This article we’ll be looking at a small brick school house, a very photogenic one in fact, located in the tiny village of Netherhill Saskatchewan. Constructed just over a century ago, it’s been many, many decades since classes were last held here. More recently it was used as a fraternal...
Perched atop a small knoll in view of the towering Rockies, St Henry’s Catholic Church at Twin Butte Alberta is well over a century old. No longer used for regular services, but still well maintained, the fine looking building is opened up from time to time for special occasions and...
We’ve been given an old photo, one from the late 1910s or perhaps the early 1920s, or thereabouts (does it really matter), showing a street scene Brock Saskatchewan. We return to the same spot where it was captured oh so long ago, to see what we can see and we’re...
This old grain elevator stands alone in a field, battered and beaten, having been abandoned for many decades. We’ve seen a lot of these structures in our travels and this is perhaps the most sorry example yet. But it has this amazing dignity and elegance, even in spite of its...
Today we look at the former Pool grain elevator in Coleville Saskatchewan, not a really old building compared to some we’ve documented, but still one of interest. Problem, though, it was raining, very hard at times, and we had the choice to wait it out (but we were short on...
When on the road we like accommodations with personality. No five star lodging for us, that’s so terribly boring, not to mention expensive. We’re cheap-ass buggers at heart. Give us a dive motel, hotel, hostel, cabin…whatever…and as long as it’s reasonably clean we’re a happy bunch. We love them and...
Fullerton Loop is an easy hike. Its close proximity to Calgary, in the rolling foothills west of town, also means it’s well patronized and while not the most scenic outing, much of the time you’re in the trees, it has its moments. The high point of the trip, is well,...
It was a good day for Boler spotting, four little eggs found in a few block square area of east Inglewood in Calgary, all within minutes of each other. This is a good neighbouhood to find these trailers and we’ve been hanging around it it for years. When we need...
Pacific and Hayes are arguably two of the most rugged heavy duty makes of work trucks ever produced…PERIOD! Overbuilt and engineered in every way, either could be called upon when the the conditions were not just difficult, but demanding to the extreme. Catering to the logging and mining industries of...
Today’s subject takes us back to the paranoia-fueled days of the Cold War, a long abandoned military radar dome installation in Western Saskatchewan. Its purpose was scouring the skies for approaching enemy aircraft and missiles and was one of a large network of similar facilities, operated jointly by the Canadian...
We’re in Saskatchewan seeking ghost towns and grain elevators and as much adventure as we can handle. Stopping in the tiny community (redundant statement – nearly all Saskatchewan towns, it seems, are such), we find a real treat, a stunning prairie sentinel, all nice and brown, surround by yellow flowers...
The impressive orange boulders we’ll be documenting in this post date back to prehistoric times and can be found at the very scenic Red Rock Coulee Natural Area near Medicine Hat. Located on the lonely Alberta prairies, these rounded masses are spread out over an area perhaps a few kilometres...
Netherhill, a pinhead-sized dot on the map, blink and you’ll miss it kind of place, a mostly forgotten backwater on the great plains of western south-central Saskatchewan. It’s a tiny community, a few blocks square, and a wee bit quaint, as small prairie towns often are. Off the beaten path...
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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