Ingenuity

Prairie people are pragmatic.  When something needs doing, they get 'er done.   John Marcus, a Saskatchewan blacksmith, is a pretty good example of ingenuity borne of necessity.

After his leg was amputated, Mr Marcus made one using a piece of 2x4, a door hinge for the knee, one of his old boots and a few other things he found around the shop.  He walked on this leg every day until he died in 1954.  It's now on display at the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw, as are a lot of other examples of ingenuity, including the first ATM in Canada.

When banks wanted to test a new gizmo called the Automated Teller Machine in the mid-70s, larger banks and cities such as Toronto and Vancouver were passed over in favour of the Sherwood Credit Union in  Regina.

The directions were a little more complicated than they are today.  But prairie people are patient, and by 1980 the ATM was a fixture across Saskatchewan.

One thing prairie people may not be so good at is slogans.  For years, Moose Jaw was known as The Friendly City.  There is still a billboard on the way into town proclaiming the fact.

It's not the catchiest slogan in the world, nor is it the most original, being used by several other cities including Austin, Texas and Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  But it is true about Moose Jaw.  People here are downright, unabashedly and charmingly friendly.  

Even so, a few years ago Moose Jaw spent $60,000 to come up with a new slogan:  Surprisingly Unexpected.  Or was it Unexpectedly Surprising?  No matter.  Moose Javians were less than thrilled with the motto.  And this week we learned that it's been replaced, at a cost of only $12,000, with a slogan that would make this man proud.

You probably know that the jovial Chicago gangster Al Capone is said to have hung out in Moose Jaw back in the day.   The stories of tunnels and rum-running may or may not be true.   But now Moose Jaw is branding itself Canada's Most Notorious City. 

Reaction, as usual, is mixed.  Some say that Moose Jaw is notorious all right, but for bad roads and dodgy waterworks.  Others like the idea of being notorious.  They feel it adds a dangerous and mysterious cachet, however sketchy it might be.  

The thing is, Moose Jaw doesn't need a slogan at all.  Spend even an afternoon here and you'll understand why.  The pace is sane.  The people are, well, friendly.  The streets are wide.  The houses are gracious, well-maintained and in some cases more than a century old, such as the Wedding Cake House, built in 1906.   

This city is just plain likable.  And that's downright ingenious.

LINKS:

Western Development Museum:  https://wdm.ca/moose-jaw/