Find Out Why Moose Jaw Is Canada’s Most Notorious City

Moose Jaw was introduced to me on a webinar given by Wanderlust Magazine about travelling to the Province of Saskatchewan. I was not aware of the town before this webinar and with the nickname of being ‘the most notorious city in Canada’, it sounded intriguing. We decided to add it to our road trip of the Alberta Badlands and Canadian Prairies and find out why it is so notorious….

Where is Moose Jaw in Canada?

Moose Jaw lies on the plains of Canada, 160 km north of the US Border and 65 km west of Regina in the Province of Saskatchewan. It is based on the confluence of the Moose Jaw River and Thunder Creek and was named by the Indigenous Peoples who originally settled here.

From our base in the Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, the town of Moose Jaw was a three-hour drive east, travelling via Swift Current for breakfast and a fuel stop.

What to see in Moose Jaw

Meet Mac the Moose at Moose Jaw Visitor Centre

On your arrival into Moose Jaw make sure that you start with a trip to the Moose Jaw Visitor Centre, which is on the outskirts of town, just off the Trans Canadian Highway 1 – exit the Highway at Thatcher Drive and head towards the enormous moose statue, Mac the Moose.

Mac the Moose is now the ‘tallest moose in the world’ after his antlers were extended to beat a friendly Norwegian competitor. They claim to have now drawn up a ‘moose truce’ with the competitor town!

The Moose Jaw Visitor Centre has information displays about the town and its history, as well as souvenirs, ideas for things to do and toilet facilities inside.

Take a tour with the Moose Jaw Trolley Company

There is an old-fashioned open-air trolley parked outside the Moose Jaw Visitor Centre which is owned by The Moose Jaw Trolley Company. The Moose Jaw Trolley Company runs various one-hour tours offering stories about the people and places that have made the city of Moose Jaw notoriously awesome! There is also a Ghost Trolley Tour and a True Crime Trolley tour. These can be booked on-line.

Explore downtown Moose Jaw

The Main Street of Moose Jaw is like a blast from the past, with side-by-side wooden frame buildings straight from the Pioneer age; in fact, many of them have heritage status. It really does feel like something out of a movie, however there are plenty of modern things to do including independent shops, café bars, entertainment options and eateries.

There are references to Al Capone all over town – Little Chicago Entertainment (Escape Rooms), Capone’s Cabs, and Capone’s Motel where Al Capone once based himself -and you’ll find out why later in this blog.

Visit the Moose Jaw Tunnels

The Moose Jaw Tunnel Experience offers a fascinating insight to the city’s shadowy past. There is a network of tunnels under the town which have been used for various purposes throughout the City’s history. You can take tours of the tunnels, led by actors who bring the stories to life. There are currently 3 main tours to choose from plus some seasonal ones (Halloween). The two tours we took were:

The Chicago Connection

The Chicago Connection tour highlighted Moose Jaw’s role in bootlegging booze from Canada into America via the tunnels during the US Prohibition era. Gangster Al Capone ran some parts of the operation and used a bar hostess called Fanny to cover up his operation underneath a hostelry on Main Street.

So, Moose Jaw became ‘notorious’ because it was Al Capone’s source of liquour during the US era of prohibition. Moose Jaw was a stop on the Canadian Pacific Railway which allowed Al Capone to distil vast amounts of alcohol in the tunnels underneath the city before transporting it to Chicago by rail. Money from the sale of this booze then helped to fund his criminal activities elsewhere!

The Passage to Fortune

The Passage to Fortune tour highlighted the experience of Chinese immigrants and the challenges they faced when they first came to Canada. Originally brought into the country to help build the railway, once the railway was finished around 1908, the immigrants were taken to the underground tunnels and required to work in cramped, claustrophobic conditions, never earning enough money to be able to pay their way out of the situation or bring their families over to Canada.

Bunker 24

This was the tour that we didn’t do as we thought that 2 tours were enough for one visit. The Bunker 24 tour apparently immerses you into a 1950s Cold War bunker scenario. Another time…

Tip – Make sure that you prebook your tours online in advance of your visit to make sure that you get the times, tours, and dates that you want. They are managing a lot of visitors, so don’t miss out!

Tour the Moose Jaw Murals

There are over 50 murals painted on buildings around Moose Jaw, giving an insight into the history of the city. Some are more striking than others, but it was a nice way to explore downtown Moose Jaw, checking out as many of the murals as possible.

My favourite mural was ‘Living with the Land’ which pays honour to the Lakota Sioux, Cree, Assiniboine, Metis and other First Nations people who made camp in the Moose Jaw Valley.

You can pick up a map of the Moose Jaw Murals from the Visitor Centre which highlights the locations of the murals around town. Alternatively, you can download the full list from the Murals of Moose Jaw website.

Where to stay in Moose Jaw

As we were only in town for one night then we wanted to be somewhere central and so booked two rooms in Grant Hall Hotel via Booking.com.

Grant Hall Hotel

Grant Hall Hotel was built in 1927 and was designed by a British architect who also designed many of the other buildings in town. It quickly became a landmark social gathering place and remained an active hotel for 60 years before closing in 1889. It has been restored as a hotel, but the décor is still in keeping with its original period (think dark wood and brass finishings!), so stepping through the doors immediately transports you back in time. If you want history and period décor, then this is the place for you!

Where to eat in Moose Jaw

We popped into the Déjà vu café (featured on You Gotta Eat Here) for lunch without a booking. It was busy but they found us a table quickly. Déjà vu specialises in chicken which can be cooked in several ways, with over 100 sauce options to choose from. The Milkshake menu was also ridiculously long with about 88 flavour choices – almost overwhelming. Our fried chicken wraps were fine for lunch but the fried pickles, didn’t work for me (personal choice!).

For dinner we visited The Canadian Brewhouse for a Sports bar experience. To be honest, we hadn’t chosen it for the quality of the food but were pleasantly surprised with what we ate – the boys enjoyed some sort of “amazing” brisket sandwich. The evening for us was more about relaxing and checking out the Canadian sports on the screens – American Football, Ice Hockey, plus the Paris Olympics which were still on when we visited. It was a pretty chilled evening and fit our Canadian mood very well.

Breakfast on our final morning was at Veroba’s Family Restaurant as we were in search of an all-Canadian breakfast where maple syrup featured highly. Pancakes were ordered, which were as big as our faces. One would have done, two was too much, I have no idea how you could eat a stack of 3!

Reflections on our visit to Moose Jaw

We stayed in Moose Jaw for one night but two would have been even better. This would have given us time to take one of the Moose Jaw Trolley Tours and enjoy something in the outdoors such as Kayak on the Moose Jaw River or walk the trails in the Wakamow Valley.

I concluded that there is a lot more going on in Moose Jaw than you realise at first glance – throw in some Moose Jaw Warriors ice hockey, art at one of the museums and a stroll around Crescent Park in town and you could be busy for quite a few days in this ‘notorious’ city.

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