On her website the author has a
post about inspirations for her in writing the book which include landscape
photos - http://www.diannewarrenauthor.com/book-inspiration/
The book opened with a 100 mile
horse race from pioneer days much of which took place in the Great Sandhills.
The same sandhills were in the contemporary part of the book.
Tourism Saskatchewan describes
them:
The Great Sandhills of southwestern Saskatchewan are a
unique 1900 sq km area of active desert-like sand dunes. Native grasses and
small clumps of trees such as aspen, willow, and sagebrush flank the dune
formations. Mule deer and antelope frequent the area.
Some dunes
reach 15 – 20 metres in height.
In addition
to wildlife several thousand cattle are pastured in the hills for several
months of the year.
Oil and gas
exploration takes place in the hills.
About 20
years ago our family had a summer trip around the province which included a
stop in the Great Sandhills. Used to either bush or prairie it was an unusual
experience to climb up the pure white sand hills and feel we were in a desert.
Warren’s
photos above capture those hills which often have grass and/or trees at
the base of the dunes.
A huge rock
is further featured in the book. Buffalo and now cattle rub up against the
rock. While rocks are not special in much of the world they are a rarity in the
prairie.
Warren
provides a photo of Standing Rock, a large rock on the prairie near Hazlet,
Saskatchewan. It is a glacial erratic and stands out in a plain. In fact, it
was used as a landmark by settlers of the area. It is 3.35 meters high and 9.14 meters long.
I have been
to Hazlet to play Twilite baseball but I have not seen the rock.
I admire how
Warren effectively incorporated geographic features of our province into Cool Water.
Bill - Thanks for sharing that natural beauty. I know what you mean about the rarity of rocks on the prairie; Standing Rock looks majestic. And those sand dunes are amazing, too. But to me, the most amazing thing is the variety of landforms and life that you see in just one province.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. Our province has a lot of space. It is 1,225 kilometers (761 mi) and 627 kilometers (390 mi) along the southern border with the United States.
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