Crossing Saskatchewan June 28-31, 1978

Most of the little towns – some so small and disorganized that surely anywhere else they would not warrant the term ‘town’, but hey, this is Saskatchewan – I passed through in the half-dream-state I’ve come to think of as ‘Prairie Mind’.  I’ve never been in such open territory – it gives new meaning to the term, ‘the sky’s the limit’, especially when the sky appears so limitless.  Unbounded.  Freed from all barriers and obstacles.  My thoughts take wing, my brain buzzes off, my mind meanders... .  I jump from thoughts of the diversity of peoples and places in this great nation, Canada, and what holds us together, as a nation, to who I am, where I’m going, and what holds me together.  And keep seeing the back of that packet of sugar: “Discover Canada.  Discover Yourself.”  

I did a lot of driving, often in circuitous circles, following back roads wherever they took me, consulting a map only when I was well and truly ‘lost’.  And I took a lot of photos.  Sometimes just of the flatness, and the big sky.  As if I could capture ‘Prairie Mind’.  Like trying to bottle a genie.  I didn’t do much writing.  Sometimes there just isn’t much to say.

Here in Landis, thinking of Wordsworth, “I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host of golden” ... mustard.  I will never have a hot dog with mustard, or anything with mustard, again without thinking of the endless fields of mustard here in the Canadian Prairies.  

 

And then there was Biggar.  I had a good laugh at its claim to fame sign: ‘NEW YORK IS BIG, BUT THIS IS BIGGAR'.  I can imagine some overall-clad farmers, taking some time out from bringing in the hay, or feeding the cows, sitting around an arborite-topped table in a local café, thinking up slogans for a city sign.  And the whoops and guffaws when one of them came up with this one.  I can even imagine them designing and painting it - 'let's show wheat, cows, horses and sheep.'  'Oh yeah, and the train - the train is important.  It goes right through town.'  They did a nice job of it I think, especially the train.  There's a lot of detail in that train.  Still, it doesn’t come close to the World’s Biggest Easter Egg or the Worlds First U.F.O. Landing Pad.  After all, it’s just a sign – a bit of paint on a board.  Still, I took a photo of it, and it did make me laugh.  So that’s something.

I also stopped to take a photo of a Bigger feed lot.  Certainly not as big as many of them, but still made me happy to be a vegetarian.

 

Before I left Biggar behind, I made a stop in the middle of nowhere to play a little flute.  No need for inhibitions here.  Absolutely no one around.  

These cows in Perdue looked a little happier, wandering around in the farm machinery.

Before leaving Saskatchewan behind I wanted to document the progression of grain growing – from the 'waving fields of wheat', to the cut grass, to the tidy rows of bales.  And on to the silos and granaries.  This is Canada's – and much of the world's – bread basket.  

I didn’t see much sign of oil exploration in Saskatchewan, but just before I left I came across a lonely derrick.  I needed gas, but alas there was no gas.