BC Profiles Abbotsford Alberni Bella Coola Boundary Bay Campbell River Castlegar Comox Cranbrook Dawson Creek Fort St. John Fort Nelson Golden Grand Forks Kamloops Kelowna Langley Nanaimo Masset Penticton Pitt Meadows Port Hardy Powell River Prince George Prince Rupert Quesnel Revelstoke Salmon Arm Sandspit Smithers Terrace-Kitimat Tofino Whistler Williams Lake Whitehorse Vancouver Index Intro to section Victoria Index Intro to section Sites to Explore www.growingtogether.ca www.gov.bc.ca/for Come out O Little Moccasins, and frolic on the snow! Come out O tiny beaded feet, and twinkle in the light! I'll play the old Red River reel, you used to love it so: Awake, O Little Moccasins, and dance for me tonight! Robert W. Service.  Canada's Yellowhead Highway from Lake Winnipeg to Haida Gwaii by Jerry W. Bird Just imagine your car is a time-capsule; cruising down a broad ribbon of Canadiana, in the wake of nomadic hunters, voyageurs, missionaries, traders, sodbusters, fortune-seekers and railroad builders. From Lake Manitoba to the Haida Gwa'ii (BC's Queen Charlotte Islands) , it's a 2600 km journey into history, with Indian encampments older than Egypt's great pyramids, national parks, ancient shrines and battle sites. Ethnic dances and pageants salute every facet of our heritage. Before we dim the lights and start the movie, you're curious to know how the name Yellowhead was derived -- right? In the 1870s, a roving Iroquois guide, dubbed Tete Jaune for his golden locks, gave title to a mountain Pass near Jasper House and gained instant immortality. Fly-Drive Holidays are all the rage, in an age when time has become more valuable than money. You can fly the "Air Highways" to dozens of gateway airports; then take your pick of ground transport. The Yellowhead- Skeena Route, made popular by the Canadian National Railway, offers options and combinations aplenty: Train, auto rental, RV, ferry, pocket cruise or love boat ... seaplane ... you name it. And, if parts of the country you visit along the way are "behind the times," as the above Saskatchewan Tourism poster (above) says, "Count yourself lucky. You've discovered the true Canada." A Taste for the Finer Things: Get out the fishing rod, thermos jug and picnic basket! This great drive might easily be called a Great Canadian Taste Tour. Why? -- the Yellowhead crosses rivers and streams, skirts lakes and fjords, visits orchards, ranches, farmers markets and dining spots. You'll feast on Winnipeg goldeye, rainbow trout, Pacific salmon, oysters and clams, prairie chicken, moose steak, buffalo burgers, award-winning Alberta beef and Okanagan wines. Add the world's finest cereal grains and 1001 varieties of ethnic fare -- how near to heaven can you get? And if you like to sing on long car trips? -- here's a cinemascopic backdrop to enhance any performance; prairie skies, tumbleweed, moose pastures, rippling waterfalls and pristine mountain lakes. Can't you hear Rose Marie's "Indian Love Call" echoing in the distance? Yellowhead: Manitoba and Saskatchewan Section Compared to my first encounter, today's Yellowhead Highway is a magic carpet ride. Many moons ago, heading west from Portage La Prairie, we ran a gauntlet of detours, construction delays and a prairie monsoon. Somewhere beyond Battleford, waves of red muck engulfed my ancient Chev coupe, drying on contact like plaster of Paris. Visibility zero! What to do? -- get out in the gumbo, and wipe like mad each time a semi trailer slithered by. Can't recall the whole ordeal, just that the lights of Alberta's Capital cast a mirage on the midnight sky, taunting me for what seemed like 100 miles away. Editor's Note: In addition to the Federal, Provincial and Municipal Governments, two major associations are involved in shaping the future of the area served by the Yellowhead Highway. They are the Yellowhead Trans Canada Highway Association and the Northwest Corridor Development Corporation. Winnipeg at The Forks: Call it Chicago North, Canada's Crossroads, or simply "The Peg" -- Manitoba's capital is home to 50 ethnic groups, all of which take part in Folklorama -- a Manitoba Mardis Gras. Winnipeg is also the largest center of French culture outside Quebec. Check your map; see how Winnipeg's streets converge like spokes on a giant bicycle wheel. Three historic rivers, the Red, Assiniboine and Seine, merge here at a place called The Forks. Not long ago, trains shunted back and forth, and river craft dumped their cargo at this downtown site. Today it's the "in place" -- an oasis of greenery, scenery and people-watching, with shops, sidewalk cafes, and a river front promenade. To many first nations people, The Forks is where their ancestors hunted, fished and camped for centuries. The Forks National Historic Site preserves that 6,000 year legacy with interpretive programs, displays, sculptures, festivals and special events. Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site: North America's oldest stone fur trading post stands as a lone sentinel on the Red River. Launch-point for York Boat brigades, off to Hudson's Bay, Mackenzie or Athabaska Country, and Red River carts bound for Minnesota, it was a bastion of Empire. Plan to stay awhile -- fresh bread's baking in the stone oven at Governor Simpson's Big House -- dinner's on, and a magic lantern show is about to tell the fort's unique story. It's a short drive to Portage La Prairie, Mile "0" on the Yellowhead Highway. Here, muscles of steel were needed to tote one's canoe overland. Today, Portage is a major food processing center, amidst some of the world's richest farmland. Lake Manitoba's beaches bring fond memories from my air force days. Macdonald Air force base, near Portage, was my hub of activities for several years as an RCAF weatherman --it was a fascinating area. I met a group from Southport at the Abbotsford Airshow and was pleased to learn that the city's other base is alive and thriving as a training and technical center. You'll hear much more about their projects in a future issue of Air Highways Magazine. At Minnedosa, voted Manitoba's most beautiful town, a side trip leads to Riding Mountain National Park. In this "island of the prairies", buffalo roam and 500 species of wildlife thrive. Remember when we were kids, wolves used to whistle -- right? Well you can take wolf howling lessons here, but the Plains Indians' relationship with the buffalo is the top item on the agenda. Bathers can enjoy Clear Lake's sandy beach; those afoot and on horseback, can rove the meadows, aspen groves and evergreen forests on a network of trails.   Saskatchewan: Breadbasket, Good Spirits and Vacation Farms .. Canada's breadbasket begins at the Saskatchewan border. Your first stop is Yorkton, with its Western Development Museum. Further down the Yellowhead is Big Quill Lake, one of 94,000 that dot the face of Saskatchewan. Over half contain fish -- and 90% of these have never been fished. With 68 species hatching each year, small wonder our forebears always kept a spare canoe in the driveway. A side trip from Lanigan leads to Watrous and Lake Manitou, (Lake of Good Spirit), whose mineral waters rank with Europe's great spas. After 18 holes at Manitou Beach Club, a plunge will set you up for dinner. Why not enjoy it at an authentic homestead? Saskatchewan's "Country Vacation Farms" offer Bed and Breakfast with a delicious difference. You even get to help with the chores. Fresh milk anyone? Not your average sod shanty, and well worth seeing is Motherwell Homestead National Historic Park, near Fort Qu'Appelle. Called Lanark Place, it was the gracious homestead of William R. Motherwell, Saskatchewan's first Agricultural Minister and an M.P. in Ottawa. The main residence is an Italian-style mansion, built in 1897 of cut fieldstone. Saskatchewan Country Vacation Farms. Beatrice Magee (306) 672-3970.   A 'Toon' with a Berry Named After it: I went to school in Saskatoon for a term, and have seen the city from all angles -- by bicycle, raft, horseback, train, aircraft and the Chev coupe I spoke of earlier. The Ukrainian Museum of Canada salutes an ethnic group whose names appear in cities, hamlets and hockey rinks throughout the west. A center of scientific research, Wanuskewin Heritage Park has an on-site archaeological lab, diggings and trails devoted to the Plains Indians cultural legacy. An hour north of here at Batoche is a sadder legacy -- one of civil unrest. A Gattling gun, military installations, and grave sites, give testament to the last armed conflict on Canadian soil. An audio visual show at Batoche National Historic Site, north of the city, relives the days during the 1880s Northwest Rebellion, when Louis Reil's Metis faced off against the British Empire. Hollywood's Mountie movies pale compared to the real McCoy. Fort Battleford National Historic Site is an example. Here on the Battle River, Chief Poundmaker's Cree ransacked Battleford, then Capital of the Northwest Territories, sending 400 settlers scurrying to the fort's sanctuary, and Colonel Otter's force off in hot pursuit. Government House,the stockade, and several original buildings remain. Side trip: Prince Albert National Park: White pelicans, bald eagles, beaver, badgers, bison, wapiti and woodland caribou, plus numerous species of fish and fowl -- it's like Noah's Ark. And the hills are alive with flora; meadow rue, prickly rose, high-bush cranberry and wild sarsaparilla, aspen parkland and boreal forest. Small wonder, world famous naturalist Grey Owl, called it home. At Waskesui Lake, a golf course, riding stables, paddle-wheeler cruise, and interpretive center await visitors. Lobsticks -- trees from which Indian trailblazers lopped off the lower branches, mark some of the park's 140 km of hiking path. Alberta: Onions, Easter Eggs and Wild Roses: Yes Virginia, there is a Lloydminster, Sask, and also a Lloydminster, Alberta. That causes a kaffuffle when daylight saving time rolls around. The town's Antique Museum honors England's Barr Colonists, and when later on, you see an onion-shaped dome or giant Easter egg on the horizon, you know you're in Little Ukraine. Vegreville is home of the Ukrainian Pysanka Festival, with its fly-in breakfast and 3 solid days of food and fun. Elk Island National Park: A thatched-roof dacha houses the Ukrainian Folk Museum. There's a fenced preserve, where over 400 buffalo roam, sharing the rolling hills and meadows with moose, mule deer and elk. Poplar, spruce, aspen and birch line a network of hiking trails, and the lakes and sloughs teem with waterfowl. Sandy Beach recreation area has a 9-hole golf course. Alberta's emblem came from the wild roses, which grew in this area along the old Victoria Trail.  Edmonton: City of Big Shoulders How can one help but love a city that jump-started his career. For me it all began at the Edmonton Journal, one of Canada's great newspapers. No place I know has such energy, or capacity to seize the moment. Edmontonians have always been a cocky lot, from their sports dynasties and oil czars, to politics. Even the location is cocky -- perched regally on the North Saskatchewan cliffs; its Upper Level bridge reaching from Alberta's Legislature to the University area. And who else has the audacity to build a shopping Mecca that rates seven mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records? Speaking of highs and lows, Edmonton's river valley, from Old Fort Edmonton to the Conservatory and beyond, is a tourist destination all by itself; golf courses and picnic spots. Get out and stretch your legs; this is the largest greenbelt of any major Canadian city. Edmonton as a boomtown? -- its archives tell of fur traders, riverboats, a Klondike boom, a railway boom, a land rush, and black gold that blew things sky high in '47. Legendary bush pilots, who opened up the North live again at Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. By the way, if you love to shop, or hanker for genuine Alberta Prime Rib -- there's no provincial tax. And if I recall the jingle, "Your credit is fine with Irving Kline." Beyond the outskirts is Lake Wabamun (try saying that with your mouth full), a popular camping spot. Edson and Hinton are major stops en route to Jasper National Park. Rocky Mountain House National Historic Park (side trip) Talk about thriving on competition; the first Rocky Mountain House was raised in 1799. Weeks later, a distant relative, James Bird, helped HBC erect a rival fort. Explorer David Thompson trekked to the Columbia River from here in 1807, and for generations Rocky was the Northwest's richest fur-producing area. The series of forts that stood on these hallowed grounds are remembered by two stone chimneys. Other exhibits include a York boat, Red River cart and fur press. Jasper National Park I first experienced this Rocky Mountain playground by train, sprinting off for souvenirs during a station stop. Ever since it's always been on wheels. By car you can seize the moment, cooling off under a waterfall, standing bug-eyed at a viewpoint, or catching every photo op. Allow at least an extra day for this Rocky Mountain high. Why? --Jasper Park Lodge, the Whistlers , Punchbowl Falls, Pyramid Lake, Henry House, Jasper Lake, Skyline Trail and Pocahontas for starters. My choices are Miette Hot Springs -- hottest water in the Canadian Rockies, and Maligne Lake, a portrait of serenity. Our first lodging was a war surplus tent; the most recent was at Jasper Park Lodge, where the waiter brought dinner by bicycle. Near the mouth of Rocky River, a cairn marks Jasper House National Historic Site, where a supply post was built by the Northwest Company in 1813. The park is a wildlife sanctuary, where deer and antelope play, bighorn guard the peaks, and bears are everywhere. Allow at least an extra day in the Jasper area , and enjoy a Rocky Mountain high you'll never forget.   British Columbia Heading westward, you approach the Continental Divide and Mount Robson Provincial Park, home of the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Near Tete Jaune Cache and Valley of a Thousand Falls, the Yellowhead develops a split personality; one branch swings south along the North Thompson and Skeena; the other ambles westward to the Fraser-Nechako junction. The first BC. community on our great Yellowhead drive is McBride, in the beautiful Robson Valley. Prince George is a gateway to paradise for wilderness adventurers. Former Mayor John Backhouse beamed with pride when I mentioned The University of Northern BC., the city's newest newest prize. While tourism is booming, PG's economy is forest industry-based. Centrally located, it's a key junction for BC Rail's Cariboo Line and Via's Skeena Run. At Vanderhoof, a side trip leads to Fort St. James, founded by Simon Fraser, the explorer in 1806. At Fort St. James National Historic Site, B.C.'s oldest inhabited community salutes its fur trading past. History lives on at this authentic Hudson's Bay Trading Post, with furs, trade goods, and staff in 1890s attire. One of the west's oldest fur warehouses, a clerk's residence and a fish cache remain. From Vanderhoof to beyond Smithers, it's lake country -- Fraser, Burns , Babine, Rose, Bulkley, Kathlyn and Tyhee Lake to name a few. Smithers, in the heart of the fertile Bulkley Valley has taken on an Alpine theme, and Hazelton on the Upper Skeena is "Totem Pole Capital of the World." At K'san Village, tribal houses feature paintings, screens and carved interior poles, and dancers perform Indian rituals. Historic sites dot this heartland of the Tsmishian, Kitsumkalum and Gitskan, where Emily Carr made many of her sketches. Beyond Terrace, the Skeena, called River of Mists by the Gitskan, widens into a broad lake, meeting the Pacific at Port Edwards, site of the 1889 North Pacific Cannery  I first saw Prince Rupert from the deck of The Princess Louise, a CPR ship that plied the Inside Passage to Alaska, just 64 km upcoast. The harbor was alive with canneries, fishing fleets, coastal ferries, deep-sea ships, and a huge grain elevator. Today, you can take the world's second steepest gondola ride, enjoy an archeological boat tour, or board BC Ferries' Queen of the North for a 15-hour cruise to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. The Museum of Northern BC has totem pole carving on site, and 10,000 year old works of art. Outdoor activity abounds in some of the wildest country on the continent. Canada's Galapagos: So you think you've conquered the Yellowhead, right? ..Wrong!--- there's still a short trip by sea to the Haida Gwa'ii, our Western Mile "0." From ..Prince Rupert your voyage to the "Misty Islands" is a salty experience. These fog-..shrouded waters of the Haida Gwa'ii or Queen Charlotte Archipelago teem with finny ..fare -- salmon, herring, halibut, rockfish, mussels, crab, starfish, sea urchin, octopus. Armadas of Gray, Humpback and Killer Whales skip along the surface. Seabirds abound, and near Cape St. James, sea lions romp and play. Isolation from the mainland has given rise to a unique subspecies of wildlife. Gwa'ii Haanas National Park Preserve is also called South Moresby. Since the park has no roads or facilities, visitors must be self sufficient. Anthony Island's abandoned village, Ninstints, is a UN World Heritage site. There are over 500 archeological and historical Haida sites. Now you've earned bragging rights: We hope your pictures turn out great, especially the wildlife scenes (nudge, nudge). As the sun sets on the Haida Gwa'ii, and your kayak rocks gently on the tide, we'll turn off today's movie and bid good-bye. If you take the trip, send us a postcard. We're sure you'll savor every moment -- and are likely to plan many happy returns! Check our Air Highway Supermap: Why not consider a ferry trip to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island and back to the mainland via Victoria or Nanaimo? Contact Yellowhead Highway Association, Edmonton: 403 426 5078, or the Canoe Network (705)-647-207		Alaska Highway Dawson Creek Fort St. John Klondike Memories Whitehorse Anchorage Yellowhead Winnipeg Saskatoon, Edmonton Jasper, Kamloops Prince George, Prince Rupert Sandspit Columbia Valley Cranbrook, Golden Radium Banff Jasper Sea to Sky Highway Whistler Adventure Rails 10 part series
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