Greenwood BC has an rip-roaring past and is home to a huge number of historically significant buildings. Known as Canada’s “smallest city” it’s a great place for a history buffs to explore and in this trip we take a brief look at the remains of the giant BC Copper Company...
We’re often asked how many bear encounters we’ve had. One would think a lot yet in spite of spending the last ten plus years in the woods the answer to this question is actually surprisingly few. We’ve seen lots of signs and do so nearly every trip, we’ve spotted bears...
The Red Deer River valley is like a magnet to me. It’s an oddly beautiful place and I love the interesting landscapes, but it’s also home to a good number of historical sites that can be explored. On this trip I take a look at the East Coulee area which...
Located not far from Writing on Stone Provincial Park, Masinasin Alberta is nothing today and even at its peak (if there ever was a peak) was never much of a town to begin with. On the lonely and expansive prairie there is precious little to say there was ever anything...
These photos, dating from waaaay back in 1990, show a very interesting place, the Moyie River Falls. It’s a fascinating spot, not just because it’s scenic, but also because of the history. The immediate area is a well know gold producer and is pockmarked with old mine workings and both...
Bits and bites are a wonderful little snack, a nice mix of flavours and textures. Here we duplicate that theme and this bits and bites post included subjects like a locomotive painted in CPRs traditional tuscan red and grey livery, and old Ford F600 that still works for a living,...
Produced in the 1970s yet looking thoroughly modern even today, the GMC motorhome is a much sought after vehicle by collectors. It’s smooth and pleasing lines, its functionality and innovate features make it stand out amongst its contemporaries. It’s a real head turner and futuristic in every aspect! Introduced in...
Rounding out this series we’ll take one last look at the vast machinery collections seen at the Pioneer Acres Museum in Irricana Alberta. In the past we looked at trucks, restored and not, along with construction and road machinery. This time around we’ll examine farm tractors and they have a...
Old and abandoned farm vehicles are a magnet to photographers, professional and amateur alike. Often found at the edge of a field or by an ancient barn, they tell a story, sometimes a sad one, that begs to be explored and captured. By using these twelve useful tips anyone can...
The ghost town of Lumberton BC was once home to a large sawmill operation. It was an orderly place, unlike like most mill towns in the province, and bits and pieces of it still remain. There are the mill buildings, which still stand, along with bits and pieces from the...
The Greenhill Mine site is a slice of history, a long abandoned but nearly complete coal mine and surface plant from the past. An operating museum by the time it closed in the late 1950s, it’s as though time just stopped here. A designated historical site, the elements and vandals...
Doukhobors are often associated with Northern Saskatchewan or maybe the Grand Forks, Castlegar and Nelson regions of BC, but other colonies existed in Alberta, including one named Anastasia, located near the towns of Arrowwood and Shouldice. Founded in the mid 1920s the colony lasted into the 1940s before finally disbanding....
A mishmash is a jumble of things blended together into a nice mixture. The mishmash of articles includes subjects like an old steam locomotive, an evergreen that looses its needles, rock ovens used by railway construction crews and a nice little waterfall. 1) West Canadian Collieries #1 is located near...
Bolers are small, they’re minuscule, they’re tiny in fact and this example is not all that much larger than the shopping cart and motorcycle that sit in front of it. This bone white Boler was seen in Calgary Alberta, in September 2011. Boler: A small cute-as-a-bug fibreglass travel trailer made...
Seen here is an example of a Fairbanks Morse model H16-66 locomotive. Referred to as a “Baby Trainmaster” by railway geeks, but never officially by the company that made them, this brawny engine is painted as CP Rail 7009 and is one of only two examples of this model extant....
This day has us in the very south of Kananaskis, up by the headwaters of the Oldman River, having a gas on Mt Gass. Our goal was the Galena Miracle Mine which sits along a ledge on the mountain’s north flank. Alas though the incredible winds this area is famous...
Visiting the Alberta Railway Museum near Edmonton is like dying and going to heaven for a train geek like me. Their collection is so extensive covering many different eras and railways and one day is hardly enough time to explore all the equipment on display. This museum is located just...
Chris rushed in excitedly and showed me this comparison, but after a short pause, his look changed. It's that confused expression one gets just before the face-palm, when they realize something they did just doesn't add up.
One year shy of a century separates the two images but as it turns out, they're not even of the same building. The top is Westmount School and the bottom McDougall School, both in Edmonton and not far from each other.
It took this long to realize we'd been shooting at the wrong place all this time! The two schools were built in the same year and very close in design, so it's still an interesting comparison. We had a good laugh and we'll give Chris a mulligan on this one.
Looks like we're going have to head back for a do-over.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photos: 1924 and 2023. Submitted by Connie.
It's amazing how many of these Canada Centennial Maples Leafs still exist out in the wild across the prairies. We could fill an album with the ones we've photographed. It seems rural folks embraced patriotism with more fervor than their urban counterparts, but that's just an observation.
This example was found in a small Saskatchewan town. When they placed this up above the community hall there was a certain optimism that's not seen now. Today, only a handful of people call the community home, and it's that close to being a true ghost town. Almost sixty years in place and this memorial to a 100 year celebration is still here.
If our readers have found any of these while out exploring, please share in the comments. We'd love to see them.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2014. Submitted by Connie.
Billy Clark’s Cabin in Meadow Creek BC and it dates back over a century. Now at the local museum it formerly stood in a valley a little to east and on the shores of Duncan Lake (now Ducan Lake Reservoir).
Billy was a trapper, hunter, and woodsman. All he had was this tiny log house, a small plot of land, the surrounding wilderness, and his wits for survival. Nothing more. That spirit of self reliance seems to be a lost art today.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Submitted by Connie.
Both Chris and I both grew up in the malaise era for cars and get giddy when we spot one from that time out in the wild. It's like meeting an old friend. This '80s beauty was found out in a hiking area of Kananaskis and by all appearances, looks to be driven regularly.
The malaise era is marked by cars with uninspired design, quirky traits, hobbled performance and often questionable quality. Depressing stuff. This Cutlass is probably one of the better GM cars of the time, and both Chris and our son Will have owned examples in the past.
Have a malaise era story or photo to share? Post it in the comments!
Out in nature with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Submitted by Connie.
We come over many rises on a the prairies and on doing so surprised by many interesting things. This one caused a double take.
This lonely locomotives sits at the then very end of track outside Leader SK and was out of service at the time. Guess they socked it away out of sight to forget about it. We found photos showing it in service the year before our visit but here it was cold and dead.
Since this photo was taken, the Great Sandhills Railway has extended the track across the road and set up some kind of transloading operation. In years passed, the track (under CP ownership) continued west all the way into Alberta, but that's a distant memory.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2014. Submitted by Connie.
The messages have been coming fast and often. No, the book we produced a couple years back is not being published after all, in spite of appearing on many websites recently. Oddly some are showing it with the cover from another volume altogether. Please don't order and it must be a glitch.
The other two books shown in our capture are available however (and are awesome) and were produced by some friends. Interestingly, Chris contributed to each and those you can order.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Submitted by Connie.
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