Moose Jaw is a city in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada on the Moose Jaw River. It is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, 77 kilometres (48 mi) west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. It is best known as a retirement and tourist city that serves as a hub to the hundreds of small towns and farms in the surrounding region of Saskatchewan. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw No. 161.
Marked on a map as Moose Jaw Bone Creek in an 1857 survey by surveyor John Palliser, there are two theories as to how the city got its name. The first one is that it comes from the Plains Cree name moscâstani-sîpiy meaning "a warm place by the river", indicative of the protection from the weather that the Coteau range provides to the river valley containing the city and also the Plains Cree word Moose Gaw meaning warm breezes. The other is that on the map of the city the Moose Jaw river is shaped like amoose's jaw.
Moose Jaw is an industrial centre and an important railway junction for the area's agricultural produce. It is known for its giant historical murals on the exterior walls of buildings in its business district, and its tunnels were used for rum-running during Prohibition. CFB Moose Jaw is a NATO flight training school, and is home to the Snowbirds, Canada's military aerobatic air show flight demonstration team. Moose Jaw also has a casino and geothermal spa
