Well, the town of Moose Jaw has nothing to do with mooses or jaws but comes from the Cree word ‘moosegaw’ for ‘warm breezes’. Moose jaw used to be a lonely trading post in mid Saskachewan until the railways transformed it into a bustling prairie town in the 1880s. It’s claim to fame is a little-known gangster bringing his criminal escapades north from Chicago during Prohibition in the 20’s. Al Capone – his guns, his goons, his gin, his gals – had a secret world in the underground tunnels of Moose Jaw. Now I didn’t realize just how much money Big Al made: a $100 million a year! That’s an amazing amount of money. We took a tour through a maze of underground spaces which was informative and very entertaining. Our guides would drop into character every once in a while. We learned that the tunnels were originally made and used by Chinese immigrants who, after working on the railroad and with no job or return ticket to China (as had been promised), still had to repay their fee for their original passage from China. The ‘coulee’ as they were disrespectfully referred to worked for a pittance in the underground in laundries or burlap factories trying to pay off their debts. They were persecuted by white people, and even though they endured intolerable working and living conditions below, they never ventured above ground. Eventually immigration laws changed but not after may more years of hardship for the Chinese.
From here, we set off on the 650km journey to Winnipeg to see our friends from Vietnam – Wes and Amanda!
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