Coming in 2024 (part two): more amazing places the Team has visited and will be posting about in the next couple months or so. As always, it’s a varied menu of subjects, to keep things interesting, and here’s the list. There’s mining remains, lost cemeteries, roadside memories, something “super”, mountain adventures, things the railway left behind, shipwrecks, island hoping, spooky places, forgotten highways and more Beer Parlour Project fun. Now breath!
As each article is posted we’ll include a link below the respective photo and write up here so you can learn more. Patience and curiosity will be rewarded. These are by no means all that will be shown you, but just some of the highlights and best ofs. There’s lots more not touched on here coming down the road, and plenty of impromptu short subject posts and more Bolers. Of course. Keep tuned to this channel.
At the Alamo Concentrator in the Silvery Slocan of BC.
This area of the province proved to be a hugely productive mining district and while the boom period dates from more than a century ago, reminders of that time can still be found up in the hills. Here’s the old mill in Alamo BC, closed in the 1950s, but left relatively intact until it burned down not that many years back. It’s suspected a human caused it with only machinery and concrete bits surviving the fire. It’s amazing the forest around didn’t catch and go up in flames too.
This plant processed the ore from a number of noteworthy mines on the hills above and we’ll do our best to show you what’s left and explain in simple terms how it worked. This one might take a while, as we have to revisit the site after winter’s done, to get shots of stuff we missed.
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What’s left in Pilot Bay.
We’re looking at the remains of a smelter built in service of local mines on the east side of Kootenay Lake. The plant only ran for only a brief time in the late 1890s and found to be unsuited to process complex ores of the area. It’s sat by the lake ever since and all that remains of any note today are two smoke stacks. We’ll show you these and touch on how the plant operated and what went wrong.
We search out these cemeteries and in particular those in former mining communities. Given the oftentimes extreme boom and bust cycles of these towns, the stories of these burial places are often sadder than most. Lonely guys, with no local family and often from far away, killed in some unsafe mine, laid to rest and then forgotten of. It’s repeated time and again. This cemetery was fixed up at some point not that long in the past, after being neglected for decades, but it’s still seldom visited. We’ve come to pay respects and hold in high regard those who toil underground.
This grave yard is seemingly completely forgotten and nature has taken over. Not that it’s such a bad thing. Most burials here date from the 1910s-1920s period, although there is one late comer from this century. No doubt they had family connections to the area. This cemetery is huge in size, but most graves seem to lack any markers. This happens if wood ones were used, as was once common, so they rot away over time and then vanish. We’ll show you what we found and chat about those interred here.
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It’s the Garbage Gobbler!
If you drove highways of British Columbia in the 1950s-1970s period, you might have seen one of these fibreglass monsters at some rest stop or tourist booth. A sign would instruct you to “feed me” and dispose of trash responsibly instead of simply tossing it in the ditch (as happened and sadly still happens). As a kid they were either fun or terrifying and quite memorable. Team BIGDoer knows of them!
This restored examples sits outside a highway’s maintenance yard and no doubt is responsible for many double-takes from passing motorists. The older ones that recognize a Gobbler from long ago…and then the memories come flooding back.
Jim is the authority when it comes to the original Superman movie franchise of the 1970s and ’80s. Many scene from the series were shot around Alberta and Team BIGDoer has visited most of these sites. Here we accompanied Jim to one and he came all the way from Nevada to see it for himself. This was the location where Pa Kent (so Clark/Superman’s dad) was laid to rest and for the movie this grassy knoll was a set made up of a church and cemetery.
Here Jim is holding his book (Superman: The Richard Donner Years) which is a showpiece for many production related and behind-the-scenes photos from the first film. Donner was the director of that one. If you look close you can see its open to the pages where this very site is shown.
While here, we reshot a Then & Now from long ago, which we’ll post about soon. In fact, we’re thinking all the Superman Then & Nows we did a decade ago deserve a fresh take. Those old ones really aren’t that good. Plus we’ll post about our time with Jim and his co-conspirator radio host and news anchor Jay Towers of Detroit and our visit to Superman locations in the Alberta Badlands.
Jim and Jay host the CapedWonder Podcast and were a pleasure to hang with. More about this good day and what we all did, coming soon!
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Burstall Pass is awesome!
We’ve hiked up to Burstall Pass many times over the last couple decades (because it’s just so darn scenic) but not recently. It was time for a revisit and it’s exactly as we remember…spectacular! How nice to see an old friend and we’ll post about the experience in short order. It’s a good hike, not terribly hard nor technical, and with such an amazing varied personality. There’s deep dark forests, alpine meadows, barren rock gardens, views into Banff Park and a little glacier along the way. We can’t wait to show you!
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Abandoned in the middle of nowhere.
Railway archeology is a passion, but that’s probably pretty obvious to our readers, and here’s something on a grander scale than most. It dates from the 1910s and witness to it last train some six decades later. Ever since, so from the ’70s on, it’s stood abandoned and the remote location means it’s seldom visited. Lay some track across and we’re sure this old bridge would function just fine.
Given how long it’s been out of service it’s surprisingly in good shape and looks straight and serviceable. They built things good back then!
Here’s the site of a train bridge, but it was removed concurrent with the line being pulled up. Except for the concrete bits that is which are seem across on the other side. The structure dates from the early 1910s and when a dam got put it a few decades ago, it had to be removed due to rising waters. Normally that valley is full, to about half way, but on drier years it can look as it does here.
This bridge appears in the 1970s action movie Silver Streak, for a moment or two, and we’ll show you that scene and chat about everything here. We’ve got a thing for infrastructure the railways left behind and this fits the bill nicely. This visit required land access and the hike in a good one.
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Bella the Boler goes home.
Bella the Boler belongs to some dear friends and emerged from the Neonex factory in 1977. That’s the building seen right behind and we believe new trailers, back then, came out this very door when completed. Bolers were made in many factories over the years and this one was only in production for a short time in the late ’70s. Best we can tell, they only made seventeen foot models here, but research continues.
The structure today is a building supply firm and they were so helpful in making this happen and we’ll tell you all about it in a post that’s coming soon!
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The wrecks of Royston, Vancouver Island.
There’s over a dozen old ships that make up the Royston (Vancouver Island, BC) breakwater. These were deliberately scuttled here and are comprised of craft from the 1870s-1940s era. They were used to help stabilize a wharf used by a logging firm back in the day, and today are part of a protected marine park. Once junk, they’re now historical artifacts – funny how that works. They’re best viewed by water craft (seems kayaks work best), but we’ll do our best to show you them from the shore.
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The old store on Denman Island BC.
After Denman we zipped over to Hornby…
One day while exploring Vancouver Island, we decided to visit the islands of Denman and Hornby off the east side. Just because. The two are very close to each other and can be reached by a couple of ferries. Those are fun in their own right. We came with no set plan and just kind of explored and quite happy to see what ever came our way. There were old boats, wonderful geological formations, wind ravaged trees, the occasional old building and a real laid back vibe. San Francisco 1960s laid back.
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The fishing boats of Comox Harbour.
We simply wandered the docks in search of old fishing boats. There were a lot and all were tied up between calls to service. There’s restrictions on harvesting, so they sit a lot and we’re not sure how they make a go of it. So this post will be different and a bit casual. Sometimes no plans are the best plans and wandering about with no direction is a whole lot of fun.
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A spooky walking tour of Riverview Hospital.
If you’ve seen a horror/thriller film or series set in a hospital, or especially an “asylum” type setting. it may have been filmed in Riverview Hospital (formerly Essondale Hospital) out in Coquitlam BC. It’s a huge complex that’s quite old and most of the buildings seen in our posts are from the 1920s-1950s period. Other than a few newer structures (not seen in our photos), most are empty but maintained and watched over.
Riverview/Essondale functioned as a mental health facility and mostly closed by the 2010s. Some parts are used for native healing now. The rest of the site is sort of in limbo and it’s not clear what might happen to all the surplus structures. Many are historically significant, even if there is a bit of a sinister type history associated with them. Mental health was not well understood in the old days and treatment sometimes questionable.
We simply walked about and covered as much of the complex as time would allow. It’s eerie, a touch sad (especially given there’s a family connection here) and yet the architecture is something else. Coming soon.
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Spanning the mighty Fraser and no longer used.
The highway through the Fraser River Canyon is an exhilarating one at the best of times and is winding, narrow and sometimes clings to the side of a mountain. But it’s better than it used to be. Back in the 1920s to 1960s, this single lane bridge was part of the mix and the narrow roads on each end no doubt a thrill to drive.
Alexandra bridge used some footings from the original of the same name, which dates back to the 1860s and a former link in the Cariboo Wagon Road. That span was no more by the 1910s, but in a way it lives on in the present structure erected about a decade later. The bridge is historically recognized and kept up. You can walk down from the highway and enjoy the views and marvel in its construction. BTW, the deck is expanded metal, so you can see right down to the boiling river far below. That’s scary stuff if you’re subject to acrophobia.
At the Victoria Hotel for the Beer Parlour Project – coming soon!
If you’ve been following our exploits the last while, you’ve heard us speak of the Beer Parlour Project. It’s a multi-year project where we visit small town hotel pubs (quickly vanishing places) to document their history and chat with patrons present day. This is being done with large format film photographer Rob Pohl – we hang out a lot – and will results in a gallery exhibit. And probably a book.
We visited maybe a dozen hotels so far, have a number lined up in the near future and many times that are planned. One hundred maybe? Something more? We don’t know but it’s been a wild ride so far and the results beyond expectations. Stay tuned. Below it’s a sign announcing our arrival at the Victoria Hotel in little Bruderheim Alberta not long ago. We’ll be posting about that adventure and of other hotels we visited in recent times soon enough.
Our popular Then & Now posts don’t preview well but rest assured there will be a number of them coming soon. These are both a labour of love and the biggest pain’s in the behind, of all the posts we do. Love and hate them. When they work, they’re amazing, but when they don’t, and it happens more than you know, it’s a big downer. Anyway, watch this space for some new postings on this topic coming soon.
”Thank you so much for your fantastic articles and photos…I could spend 24/7 here with you! I especially love the before and after articles. Keep up the great work guys!! I was born and raised in Calgary in the 50’s so this history is my passion.” Joanne Winchester Honer. (Thank you!)
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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