The Dead Sea of Canada

The healing powers of Little Manitou Lake have been known for centuries.  The water is full of minerals including potassium, magnesium and of course sodium - it's about half the salinity of the Dead Sea.  The Assiniboine people tell stories of being cured of smallpox after drinking and submerging themselves in the water of Little Manitou ("good spirit").  And the lake has been a tourist destination for more than a century.  

It's an easy drive from Saskatoon or Regina.  Visitors can take the waters or cover themselves in the mineral-rich mud at the edge of the lake, and still be home for supper.  But while it will float a human body, the lake doesn't support much life except for brine fish.  

It's a terminal lake, created by receding glaciers at the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago.  Water comes in from the surrounding hills, but it doesn't flow out, so salts and other minerals build up.  Beneath the shale bottom of the salty lake is a fresh water aquifer that supplies the area's drinking water.  

The lake was frozen solid when we went up for a Christmas getaway, but the indoor spa was open.  Although it was rebuilt in the last 20 years, the Manitou Springs Resort seems to have adopted the service model of an eastern bloc workers spa, circa 1963.  It doesn't help that the indoor pool is tepid and the colour of weak tea.  Signs assure visitors the colour is due to the minerals, but why does that kid over there have a blissful look on his face? 

                       

The surrounding village has rather more charm than the resort itself.    It's a short walk along Lake Avenue to Danceland, built in 1919 and rebuilt a decade later by Wellington White.  He had the idea to put in a sub-floor, cover it with at least six inches of horsehair, then top it with hardwood.  The resulting bounce is still a thrill for dancers. 

Across Lake Avenue from Danceland, nestled along a little creek, is Wellington Park.  There's a bandstand, a couple of stone ovens and picnic tables.  The grounds are dotted with sculptures including a turtle and this carved wooden Buddha.

Saskatchewan's main CBC transmitter is located in Watrous, just a few miles down the road.  The saline lake is an excellent conductor, allowing this one transmission tower to broadcast CBC Radio on the clear channel frequency of 540 AM across most of the province.  (The flat topography doesn't hurt either.) In their infinite wisdom, the CBC brass decided that the art deco transmitter building was surplus to requirements and it was demolished a few years ago.

That included the map that covered the interior floor, showing all the CBC transmitter locations across Canada.

Happily, some history has been preserved in the area.  The All Saints Anglican Church on Main Street in Watrous has a stained glass window that, according to one story, was rescued from a church in England to save it from being destroyed by Oliver Cromwell (1599 - 1658).  But Canada's Historic Places says the window is more than likely the work of Victorian architect William Butterfield, who was born 200 years after Cromwell.  The window was donated to All Saints by a church in Wiltshire, and transported to Watrous in 2,000 pieces.

The church was closed when we visited on Boxing Day, so we were unable to see the window in all its glory.  We'll come back in the summer, when we can also roll in the healing mud of Little Manitou Lake.