The highways department salt storage tank on Highway Two South to Assiniboia is located on a scenic spot.
From this vantage point the hills are visible far to the south as well as Old Wives Lake to the west. An historic marker briefly tells about the massacre that gave the lake its unusual name.
We popped into Ardill, home of the first hotel in Saskatchewan to get a licence to sell hard liquor and one of the smallest bars in the province. The hotel is closed, the structure deteriorating from the elements.
On a visit to Assiniboia we stopped at the spot, but overcast conditions made for low quality photos.
We headed to Assiniboia which has an interesting museum — the world class Shurniak Art Gallery and the Safari exhibit of African animals in the nearby museum.
Near Mitch’s Meats we drove to investigate an old barn that had always interested us.
More than the barn greeted us. A killdeer kept running head of the car. A horned lark protected a baby and a mourning dove was teaching two babies how to fly
The barn in the wheal field was a treat. A hay sling once sat in the middle loft opening ready to lift the loose hay into the loft. Tin siding that covers the north wall is rusting. Some has fallen off.
Another small outbuilding was left in the trees beside the barn. We wondered what stories the barn could tell about the family that once lived in the yard.
Lunch at Assiniboia was at the local A&W where we tried the nice limited time only fish and chips and we were off.
My suggestion to see Willow Bunch fell on deaf ears so we headed west on Highway 13 then north on Highway 36 past the Rose Valley Hutterite Colony.
South of Crane Valley, we saw a doe and fawn on a hillside then a huge hawk. Hawks usually fly away when a car approaches. Not this one.
The hawk sat there unfazed until I opened the car door and stepped out, then it flew off.
We drove around the hamlet of Crane Valley. The now privately-owned grain elevator still bears the faint Saskatchewan Wheat Pool sign. The elevator was one of the first sold when the rail line was abandoned.
North of the hamlet we saw another large hawk perched on a fence post. This guy didn’t want us invading his space, sitting and screeching eerily at us.
Eventually he flew up still screeching and was joined by a screeching mate we had seen sitting on a nearby rock.
Further up the road we spotted a white-tailed deer on a grassy ridge. We stopped and I got out to photograph it. The deer jumped high in the grass, soon joined by its fawn, as both ran up the hill out of danger from the invading humans.
It was a rewarding four hour drive for wildlife sightings.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
