Delving underground into the fascinating history of Moose Jaw
Tunnels of Moose Jaw develops its tours using a combination of historical facts and historical myths to take visitors on a journey through the city’s past — with just a touch of embellishment for entertainment’s sake.
the Canadian Pacific Railway caused a close-knit community to spring up, centered around River Street downtown. When CPR chose Moose Jaw as a divisional point for its railway in the notyet-founded province of Saskatchewan, the city became a boom town — with the largest Chinese population in the region. At one point, there were more than 35 Chinese-owned and –operated laundries in the city, along with several restaurants.
underground railroad capable of bypassing the Chinese head tax. The “Passage to Fortune” tour has recently been revamped to give more recognition to the hard work, savvy business ownership, and cultural contribution of Chinese immigrants in Moose Jaw. The tour is scheduled to re-open in July 2022. Al Capone and the bootleggers During the Prohibition years in the United States and Canada, an incredible variety of legal, semi-legal, and outright criminal organizations devised ingenious schemes to produce, sell, and smuggle alcohol. Canadian prohibitions on alcohol preceded the efforts of US groups — in a way, Canadian bootleggers and smugglers were the pioneers of their industry.
Photo credit to Jared Robinson
An eager group of visitors to Moose Jaw wait to go on the tours in the Tunnels of Moose Jaw ticketing/waiting room located on Main Street.
The original tunnels under Moose Jaw were built to connect downtown hotels with the pivotal Old CPR Station, the center of Moose Jaw’s railroad boom. Some of the tunnels were for passengers staying out of the snow. Other tunnels carried steam piping to heat the downtown core during fierce winters. The question is, what else were they used for? Passage to Fortune: The Chinese Laundries Chinese immigration to Moose Jaw in the 1880s to lay tracks for
However, once the railroad was completed, the Canadian government yielded to discrimination and prejudice from a range of sources. The government looked for ways to stop Chinese immigration, leading to an escalating series of restrictions and Chinesespecific immigration taxes — Canada’s first ethnicity-based exclusion laws. The effort to stop the growth of the Chinese minority culminated in the Chinese Immigration Act in 1923, which banned virtually all Chinese immigrants for 24 years. Tunnels of Moose Jaw’s “Passage to Fortune” tour took visitors on a journey exploring the rumours of Chinese laundries being operated underground to avoid discriminatory policies that made it difficult to work. Other rumours were of secret speakeasies resulting from Canadian Prohibition, or of an
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The stories say bootleggers took over the tunnels from the Chinese, expanding them, adding secret rooms, stills, and even laying tracks connecting to the CP station and on to the Soo Line — and even Chicago. Moose Jaw’s “Notorious” reputation comes from persistent rumours that Al Capone personally extended his Chicago connections to our small prairie town. Al Capone was one of the world’s most notorious gangsters and leader of a vicious crime syndicate that smuggled booze into
