This one will need editing. Or extending. Or something. I’m most certainly writing individual chapters for the four sections mentioned at the end (Abandoned Homes, Schools, Churches, and Cemeteries).
I was stuck on this one a bit. I know what I wanted to say, but kept having road blocks with writing it. I am a student of building one’s creativity. I am a big believer in this. Each person is different. But certain creative “muscles” can be worked with daily rituals. Some make sense. Some seem silly. All are essential.
If interested in this subject, contact me and I could recommend several books. Or at least check out the author of some of the books I’ve read on this topic Mason Currey and his Subtle Maneuvers substack (like this one). He posts every other Monday morning.
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Prairie and Valley Scenes
Flyover space.
That’s what most Canadians consider Saskatchewan and the other prairie Provinces of Alberta and Manitoba. In the US, maybe Western Kansas is comparable. As in, who lives there and who cares. Flyover people are only concerned with getting from Vancouver to Toronto.
Which is fairly inconsiderate, if not typical big-city arrogance when you consider how close-knit the 1.2 million people spread across the landmass called Saskatchewan might feel. Sask is like one great big small town. Everyone knows of everybody.
Folk/jazz music, and art legend Joni Mitchell is from Sask. I’ve been a fan of hers since my teen years in the 1980s while growing up in Houston, thanks to my high school photography teacher Mr. Sanders. He taught me more about music than any of my high school music teachers, or my music professors in university (thanks again, Mr. Sanders). Upon moving here over a decade ago, I figured the chances of being one degree of separation away from Joni Mitchell must be pretty high since the population is extremely small. Sure enough, a local friend of mine in Fort Qu’Appelle grew up with Joni (Joan Anderson) and attended two different schools with her. They still keep in touch. Excellent. I’m one degree away from Joni. I feel bliss.
The population of the city limits of Houston Texas, where I grew up, is about double of Saskatchewan. And the greater Houston area totals around 7.3 million. Years ago, some of us foreign parents in my son’s Grade 3 class were asked to give a brief presentation about our homeland. One mother (Paul’s wife) did a talk about Japan. Another, on Romania. My talk was on Texas. I figured the best way to reach them was talk about both 1) the size and 2) the population of Texas in comparison to where we were all living.
Texas and Saskatchewan have a comparable physical size…
Saskatchewan: 269,000 square kilometres
Texas: 296,000 sq. Km
But not in population…
Saskatchewan: 1.2 million people*
Texas: 29.5 million people**
So Saskatchewan has the same space, but way fewer people to fill it. Therefore, flyover space. Or so the masses assume.
This sparse population spread thinly across a prairie landscape is the key ingredient to many of the attractive features that make gravel biking through the Qu’Appelle Valley area so desirable. Evidence of prairie life by the descendants of European Settlers is everywhere.
Abandoned homesteads - There are countless amounts of abandoned houses and farmyards on the prairies. Many of these can clearly be seen from the roadside.
Schools - A fraction of the old one-room school houses are still standing in the prairies. But most former school sites are tagged with some sort of marker stating such.
Churches - The abandoned churches on the prairies are not as mysterious or elusive as schoolhouses. These are all well documented and often cared for by a distant denomination with loose ties. Even local farming communities will pitch in resources to replace a roof or such in order to keep the building from dissolving from natural elements.
Cemeteries - Many of these remote burial grounds are on the grounds of the church. But most are in completely isolated locations. And often, only 10-20 plots are present, indicating that it was a private family cemetery, with public access.
Biking through the prairie grid roads allows us to see and enjoy the things that one would miss on a fly over.
* as of 2023
** as of 2021
Very interesting read!❤️👍🏻