Moose Jaw


Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw No. 161.
Moose Jaw is an industrial centre and important railway junction for the area's agricultural produce. CFB Moose Jaw is a NATO flight training school, and is home to the Snowbirds, Canada's military aerobatic air show flight demonstration team. Moose Jaw also has a casino and geothermal spa.

History

and Assiniboine people used the Moose Jaw area as a winter encampment. The Missouri Coteau sheltered the valley and gave it warm breezes. The narrow river crossing and abundance of water and game made it a good location for settlement. Traditional native fur traders and Métis buffalo hunters created the first permanent settlement at a place called "the turn", at present-day Kingsway Park.
The confluence of the Moose Jaw River and Thunder Creek was chosen and registered in 1881 as a site for a division point for the Canadian Pacific Railway, whose construction was significant in the Confederation of Canada. The water supply there was significant for steam locomotives. Settlement began there in 1882 and the city was incorporated in 1903. The railways played an important role in the early development of Moose Jaw, with the city having both a Canadian Pacific Railway Station and a Canadian National Railway Station. A dam was built on the river in 1883 to create a year-round water supply.
Marked on a map as Moose Jaw Bone Creek in an 1857 survey by surveyor John Palliser, two theories exist as to how the city got its name. The first is it comes from the Plains Cree name moscâstani-sîpiy meaning "a warm place by the river", indicative of the protection from the weather the Coteau range provides to the river valley containing the city and also the Plains Cree word moose gaw, meaning warm breezes. The other is that the section of the Moose Jaw River that runs through the city is shaped like a moose's jaw.

Military presence

The area surrounding Moose Jaw has a high number of cloudless days, making it a good site for training pilots. The Royal Canadian Air Force under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan established RCAF Station Moose Jaw in 1940. After the war, the RCAF remained in the community and used the facility for training pilots through the Cold War. The facility changed its name to CFB Moose Jaw in 1968 and is now Canada's primary military flight training centre and the home of 431 Squadron.
CFB Moose Jaw's primary lodger unit is "15 Wing". In the Royal Canadian Air Force the lodger unit is often called 15 Wing Moose Jaw. The base usually holds an Armed Forces Day each year.
The Saskatchewan Dragoons are a reserve armoured regiment with an armoury in the city's north end.

Royal presence

Moose Jaw has been visited by many members of the Royal Family. Edward, Prince of Wales, who owned a ranch in Pekisko, Alberta, visited in 1919, 1924, and 1927. Prince Albert, future king and father of Queen Elizabeth II, paid a visit in 1926. King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth visited during the Royal tour in 1939. Queen Elizabeth II first visited in 1959, and has come to the city a few times since.
The Earl of Wessex became Colonel-in-Chief of the Saskatchewan Dragoons of Moose Jaw on visiting Saskatchewan in 2003, when he congratulated the regiment on its "contribution to Canada's proud tradition of citizen-soldiers in the community." Involved in peacekeeping operations in Cyprus, the Golan Heights, Bosnia and Croatia, the regiment has also provided aid during floods and forest fires in the prairies. The Prince returned to visit his regiment in 2006.
The Earl of Wessex also inaugurated the Queen's Jubilee Rose Garden in Moose Jaw on his visit in 2003. Other royal connections to the city include King George School and Prince Arthur Community School, both named for members of the royal family. Before it shut down and became the separate Cornerstone Christian School, the South Hill school was formerly named King Edward Elementary School.

Climate

Moose Jaw's climate is transitional between semiarid and humid continental Moose Jaw's winters are long, cold and dry, while its summers are short, but very warm and relatively wet. The coldest month is January, with a mean temperature of, while the warmest is July, with a mean temperature of. The driest month is February, in which an average of of precipitation falls, while the wettest month is July, which brings an average of. Annual average precipitation is.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Moose Jaw was on 5 July 1937. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 4 February 1907.

Government

Moose Jaw City Council consists of an elected mayor and 6 city councilors. From 1881 to 1903 the community was represented by a Town Council and thereafter by City Council.
Moose Jaw City Hall, on the 2nd floor at the old Moose Jaw Post Office, has been council's home since the late 1960s
Provincially the city is represented by two MLA and federally by one MP.

Neighbourhoods

These neighbourhoods are divided into four community associations: South Hill, East Side, North West and Sunningdale/VLA/West Park.

Demographics

Moose Jaw's population was 33,274 according to the 2011 census, which showed a very small increase from 2006.

Economy

Moose Jaw is a city of 33,000 at the intersection of the Trans Canada Highway and Highway 2. A Snowbird aerobatic jet and Mac the Moose are large roadside attractions on the No. 1 highway at the tourist info center. Moose Jaw Trolley Company offers trolley tours of Moose Jaw. Temple Garden's Mineral Spa, Tunnels of Moose Jaw, and History of Transportation Western Development Museum. are major sites of interest. The juncture of Moose Jaw and Thunder Creek produced the best source of water for steam engines, and Moose Jaw became the CPR divisional point. Large-capacity concrete grain terminals are replacing the smaller grain elevators that were numerous along the highway, sentinels of most communities along the route. Improved technology for harvest, transport and road construction have made the large inland terminals more viable economically. The rural governing body around Moose Jaw is Moose Jaw No. 161, which serves 1,228 residents and includes the Moose Jaw Canadian Forces Base. Meat-processing plants, salt, potash, urea fertilizer, anhydrous ammonia and ethanol producers abound in this area with easy transport access to the Trans–Canada Highway.
The Town 'N' Country Mall is Moose Jaw's only indoor shopping centre.
Many retailers and grocery stores operate in Moose Jaw. These include Federated Co-operatives, Safeway, Giant Tiger, Canadian Tire, Real Canadian Superstore, Walmart Canada, Staples, The Brick, Rona, McKarr's Furniture, Peavey Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart, PartSource, Mark's Work Warehouse, Your Dollar Store With More, Dollar Tree, Home Hardware, Castle Building Centres Group and Westrum Lumber. The fourth Army & Navy Stores store in Canada operated on Main Street from 1933 to 2000. Beaver Lumber had a location on High Street until the company was bought by Home Hardware and the store was converted to Castle Building Centre.
In 1917 a group of local residents banded together to purchase enough automobile parts to build 25 cars. These were to be manufactured under the name Moose Jaw Standard. Each member of the group received a car, but no further buyers were found, and production did not continue.

Arts and culture

Visual Arts

The Moose Jaw Art Guild is a community arts association made up of local artists dedicated to exhibiting, educating and fostering appreciation for visual arts.

Museums

Moose Jaw is home to one of four Saskatchewan Western Development Museums. The Moose Jaw SWDM museum specializes in the history of transportation and has a Snowbirds gallery.
The Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village and Museum is south of Moose Jaw on Sk Hwy 2. The car club at Moose Jaw agreed to the restoration of Tom Sukanen's ship at their museum site. Sukanen was a Finnish homesteader who settled near Birsay and hoped to travel home again on a ship he assembled near the South Saskatchewan River. The Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village and Museum features a typical village replete with pioneer artifacts and tractors, cars and trucks restored by the Moose Jaw car club, and is run by volunteers.

Attractions

Tourist attractions include the Tunnels of Moose Jaw, The Moose Jaw Trolley, the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort, The Western Development Museum, Casino Moose Jaw, Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, Yvette Moore Art Gallery, the Murals of Moose Jaw, and the historic downtown. Every July the four-day Saskatchewan Festival of Words showcases top Canadian writers in a wide variety of genres. The weekend after Canada Day, the free three-day Sidewalk Days Festival draws tens of thousands to Main Street. The Snowbirds flight demonstration team is based at CFB Moose Jaw, south of Moose Jaw in Bushell Park, where the now defunct airshow was performed every summer. It will be brought back in 2019.
Moose Jaw has many parks. Crescent Park is downtown and features a creek, picnic tables, library, art museum, playground, outdoor swimming pool, water park, gymnasium, tennis court, lawn bowling field and an amphitheatre. Casino Moose Jaw and Temple Gardens Mineral Spa are across Fairford St. E. and 1st Ave. NE. from Crescent Park. "Wakamow Park" follows the Moose Jaw River and features both natural and maintained areas. There are many trails throughout the park for hiking and cycling as well as picnic tables, barbecues, a burger restaurant and two playgrounds. There is also an RV park, known as River Park Campground, which was founded in 1927 and is the longest-running campground in North America. Canoe and kayak rentals are available across the road from the campground. The Moose Jaw Canoe and Kayak Club has been around since the late '90s and is inside the campground.
Old Wives Lake, a saline lake is 30 km southwest of the city on Highway 363. Buffalo Pound Lake a eutrophic prairie lake is 28 km north on Highway 2 and is the city's water supply. Buffalo Pound Provincial Park is on the south shore and can be accessed by Highway 202 and Highway 301.

Tunnels of Moose Jaw

A network of tunnels connecting buildings in downtown Moose Jaw was constructed beginning around 1908. They were originally built as an underground steam system that was abandoned. The tunnels were used to hide Chinese railway workers escaping persecution during the Yellow Peril or unable to pay the government-imposed head tax. Entire families lived in the tunnels and worked at above-ground businesses in exchange for food and supplies. The tunnels became a hub of renewed activity in the 1920s for rum-running during Prohibition in the United States. They were reported to have warehoused illegal alcohol that was shipped to the U.S. via the Soo Line Railroad. The tunnels were also used for gambling and prostitution, all without interference from the corrupt police. There has long been anecdotal evidence that American mobster Al Capone visited Moose Jaw or had interests in the bootlegging operations. No written or photographic proof exists of Capone's presence, but several firsthand accounts from Moose Javians who claim to have met him have been documented. Capone's grandniece also confirmed he had been in Moose Jaw before his 1931 conviction for tax evasion. In the 21st century, the city capitalized on this notoriety to restore the tunnel network into the Tunnels of Moose Jaw, a tourist attraction that opened in June 2000.

Sports and recreation

As in most Canadian cities, hockey has played a large part in Moose Jaw's sporting culture. Baseball has also been an important part of Moose Jaw since its first days; the city won the territorial championship in 1895. Most recently, the 2004 Junior All-Star team won the Canadian Championship and became the first team from Saskatchewan to win a game at the Little League World Series.
Notable Moose Jaw teams include:
Defunct sports teams
Local institutions include five high schools and 15 elementary schools. The schools are in the Prairie South School Division and the Holy Trinity Catholic Schools.
École Ducharme offers preschool to grade 12 and is Moose Jaw's only Francophone school.
École fransaskoise de Moose Jaw offers French Immersion from preschool to grade 9.
Moose Jaw is also home to a campus of Saskatchewan Polytechnic.

Infrastructure

Health care

Moose Jaw Union Hospital, part of the Five Hills Health Region, was the main health care provider for the city since 1948, but closed in 2015 and was replaced by Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital in the city's northeast end. The new location was picked in part for its proximity to the Trans-Canada Highway. The Wigmore Hospital uses LEAN methodology to save time and money in healthcare.

Security

The Moose Jaw Fire Department is a 57-member fire and rescue service that provides fire suppression to the city and CFB Moose Jaw. It has two stations, North Hill Fire Station and South Hill Fire Station. It is also contracted out to CFB Moose Jaw to provide structural fire suppression services.
Ambulatory services is provided by Five Hills Health Region, which operates an EMS station in Moose Jaw; non-emergency services are provided by St. John Ambulance.
The Moose Jaw Police Service provide policing with 54 sworn members for the city and hold both municipal and provincial jurisdiction, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Transportation

Moose Jaw Transit provides local bus service to urban areas of the city. This small system operates four routes from a downtown hub on weekdays between 7:15am and 9:45pm and on Saturdays from 7:15am to 6:15pm, with no Sunday or holiday service.
The bus fleet was replaced in 2008 by new low-floor accessible vehicles, under the federal government's one-time public transit capital funding program.
Moose Jaw Municipal Airport is 7 nautical miles east-northeast of Moose Jaw.
CFB Moose Jaw's airfield is also used by civilian aircraft, with civilian operations at the base referring to the facility as Moose Jaw/Air Vice Marshal C.M. McEwen Airport.

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