Crash Course on the Moose Jaw Tunnels
Deep below the city of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan lies a network of tunnels from the past. But what is the truth and what is lore?
Did Capone and his gang visit Moose Jaw to smuggle booze into the U.S.? We find out!
Deep below the city of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan lies a network of tunnels from the past. The stories connected to them have turned the passageways into a major tourist attraction. But which ones are true?
Were they really used as hiding spaces for Chinese laborers to escape the racism of the time? Did American gangsters like Al Capone actually use them to smuggle goods during Prohibition? Or were they simply built to move heating oil below buildings?
With the help of a young listener named Leo, we grab our flashlights and head underground to try to find out fact from fiction in the famed tunnels of Moose Jaw.
Key References
- Roots of original Chinese association stretch back to 1880s by Jason G. Antonio, Moose Jaw Today
- Moose Jaw's Urban Legend by Philip Jensen, Canada's History
- Tunnels of Moose Jaw Tour Website
- City of Moose Jaw
- Moose Jaw's Tunnel Vision: Mystery, History, and theConstruction of "Canada's Most Notorious City" by Ashleigh Androsoff, Urban History Review
- Moose Jaw's "Great Escape": Constructing Tunnels, Deconstructing Heritage, Marketing Places by Brian S. Osborne
- Moose Jaw attraction brings gangster past to life CBC News
- Friendly Moose Jaw, Sask. re-brands as 'Canada's Most Notorious City' by Alec Salloum CBC
- Historia Nostra: How fake history is harmful at the Tunnels of Moose Jaw By Erin Isaac
