Today we were traveling over the the precambrian shield or Laurentian shield "a large area of exposed igneous and metamorphic rocks that form the ancient core of the North American continent". We probably transitioned onto this geological feature sometime yesterday but it became more evident today with frequent outcropings of rock visible in the wet lands on the side of the road. The shield is rich in minerals and was the impetus for the founding of the twin towns of Creighton and Flin Flon on the Saskatchewan - Manitoba border. These towns originated in 1914 when Tom Creighton discovered a massive copper/zinc ore body on the site of what would be these two towns. Flin Flon incorporated as a town in 1946 and granted city status in 1970.

The name Flin Flon was originally given to the Creighton's mine and was eventually applied to the nearby town. The name itself is derived from the main character, Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, from the 1905 novel Sunless City in which Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin takes a submarine to the bottom of a bottomless lake and discovers a subterranean civilization.

On a completely different note. No doubt the most exciting part of the day, even though it only lasted about 20 seconds, was witnessing a lynx or bob cat take a bird from a roadside drainage ditch. As we were approaching the junction of highways 10 and 39 we saw an unidentifiable animal on the road. As we got closer it became clear that it was a cat of some form but too large to be a domestic cat. Then its short tail became clear, then we noticed that it was crouching. Before we could get a camera out it sprang off the road, there was a splash of water and we got a glimpse of the cat with bird in mouth rushing into the forest.

Update - after a visit to the museum in Thompson we decided that the animal we saw was definitely a lynx. It was too big for a bob cat and did not have spots.