In a letter to the Truro newspaper, dated November 12, 1899, Karl wrote: “I came through the wheat fields of Minnesota, North Dakota, Manitoba and Assiniboia, and it is so lonely around there one would go crazy in a short time”.

The Canadian Prairies stretch from Ontario west to the foot of the Rockies in British Columbia. But it’s the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta that we associate the term “Prairies”.

There’s an old Prairie joke: "If your dog runs away, you can watch it go for three days."

It was my first time through the Prairies and I felt very ‘Canadian’ driving past these wheatfields. I almost immediately found myself singing Gord Downie’s lyrics: Sundown in the Paris of the prairies / Wheat kings have all treasures buried / And all you hear are the rusty breezes / Pushing around the weathervane Jesus / Wheat kings and pretty things / Let's just see what the morning brings.

It’s quiet, simple, and authentic. Vast yellow fields of wheat and barley on flat plains as far as the eye can see. Fields of gold stretching for days.

So dear reader, were the photos in this blog from Saskatchewan in 2021 or perhaps Assiniboia of 1899? I’ll let you decide:

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