Land of Living Skies

Wind 001

Strong enough to endure even the most chilling blizzard.

Shaped to drift thousands of miles across open rangeland.

Bred to be the monarch of the plains.

A stolid Bison

_{Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

_{P. Frehner}

Wind 002

Icon of the grasslands

_{Elk Island National Park / Alberta}

Wind 003

Old Wives Lake

_Saskatchewan

Wind 004

An encounter in the grasslands

_{Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park / Alberta}

Wind 005

A flock of Pronghorn antelopes

_{Frontier / Saskatchewan}

Wind 006

When the war was over, Mark brought her back to his hometown of Saskatoon. She said she had never heard of Saskatchewan and wasn't completely prepared for the prairies and the harsh prairie winters. As she walked around their home, she asked Mark where the “biffy” was. Her husband took her to the back step and pointed to an outhouse between the trees.

_{T. England / World war II Bride / Saskatoon}

_{Larson Ranch before the great wildfire / Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

Wind 007

“Years ago, in spring, a handful of us rode out to round up cattle that had grazed and drifted with the wind all winter long. With all our grub on packhorses, we went out to ride the endless range for days”

_{D. Hartell / A retired cowboy}

_{Millardfield Farms / Rosedale / Alberta}

Wind 008

Camouflaged 01

_{Backcountry range / Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park / Alberta}

Wind 009

Ambush

_{Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

Wind 010

Dwarfed in comparison with the wide open spaces.

Lost in the infinity of the plains.

A nameless landmark.

An abandoned homestead.

_{Mankota / Saskatchewan}

_{P. Frehner}

Wind 011

“Can we outwait the drought? Some days, you get depressed but it doesn't help. This area has changed a lot. A lot of lights have gone out. We've just got to get through a rough time.”

_{K. Kiciak  / Assiniboia / Saskatchewan}

Wind 012

The wire that fenced the prairies!

_{Flaxcombe / Saskatchewan}

Wind 013

Great Sand Hills

_Saskatchewan

Wind 014

We think that rolling hills are more beautiful than houses made out of brick and concrete. Many people hardly feel  true Mother Earth beneath their feet anymore, and living so far from what was created by the great Spirit they easily forget his law.

_{Walking Buffalo / Stoney}

Wind 015

In a sea of wind 01

_{Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

Wind 016

Restlessly, aimlessly, I drift around. The bloody footprints of my ancestors in the snow. My own boots rotten, the heels broken and worn.

I don't know whose trail I'm following. Is it the Indian's or the white man's?

_{Yellow Bird / Sioux}

Wind 017

You may get up early in the morning and keep moving all day long, and when the sun sets in the west you pitch camp and you may look around and realize that everything still looks the same. That's the truth about being in the midst of nowhere.

_{C. and J. Scoville / Coronation / Alberta}

Wind 018

Sageland

_{Nk'Mip Desert / Osoyoos / British Columbia}

Wind 019

“Isn't it odd that the destruction of a family farm is perfectly legal, but complaining about it isn't?”

_{Shyloh Farms / Davidson / Saskatchewan}

Wind 020

Totems of the old west, trackside grain elevators put even minor places on the map.

_{Laura / Saskatchewan}

_{Canadian Geographic}

Wind 021

All prairies evolved in the presence of periodic wildfires, occasional droughts and grazing bisons

_{Elk Island National Park / Alberta}

_{W. Olson}

Wind 022

Timbergulch Trail

_{Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

Wind 023

……."Make like bisons and press the seed into the ground!"…..

_{Elk Island National Park / Alberta}

_{W. Olson}

Wind 024

Astotin Lake

_{Elk Island National Park / Alberta}

Wind 025

Sitting Bull and his Sioux followers took refuge here after the battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876

_{Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

_{Canadian Geographic}

Wind 026

In a sea of wind

_Saskatchewan

Wind 027

Sageland 02

_{Dinosaur Provincial Park / Alberta}

Wind 028

Nk'Mip Desert

_{Osoyoos / British Columbia}

Wind 029

_{Grasslands / Saskatchewan}

Wind 030

Nk'Mip Desert

_{Osoyoos / British Columbia}

Wind 031

After John Palliser reported in 1857 that a sufficiency of good soil was to be found in the prairies, the homesteaders began to pour in. As the 20th century began, cattle grazed where buffalo once had roamed. Wheat became king of crops until the big drought of the thirties laid the grasslands to waste and settlers had to move further west

_{Nicola River valley / British Columbia}

_{Source unknown}

Wind 032

Broken Hills Trail

_{Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

Wind 033

Nicola Valley

_{British Columbia}

Wind 034

Homestead rules stated, only the “sole head of a family, or any male over eighteen years of age, and is British subject, or declares intention to become British subject, on payment of an entry fee of ten dollars” was permitted to file for an 160-acre homestead. Women were excluded unless they were the “sole head of a family” with minor dependent children. There were also regulations requiring the homesteader to live in a “habitable house” for six months in each of three years and to break a certain amount of land.

_{Larson Ranch / Grasslands National Park / Saskatchewan}

_{Canadian Geographic}

Wind 035

Thompson River

^{British Columbia}

Wind 036

Grasslands National Park

_Saskatchewan

Wind 037

Watrous

_Saskatchewan

Wind 038

Watrous

_Saskatchewan

Wind 039

Mule Deer

_{Dinosaur Provincial Park / Alberta}

Wind 040

You want me to plow the earth? Do you want me to grab a dagger and stab my mother's breast? And when I die, will she still be here to let me rest on her breast?

_{Smohalla / Nez Percé}

Wind 041

At the end of the trail…………

_{Bay of Port San Juan / British Columbia}

Wind 042

Taken by surprise! - The nightstalker

_{In an abandoned barn / Last Mountain Lake / Saskatchewan}

Wind 043

A brave boy goes into the hills and prays for help for his people. A rider on a magnificent animal comes to him and says: “This animal is called the Sacred Dog.”

_Lakota

Wind 044

Ponderous pines

_{Hills of Oliver / British Columbia}

Wind 045

……………Please help me by lending me some money and I will send you my engagement ring and my wedding ring as security…. My two rings cost over a 100 dollars fifteen years ago but what good are they when the flour is nearly all done and there isn't much to eat in the house. In the city I could pawn them but away out here I haven't been off the farm this winter.

_{A pleading letter to the Prime Minister / Benton / Alberta / February 19, 1935}

Wind 046

Second in speed only to the cheetah. Prongs run faster than any other American animal

_{Del Bonita / Alberta}

_{Canadian Geographic}

Wind 047

Sunset House downtown

_{Sunset House / Alberta}