Halifax: August 27, 1912 <<< >>> Victoria: October 17, 1912
| Today's Statistics: | Travelling from Swift Current, Saskatchewan to Maple Creek, Saskatchewan | |||
| Distance: 152 km | Driving Hours: 3 h | Fuel: 33.5 l | Weather: Sunny | Temperature: Min. 7 Max. 26 |
Before visiting the mall, the Reo stopped in at the Swift Current Seniors Care Centre, where a large group of seniors awaited them. The seniors enjoyed seeing the old car and reminiscing about their own days on the road.
Swift Current is an historic south Saskatchewan City located along the Swift Current River. In the late 1800's it was an important trade centre, since it was located along the railway. Much trade was carried on, by ox cart, between Battleford, to the North, and Swift Current. Some of this trade was in buffalo bones. The C.P.R. Dam on Swift Current Creek was built in 1888 to ensure a good water supply for the steam powered trains that ran on the C.P.R.
Today Swift Current is sometimes called "The Frontier City." The Swift Current Broncos junior hockey team has produced many N.H.L. players, including former Islanders star Bryan Trottier, Dave "Tiger" Williams, and current N.H.L. star Joe Sakic.
Just outside the city is the Swift Current Hutterite Colony. The Hutterites came to Canada many years ago to escape religious persecution and have set up their own communal farms.
The afternoon's drive took the Reo to Maple Creek, a small town whose motto is "Where the past is present." Along the way the travellers noted that the scenery was beginning to change from the wheatfields of Regina and Moose Jaw to the rolling hills and cattle ranges of southern Alberta. A few oil pumpers were at work alongside the road near Gull Lake.
Maple Creek has a number of historic buildings and is not too far from Fort Walsh, the original headquarters of the North West Company. The Fort is now restored and open to the puublic.
A typical prairie scene - the grain elevator, the railcars, and the fields
... A Hutterite woman pauses to watch the Reo go by in downtown Swift Current
On this day in 1912 ...