum goes into the discovery of oil and gas in the region. It is a wonderful museum, with many more fossils and dinosaur’s on display than I have listed here.

Quote of the Day: “Dinosaurs are the best way to teach kids, and adults, the immensity of geologic time.” – Robert T. Bakker

Alberta Legislative Building

Posted on June 10, 2022 by liv2rv

After 5 days in High River, Alberta, we said our good-byes to Don and Kathy and moved on to St. Albert, just west of Edmonton, Alberta for a few days. We were there during the “long weekend,” as Victoria Day is referred to in Canada. Victoria Day was a good day to take a tour of the Alberta Legislative Building. We got a bonus parade/cannon firing that we were not aware was going to happen after our tour was completed.

The exterior of the 106 year old building is in the third and final year of reconstruction of the windows and sandstone exterior.

Below is a photograph of the exterior of the building before the remodeling started.

Inside photos of the rotunda. The fountain was built in 1959 for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Chambers of the Legislature. The Speaker sits in the large chair on the right. The press is assigned seats in the section above the speakers chair.

Special guests sit in the small section on the upper left, and the general public is allowed to sit in the section above the legislators. We were in an area similar to the public viewing area, but it is for guests of the legislators.

Per our tour guide, Alberta is the only legislature that displays the flags of all 10 Provinces and 3 Territories in Canada.

After we saw the chambers, a very excited security guard came up to our tour group. I was thinking something was wrong, based on the expression on her face. But she announced that we were invited in to see the Premier’s office. The current Premier of Alberta is Jason Kenney. The woman leading our tour group asked her multiple times if she was sure, and then she became excited as well.

Apparently this area is strictly off limits, and both the tour guide and security guard said they have never, ever, been “past that door.” It turns out a young man that works behind “that door” happened to be working on the holiday, saw our tour group, and invited us in. Yea! So we had a quick “bonus tour.”

First stop was the Cabinet Room, where the Premier meets with the Cabinet Ministers, as they are called in Canada.

Then we entered the Premier’s office.

There is a nice balcony off the office, with views of downtown Edmonton.

And this is the hallway behind “that door” containing offices of the staff that work for the Premier.

Fun Fact: The province of Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, Queen Victoria’s daughter. Princess Louise wanted the province named “Louiseland” but the legislators overruled her, and used her last name of Alberta instead.

After the tour ended, I watched our tour guide excitedly tell some of the other tour guides about being invited to see the Premier’s office. They were all amazed. So I guess it was a really big deal!

There is a large expanse of lawn outside the building, and we noticed a small marching band assembly, and some members of the military were setting up some cannons. I asked our tour guide what was going on, and she stated there would be a ceremony at noon, in honor of Victoria Day. So we decided to stay for that. The marching band only had about 100 yards to march from the parking lot, and they played the Canadian National Anthem along with God Save the Queen.

Before the firing started, we were told to stand about 75 yards away from the cannons. It was loud! First time we have ever witnessed something like that.

I took a lot of photos, and was able capture the explosion below.

It created a lot of smoke, and it was not a windy day, so the smoke lingered.

Eventually, you couldn’t even see the cannons.

Once the ceremony was done, the soldiers stood at attention until they were dismissed and took apart the cannons.

While we were in Edmonton, we met with our friend Lyle, at Edmonton Mall. Lyle is one of the many wonderful Canadian friends we have met in our RV park in Yuma. It was nice catching up with him, as he opted to go to Mexico instead of Yuma this past winter.

Quote of the Day: “Agreeable people are warm and friendly. They’re nice; they’re polite. You find a lot of them in Canada.” – Adam Grant

Heritage Park, Calgary, Alberta

Posted on June 9, 2022 by liv2rv

Heritage Park is referred to as “Canada’s largest living history experience.” We happened to attend on opening day for the season of 2022, and the employees were excited to have everything fully opened for the first time in two summers. The park covers the history of Canada from the mid-1800s to the 1930s. Covering over 127 acres, there is a lot to see and do for all ages. Plan on a lot of walking! As I previously blogged on, this park also contains the excellent Gasoline Alley Museum. If possible, I would recommend doing the park and museum separately. We just had one day, and it can be done, but you will be exhausted. Here’s another blog post where I went crazy with photos.

The park pays tribute to Alberta’s “Famous 5” women that fought for equal rights for all women in Canada. Since this is a post about the park, if you want to read more about what the women accomplished, click on this link. The Alberta Five

Interior photos of the house, a replica of Nellie McClung’s Calgary residence from 1923 – 1932.

There is a section called “Prospect Ridge” that talks about the history of prospecting for gold, coal mining, and oil drilling.

They have a “mini” replica of a coal mine that you can walk in.

In 1911 oil was discovered by W. S. Herron in southern Alberta. He started the Calgary Petroleum Products Company with A.W. Dingman. This is a reproduction of Dingman No. 1 Discovery Well.

Village Centre, circa 1910

The park has reproductions of buildings replicating life in the early 1900’s, with houses, drugstore, hotel, bakery, newspaper, post office, general stores, saloon and more. The buildings are open to tour and staffed by docents in period costumes explaining the history of the building.

The post office was not only the place to send and receive mail, but it served as the phone company as well. The postmaster knew all the gossip in town!

This structure is all that remains from the barracks of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (which eventually became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920) in Banff.

Wainwright Hotel and Bar Room circa 1907

The Strathmore and Bow Valley Standard newspaper was founded in 1909. It was a weekly paper. Back in the day, the owner did everything from reporting to printing the paper. It was a very labor intensive process.

The Montefiore Institute Synagogue was one of eleven Jewish farm colonies established across Canadian prairies between 1887 and 1914. This is a rare surviving example of a prairie synagogue that has been fully restored.

What’s a town without a bakery? This was a very popular stop, with fresh loaves of baked bread, cookies and cinnamon rolls. If you look close at the picture below, Karen and Al are sitting on the bench next door, with Dan in front of them, enjoying some freshly baked goods. The building they are sitting at is Baron’s Snooker, which contained a barber shop and snooker tables.

Snooker tables are similar to pool, but are considerably larger at 12 x 6 feet.

This house, built in 1907, has been restored to represent a Cottage Hospital.

The nurse is demonstrating the instruments and techniques used.

St Martin’s Church, constructed in 1896.

Interior of St Martin’s Church.

The docent played a few hymns on this church organ.

Gledhill’s Drugstore, built in Dundurn Saskatchewan in 1908. Pharmacists would set up shop in small communities to dispense medicinal powers and alcohol-based elixirs. In addition to providing basic medical advice, they administered first aid, pulled teeth and treated livestock. Since they earned little money from the drugs, they would sell toiletries, candy and basic supplies to supplement their income.

Wait, is there a dog in the display case in the above photo? It looks like it could be one of Makena’s relatives!

Peter Prince relocated from Quebec to Calgary in 1886 as manager of Wisconsin based Eau Claire and Bow Valley Lumber Company. In 1894, the very wealthy Mr Prince built this 3300 square foot home, with eight bedrooms and modern utilities.

The Burnside Ranch House, where one of the docents was preparing lunch for other volunteers. They have gardens, chickens, and pigs in the park, and try to live off the land, just as they did a century ago.

Hudson’s Bay Company Fur Trading Fort Circa 1860

This docent gave a very detailed discussion on the history of fur trading and the values of various pelts. Beaver pelts were highly valued.

Heritage Park was a lot of fun to visit (and a good way to get a lot of steps in!).

Quote of the Day: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” – Marcus Garvey

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Monthly Archives: June 2022