大象传媒

Steered by his 1899 Appleton鈥檚 Guide, Michael Portillo strikes west across Manitoba into the province of Saskatchewan. High above the prairie at Riding Mountain, Michael discovers how a middle-class British boy from Hastings transformed himself into an influential indigenous naturalist called Grey Owl.

Deep in the prairie, Michael finds a network of railways that once served the wheat farmers of Saskatchewan and learns how communities grew up around the grain elevators used to load the crop on to rail wagons. The Wheatland Express welcomes a new recruit to the sidings on the afternoon shift.

At Manitou Beach, Michael reaches the Dead Sea of Canada, a 14-mile lake three times saltier than the ocean. A Yellow Quill First Nations elder tells Michael about the healing properties of the water, and Michael tries it for himself.

Michael digs into Canada鈥檚 indigenous past at the country鈥檚 longest-running archaeological excavation, discovers an Englishman, whose work earned him the title Canada鈥檚 Wheat King, and, in the cultural hub of Saskatoon, Michael learns how to make a traditional Saskatoon berry pie.

North east of the South Saskatchewan River at Batoche, Michael reaches the battlefield, where in 1885 the French-speaking M茅tis people and their indigenous allies lost their struggle against Canadian control.