Venturing out from the lake
Although I wonder if the goat trail was navigable if the weather was like it is today with a good inch of rain. I suppose the mud is still the same today as it was in the 1950s, so if it was raining you just would not make it that year and if you did manage to get out,you wanted to get the river ferry when he was on your side or there was a further delay and if it rained while you were gone, you headed back early. One has to realize these outings were really the only time these people ventured out, other than the regular trips to local General Store in Whelan for supplies and the mail which was only six miles away. Was it the snake oil sales man, candy apples or the bingo which drew them to town or just the anticipation of good food and a day of socializing? I am not sure, but the lure was strong. Today campers in the Ministikwan Lake campground use the St. Walburg Blueberry Festival as an annual quadding event heading out for a day on the trails, rallying at the festival for a cool one with a slice of pie. The first year we headed for the festival we came within three miles of St. Walburg. Not really knowing the trail we turned back, opting to make another trip and secure the route. Since then it has become an annual event with Brian or Don leading 15 to 20 riders on one of the most memorable rides the area has to offer, through muskegs, road sides and along the famous ’never had a track laid gateway to the north, railroad grade.’ It’s an infrastructure, make work project used to attract settlers to the area which never materialized although the settlers did come, only to be duped by the government of the day. Today when you see the grade on a map and you have quadded on it, you can definitely visualize what a spectacular train ride it would have been through the northern Saskatchewan forest. |
