CHURCHILL POLAR BEARS PAGE 2

THE TRAIN AND ON THE WAY TO CHURCHILL

THIS IS THE RITZ GIVE ME A BOOK I'M HAPPY

WELCOME TO CHURCHILL MANITOBA

I THINK I SMELL HUMAN

UH UH UH UH AHAAAA NOW THE CLOWN

Preview, On the way to WINNIPEG

POLAR BEARS CHURCHILL MANITOBA, page 1

Well we made it to Churchill, POLAR BEAR COUNTRY. These pictures and video clips are from our trip on the tundra. We will make another posting or two with the rest of Churchill.

BEAR COUNTRY
LOLADING THE TUNDRA BUGGY

OH NO MORE TOURISTS

SNOW LAKE, MANITOBA

We spent two nights dry camping at the Snow Lake Mining Museum. A guide did a presentation of how hard rock mining is done as we toured the various displays. Mining towns grow and shrink in size depending of the status of the mines. Right now there are three mines that are not operating but in caretaker status. if the price of the minerals they mine goes up they will reopen. There also has been a significant new discovery of gold so a new mine will be opening soon. The equipment shown below is typical of an early 1900's mine.

The Snow Lake Mining Museum

A diagram depicting the mineral veins and mine shafts. Also a mine elevator

Electric tow engine an dump cars

A multiple drilling machine and digger

An early snow mobile

Wekusko Falls and suspension bridge

THE PAS, MANITOBA

Things got more rugged as we moved north so we "dry camped" at the casino for 2 nights. For those of you who are not RVers, dry camping is when you have no water, electric or sewer hook-ups. All of us have generators and holding tanks so we were OK. The casino was very glad to see us and gave each of us $30 the first day and and additional $15 the next day. Ken won about $100. The Pas (shortened from the Cree word "Wapa'skwayaw" which means "uneven tree line"). So as you guessed it was run by the Cree nation. Canada refers to their aboriginal peoples as "first nations" and The Pas is primarily a Cree reservation.

The city started as another fur trading post hundreds of years ago and is today, a small city with alot of unemployed people.

The Aseneskak First Nation casino in The Pas, Manitoba

Here we all are dry camping in the casino parking lot

First Catholic church in The Pas mid 1800's

Christ Church (Anglican)

First Municipal building and first Postmasters house

Polar bear skin and his claws. (We will see them live soon)

Clear lake one of 100,000+ lakes in Manitoba

DAUPHIN, MANITOBA

Dauphin is a small town that we visited on our way to Churchill. It had a great deal of history including the fort which was a replica of a fur trading postti that was in use hundreds of years ago as well as the Ukrainian Catholic church built in the late 1930's. The area has the largest concentration of Ukrainian people in all of Canada and is host to the Canadian Ukrainian Festival every summer. The people were very friendly and hosted a traditional Ukrainian supper for us that included foods like pierogies and borscht; and we were entertained by 3 young girls who take lessons in traditional dance so that their cultural heritage will not be lost.



Fort Dauphin replica, Original fort 1883

Ukrainian Catholic Church, built 1936-1938

Ukrainian Church preservation society served us a Ukrainian meal.

Entertainment by Ukrainian band and dance group