Neidpath Saskatchewan

There is not much left in the ghost town of Neidpath Saskatchewan, just a couple empty houses, some crumbling foundations, a tiny church, and off in the distance, two old grain elevators. As abandoned and forgotten places go, it’s not terribly big nor all that showy, but for reasons neither of us can fully explain, how it all fits together is something quite amazing and almost perfect.

We spent a good deal of time wandering about, we lost ourselves in Neidpath, yet I realize now, we took very few pictures. It’s not that the town isn’t photogenic, it truly is, but I guess we were caught up in the moment. When an experience is so wonderful – we soaked it up, every last drop – the cameras were simply forgotten. Our apologies, now we’ll have to return.

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Scroll down for photos and to comment ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

The town is located in the southwest quadrant of Saskatchewan, was founded in the early 1920s with the coming of the railway. Never growing that large, at its peak it was home to perhaps a hundred folks, give or take. By the 1930s is was already in decline and with each passing decade, fewer and fewer people lived there. Most businesses, save for the grain elevators, closed in the 1940s. Still, a few hardy souls held on for the next few decades.

Full ghost town status did not happen until 2014, right after our visit. As we walked about we bumped into the very last resident, Marshall, a gruff old fellow, who was then preparing to move to a retirement home in the city, in less then a month’s time. Not only was he born here, he lived here almost all his life here and was a wealth of information. He pointed out the former location of the school and other homes and businesses and told us many stories from the old days.

We asked him what he felt about leaving and in a typical Saskatchewan old-timer fashion, trust us he’s the epitome of the that image, he shrugged it off as though no big deal. That blew our minds – a major event in his life and he was nonchalant about the whole thing.

Today all that’s left in “downtown” Neidpath is a couple houses and that fine old church. The latter is a particularly nice building and overlooks the old rail line and the grain elevators a bit to the south (the town and tracks were separated by a few hundred metres, which I find somewhat odd). Any roads in town are now grassy cart paths.

As we explored we felt ourselves being sort of overwhelmed by the very experience. The silence, the boiling gray skies above, the absolute emptiness, the sadness of it all, it was like nothing else we’ve ever felt. It was spiritual, moving, invigorating, draining, fun, sad, and a whole gamut of other emotions all rolled in one, an odd feeling, which admittedly was strangely fascinating. This distraction kept us from shooting more images, which I now regret.

In behind the church we found a 1950s era Austin (UK) A40 Somerset. It’s a rare beast in Canada, mainly because they were not really designed for the tough conditions here and for one were horribly unreliable. I’d love to know the story of this car, but even Marshall didn’t seem to recall how it got there. Funny thing, we found another car of the same model and era, in the same colour, in another ghost town, the following day. Now that’s odd!

This rail line that passed by Neidpath was the Canadian National Railway’s former Gravelbourg branch, built in fits and starts during the period 1912-1924. Early work was done predecessor firm, Canadian Northern Railway. The line made it’s way west from a point south of Moose Jaw, eventually passing through Neidpath before terminating in Swift Current not far away. The section here was abandoned in the early 1980s – some sources say earlier, and some much earlier, but this author has seen a timetable from 1980 showing the line listed in service.

Other parts of the branch still exist today and now belong to the Canadian Pacific Railway, but have not been used for a few years.

The two grain elevators in town are documented in another report (scroll down for link). They date from the 1920s and were closed and abandoned some thirty five years ago, when the railway pulled out. Without a doubt they are some of the best prairie sentinels this author has ever chronicled.

Neidpath was one stop on our spring 2014 Saskatchewan grain elevator and ghost town tour. We spent close to a week exploring back roads in the southwest part of the province in search of history. We saw a lot of good stuff too, but Neidpath was surely one of the highlights of that adventure. It so captured our imagination.

To see the town’s grain elevators, go here…
Prairie Sentinels – Neidpath Saskatchewan.

Some of our favourite ghost towns…
A forgotten place called Comrey.
Rowley Alberta ghost town.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: May, 2014.
Location: Neidpath, SK.
Article sources: Marshall, the last resident, CNR timetables and records, local history records.
Permission should be requested prior to visiting the places we’ve shown here.

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Neidpath SK church

The church, simple in design, yet a a great photogenic subject.

Neidpath Saskatchewan church

The old rugged cross.

Neidpath Saskatchewan

One of a few remaining houses in town.

Neidpath SK

This photo sums up Neidpath experince pretty well.

Church Neidpath SK

I love how the window framed the elevator so nicely.

Neidpath ghost town

A visitor drops by.

Neidpath SK ghost town

If this old bike could speak…

Neidpath Saskatchewan ghost town

We visit on a grey and gloomy spring day.

28 responses

  1. Shelly says:

    Wow!I grew up near here and attended Luxour; the school that used to be here. I didn’t realize it was such an attraction. Great photos.

    • Thanks! Neidpath is amazing and what a cool connection you have to the area.

    • Calvin says:

      Hello Shelly,
      Just wondering if you know where the cemetery’s are in the area? My Great-Great Grandfather homesteaded along with his daughter and son-in-law and the son-in-laws family. His name was August Rode, his homestead was 4 miles south on highway 363 and 2 miles east. The son-in-laws family name was Oldenborger all of their homesteads are on the east side of highway 363 from Neidpath to about 4 miles south. I am looking for his grave site, any suggestions?

      Calvin

  2. Andrea Peters says:

    Hello, I am wondering if you ever found anymore about the Austin behind the church in Neidpath,Sk? My dad grew up there and the car belong to him. We spent many hours walking around Neidpath with my dad as children listening to all his stories. The little metal fence near the car was where my dads house once was. If you want anymore info please contact me. I just seen this page Bc it was shared on fb so I realize it was almost 4 years ago you were there.

    • Now there’s an amazing connection. His car? Wow! Chills! Thanks so much for dropping by our little corner of the internet.

    • Calvin says:

      Hello Andrea,

      Just wondering if you know where the cemetery’s are in the area? My Great-Great Grandfather homesteaded along with his daughter and son-in-law and the son-in-laws family. His name was August Rode, his homestead was 4 miles south on highway 363 and 2 miles east. The son-in-laws family name was Oldenborger all of their homesteads are on the east side of highway 363 from Neidpath to about 4 miles south. I am looking for his grave site, any suggestions?

      Calvin

      • Here’s hoping they can help. I quickly looked up cemetery records and found no one named August Rode buried in the area.

        • calvin says:

          Hello and thanks for your help, just wondering where you looked up the cemetery records? I think his gravesite is at he Church of God site 4 miles south and 1 mile east of Neidpath

          • We used private SK government records. Also checked publicly accessible FindaGrave. Neither lists that name nor that cemetery. That’s not to say either doesn’t exist, but somehow it did not get recorded. That can happen for a million reasons. Still, it’s rare for one to not “officially” be known.

          • Calvin Trost says:

            Good news to share August and Matihilda Rode are buried in the potters field cemetery in Herbert an employee Pam S did a great job going thru the records

            Thanks again for help

          • So happy to hear you found them!

  3. Jason Sailer says:

    This post was the inspiration for me and Becky to get down to Neidpath last spring before it ‘disappeared’ like many small ghost towns. We explored the town site & elevators but didn’t see Marshall. We didn’t go into the church as the steps were pulled away and I didn’t want to venture inside and get stuck. Lots of people stopped at the community mail boxes when we were there, and they wave at us taking photographs and then they’d be on their way. The town site is photogenic being in the valley. Would love to return one day.

    • Love that place. The church stairs were like that on our visit. Marshall said he was moving permanently to Swift, but sightings suggest he’s back in Neidpath often. Yes, one must return!

  4. Andy says:

    Hi Chris & Connie,

    Here’s a link to some of the Neidpath photos I took back in August.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/thebeardenphotography/albums/72157659950453305

    Will post a few more in due course.

  5. Andy says:

    Wonderful background story and photos of this amazing little piece of Saskatchewan history. I just spent a wonderful 2 1/2 hrs here on Tues, 11 Aug 2015. I could have spent all day photographing every nook and cranny of Neidpath, but alas, I was on a photographic mission and had other locations to attend to. You are correct, it is easy to get “lost” in Neidpath! And no sooner had I stopped by the elevators, Marshall came out to greet me and tell some stories. So it appears he’s not made that move to a retirement home in the city, yet.

    • Such a wonderful place. We’d love to see your photos sometime. Marshall’s still there? Cool, the last resident. When we were there, he told us he was moving not longer after. I guess he changed his mind.

  6. David Friesen says:

    I was on my own ghost town tour fitting it in after work hours these past few days. Yesterday I wandered into Neidpath. You have a wonderful way of stating all the same feelings I had. The grain elevators are hauntingly beautiful. Although I didn’t see any people I think there might be someone there. The church now has a family of raccoons up in the attic. The wooden cross is broken and the buildings probably a little more run down. A porcupine inhabited the westerly elevator. Amazing place.

  7. sherrie a ratan says:

    Great photos thanks for sharing.

  8. David Korevaar says:

    I love the patina on that car.

  9. Lynne C says:

    Really like the (church window) photo…. great shot

  10. 1985baby says:

    What a haunting place. You’re right, it’s special.

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