My Name is Gidget

There was a wedding yesterday, but not until the evening. So, what to do. I was tempted to sit in my room and read all day. That option was rejected for getting up and                                              getting going to breakfast with family that were gathered. So much visiting! I was invited to go along with two families of nieces and nephews to a tour of The Tunnels of Moose Jaw. Beneath Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is a honey comb of tunnels that were built around 1908. There are two specific areas of interest that have been developed by the city of Moose Jaw - Chinese immigration history and the fascinating rumours about Al Capone and rum running in the prohibition years. Much of the tour is accurate history especially for the Chinese who did much of the heavy lifting for our country. For Al Capone’s story, the actual facts are as sketchy as any self-respecting gangster would have it.

The tunnels we traveled through are the original tunnels, narrow, poorly lit and spare. The history of the Chinese immigration paints a very, very shameful picture of Canada’s past. Although individuals from many races coming into Canada have been discriminated against, the Chinese were discriminated against the longest. Our little band of 22 tourists were the designated ’coolies’ or Chinese labourers. We were introduced to our deplorable living quarters by a dreadful woman who gave us a mere taste of what their lives were like in the depths of these tunnels. The hopes and dreams of young men coming to Canada were forced into the dark to become scarred emotionally and physically, while they had to pay a head tax of $500.00, pay their ‘coolie broker’ the required rate, send money home to their families all on a wage of $0.35 an hour. There was definitely no kindness to the abuses that these strong men endured.

In the Al Capone tour, our numbers were only 15 and we were entertained with the fragile facts of this story. Characters played specific parts and brought members of the tour into the story. I was one of the first. The name given to me was Gidget (my young nephews will always know me by that name). I really didn’t do anything but seemed to be a place holder in the story. We were toured through the sumptuous tunnel rooms of Al Capone and his rumoured rum running business. Hidden doors, secrecy and sounds of gunfire accompanied us. This tour was quite amusing and yet, it also showed us a world where there was little kindness in this struggle for power and money.

Both tours ended at the gift shop where requisite souvenirs were purchased. When all was said and done, we went for gelato and fudge!

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired 

by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.”

~ Mark Twain