17-Jul-2001 -- After our successful visit to 51°N 107°W earlier in the day, we decided to tackle the next one to the west, 51°N 108°W since we were practically there. From Lucky Lake we continued west on Highway 42 then took Highway 342 towards our confluence point. This highway passes through the Coteau Hills and several times along the way we said we hoped the confluence point was situated somewhere in the hills ... if for no other reason, to break the monotony of flat prairie land we have encountered on all our other confluence visits. On the west side of the hills we came to Clearwater Lake, a small resort area situated in what seemed like the middle of nowhere - more or less an oasis on the prairie.

As we got closer and closer to our location, it became quite clear that once again we were going to be out on the flat prairie ... with just a few rolling hills around us. Thanks to Saskatchewan's grid road system we found ourselves within a couple hundred metres of the site. Much to our surprise and amazement it turned out to be in the middle of another field of Desi chickpeas - adding another layer of oily residue to our shoes and jeans (see 51°N 107°W for first layer). We walked the 288 m into the field, found the required spot and did the necessary photographs. The confluence was situated in a low spot in the field and since the only real view of anything other than a small portion of field was to the east and south, we decided to walk back up the rise we had just come down and take our other pictures from there ... at least something could be seen to the north and west from that location. In our picture to the north west you will see in the distance a large farming operation. We decided we would investigate it. It turned out to be one of Saskatchewan's many Hutterite communities ... the Kyle Hutterite Colony. We stopped and spoke to a couple of the men from the colony and learned that they had been in that location for about 30 years. This particular colony consisted of about 110 people and along with raising pulse crops they also had chickens, geese, pigs and a dairy cattle herd. We were informed that they were among the first in the area to plant pulse crops. The colony is totally self sufficient and even includes their own school where the children are taught both German and English.

Scouring the area for further sites of interest we found there really wasn't much else there that was truly noteworthy so we turned south on Highway 4 towards Swift Current and supper. On our way we passed through Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park at the extreme west end of Diefenbaker Lake. It appeared to us that to the east of the bridge we crossed was the lake while to the west was the South Saskatchewan River.

We soon found ourselves in Swift Current where we enjoyed a well earned supper at a local restaurant. From there we headed east along the TransCanada Highway back to Moose Jaw. The most difficult part of the trip home was passing within 50 km of 50°N 107°W and not going to it. At that highway junction it was getting close to sunset and we felt it was best to leave it for another time.

We dropped Gladys and Grant off at their home in Moose Jaw and made our return trip to Regina arriving shortly after 10:30 PM. According to our GPS odometer we'd covered 698 km and been gone for a total of 12 hours 22 minutes. Another enjoyable day of confluence hunting behind us. Now, to start plans for the next one .......