Town of Chaplin a Worthwhile Stop for Southern Saskatchewan Roadtrips
As you drive down the TransCanada Highway past Chaplin, Saskatchewan, the town sign proclaims the little village to be “the salt of the Earth” — which is true in the most literal sense. The Village of Chaplin is home to a sodium sulphate deposit at Chaplin Lake, which covers about 18 square miles of the area around the village and is the largest deposit in North America. Curious highway drivers can actually see and smell the flat expanse of the lake on one side of the highway and the white piles of raw mineral on the other side, as the plant extracts the sodium sulphate from the bottom of the saline lake. The sodium sulphate found here was deposited in the area thousands of years ago, when seawater covering the prairies began to evaporate and sea salt deposits were left in its place. The mineral is used in products like powder detergents, glass making, textiles, mineral feeds for livestock and more. It’s also an important part of the natural ecosystem of the area. The fruits of the alkaline Chaplin Lake may be the most recognizable thing about the little village nestled in between Moose Jaw and Swift Current, but the sodium sulphate production isn’t the only thing about the lake that draws visitors. Chaplin Lake is also a fruitful spot for avid birdwatchers, specifically those looking for shorebirds during their summer migration patterns in May and August. As the only Canadian part of the Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network, the Chaplin Lake area is one of the most important inland sites for migratory birds in North America. Over 100,000 birds migrate
through the area each spring, as the saline lake provides a perfect rest stop and an all-you-can-eat buffet of tiny brine shrimp, before the birds continue on their north and south journeys. Birdwatchers can expect to see a range of species during a visit to the Chaplin shorebird reserve, including sanderlings, sandpipers and even American avocets, among many others. The area is also an important nesting site for the piping plover and is home to one of the largest provincial populations of the endangered species. The Chaplin Nature Centre, located along the highway, serves as an information centre for those curious about the shorebirds, the lake habitat and the sodium sulphate industry. Over 5,000 visitors stop by the centre each year, many of which also attend the annual Chaplin Lake Shorebird Festival held in
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the spring to support continued habitat conservation in the area. The Chaplin Nature Centre also offers shuttle bus tours of the lake area, where guests are taken along the network of roadways through the habitat area in order to see up close how the birds and the mineral harvesting operation co-exist on the shores of Chaplin Lake. For more information about tours and operating hours, contact the Chaplin Nature Centre at (306) 395-2770 or by email at chaplintourism@sasktel.net. For more information about the Chaplin Lake area, visit Tourism Chaplin’s website at chaplintourism.com.
