Road map Russell and Rossburn city surrounding area (Manitoba, Canada)

Stretching in a north-south direction, the 500-m-high ridge  known as the Manitoba Escarpment rises abruptly from the prairies.  Situated on the edge of the escarpment, Riding Mountain National Park  offers breathtaking vistas. West of the escarpment lies an upland of  fertile farmland and rolling hills, drained by east-flowing rivers such  as the Swan and the Assiniboine. Rich in diverse wildlife, this region  traces its human history back 10,000 years, when aboriginal peoples  first hunted bison here.

Binscarth [B2] Exhibits at Binscarth and District Gordon Orr  Memorial Museum's re-create the old-time interiors of a general store, a  school room, and a chapel. The museum also displays a large collection  of pioneer farm implements. The town invites travelers on the Yellowhead  Highway to swim in its outdoor pool, promoted locally as the largest on  this busy route.

Inglis [A2] The newly restored Inglis Elevators National  Historic Site preserves the last remaining row of five 1920s wooden  grain elevators in Canada. Once more than 5,000 eleva-tors-seemingly  permanent fixtures of the prairie landscape-processed and distributed  grain. Today, centralized metal cylinders have replaced the wooden  elevators, and less than a thousand of these remain in use.

MlNNEDOSA [D6]       

Born in the early 1880s, Minnedosa serves the surrounding  grain and livestock farms. A walking tour from the tourist center on  Main Street takes in the Heritage Village. You cross a suspension bridge  over the Little Saskatchewan River to reach the village and its museum,  once a hydroelectric station. The town also boasts an artificial lake, a  popular spot with rowers, and the Oxbow Nature Trail, where birders can  spy yellow warblers, swamp sparrows, and other species.

Neepawa [D7] This community of tree-lined streets is renowned  for impressive buildings dating from its founding years in the late  1800s. A self-guiding walking tour leads to sites such as the 1884  Beautiful Plains County Court Building, the oldest courthouse on the Prairies and the second oldest building in Manitoba. The  Beautiful Plains Museum, once a railway station, evokes the town's past.  Neepawa honors acclaimed novelist Margaret Laurence, born here in 1926.  One of her girlhood home, now a provincial heritage site and cultural  center, displays autographed books, photos, research materials, and  other memorabilia such as the writer's honorary degrees and her portable  typewriter. Every summer, living up to its reputation as the "World  Lily Capital," Neepawa stages a lily festival in July. Some 1,500  varieties bloom in abundance here and in villages such as the Lily Nook,  just 4 km south of town.

Riding Mountain National Park [A4-A6]       

On the edge of the Manitoba Escarpment, this all-season park  occupies almost 3,000 km2 of open grassland, aspen parkland, and boreal  and deciduous forest. From the park's lofty lookouts, visitors can see  across the prairies for distances of up to 80 km. At the heart of the  park, Wasa-gaming on Clear Lake boasts all the facilities of a  first-class resort. The Native cultural village, or "Shawenequanape  Kipiehewin," offers tours, pow-wows, and interpretive programs. The  park's wildlife population includes more than 3,000 elk, as well as  moose, black bear (including some unusual blonde or cinnamon-colored  types), wolves, and great grey owls. In autumn, a park guide takes  visitors on elk-bugling events, which can be stirring if an elk responds  to the guide's bugle call.

ATTRACTIONS       

BINSCARTH       

Binscarth and District Gordon Orr Memorial Museum

BIRTLE       

Birdtail Country Museum   

INGLIS

Inglis Elevators National Historic Site

MINIOTA

Municipal Museum

MINNEDOSA

Heritage Village and Museum

NEEPAWA       

Beautiful Plains Museum Margaret Laurence Home

RIDING MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

Lake Audy Shawenequanape Kipiehewin (Native Cultural Village) Wasagaming townsite

SANDY LAKE       

Manitoba and Northwestern Model Railroad