Sunday, June 16, 1991 - North Shore News - 54

Uranium City, Sask., has its charms

With mining ground to a halt, Uranium settles into quiet living

WHEN YOU tell people from British Columbia you’re go-
ing to Saskatchewan for your holidays they grimace and
say ‘‘but isn’t it all just flat?’’ Well, no, not in the north.

Try telling thein yeu're going to
Uranium City (Okm south of the
Northwest Territorigs border) and
they blurt out “Isn't that a ghost
town?"’ Well, yes and no.

With a population of about 100
it certainly is a ghost of its former
self (2,500 est. pop. in 1984).

But the term ‘“ghos: town’
denotes sadness and there is no
sadness radiating from this
backwoods place.

Sure, plenty of people vacated
when the Eldorado urenium mine
closed up in (98, But those who

stayed have ai heart for the
whispering leaves of the aspen and
birch, the scrubby jack pine

forests where marten and moose
meander, the many lakes and the
whinnyitig loons,

They jive amidst the artifacts of
a once thriving company town —
houses, vehicles, signs and tools
which are now being overcome by
brush or sinking into the dry dirt.

In the town of Uranium City,
whole houses stand as mock
monuments to permanence, the
window panes broken in  spider-
like patterns, car hulls squatting
on the weedy, debris-strewn lawn
like metal dinosaurs.

Papers ruffle and flutter in the
abandoned offices where mice oc-
cupy the stuffing in a swivel chair
formerly warmed by the posteriors
of mining executives.

The only industrial activity is in
the microcosm of the many ant

By Barbara Black
News Reporter

hills which sprawl like under-
ground metropolises among the
human industrial waste of alumi-
num pipes, rusting motors and
derelict cars. If you are a
scrounge, a daydreamer or a
spendthrift it’s holiday paradisc.

There is no road into Uranium
City. You can drive there in
winter when everything’s frozen,
but in summer it’s just muskeg
and lakes encroaching on low-
iying hills. Some people who ar-
rived with the intention of soon
leaving are still there.

It’s an easy-going place, no
police, no traffic lights, no park-
ing tickets — and plenty of
sifence.

The quietness floats dawn on
you and settles in your insides,
It's an openness -~- like being
perpetually suspene in the midst
of an expansive breath. And in
June the air holds the sweet
aroma of the sticky sap from the
aspen trees,

The bug population in Uranium
City, however, has not declined.

On humid days, when the wind
dances in some other place, you
can hear the hovering and
thrumming of hundreds of hatch-
ing mosquitoes and blackflies ris-
ing up from the muddy puddles in
search of running blood.

AUSTRIAN. CULTURAL EVENING

MINI TRAVEL FAIR

at the AUSTRIA VANCOUVER CLUB, Richmond

on JUNE 28th 7-11 p.m.
Travel informatior., dinner, traditional folk music and dances.
Ticket Price: $20.06 {inct. dinner)
FOR TICKETS CALL: SPECIAL TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL 872-3368
OR AUSTRIAN NATIONAL TOURIST OFFICE 683-5805

Round trip transportation available fromm the ROATH SHORE!

) Bayside Inn
AResort

ne Eumuntid larksvitle Ping

Since humans are the main
source of this sought-after
substance, people stay inside on
bug days. The mosquitoes cling
with their hair-thin legs to the tiny
steel squares of the mosquito
screen, Bodies throbbing, tvo

back legs floating in mid-air, they
sit in wait of the thrust of pro-
boscis into warm skin and the
resultant gush of thick red fluid.
Some forms of mining continue to
thrive.

What do you do to pass the
time (not that anyone knows the

time)? Go prospecting for gold.
Go flying. Go fishing.
Fishing is a not just a lazy

pastime. It is both a sedative and
stimulant, and addicting.

Even if you never catch any-
thing there is always the possibili-
tv from moment to moment of the
exhilirating tug of the line and the
jolt. out of aqua-essence into
adrelin-pumping fish frenzy.

in the northern part of Saskat-
chewan there’s an extraordinary
brightness which seems to il-
luminate everything from within,
infusing it with light. Quite the
opposite of our so-called super-
natural province which comes off
as a watercolor wash of greys and
turbid bluc-greens.

And there is an abundance of
cloud formations — hardly ever
those grey B.C. clumps that
resemble mildewed pillow stuffing
~ from skidding puffs of
cumulus io rippling undulations of
altostratus.

People make accusations of
Uranium City and nlaces like it

CI

\UISE

VENTURE TRAVEL
& CRUISES _

CRYSTAL |

A Message To
Uncompromising
Traveliers Everywhere:
Your Ship Has Come tn!

THE
CRYSTAL HARMONY
There is nothing quite
like her in the world.

A VERY SPECIAL SAILING
12 DAY TRANS-CANAL CRUISE
ACAPULCO TO SAN JUAN
AUGUST 4TH TO 16TH 1991

uso $1999” poian
DELUXE OUTSIDE STATEROOM

inclusive of return
airfare from Vancouver

”

that “there's nothing there.

irecisely. That is the delicious
prospect. There is nothing there.
You can almost feel the neutrinos
passing through your body.

There's nothing like it — if you
can get there.

| DISNEYLAND

From Cdn. $199
Round-Trip Air

’ Hotel Packages

Inc. car from ‘Cdn. a | 63

Discover Your World Travel
980-4526 |

A410 East 14th St.§

ref 8641977 |

CRUISING’S BEST VALUES
Day Transcanal from $1,999us
trom $875us

Day Vancouver/Hawaii. . . from $2,350us ij ~
(All include airfare) ,

ok 26- 7245 | YOUR CRUISE VACATION

IS OUR ONLY BUSINESS

OPEN HOUSE FROM JUNE 17 TO JUNE 22
DROP BY TO DISCUSS
YOUR DREAM CRUISE VACATION

JOIM SEARS CLUB...EARN VALUABLE
POINTS...REDEEMABLE FOR

caembership tee...Complete eet ‘at
Sears Travel Service

RECEIVE & ; COMPLIMENTARY 6-month
subscription Globehopper Travel Magazine
— yours at ne charge when you book

your travel arrangements at Sears Travel
Service

— Carnival’s

RUD WEEK GOLF GETAWAY

2 NIGHTS, 2 BREAKFASTS, | GOURMET DINNER, 18 HOLES OF GOLF
125.00 PER PeRSON/DOUBLE OCCUPANCY

Siretch your weekend and beat the traffic! Arrive from
Sunday to Wednesday and enjoy three days and two nights
of spectacular natural beauty on Parksville Bay. !ndcoor
swimming, hot tub, saunas, tennis, and long walks on the
beach. Subject ta availability.

ems ave wc? Valid Sun./Mon./Tues./Wed. Only “til func 27, 1991

Mon.-Thurs. Gol!, fishing & squasti pacxages available

RESERVATION 1-800-663-4232/248-8233

P.O. Box 3000, Parksville, VOR 250

Seniors travel tree

550,690 people work hard to
protect Canada’s endangered species.

You can help too.

For mote nape ny furs cuntgct
Canedian Wiidiite Swderation
tat Caing Amines
Onqwa Catan K7A NY

6.23) 725-2998

Eqstern

avi
es

Cougor .
felis concolor
couguar f

CARIBBEAN & MEXICAN
FLY/CRUISES ace

The ultimate, carefree,
cll-indusive vacation

7 Day “Fun Ship cruises to the CoribLean
& Mexican Riviera that include just about
everything for one, low, affurdabie price.

ICEL” From 5
‘Added sovingson

S\ selected Sears .
A Travel group departures \

By enscamuin Cord eraememedaban}

The "Fur Ships? of

Carnival

NAME oo
ADDRESS cc cee oe eee cee ee ie eee
POSTAL CODE ee

PHONE. ce ce eee ee
MUST BE 19 TEARS OF AGE CFR OVER