Moose Jaw calls itself Canada’s Most Notorious City. It is a bold claim for a friendly prairie town of around 33,000 people, and it rests almost entirely on a story about Al Capone running bootleg liquor through tunnels under the streets.
We came to find out whether any of it is true. The answer turned out to be more interesting than a straight yes or no.
Moose Jaw is in southern Saskatchewan, about 45 minutes west of Regina on the Trans-Canada Highway. The main draws are the Tunnels of Moose Jaw, Canada’s largest geothermal mineral pool at Temple Gardens, over fifty murals around downtown and Mac the Moose. One full day covers it, two is better. And no, there is no hard evidence Al Capone was ever there.
Moose Jaw is in Saskatchewan, not Alberta, Manitoba or Ontario. It is a common mix-up and an easy one to make, since the name sounds like it belongs almost anywhere in Canada.
It sits in the south central part of the province, on the Moose Jaw River at its meeting point with Thunder Creek, roughly 45 minutes west of Regina along the Trans-Canada Highway and about 160km north of the United States border. It is Saskatchewan’s fourth largest city.
We came in from the west, driving three hours from our base in Grasslands National Park, stopping at Swift Current for breakfast and fuel. Drive times for the whole route are in our road trip planning guide.
Unfortunately, if you believe the official story, then there was no moose and no jaw involved…
The leading explanation, and the one the city itself favours, is that the name comes from the Plains Cree moscâstani-sîpiy, meaning a warm place by the river. The first syllables, moscâ, sound remarkably like “Moose Jaw” to an English ear. The related Cree word moscâs means warm breezes.
That explanation holds up because it describes something true about the place. The Cree and Assiniboine used this valley as a winter camp for centuries precisely because the Missouri Coteau hills shelter it and funnel warmer air through, while the river narrows here and water was plentiful.
The second theory is that the bend of the Moose Jaw River through the city is shaped like a moose’s jawbone. Look at it on a map and you can see the argument.
The third is the one everyone repeats and nobody can support – that a traveller broke a cart wheel here and mended it with a moose’s jawbone. It was a popular tale a century ago. It is almost certainly not where the name came from.
For what it is worth, the surveyor John Palliser marked this spot on an 1857 map as Moose Jaw Bone Creek, which suggests the name was already in use before any of the later explanations were written down.
Here is the honest answer, because most of what you will read online skips it.
There is no hard evidence that Al Capone ever set foot in Moose Jaw. Local historians have looked and found nothing. The RCMP have stated that Capone never set foot on Canadian soil at all. Capone himself, when asked about the place, is reported to have said he did not know what street Canada was on.
The Tunnels of Moose Jaw, who run the attraction, are quite open about this. The recreated Capone hideaway is dressed with furniture bought from local antique shops, and staff will tell you plainly that the exhibit is theatre rather than documented history.
What is documented is far from nothing, though. Moose Jaw’s prohibition era was real:
The bootlegging happened: Alcohol was legal in Saskatchewan while the United States was dry. The Soo Line railway ran directly from Moose Jaw to Chicago. There was a serious trade in liquor heading south.
The city earned the nickname Little Chicago: Not a label everyone here was proud of at the time.
The police were compromised: The chief of police of the era is widely recorded as having turned a blind eye to it.
The Bronfmans were here: Samuel Bronfman owned Saskatchewan hotels and the family profited enormously from prohibition era liquor, later buying the Seagram distillery outright. They were not gangsters, but they were part of the same trade.
There is one Capone thread: Court records in Regina show the gangster Dutch Schultz suing Capone over a shipment of bad liquor, which places Capone's business, if not Capone, in Saskatchewan. There is also a much-repeated story of a dentist's appointment book carrying the name Al Brown, a known Capone alias.
And the tunnels themselves are real, just not for the reason the story suggests. They were built around 1908 to carry steam heat between downtown buildings. Sections still run from the basements of several properties. In 1985 a manhole collapsed on Main Street and exposed a brick-lined chamber that nobody could explain, which is what set the modern legend running.
The city leaned in – Moose Jaw’s official slogan used to be The Friendly City. In 2019 it changed to Canada’s Most Notorious City.
So is it a con? We do not think so. It is a town that has taken a genuine and murky piece of prohibition history and dressed it up with a famous name that probably does not belong. Knowing that in advance made the tunnel tours more enjoyable rather than less.
The tunnels are the main attraction and they are worth doing. They are not a walk-through museum. Actors in costume lead you through the passages and play out the story, which sounds excruciating and is actually very well done.
There are usually two main tours plus seasonal additions:
The Chicago Connection: The prohibition and bootlegging story, including the Capone material.
The Passage to Fortune: The experience of early Chinese immigrants in Moose Jaw and the discrimination they faced.
Bunker 24: A Cold War bunker scenario. We did not do this one, having decided two tours was enough for one visit.
The tour tells the story that Chinese immigrants were forced to live and work in the tunnels. Historians have questioned whether that specific claim is supported by evidence. What is not in question is the discrimination Chinese residents faced in Moose Jaw and across Canada in this period, including the head tax and open hostility. The history is real even where the tunnel setting is uncertain, and the tour handles the subject with more care than the Capone one.
Check current tour times and prices on the Tunnels of Moose Jaw website, since these change seasonally.
Book online in advance: This is the tip we would give anyone. They handle a lot of visitors and tours sell out.
Allow around 50 minutes per tour: Two back to back is a comfortable afternoon.
Consider the stairs and the spaces: The passages are narrow and low in places. Worth knowing if anyone in your group is claustrophobic or has mobility difficulties.
They are on Main Street: Central and easy to find on foot.
We missed this entirely and we should not have.
Temple Gardens Hotel and Spa in downtown Moose Jaw has what is billed as Canada’s largest therapeutic geothermal mineral water pool, an indoor and outdoor rooftop pool fed by water drawn from an ancient seabed more than 1,300 metres below the city. It arrives at the wellhead at around 45°C and is served into the pools at a comfortable soaking temperature.
The source was found by accident in 1910 by drillers looking for natural gas. The city drilled a dedicated geothermal well in 1980, and the spa opened in the 1990s.
Day passes are available if you are not staying at the hotel, which is what we would do next time. The outdoor rooftop section is open year round, and by all accounts sitting in hot mineral water outdoors in a Saskatchewan winter is the whole point.
The hotel is owned by the Peepeekisis Cree Nation and connects directly to Casino Moose Jaw. Check current rates and opening hours directly.
On arrival, start at the Moose Jaw Visitor Centre just off the Trans-Canada Highway. Leave at Thatcher Drive and head for the enormous moose. You will not miss him.
Mac the Moose is the tallest moose statue in the world, a title he reclaimed after a Norwegian rival, Storelgen, was built taller. Moose Jaw responded by having Mac’s antlers extended. The two towns have since declared a moose truce, which is possibly the most Canadian sentence in this article.
The visitor centre itself has displays on the town’s history, souvenirs, ideas for what to do and toilets, and the staff are worth talking to.
Main Street feels like a film set. Wooden framed and brick buildings from the pioneer era stand side by side, many with heritage status, alongside independent shops, cafe bars and restaurants.
References to Al Capone are everywhere once you start looking: Little Chicago Entertainment, Capone’s Cabs, Capone’s Hideaway Motel.
There are over fifty murals painted on buildings around the town, each illustrating a piece of local history. Some are far better than others, and hunting them down is a good way to see downtown properly on foot.
Our favourite was Living with the Land, which honours the Lakota, Cree, Assiniboine, Métis and other First Nations peoples who camped in the Moose Jaw Valley long before the railway arrived. After the tunnel tours, it was a useful reminder of whose valley this was first.
Pick up a mural map from the visitor centre, or download the list from the Murals of Moose Jaw website.
The Moose Jaw Trolley Company runs one hour tours from outside the visitor centre in a restored open-air trolley, including a ghost tour and a true crime tour. We ran out of time and wish we had not. Book online in advance.
More than we realised on a one night stop, and this is the part we got wrong in our planning.
The Snowbirds: 15 Wing Moose Jaw is home to Canada's air demonstration squadron and the NATO flying training programme. The road into town is called the Snowbirds Expressway. If you time a visit around an air show, that changes the trip entirely.
The Western Development Museum: The Moose Jaw branch covers the history of transport in Saskatchewan, from carts to aircraft.
The Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village Museum: A Finnish immigrant built an ocean-going ship on the prairie, hundreds of kilometres from the sea, intending to sail home. It is as strange as it sounds.
The Moose Jaw Warriors: The town's Western Hockey League side. A winter evening at a WHL game is a genuine slice of prairie life.
Crescent Park and the Wakamow Valley: Green space in the middle of town and a river valley with trails, kayaking and walking on the edge of it.
The Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre: Devoted to one of Canada's most endangered birds.
We were in town for one night and wanted somewhere central, so booked Grant Hall Hotel. Built in 1927, it was the town’s landmark social venue for around sixty years before closing in 1989, and has since been restored with the period decor intact. Dark wood, brass fittings, and the distinct feeling of stepping back a century. If you want history over modern comfort, this is the one.
The obvious alternative is Temple Gardens, which comes with the mineral pool included and is what we would choose next time.
Déjà Vu Café: Specialises in chicken with a bewildering number of sauces and a milkshake menu running to dozens of flavours. Busy, and they found us a table quickly without a booking. Our fried chicken wraps were good. The fried pickles were not for us.
The Canadian Brewhouse: A sports bar rather than a culinary destination, and better than we expected. Ice hockey and American football on the screens, and a very relaxed evening.
Veroba's Family Restaurant: Breakfast, and the reason to come is the pancakes, which arrive roughly the size of your face. One is plenty. Two is a challenge. We have no idea how anyone manages three.
Rosie's on River Street: Named after one of the town's more colourful historical characters, which feels about right for Moose Jaw. The food is honest pub cooking done properly, and the flat-top burgers are what people keep coming back for, alongside wings, tacos and local beer. It is a busy downtown spot with a patio when the weather allows, and it turns up near the top of pretty much every local list. Good for a relaxed meal with no fuss about it..
Bobby's Place, Olde World Tavern: An Irish pub-style place downtown that does rather more than the name suggests. Generous portions, proper fish and chips, Yorkshire pudding on the menu, and a friendly, unpretentious feel. There are trivia nights and live music from time to time, so it can get lively. One of the stronger casual options in town and a safe bet for a straightforward evening.
Hopkins Dining Parlour: The one to book if you want a bit of occasion. It is set in a Victorian house full of antiques, the prime rib is the thing to order, and it feels special without being stuffy.
In closing
One night is enough to see the headline attractions. That is what we gave it: two tunnel tours, the murals, downtown, Mac the Moose and two meals. It works. Two nights is better and is what we would do again. The second day would take in a trolley tour, the Temple Gardens pool, and either kayaking on the Moose Jaw River or the trails in the Wakamow Valley.
Moose Jaw has considerably more going on than it appears to at first glance. Add the Western Development Museum, a Warriors game and a walk around Crescent Park and you could fill several days in this supposedly notorious little city
Until next time!
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
