Left Boissevain around 9 and decided to take route 18 across SK, as we were intending to go to the Grasslands National Park, and 18 looked to be the shortest route. Little did we know that Rte. 18 is not a tourist route. In fact, we had to resort to finding a Cdn/US border crossing to find a toilet! I mean, there is NOTHING on this route, not even a gas station. We figure that most of the grain farmers who remain in this area have their own gas and diesel fuel at their own homes.
In a way it was a rather depressing drive (we finally decided to head north to Swift Current after talking to a couple of local women in Coronach along route 18) because of the number of abandoned ranches. Also, the heavy rains this summer have ruined many of the crops grown in this area....hay, grain, and sunflowers (for oil). The ladies we talked to said that all the young people are leaving the area for Regina and Saskatoon, with some going west to Alberta, in search of jobs. We saw large herds of beef cattle from time to time, but not as many as would be expected. It also appeared that many of the tall grain elevators have been abandoned in favour of smaller cylindrical bins kept at the farms. Trains are few and far between, and have been supplanted by trucks taking the grain to larger holding areas.
Our observations seem to indicate that economies based on resources are in decline everywhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment