My partner/spouse wanted to take a trip for a few days, noting that I had been out to the Alaska Panhandle without her.
I agreed, asking her to choose the route. She chose Estevan and then to Moosomin,
The road to Weyburn and then Estevan gave us a glimpse of drought-stricken crops. Stands of grain are mostly short.
Some alfalfa fields yielded a few big bales but up to 70 per cent of plants are now brown and dead.
At Estevan we went to view the King Print exhibition at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum.
The King Print story shows how hard work and chance can lead to a significant business opportunity.
Andrew King operated a weekly newspaper and print shop at Rouleau, just down the road from Moose Jaw in an era when circus companies performed from one small town to the next across North America.
One day a desperate circus owner came to see King. His circus posters had not arrived. Could King help him?
King spent the night carving graphics and fonts of type from wood and produced a poster for the circus.
The circus owner was so grateful he took all his poster business to King and within a while King was printing posters for circuses across North America.
King moved to Estevan, operating King Print and the weekly Estevan Mercury newspaper.
The Doerksen family, which bought the business from King, donated some of the carved type and posters to the Estevan Art Gallery. The Gallery featured them for its 45th anniversary.
Next door to the art galley/museum sits a two-storey wooden building that was the first North West Mounted Police post in the Estevan district at a place called West End.
On one interior wall of what was likely the jail, a replica of the nearby Roche Percee rocks was created.
The unique sandstone rocks are a provincial park.
The building contains artifacts from the early Mounties and a collection of police uniforms as well as information on Treaty Four.
From Estevan it was off through Oxbow, Carnduff, Gainsborough and Redvers to Moosomin.
We stopped to stretch our legs at Redvers and checked out the log cabin gift shop.
They serve a delicious saskatoon pie and lots of friendly talk.
The couple at one table used to live in Moose Jaw. One couple has a daughter-in-law from Moose Jaw and one fellow has a daughter in Moose Jaw.
I was reminded of the song Is There Anybody Here From Moose Jaw? written for the city's Centennial.
Crops east of Estevan are much better with lots of corn fields and some large sunflower fields.
Ron Walter can be reached at [email protected]
