On Saturday July 16, 2011 Phil and I went on the Big Muddy Tour. It was a beautiful sunny (and hot) day for the tour. Thank goodness the United Church had booked an air conditioned Stagecoach Bus.
When we boarded the bus at the RM office it was already quite full with passengers from Weyburn. The bus also stopped in Ogema and picked up some more passengers, as well as our tour guide, Florence Galbraith. In Bengough we picked up our last passenger.
Our first stop was at Castle Butte, then we stopped at the Buffalo Effigy. Then it was off to Big Beaver for lunch. After lunch we walked over to the museum at Big Beaver and the store.
Our next stop was at the Old Porch Gallery. Tamela Burgess shared some of the outlaw stories from the area with us and then we toured the gallery where she has her artwork, some of her daughter’s photography and other items. There were also some photographs of Mantracker when they did an episode of the TV show at the ranch. Tamela has written a book about the colorful history of the Big Muddy entitled “The Big Muddy Badlands Past to Present“.
Our final stop was at the Paisley Brook SD #3434 school which was open from 1916 to 1957. On our drive home door prizes where drawn for.
A big thank you to the United Church for sponsoring this bus tour. Phil and I really enjoyed it and would recommend that if you have not seen the Big Muddy you should definitely take a tour of the area.