Delving underground into the facinating history of Moose Jaw

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 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 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.

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 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.

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

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. Photo credit to Jared Robinson

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prohibition-era Chicago. As an icon, Capone represented the collapse of law and order in Chicago during the 1920s. It was a kill or be killed world. Capone was always in danger. When activity in the city became too hot, Capone was rumoured to escape north to Canada to hide from American authorities. Taking a train across the border to this small city on the prairie with an unusual name— Moose Jaw.

As a railroad divisional point, with mysterious tunnels under the surface, it would have been a perfect distribution point for his operation. Saskatchewan was a perfect place to export booze as its border wasn’t as watched by American authorities as it was in other areas of Canada. Some Moose Javians have sworn they glimpsed “Scarface” himself relaxing here. A local barber claimed he cut Capone’s hair—twice. A Moose Jaw dentist pulled out Capone’s wisdom teeth or so he said. But when Capone was questioned about his affiliations with Canada, he gave one of his most famous quotes: “I don’t even know what street Canada is on.” There are many other stories connecting Capone with other small towns in Saskatchewan where he was known to visit stills and those people were sworn to secrecy. Who wouldn’t doubt that these individuals feared for their lives and wouldn’t breathe a word about their relationship to Capone? Needless to say, whether the stories are true or not, the tunnel tour adds another dimension to the high level of secrecy and corruption that was happening on River Street back in the day. A few years ago, Regina filmmaker Kelly-Anne Riess brought Grand-niece of Al Capone, Deirdre Capone to Moose Jaw to film a documentary “Finding Al,” which follows the evidence trail that connects Al Capone to Moose Jaw. Deirdre’s grandfather Ralph was Al Capone’s partner in crime and number three on America’s most wanted list. Her great Uncle Al was number one on that list. Deirdre has fond memories of them both and remembers them speaking about the Canadian prairies where they bought their booze to smuggle to the U.S., which was under prohibition. For more information on the documentary “Finding Al” visit https://www.facebook. com/FindingAlADocumentary/ or watch the preview of the documentary at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=N4XRBCf3sM0 Privately, to his family, Al Capone referred to the Canadian prairie as God’s country because of its big open skies and a government that for a time encouraged the export of Canadian liquor to the United States, even though America was under prohibition.

World War Two and looking to the skies

Moose Jaw’s airspace is a perfect place for training combat aviators. The railroad may have given the city its initial prominence, but its modern history has been dominated by flight. The Moose Jaw Flying Club was first established in 1928, and enthusiastic pilots soon built the city’s reputation for flight training. As conflict loomed and the war effort became the utmost priority, the wide-open skies and perfect climate conditions attracted even more attention. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was created in 1939. Flying Club members were some of the first instructors. Between 1939 and 1945, over 131,000 crewmen — French, Dutch, British, Czech, and more — were trained in Canada, leading FDR to call Canada the “aerodrome of democracy.” Many of those crewmen attended Service Flying Training School (SFTS) No. 32 Moose Jaw. SFTS No. 32 is now home to 15 Wing Moose Jaw. The Canadian Forces’ 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, the Snowbirds, can

be seen sometimes twice a day during their training season. As part of NATO Flight Training in Canada, pilots from a dozen allied nations still train at 2 Canadian Forces Flying Training School, Moose Jaw, alongside Canadian Air Force pilot cadets. The history of Moose Jaw’s World War and Cold War prominence is told in “Bunker 24,” the latest Tunnels of Moose Jaw tour, picking up where Chicago Connections left off. The tour resembles a museum, packed with artifacts and stories sourced from military antique stores, storage rooms at 15 Wing, the Canadian War Museum, local military historians and veterans, and more. Offering a theatrical and immersive glimpse into three fascinating periods of Moose Jaw history, the Tunnels of Moose Jaw are not to be missed.

Photo Tourism Saskatchewan

Photo credit to Jared Robinson