Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Summer 1999
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 19, No. 3, Summer 1999, pp. 224.
Abstract
Discover Saskatchewan provides insights into the fascinating history of Canada's third westernmost province by identifying the historic sites and buildings, plus the museums, that record and present the province's storied past.
A project of the University of Regina, provincial government departments, and history/ heritage organizations, the book presents itself as a travel guide, offering quick access to information on historic sites and heritage institutions for anyone traveling by road. The information is arranged by tourism regions, eleven at the time of printing. Each chapter contains a map of the travel region covered and brief descriptions of its sites, markers, heritage buildings, and museums. Many of the descriptions begin to sound the same because so much of Saskatchewan's preserved history dates from the fur trade and settlement times. Few sites postdate the Second World War, which ought to concern the people involved in preserving Saskatchewan's history: the authors recorded what exists and not what should.
There are frequent gems of information, like the widespread use of the Collegiate Gothic style of architecture at the University of Saskatchewan and other public buildings in Saskatoon. The text is inviting to read, broken up by black-and-white photographs and occasionally by boxes of anecdotal information. Sixteen pages of color images offer additional graphic illustration. The book also includes four appendices: origins of travel region names; prairie trails (provincial trail markers); historic site~, markers, heritage properties, and museums inventoried by region; and a timeline covering the period 18,000 B.C.E. to 1991.
The book's glaring drawback is its omission of an index. How will a reader find all the sites in and around Watson, for example, without one? A traveler would have to know that Watson is in Travel Region #6, then go to that section and hunt through it to find the town. Much interesting material is to be had here, but forcing readers to ferret it out limits the book's effectiveness as a travel guide.
There are plans for another edition likely in 2005, Saskatchewan's 100th anniversary as a province. With the addition of an index, Discover Saskatchewan can become the travel guide to historic sites it claims to be.
Comments
Copyright 1999 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln