Healing and history at Canada’s saltiest body of water, Little Manitou Lake

Just outside the small community of Watrous, Saskatchewan, Manitou Beach sits on the so-called “Dead Sea of Canada.”

“Little Manitou Lake, carved out by glaciers exposing bedrock and minerals that have been absorbed by water over time,” said Jeff Siegfried, community enhancement director of the Watrous Manitou Beach Marketing Group. “It’s called a terminal lake meaning water flowing into it has no way to escape and so the minerals that are in the bed of the lake leach into the water.”

The water is up to five times saltier than the ocean and said to have healing properties. The name Manitou means spiritual force or mysterious being.

Indigenous people first used the water for its healing abilities. Oral tradition suggests the water was used to treat ailments such as smallpox.

“I guess in their day, because they had to move to follow the buffalo,” said Lionel Sproule, Watrous Manitou Beach Heritage Centre chairman. “They left these ill people behind… they would come back by this way a month later and there would be the ill people healed and then carry on with life.”

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Sproule, who managed the spa in Manitou when it opened, has many other stories of the healing waters, including a lady named Lydia from the southern part of Saskatchewan.

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Lydia came to Manitou Beach not being able to walk by herself. She soaked in the water over 10 days and by the end of it, she was able to take small stiff steps.

She moved to Watrous and lived there the rest of her life.

But the water isn’t the only thing Manitou Beach is known for. The land is rich with history and more than 3,000 artifacts have been found along the shore, left by Indigenous people over centuries.

It’s also home to The Salty Cinema Drive-In Theater, one of just three remaining in the province.

“Drive-ins are you know not as in vogue, but it is just another experience that goes on here at Manitou that makes us unique and people are willing to travel for it,” said Lane Manson, overseer of the drive-in.

Just outside the theatre sits a combine from the original Twister movie.

The Manitou Beach attractions bring in people from all over Canada and beyond, with the area seeing about 150,000 visitors a year.

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“I recovered from my hip injury, but I come out here for the water and you know the magnesium in the water, it’s really good and I find that it really works well. I mean last year when I was here with my arm injury, I was in the water and I could do things with my arm I couldn’t do before,” said Bob Dobko from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.

Watch the video above to learn more about Canada’s saltiest body of water.