#2: [25-Feb-06]

28-Sep-2001 -- We were returning from a trip to Ontario and while making our travel plans had noticed that this confluence was very close to one of the border crossings from North Dakota to Saskatchewan and would not take us out of our way. We decided that we would come home this way and we were able to do so since the backlog at the border crossings had decreased from 12 hours to an hour or less.

North Dakota and Saskatchewan share more than a border. They are both extremely flat! As we approached the area we realized that this was going to be another typical prairie confluence. Since it lies about half way between Noonan, ND and Estevan, SK we thought it would be interesting to have a look at both communities.

Our first stop was Noonan, a typical small North Dakota community. We snapped a few pictures then headed on our way. When we arrived at the border, we were subjected to a fairly thorough going over ... certainly more than usual but, these are unusual times and I was glad to see that a little care was being taken when people cross the border.

Once we had received the green light to continue, I broached the subject of the nearby confluence. I explained the project to the Customs Officer and presented her with one of the "Property Owner" letters. She said that she could see no problem but would have to check it out with her colleague. A few minutes later she came back and said that it would be okay but she would need to Xerox a copy of our driver's licenses "just in case there was a problem in the future". Definitely the first time we have been IDed to do a confluence!

The confluence itself was about 250 m from the Canadian border station on Highway 47. We headed out across the field, through a row of trees, across a small "meadow", through another row of trees and eventually tracked down the spot. Of the ones we've done, I think this one was one of the more difficult to locate. I had left my compass in the van and it would have been very helpful to have had with me in order to get my bearings. The confluence dance took longer than it should have. While I was tracking down the exact spot, getting those desired zeros to show up, Carolyn was busy photographing the area. Interestingly enough, the actual border does not fall right on the 49th parallel but is several meters south of it. We've noticed this is true in other write-ups also.

Having found the spot and taken our pictures, we headed back to the van. Before leaving I went in, picked up our drivers' licenses and showed the Customs Official the pictures we'd taken ... just so they would know we were on the up and up!

Sixteen kilometers up the road was the city of Estevan ... more pictures, a quick bite of lunch and we continued home arriving here about 2:30 in the afternoon. We'd been away 19 days, had driven just over 7000 km and had managed to do two confluences along the way.

The borderline with the U.S. is running about 75 m south of the Confluence.