Moose on a Leash

This story starts in 1911
Sukanen arrived in Saskatchewan
on the edge of a changing world
built on hardship — war, and the crushing dark

Faraway Finland was his homeland
People called him The Crazy Finn, and The Noah of the Plains
But at first… he broke the prairie sod with his bare hands
dreaming of building a new house for his family

After building a house, he walked to Minnesota only to find his family gone
Along a weary, broken path, at last, he found his boy
He wanted to bring him back to their new home
But the solid land border stood, in the way of their reunion

Late at night, when the world falls silent
Longing comes and blurs his sight
Reunited with his boy ,  by a hidden bay
Aboard a grand ship they sail away

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For this dream, he scavenged scrap and timber
He built a furnace, and forged every part he needed
Tink-tink, click-clack… he hammered away day and night
Toiling for more than a decade
Until…

Sukanen built a steamship with his own hands,  on his homestead
From scratch, on the dry and struggling prairie
With the vessel complete,  he named it Sontiainen
He dreamed of sailing it across the wide ocean,  to bring his kids home

His Sontiainen was two stories high and twenty tons
He hammered Heavy stakes,  deep into the prairie grass
He laid the wooden rollers , beneath the giant bow,
He and his horses , cranked the steel cable hard and slow

With the horse sweep turning , round and round
He forced his Sontiainen yard by yard , across the parched ground
Then he unshackled the cable , pulled up the deadman stakes
walked fifty yards ahead , new anchors to make

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Then—he tied the cable again, hitched the horses to the beam
through the mockers’ laughs, and bitter Scorn
day after day, repeating the toil
As a whole year, rolled by
He and his steamship gained Just Three Miles…

Ah
Still, he dreamed of sailing it 1,000 miles, to Hudson Bay,
sailing into the Atlantic Ocean

Late at night, when the world falls silent
Longing comes and blurs his sight
He reaches Helsinki, on his Sontiainen then
Reunited with his kids,  he’s home again

When even his horses collapsed , he tied the towing rope
around his 6 foot 6 frame , like a moose on a leash
He dragged his ship Inch by Inch
Yet he wanted to sail 1,000 miles to Hudson Bay,
sailing into the Atlantic Ocean

Late at night, when the world falls silent
Longing comes and blurs his sight
He reaches Helsinki, on his Sontiainen then
Reunited with his kids,  he’s home again

But in this Harsh and Indifferent World
Dreams were too crazy, often Unheard
He was eventually, taken away for treatment and care
While Sontiainen lay abandoned on-the prairie

Decades later…
Moon Mullin, Dick Meacher, and Volunteers from Moose Jaw
rescued and restored Sontiainen
Now, tourists take photos beneath the “Moose on a Leash” sign on Main Street
And seven miles south of Moose Jaw, Sukanen’s Sontiainen rests quietly

Standing beneath it, stepping into his world
Suddenly you see, There is Nothing like this , On the Earth
Born from dust and scrap , through a decade of one man’s toil
Your soul is shaken to the core
But they rest in silence now

Only the prairie wind Remains
still whispering the story across this land

Woo
Look in those stories

Sukanen becomes the Mooseman , leads many moose
They pull Sontiainen , toward Hudson Bay
At last, he reaches Helsinki, aboard Sontiainen
With his family around him, home once again

Oh Moose Jaw