05-Jun-2002 -- We left Regina at 8:00 AM to drive 277 km north on Highway 6 to Melfort, the "City of Northern Lights", population 6,000. From Melfort we could do two confluences, one to the west and one to the east. To get to the first one we drove 29 km west on Highway 3 to Kinistino, population 733. The confluence is 5.86 km Northeast of Kinistino. After driving through the town we took gravel Highway 778 north then east. Near the confluence we found a dirt trail through the fields that conveniently took us 213 meters west of the spot.

It was noon when we parked the van. The sun was shining. The temperature was 24°C. The new crop in the confluence field was 10-12 cm high but thankfully the rows were evenly spaced a little more than footstep width apart. We were able to walk carefully along the rows for the 213 meters so that no plants were damaged. It didn't take long to find the zeros and take the pictures.

Back in Kinistino we took a little tour of the town. It is one of the few towns on the prairies that still has grain elevators and it has three of them. Sadly, most of the old wooden grain elevators are being demolished and replaced by large cement "inland terminals". Here grain is collected for shipment by train to terminals in Vancouver, British Columbia or Thunder Bay, Ontario where it is loaded on ships to reach world markets. Kinistino is a pleasant thriving town. It seems to be a center for farm implement sales. There are at least two dealers along the highway with large inventories of equipment lining the sales lots.

On our way back to Melfort on Highway 3 we stopped to read the historical marker 7.6 km Southeast of the confluence dealing with British born Explorer, Henry Kelsey. The inscription read "Henry Kelsey of The Hudson's Bay Company, the first European to reach Saskatchewan, camped in this vicinity during his westward journey in the summer of 1691. While his movements are not precisely known, he probably spent the ensuing winter near the forks of the Saskatchewan River before returning to Hudson Bay in the Spring of 1692." The forks of the river are 26 km almost directly north of the confluence. You can learn more about Henry Kelsey and other early Canadian Explorers here.

Back in Melfort we filled the van with gas and were ready to head east to N53° W104°.