The business dates to 1929 and was first operated by Italian born Giovanni Battista (GB) “John” Catonio, who came to the Pass the decade before. Later some of his immediate family came on board and the business changed its name to Catonio Brothers. Still, to everyone it was plain old Catonio’s or sometimes mentioned as GB Catonio’s Grocery in various ads of the era. They offered Italian specialties and groceries in general.

In the 1960s directories list both a Catonio’s Groceteria and Catonio Brothers Grocers with different (but close) phone numbers. The addresses are not listed (old phone directories didn’t always do that), but data suggests they were one and the same in regards to location. Perhaps each arm of the business functioned in some differing capacity? Italian goods verses the rest of it? Wholesale and retail? Your guess is as good as ours.

In the late 1960s and beyond, it’s only shown as Catonio’s Groceteria, but they use both of the earlier phone numbers. Two lines suggest things could get busy.

The Crowsnest Historical Driving Tour pamphlet mentions Catonio’s operated out of this building on the south side of Blairmore (19th Ave) into 1965. Older phone directories do no list addresses, recall, so they’re not any help here. The firm did continue in business, that much we know, but it’s not clear if here or at a later confirmed location.

By 1975, addresses appear in local directories and shows the business at a spot right across the tracks in downtown Blairmore. That’s on 20th Ave just west of the Cosmopolitan Hotel at 120th Street (earlier 20th Street). There’s an insurance firm operating out of this location today.

The last phone book entry we can find for Catonio’s appears in the early 1980s and then they seem to vanish.

Meanwhile, GB Catonio seemed to have moved to Calgary about 1960-ish before passing on in 1967. His address in town here puts him at the very centre of what today is the business district of trendy Inglewood.

Catonio’s store is attached to a house and that was common at the time. The business owner lived where they worked and had the shortest commute on the planet. It’s the building on the left side in the photos, although the home to the right is close to touching the store’s west wall and from certain angles also looks connected.

A couple plumbing and heating firms worked out of the old store in the 1970s-1980s period and for a time (early 2000s? – records are missing) the building was part of a Bed and Breakfast (operating out of the old house?). There’s gaps in the data but left over signage for the Bee Hive B&B on a window suggest they were perhaps the last tenant.

Otherwise, the old Catonio’s Store has been vacant for long stretches and looking inside as best we could, suggests it been a while since anyone went inside. The house appears occupied or is used in some capacity, however.

Pop companies would often pay for the store’s signage in exchange for advertising and on the west wall look for a faded Pepsi logo from the 1950s-1960s period. It almost appears they painted over another sign and some (perhaps) older hard-to-decipher lettering shows at the top. To the right you’ll see “Catonio Bro’s” spelled out.

The building is a typical corner store, with big picture windows to display the wares, and a recessed door. You can look at it, even from a distance, and know instantly it was a corner store. They all shared certain design characteristic and if you’re like us, seeing that recognizable form inspires a flood of memories. Kids knew what treasures they held and were particularly good at spotting them from long distances away.

The folks would send us down to the store for the paper, or smokes, and always included an extra coin or two for penny candy. Deciding on what to choose could easily eat up ten or fifteen minutes and for a child were some of he most difficult decisions in life up to that point. Much to the annoyance of the storekeeper, no doubt.

Mojos or spearmint leaves? It’s a question for the ages and the only logical solution for a six year old was to get both.

These old family-run stores were a treasure, personable, friendly and a place to catch up on local gossip. Present day convenience stores seem so impersonal in comparison, but such is progress.

Team BIGDoer are regulars in the Crowsnest Pass (it’s our second home) and we have explored towns in the area extensively, but we really didn’t know about Catonio’s until fairly recently. That’s how it goes sometimes – you think you know a place well and then comes a special surprise like this. No doubt we passed it by before, but it didn’t click.

We’re looking at a cool little building and while we don’t have an intimate connection to it specifically, we do with places very similar. It’s the same store from our childhood, only in a different town and with a different name.

It’s easy to picture Catonio’s open, long ago, and busy with customers. How fun it is to imagine.

Thanks for reading this post and there’s lots more content coming your way, so please visit often.

Know more about the town (new tab): Blairmore Alberta.

They’re saying…

“Love history and local history best. You bring to life that which has been forgotten…” Richard O’Connor.

Random awesomeness…
Loaf N’ Jug Stores Calgary.
A Downtown West End Alley (Calgary).
Manyberries AB Train Station (Blt 1917).

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: August 2021 and December 2025.
Location: Blairmore, Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta Culture & Multiculturalism, FindaGrave.com, plus Alberta Government Telephone records @ Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society and Calgary Public Library.

A faded Pepsi sign and one for Catonio Brothers (also B&B – window).

Even if mid-block, we still call it a corner store.

Catonio’s opened in the late 1920s.

The attached house (left).

On a cold December morning – Turtle Mountain in back.

The post Catonio’s Groceteria Blairmore Alberta first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

This scenic valley here is a deep cut on the Alberta plains and space is at a premium. At one time East Coulee was home to about a dozens coal mines and one of the largest, and the very last to operate in the entire region, was the Atlas. It’s directly across the river from town and is now an historic site you can visit.

This bridge allowed the railway to access to the Atlas, a grain elevator, plus two other coal mines nearby. These were the Western Monarch, to the left (east) of the Atlas and the Murray, to the right or west.

Built in 1936, the bridge is built of wood and not of steel as one would expect for the time. This was likely an economic measure, but it’s not really stated in any records we found. Some of the beams are simply HUGE.

The structure is in the Howe Truss pattern and not the similar Pratt design, so common in railway use. The two look much alike with similar horizontal, vertical and sloped elements. In the Howe style the main diagonals slant outwards, towards the ends, vs inwards for the Pratt. That’s what separates them visually, but there’s other things in play, forces of tension and compression. In that they differ.

For wood construction, the Howe seems the favoured choice of the two by how these forces are applied. Huge bolts and many interconnecting steel rods hold together the jumble of timbers.

When built, the support piers were of wood (pilings surrounded by earth and rubble, with a wood-plank casing). Sone later replacement piers were of concrete.

The bridge received damage in the spring of 1948 due to ice build up, and the overzealous use of explosives used to clear the mess. Ooops! Photos from the time show one span leaning at a precarious angle. We suspect those concrete piers we spoke of in the previous paragraph were from the subsequent repair work. Research suggests ice flows damaged the structure in other years, but specific details are sketchy and perhaps did so in not such a dramatic fashion.

At some point, (1950s) the bridge had decking installed that allowed auto traffic to cross the structure. Prior to this only trains crossed, plus pedestrians accommodated on a side walkway, now mostly collapsed. Autos used a ferry before this.

The last trains to use the East Coulee bridge were sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s period. Records show conflicting dates – an all too common occurrence when compiling histories. It appears autos continued to use it until that point and did so for a few years after at least. A replacement road bridge was later put in a short distance downstream and the wood bridge fell into disuse. To prevent cars from crossing, road barriers were put in at each end.

The small shack at the north end of the structure was for a traffic controller and their job was to stop autos from crossing when a train was due. Back when coal was still king, it was a busy spur line, so this was necessary.

The railway line in the area was joint operated by Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, but along this stretch (Rosedale to a point east of East Coulee) it was owned by the latter. The two firms were bitter enemies typically, but due to space constraints in the valley were forced to cooperated under a shared trackage agreement.

This arrangement meant you could see trains from either company on the line, but not necessarily at the same time. We understand one railway worked the local customers for half of the year and other for the rest. This arrangement may have ended at some point as traffic fell off.

In other parts of the valley towards Drumheller the roles were reversed and CN owned the track (Rosedale to Drumheller).

The line though East Coulee dates from the latter half of the 1920s and when the last mine shut down (the Atlas), it was pulled up soon after. Coal traffic from the East Coulee mines (and many others in the Red Deer River valley) could travel east or west to points in Southern or Central Alberta and into Saskatchewan. The coal mined here was a low value commodity and it usually didn’t travel too far.

East Coulee/Red Deer River Valley coal was of the domestic variety. It’s well suited for home heating and cooking, but that market started drying up as natural gas made serious inroads starting in the 1950s.

At the peak of coal usage many trains came and went from East Coulee each day. By the end of service, output was mostly seasonal and sometimes many weeks passed without anything being shipped out.

Before the Atlas and the other mines on this side of the valley opened up, others used to operate on the town or north side of the river.

Fast forward to today and bridge structure shows the ravages of time and the elements. The deck is rotting away, but the main beams appear solid enough. A top cross brace has detached and some settling has caused the spans to shift somewhat.

Our photos are from earlier visits when you could still venture out on the bridge without issue. It was wide open back then and we used the older photos because of this. We’ve visited the structure countless times since, but the view is no longer as good as it was. Now fencing at each end protects the structure from entry and sort make it hard to take photos like we’ve shared here.

Various agencies recognize the the structure as historically significant and for its endangered status. It’s unique in that it’s of wood, was dual road/rail, was an essential link for local coal mines and that it uses a rare for today truss design.

Everyone hopes it can be saved and perhaps incorporated into the Atlas Mine museum located nearby. The old Atlas workings are within sight of the bridge and are a bit to the east. Imagine a pathway, across the structure, connecting the Atlas with the nearby East Coulee School Museum in town. It would be quite an attraction and a great heritage walk. Doing this of course requires money, lots of it, and securing that is a tall, tall order. Things seem to stall when the subject of funding comes up.

For now there’s sort of a holding pattern. Progress for these things always moves slowly anyway, but at least people and various groups are talking about it. Dialog, hopefully, may yet turn to action.

In the meantime, the railway still holds title on the East Coulee bridge. That’s the CPR, although some sources suggest the ownership may be more complicated (and it very well could be). After all these years they have not fully let go of the property, even though the tracks have been gone for an eternity, and it sure seems odd.

The railway industry in Canada, based on our own personal observations, seems disinterested in matters of an historical nature such as this and lacks sentiment. They are a business after all and with that in mind, getting any kind of help from them kind of seems unlikely.

East Coulee dates to the late 1920s and was founded concurrent with the railway arriving and the beginning of coal mining here. A coal town for much of its history, today it’s home to around a hundred and fifty people. Compare that to the peak in the early days, when a couple thousand resided in town.

East Coulee is little changed in many ways and is sort of a time capsule from a bygone era. It’s now part of the extended municipality of Drumheller but still goes by the original name. If you stroll around town, be sure and take in the many old miner’s cottages.

Joining us this trip is our good friend and noted film photographer Robert Pohl. He shoots some vintage gear and we hang out a lot. Making this a theme, we felt it a good idea to bring our vintage Minolta along and shoot a few frames of film ourselves. For old times sake.

The comparison images used in this post are thanks to the late Larry Buchan, who worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway. We were friends and miss our little chit-chats. His knowledge of the railway proved boundless and his memory recall was amazing.

Larry’s images date to the 1970s (pretty sure the latter half) and were captured while he was working in the area. Taking photographs while an employee of the railway is presently a no-no, but back then it seemed to be accepted.

Know more (new tab): East Coulee Alberta Road/Rail Bridge.

They’re saying…

“The background information is just amazing (and) I love being able to travel with them as they share their fascinating sites.” Jo Tennant.

Random awesomeness…
Hermitage of Saint Elias.
A Downtown West End Alley (Calgary).
Forgotten Coal Town Cemetery.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: 1992, 2012, 2015 and 2017.
Location: East Coulee, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: University of Calgary photo archives, Geoffrey Lester, Various CPR Employee Timetables, Author and Cartographer, Canadian Trackside Guides, Alberta Energy Regulator, Book: Hills of Home – Drumheller Valley and Larry Buchan.

The East Coulee Bridge in the 1970s and 2015.

Also the ’70s and 2015 – note the RR turntable in the then photo.

2015: built in 1936 and lasted used in the 1980s.

2015: the underside view.

2015: big wood beams tied together by metal rods.

2015 and riding atop boxcars 1970s.

2015: the collapsing walkway.

2015: the guard shack.

2015: Minolta X700 Film Camera (1).

2015: Minolta X700 Film Camera (2).

2015: Minolta X700 Film Camera (3).

2012: an elevated view – with landowner’s permission.

1992: the deck looked solid enough to drive across.

2017: the historic Atlas Coal Mine nearby.

The post Historic Road/Rail Bridge East Coulee AB first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Bikes are offloaded and made ready, there’s a couple practice runs and the race is on. The dust flies, there’s mud everywhere, an incredible din so loud as to be almost deafening and always present danger. It’s an adrenaline fuelled rush and a thrill to be part of. That applies to participants and spectators.

Present day…it’s a all quiet now and it’s been this way for decades. There’s a few remains left behind to remind one of what was once here, like the now grassed over track, falling down bleachers, an official’s booth and what’s left of a concession trailer. You need a a little imagination to piece it all together. No one comes by anymore except for occasional visitor such as us, and otherwise cows call it home most days.

This post is from eight years ago and today everything you see is now pretty much gone. Time marches on, but at least we had a chance to document it in the past and it’ll live on in this little write up. Our visit was on a dreadfully dreary April day with flat, lifeless light, but due to field rotations, this was the only window available to us.

Welcome to Carbon Valley Motorcycle Park.

Now back to the moment…stand there in silence on the edge edge of the track and imagine yourself a spectator. It’s easy to do. There’s the scream of engines. It just so noisy and the sound something akin to a swarm of angry bees. Banked corners, death defying jumps, high speed straightaways – a competition plays out in your mind. Cheers from those taking it in. A hot dog in hand and some thrill a minute action. Yes sir, this is some fun.

Snap back to reality and look around. It’s all over and you’re standing in a dilapidated place, forgotten and disused.

Now it’s time for photos. Aaaaaah, just stepped in a fresh one and it’s a reminder that this is cattle country.

The track dates to back the mid-1980s. A Calgary Motocross group, the Wildrose MX Association was behind it and this allowed members needing a place to hold sanctioned races, somewhere to play. They had a track in the big city of Calgary, but for all kinds of reasons couldn’t do it there. It was more for casual use and not the serious events.

They needed something suitable out on the lone prairie and far away from any neighbours. Something remote and with no one close by to disturb.

Viola and this shallow river valley would do, with the land offered up by a local farmer for a nominal lease fee. That his sons participated in the sport no doubt helped here. It was about as good a location as they could hope for.

Access was easy via a nearby highway and there were no houses or farms close by. All that noise, congestion and dust would not be a problem.

They built a dirt track following the lay of the land, and soon after, several times per year, the track hosted major events. Attendance was good and sometimes the participants numbered in the hundreds. In between there were occasional practise events, but mostly when not in use by the club the land was cattle pasture. There were always lots of cow patties left behind for race day!

An old poster shown to us promotes an event at Carbon Valley, circa 1987, and proclaims it as “Western Canada’s Finest Motocross Facility”.

By the mid-1990s the owner sold the land and this forced the group to vacate the track. They searched for for a replacement for a while, but with no luck. The problem was soon solved when their “everyday” track in an industrial section of Calgary was allowed to handle official events. The city said no before, but with a little prodding changed their minds.

This track, visible from busy Blackfoot Trail, is still there today.

The Carbon Valley track sits down in a bowl and there was a good view of the action from the lip, up where the bleachers stood. The banks, curves, jumps and the layout of the runs all look intact, albeit grassed over. An official’s booth, not long for this world will soon fall down. The chow wagon, an old Atco type trailer, sits back of the stands. A flat area to the north was for parking and below that was the pit area.

The guard shack at the entrance to the Carbon Valley property, interestingly, is from a grain elevator. It’s an old biffy and fuel storage shed repurposed. The teal-esque colours tell is it once belonged to the Alberta Wheat Pool. They probably picked up for a song or maybe for free, when one of the nearby grain elevators closed. There was a fair number in the immediate area and it might even be from Carbon. Who knows?

A dirt track leads in from the highway and into the grounds. We heard it got hellishly soft and slippery when wet. The people that came here loved dirt and mud, so it probably added to the fun and was no big bother.

Bleachers overlooked the action in the bowl below.

Carbon Valley was still in a somewhat intact state as we saw it many years ago, and even though long closed it still saw the occasional motorized visitor. Sometimes locals would sneak in on their bikes for a couple laps. The current land owner told us it happened on several occasions and they sort of shrugged it off. “Scares the cows…”

The grounds are quiet now and with the last vestiges of the facility presently gone, save for the ghost track, all that’s left are memories. Plus a few photos from those who knew it, and from us too.

When we first published this piece many years ago, we were flooded with messages from riders who knew the track. All spoke fondly of it and the great times they had riding there. Outside those circles, it’s not well known, but to members of local MX fraternity it’s fondly remembered. Enjoy the tour…

Know more about the cycle group (new tab): Wild Rose Motocross Association

They’re saying…

“If you grew up on the prairies, (or even if you didn’t) you are going to love what Chris and Connie do. Part urban explorers, part historians, part documentarians, and intrepid travellers, (they) make this site interesting, educational, and addicting. Highly addicting!” James Churchill.

Random awesomeness…
Venini House Scarboro Calgary 1928 & 2024.
Stampede Speedway Calgary (1982-1987).
Alexandra Bridge Fraser Canyon BC.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: April, 2017.
Location: Kneehill County, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: David Pinkman of the Wild Rose Motocross Association and the landowner for access.

The tracks are grassed over, but otherwise intact.

We’re in a shallow river valley well away from any neighbours.

The guard shack came from an old Alberta Wheat Pool elevator.

The concession trailer.

The official’s stand was close to collapse.

The track was in use from the mid-’80s to mid-’90s.

The spectator’s view.

All the structures you see in this post are now gone.

Hi!

The post Carbon Valley Motorcycle Park (Gone) first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Our target is the Unity Cenotaph and its surroundings. We’ll seek it out and do our best to duplicate the original in angle and composition, for posting here and then we chat about it here. There’s two locations to visit in this case – the memorial has moved as we found out – plus we later discovered there’s a third connection we can share.

This day finds us down by the train tracks where the Cenotaph was back then. We’ll see what we can find that connects the two eras and then we’ll go where the memorial is today, in a park a few blocks away, and do the same. That should keep us busy and entertained for a while.

Then, there’s another connection with the town’s train station, which as it turns out we’ve photographed before. It’s not in Unity anymore and instead is some distance away in Alberta. It didn’t click right away, but now we can throw it in the mix too.

Unity dates to about 1909 and sprung to life with the coming of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. It quickly grew to be an important hub for the area and today is home to about twenty five hundred people. The main industries here are grain – lots of farms in the area – and natural resources are big too.

The railway, now Canadian National, is a busy stretch of track. Passenger trains go through a few times a week and will stop in Unity on request. Not that it happens very often, but the option is there.

The then photo is a postcard, in the public domain, and was sourced in-house. We don’t know the photographer nor the exact date of the shot. The image shows Unity’s Cenotaph sitting in a small park like setting in front of the train station. In behind, grain elevators are seen, along with boxcars on the elevator siding. It’s a pretty typical small prairie town scene from long ago.

Today, the scene is different, although it still sort of feels the same.

The circa 1909 train station is gone from town, but not demolished. It was saved and today resides out near Calgary, at Aspen Crossing in Mossleigh. They have a campground and do train tours there too. Our photo is from some years ago, when it was still in storage. The building now functions as the registration centre for campers and houses a camp convenience store.

The building to the right of the station in the old photo is a freight shed and today it’s at a museum in Saskatoon. I see a Then and Now in the making there, should find ourselves out that way.

The wood grain elevators are no more and that’s a sad thing we suppose. These buildings, marked for National Grain and Federal Grain, date back to the the 1910s and were gone by the 1980s. They had a multitude of owners over the years beside those two companies. Both National and Federal were decent sized players in the Canadian Grain Industry. Each had elevators in numerous small prairie towns, and both firms vanished in the 1970s.

Today, a late-1980s concrete “grain terminal” stands in their place and stored tank cars filled the old elevator siding on our visit. In the past there were other wood elevators in Unity, but they were off frame in the old photo. There’s other grain terminals just outside town and we had to stop by to check it out too.

There’s only one element connecting the two eras here and that’s the remains of that low concrete wall.

The Cenotaph resides in a park today and a short walk from where it originally stood. Otherwise it seems little changed. It’s a pastoral setting with lots of shady trees and grassy areas. It’s a nice, peaceful place for reflection and thought.

Connie notes the last name Biggart on the side of the memorial. That’s hers as well and it’s not the most common, but she’s certain there’s no connection.

The date of the then image is unknown, but there are some clues to help narrow it down. We know the National Grain Company didn’t acquire the one elevator until 1940 so minimally it’s from that date.

Something tell us it’s from later, however – so after World War Two. Based on a quick and dirty tally, not a lot of postcards were produced during the war. But, it also appears the Cenotaph is in its current form in that old photo, with names from the World War Two period appearing like they do today.

When the Cenotaph was first erected or moved is not known, but research suggests the 1920s and the 1970s to 1980s period, respectively. There’s not much info out there on this subject, so we’re basing these dates on photo evidence. The memorial stands out and by going through dated images where it appears, we can make an educated guess. But there’s big gaps in this methodology.

Our search for a local history book came up empty and it’s possible it holds the answers.

Interestingly, the memorial names locals that fought in World War Two, but not the war before. It just makes mention of them collectively, without saying who.

A list of names…

“In honour of all who died for the cause of freedom in the Great War 1938-1945.”

1st Side: Ballantyne, WB, Bell AF, Blanchard LW, Carson F, Dulham AM, File EK, Fleming D, Fogg ED, Hayard DI, Knoke J, Knowles D, McCallum W, McKinnon RG, Mullins FE, Orr RS, Postlethewaite GE, Reid WV, Taylor HB, Williams R, and Werry WE.

2nd Side: Anderson TR, Austin AW, Aldridge C, Akrigg J, Biggart A, Britter R, Bunce J, Byrnes I, Craig E, Cooley W, Delamere G, Delemere J, Davis E, Davies Rev WH, Jacobs A, Jarvis HJ, Johnson C, Knowles A, Knowles PP, and Keist A.

3rd Side: Laker F, Leckie N, MacDonald J, McCubbing W, McCullough G, Moorlend L, Pettypiece T, Rodgers P, Robertson J, Rose C, Skerry WH, Stewart A, Wilson T, Williams WJ, Williams WT, and Wickham AL.

4th Side: “In Honour of All who served for the cause of Freedom in the Great War 1914-1919. Somme, Ypres Mons, Arras Vimy and Passchendaele. Erected by the Citizens of Unity and District.”

It seems to us that folks on the prairies were quick to enlist during times of conflict and did so in proportionally higher numbers than elsewhere. Go to any small town in the grain belt and the Cenotaphs always seem larger than expected. Perhaps it’s just a passing observation or reflects on the get-things-done attitude of prairie folk.

A Cenotaph is a monument erected to those who served their country and there’s examples in most towns and cities. A moment of silence in remembrance of those who fought for our freedoms is a great way to show respect when visiting one.

Old photos used in these comparison posts are usually sourced in-house, but some are thanks to readers. If you have an old image from a family collection (for example – but they must be your copyright) you think would make a good starting point for a BIGDoer.com Then and Now, by all means send it our way. We’re always looking for fresh challenges and an excuse to visit new places!

This is an older piece brought back and it received a full rewrite, but uses the original images. It was a rather harsh day for photography, but when on the road, you sometimes have to take what you can get. If we ever find ourselves in Unity ands with a little time to spare, you know we’ll reshoot it.

Know more about the town (new tab): Unity Saskatchewan.

They’re saying…

“Well written and well researched. You feel part of the adventure!” David Fionn Clarke.

Random awesomeness…
Armitage Hotel – Lougheed Hotel Lougheed AB.
A Downtown West End Alley (Calgary).
Carbon Alberta 1946, 1992 & 2024.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date: Ca1940s and September, 2017.
Location: Unity, SK.
Article references and thanks: Town of Unity, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Records and Canada Census.

The same spot in Unity Saskatchewan many years apart.

The Cenotaph is now at a park a couple blocks away.

The station is near Calgary now (2017 pic) – our shot is a reverse angle.

Parts of the concrete ring remain.

“In honour of all who died…”

Note the name Biggart.

At the edge of town – included because we have a thing for trains.

The post Unity Saskatchewan Cenotaph first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Before we jump in to the backstory we should mention much data for this piece comes via old telephone books. For a travel-oriented business such as this, that relied on being found, it was a pretty good medium for getting your name out at the time. It provides us with a reliable record too and as such we use them all time for research.

The Blairmore Motel first makes mention in 1961 and vanishes from listings in 1987. It kept pretty much the same name throughout, although early on it appeared as the Blairmore Auto-Court. It appears it had at least several owners with the last calling it quits after perhaps a season or two.

Located close to the main route though town at the time, the construction of a new highway bypass in the early 1980s was likely a catalyst for it closing later that decade.

In 1962, an advert reads: “One block off main highway centre of town. Modern units – Reasonable rates.” Another from 1980 is the about same but adds: “Phone, color cable TV and kitchenettes.”

Here’s the features touted in 1986…

“Clean – quiet – comfortable.
17 approved family units.
Fully equipped kitchens
Color Cable TV – DD phones
Parking – Winter plug ins
Courtesy coffee.”

Colour TV? Comped coffee? Is this the Ritz-Carlton?!!! These might seem like trivial selling points now, but were a big thing not all that long ago. In the old days, a room was literally that, a bed, a bathroom and little else. How our expectations have changed and what was once a special feature is now the norm or even blasé. Or laughable.

It’s not clear what stood on the property before but it’s along a mostly residential street, so a house or houses are a strong possibility. The old office may indeed be a former home from before. The phone number of the Blairmore Motel was earlier that of the owner, before it was built, so it must have been their place all along.

Neither is there info on what happened right after closing. Did it just stand empty? Nothing definitive comes up in a search.

At the beginning of this century, a used car dealer operated out of the old motel office and did so up until a few years ago. That fenced in property right across the alley that bisects the two hunks of land, we believe was their property.

There’s a few old cars inside that compound, stored I guess, including some vintage beauties (1960 Ford Thunderbird and 1957 Cadillac – tail fins!). If we were to travel back in time, it’d be easy picture them parked out front of the motel. Along with a fake-wood panelled wagon.

Of the seventeen units mentioned in the quoted ad, only four remain today. It’s assumed the others were located about where that fenced lot is that we just spoke of, but their disposition is unknown.

The Blairmore Motel is in the motor-court style common to the mid-century era. That is single level and car friendly – you park right in front of your unit.

The remaining four units comprise one rectangular building. Presumably the other units were similarly grouped like this, with several per building. Perhaps they were arranged in a U-type pattern, as was common, but again, we’re only guessing. A couple alleys surround the property.

The office was a home for those running the motel and this arrangement was also typical. Found near the street and well weather beaten is what’s left of the old motel sign. The early ’90s Oldsmobile parked on the property fits in well with the gritty surroundings and completes the scene.

It almost looks like a movie set and feels untouched, even if dated and unkempt. The whole scene is rather surreal and it’s like it might still be in business. You know, a little-visited Bates’ Motel kind of place, but it’s a slow night.

How changed the motel is from where it shut down thirty five years prior, or even as built, is unknown. But we suspect time stood still here and it’s all pretty original.

Once it was little mom and pop run places like it that travellers relied on. They were small, simple, cheap and friendly. Family run and they tried a little harder.

Few such places remain and most, like the Blairmore Motel, are but a memory. Now the chains dominate the scene and they seems to lack in character.

That this one survives and remains recognizable so long after closing, for us, is a real treat. It’s just like the places we stayed at as a kid on family road trips and with that the memories come rushing back. As we often do, we stand there in the silence with the cameras put away, and imagine it back in the old days. It was busy and welcoming, and life seemed a little simpler.

Till the next town and the next retro motel we might encounter, happy trails.

Know more about the town (new tab): Blairmore Alberta Municipality of Crowsnest Pass and of this mid-century style of motel: Mid-Century Style Motor Court Motels.

They’re saying…

“I enjoy your pictures and write ups so much. They bring back a touch of nostalgia for things we used to know, or didn’t even know about. It’s all about keeping our history alive and vibrant. It’s about where we came from, and about the people that made today’s world possible. Today’s world is so fast paced and so focused on the future, which is all well and good, but it’s nice to remember too, how it was not so very long ago. Thank you Chris and Connie.” Jan Cooper.

Random awesomeness…
Calgary Transit Route #2 17th Ave SW.
The Tug SS Hosmer (1909).
Railway Barge Slip Rosebery BC (1989).

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: August 2020.
Location: Blairmore, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society (phone books), Alberta Transportation and the book Crowsnest and its People.

No vacancy at the Blairmore Motel, closed in the 1980s.

The fenced compound on the property holds a few old cars.

A few units and the old office in back remains.

It almost looks like a functioning (albeit rundown) motel.

The post Blairmore Motel: No Vacancy first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

There’s an impressive row of grain elevators, plus various stores and businesses in “downtown”. Of note is Sam’s Saloon – come for pizza AND cheer. One Saturday every month, less one, they hold a fundraising night and people come from all around to partake in the event. Yummy eats, a little music, good times and the town is an amazing backdrop. You can spend the night camping here and all of it benefits Rowley.

“Pizza Nite is a monthly fundraiser held in Rowley within the picnic table area to the east of the Community Hall and/or in Sam’s Saloon. We operate the last Saturday of every month, excluding December. The Rowley Community Hall Association (RCHA) hosts Pizza Nite to raise money for building maintenance, improvements and facility utilities.” – Rowley webpage.

The subject for this comparison is the old Canadian National Railways train station down by the tracks. We’ll be looking at it, first in the early 1990s as a freight passes by and again more recently in 2025. While not much in the scene has changed, one important element has. The trains are long gone, with the last one visiting a few years after the first capture.

Back then, Rowley was a little-visited backwater, but today is an established ghost town destination.

The station building dates from 1922 and was not the first depot here. It replaced an earlier temporary one put in place around 1911. Said to be a converted boxcar, era photos show a more shed like structure.

Rowley dates to the early 1910s and as you’ve probably noted, founded concurrently with the coming of the railway. Canadian Northern Railways built the line under the Alberta Midland charter. In the early 1920s (so coincidently around the time they constructed this station) Canadian National Railways acquired Canadian Northern’s network of lines.

The building is a CNoR class three design suitable for modest sized villages, so like Rowley was at the time. Second class versions were for larger towns and fourth, for the tiniest communities. All versions we’re similar in design, but differed in size.

Class two and three types had living quarters upstairs for the station agent and their family. This person’s job was to sell tickets, manage parcel or less than carload express shipments, send telegrams, print money orders, inspect passing trains, and sometimes even arrange car shipments to local consignees. It could get busy.

Sometime after the 1950s, exact date unconfirmed, the railway eliminated the agent’s position in Rowley. Business levels had dropped and this person was no longer needed. Train crew themselves would handle paperwork for tickets and a local business, acting on the railway’s behalf, would take care of express shipments.

The line here continued to see passenger trains all the way into the early 1980s. For the last few years the run was under the auspices of Via Rail Canada, which in the 1970s took over the passenger businesses of both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific nationally. For the last decade or two of service, passenger trains comprised a single self propelled rail car.

By this point the station was little used. Rowley was pretty much a ghost town by the 1970s and the train didn’t stop often. Passengers used the station platform of the otherwise locked up building.

They could have torn down the station around this time, but thankfully didn’t. Was it that passenger run that saved it, or just a general lack of interest by the railway in spending the cash to demolish the building? Regardless, it managed to survive.

Even with the end of passenger service, the building, at various times, at least based on one report, functioned as storage (track materials mentioned). The CNR sold the line through Rowley in the mid-1980s. The new operator was the Central Western Railway and they operated out of Stettler to the north.

Even they could not make a go of it and the last freights to pass through town were later in the 1990s, so not terribly long after the “then” image capture.

From the late 1980s to about 1997, tourist trains from Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions visited Rowley. The station fit in perfectly. Sometimes a steam engine pulled these trains, but other times a vintage diesel did the job. Once that service ended, they pulled up the rails, although a section in front of the station and nearby grain elevators was purposely left behind. For appearances.

Fast forward to today and the Rowley Station is a display. They fixed it up to look as it did when built and sometimes it’s open for you to view. It wears traditional CNoR cream colours and looks much as it did back in the day. A speeder sits on the track out front, but it’s got nowhere to go.

Along the remains of the same railway line (last known as the CNR’s/CWR’s Stettler Subdivision) are a few other former CNoR stations that managed to survive. There’s one in nearby Big Valley – still used by those tourist trains spoken of earlier – and further north in a community called Meeting Creek. We know both pretty well and there’s another in nearby Camrose too.

The then photo is thanks to reader Bill Hooper, a long time railway photographer and train buff (thanks Bill). It shows a passing grain local pulled by a couple Central Western 1950s vintage General Motors locomotives. They’re bringing in some hoppers, perhaps for grain loading in Rowley or elsewhere on the line.

Beside the obvious, the scene here shows little change from then to now. The station is much as it was, although repainted. The trees sure have grown up. The stop sign and crossbuck, protecting the road crossing from trains that will never come, appears to have been placed after the then image was captured.

That boxcar on the right held materials for the local museum then and perhaps still does. The lettering on its side reads “Yesteryear Artifacts Museum 1983”.

Note the people milling about at the station in our photo and what you don’t see is the action going on off camera to the right. Pizza Night was in full swing and the town was rocking. We wandered about Rowley and enjoyed the ambiance. This is Rowley at its busiest, but other times we stopped in and had it to ourselves.

If you have an old photo you think would make a good BIGDoer.com Then and Now, please contact us. It can show an old street view, vintage buildings or like the one Bill sent, a train scene from the past. We’ll revisit the location, shoot a similarly composed image and then talk about it all on this website. Photos can be scans or original (we’ll send them back), but must be your copyright.

We’ve stopped in Rowley countless times and that includes on many on Pizza Nights. It’s wildly fun and entertaining time, with a frontier vibe. For your enjoyment we’ve included a few images from these visits.

Know more (new tab): Rowley Alberta Ghost Town.

They’re saying…

“Wonderful articles on small forgotten towns. Several that I knew very well. Thanks for doing this.” Jan Tooth.

Random awesomeness…
Liberty School (SD#1940) 1909 to 1939.
Empress Alberta at the 4th Meridian.
RCAF/CFS Alsask Radar Dome.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: Early 1990s (Bill) and September 2025 (us).
Location: Rowley, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Bill Hooper, UofC Photo Archives, the book Pioneer Days – Scollard, Rumsey, Rowley and Canadian Trackside Guides.

Then and Now in Rowley Alberta (early 1990s & 2025).

The train station is over a century old.

The town lovingly restored the building.

The last trains to visit Rowley were in the late 1990s.

Visited on a wonderful fall evening.

A Rowley state of mind – random shots from previous visits…

Seen wandering about town.

Along a forgotten street.

Track ends just beyond this speeder.

One of many town kitties.

It took some work, but we got them loaded on the wagon.

The post Rowley Alberta early 1990s & 2025 first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

This big old building is the target for today’s Then & Now, but we’re not comparing a broad historic view (though we might one day), and instead it’s just a wall. All this for a wall. Yes – we have a class photo from long ago and want see where it was shot. It may seem like an odd thing, but if we find the location, we’ll share an intimate connection with those people from the past. Plus it’s part treasure hunt and together, that to us is a thrill.

The results will be unmarkable, yet it’s still super interesting and that’s good enough for us.

The sandstone blocks at Sunalta School are textured and with no two the same, it’s very likely any unique patterns seen in 1917 are still there today. Even if the material is somewhat soft and prone to weathering, something should remain. Those ridges and valleys are like a fingerprint and all we have to do it find them.

We simply walk about and note any windows at ground level. Then we look to see if the blocks close by match up and if not, move on. It’s good sized building, but in a worse case scenario, we only have to circle it once. The only possible issue is if the location was along the outer wall where they added gymnasium. That’s not the case and the spot is right around the corner from the front entrance at the staff parking lot.

Check the pattern in the photo against the pattern on the wall…yes, this is it. If you pull in to park here, you’ll be looking right at it. Our photo from 108 years ago shows a group of students and it was captured right here! It happened right on this very spot (said while making an enthusiastic pointing motion you can’t see).

The blocks look the same, the windows are the same size, and the search is over. Frame the shot, snap the photo and it’s done.

Then…

When the photographer of old captured that shot of these students, Sunalta School was only a few years old and we’ve included a little history below.

The file that came with the image reads: “Mr Howard J Spicer, first principal with Grade VIII class, Sunalta School, Calgary, Alberta.” He’s a stern looking fellow, but back then, school staff often were. They were not here to be your friend, but to prepare you for a cruel and heartless world. Mr Spicer passed on in 1932 at the age of 52.

There’s no student names listed and it’s doubtful we’d ever know who’s who. But still we looked and probably wasted more time than we should. Just a thought…kids back then seemed smaller when compared to their modern contemporaries.

Those students grew up and perhaps went on to live full lives with kids of their own. Did their kids attend class here? Or grand kids? Without names, it’s all a mystery and we suspect it’ll remain so for all time.

Now…

The sandstone blocks have not really changed and we’ve marked a few to demonstrate that. There’s a downspout and gas meter here now, but it’s otherwise as it was. In 1917, incidentally, it’s likely the building was heated by coal.

A bit of history…

Sunalta School opened for class in 1912 or 1913 (reports differ). Back then it was on the western edge of Calgary, but today this location rates as inner-city. You have to travel some 8.5km directly west to hit the city-limits now. Such growth!

The location here is Scarboro (or Scarborough) and it’s just west of downtown.

The school shares a name with the Sunalta neighbourhood just down the hill. Interestingly, on many old maps what is present day Scarboro shows as part of that community then. Presumably the name Sunalta is a portmanteau of the words “Sunny and Alberta” – Alta itself being an abbreviation for the province at the time. Now it’s AB.

The builders of Sunalta School used locally sourced sandstone and it came from a quarry just a bit to the west. About where present day Crowchild Trail runs. There’s plenty of this sedimentary rock under Calgary, so many old structures in the city are of this material. That includes a good number of early schools too and we’ll touch on that more in a moment.

Easily accessed and well suited for large structures like this, there were many quarries active in the general area up until about World War One. You can still find scars from some of these operations in parks and along river valleys. Back then Calgary had the moniker “Sandstone City”.

There were nineteen sandstone schools built across the city between 1894 and 1914, with many still in use today. Most share a similar design with Sunalta, with massive and imposing forms.

Common to the time, there were two entrances to these schools, on opposite ends and each marked accordingly in the stonework above. One for girls and one for boys. Each gender also had its own playground too and they liked to keep them separated back then.

This gender splitting rule, it appears, was in place into the early 1970s, at least in this part of the country. We believe it was Canada wide at various times. I recall recall it being enforced back when attending grades one and maybe two. Pretty certain of it. Those currently attending Sunalta School must wonder about these odd anachronisms.

The gymnasium addition dates to the the latter half of the 1950s. A large mural adorns two sides and is visible to many passing motorists everyday on busy/noisy Crowchild Trail.

At various times they taught grades kindergarten through six here (including currently) and kindergarten through nine. And I swear only grades seven through nine at one point – more in a moment. Enrollment is about three hundred and fifty, which is slightly more than the traditional average over the last few decades. They have classes for students with special needs here as well.

A personal connection…

Back in 1977, Chris, forever your humble master of ceremonies here at BIGDoer.com, attended grade seven at Sunalta. For a few months anyway – the old man was always running from trouble and we rarely stayed in the same spot long. I swear it was a junior high only at that time.

I just don’t remember any little kids attending. But then again, it was long ago and memories are cloudy. Had a passionate hate-on for school then – dreadful, hellish, jail like and too structured. It was not my scene, the tall and lanky little trouble-making s**t that I was. I preferred the freedom of doing nothing and that’s it.

Still there was a pivotal moment at Sunalta School one day. While serving sentence, mundane day after mundane day passing at a snail’s pace, came an announcement. It seems a well known author and historian Pierre Burton* was due to speak at the school. It sounds kinda interesting. Mental note: don’t skip out that day.

And it begins. The subjects touched on were broad, but he spent much time speaking of his days as a youth in Dawson City Yukon. That’s waaaaay up in Canada’s far north and an historic town central to the Gold Rush of 1898. Since I was a kid, I dreamt of the place. So even long before hearing Burton sharing his tales of the Yukon, it occupied my thoughts.

So far I’ve yet to make the journey, but it’ll happen some time. Hearing him just drove the desire to go to insane levels, and the fever is still strong to this day.

I later ducked backstage and got the chance to chat one on one with Mr Burton. For a short time. I stood there spellbound, hanging on every word, as he spoke more about the history of the Yukon. I think it’s here I caught the bug for doing what we here at BIGDoer.com. It’s a fond memory from school, so class wasn’t a total wash.

More…

The school grounds were dead quiet on our visit in 2017, with only the noise from Crowchild Trail breaking the silence. Many planes passed overhead and you got to wonder where they’re going. On the grounds, there’s a boulder with the names of graduates from 2004 carved in. Rock on!

A couple fire escapes lead to the second floor and there’s good views of downtown up there. It’s a long way up for some who hates heights – and the see-through slotted tread doesn’t help in the least.

I hated Sunlata School and with a passion unequaled. But here, this night, I’ve come to appreciate it as a fine old structure. I made peace with it I suppose and there’s a realization that the building deserves no blame. We visit often now when walking about the community and always pause in its shadow to reminisce.

The community of Scarboro predates Sunalta School by a couple years and there’s many fine residential homes here. Big, old mansion type places. My family once lived down the hill a bit, in a more blue-collar neighbourhood off 14th Street. Where the working class lived.

We sure hope you’ve enjoyed this Then & Now compassion and the history that came of it.

The old image used in this historical comparison is thanks to the University of Calgary Archives and other than a little straightening, has not been altered. It had a tilt to it and this was a little distracting.

*The National Dream and The Last Spike, on the building and running of the Canadian Pacific Railway, are Burton’s most well known books.

Know more (new tab): Sunlata School Calgary.

They’re saying…

“Their photography is wonderful and I love to read the background stories to the images.” Peg Strankman.

Random awesomeness…
Parrish & Heimbecker Sharples Alberta.
Empress Subdivision Bridge (Abandoned).
Historic Hotels Cranbrook BC.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: 1917, April 2025 + December, 2017.
Location: Scarboro neighbourhood, Calgary Alberta.
Article references and thanks: University of Calgary Archives, the City of Calgary and Calgary Board of Education.

The same wall at Sunalta School, 1917 and 2025.

For your enjoyment, from a 2017 visit…

Chris here and I was briefly a student at Sunalta in the ’70s.

Built early 1910s & one of many old sandstone schools in the city.

It’s 9pm on a snowless winter’s night and we’re all alone.

The gymnasium was a 1950s addition.

Views of downtown from one of the fire escapes.

Sunalta School Grads 2004 – Rock on!

From the pedestrian bridge over Crowchild Trail.

The post Sunalta School Calgary 1917 & 2025 first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Our Now photo was captured while on a break from shooting an episode of the Beer Parlour Project at the Waldorf Hotel next door. We shot a few Then & Nows there as well, and we should get to them in a bit. Just like all the other BP events, it was crazy busy, but we always find time to step out and catch our breath. Grab some outside shots, enjoy the evening and prep for the next round of photos or interviews inside.

The Hotel Alexandra first shows up in local phone and business directories about 1925. The current owners of the structure state a build date that’s later by over a decade and we’re not sure the origins of this. The city when asked, didn’t seen to know for sure. There’s no solid photo evidence either, but directories are pretty reliable sources.

A late 1920s Henderson’s ad reads: “Alexandra Hotel, European Plan $1.50 and up. Fire Proof Hotel. With or without private bath.” Hotels in the old days seemed to go up in flames with alarming regularity, so that one point was good to mention. That usually meant the building was of brick, as is the case here. Shared bathrooms were common in those days and having you’re own was a luxury.

Old photos from the 1910s show these same lots were occupied by other buildings or were vacant depending on the year. Drumheller dates to the early 1910s, by the way.

In one early phone book entry they misspelled the name Alexander. For some entries it’s the Hotel Alexandra and in others the Alexandra Hotel. Van Swelm and Guterson were the proprietors in the early days and for many decades to come.

It’s not said who the hotel was named for, but it may have been Alexandra of Denmark, wife of King Edward VII. It was common practise to give hotels royal names in that era. Alexandra, who seemed well enough liked, incidentally, passed on about the same time the Hotel Alexandra first shows up. We know of several Alexandra Hotels who followed this naming convention, but it’s only a guess here.

The lower annex on the right side of the building was always part of the hotel. It might even be older than the hotel, but we can’t say for sure. This section burned in 1940 (Drumheller history book, Hills of Home) and was replaced by what we see today. Old photos show it as a two story structure in the old days. In photos from the late 1940s, it had a Art Moderne exterior with that streamlined look so popular at the time.

In earlier photos of the previous incarnation, there was various billboard advertisements up on the second level. One was for Turret Cigarettes. In the Then photo we used, we see a standing billboard above the east end of the building. The image is too small to make out, but in another photo from about the same era, it’s for Coca Cola.

In earlier times, this annex housed a number of business, with what appears to be rooms on the second floor. 1940s photos show a diner here at one point, and it’s said this was the location of the Hotel Alexandra Beer Parlour too.

In the 1940s and 1950s period, the hotel used the motto “Where the guest is King” in ads.

By the 1990s, the Alexandra Hotel ceased to offer traditional accommodations and went hostel style. They functioned as the Alexandra International Hostel for some years. Hostels offered basic accommodations – remember the shared bathrooms here – small rooms too – and catered to budget-minded travelers, rather than business people or families.

Around this time, the Hotel Alexandra bar became the “Zoo”. It sounds unabashedly rough and rowdy in nature…so a Beer Parlour Project kind of place.

In more recent times the east (single-level) section of the old Hotel Alexandra became the Vintage Tap House Pub & Grill and the main floor of the west (brick) section, the Vintage Kitchen and Bar. They’re owned by the same folks and the latter is family friendly. It appears they are (or were) making the upper floor of the old hotel section into the Alexandra Apartments, although how far along they are is not known. Nothing comes up in recent searches so they many have shelved the idea for now.

The Hotel Alexandra is in close company today with the still operating Waldorf Hotel just to the west. In years past, the White House Hotel once operated just a bit to the east. The three hotels were all grouped around the train station, which was a short distance away. This was a prime spot to have a hotel, back when everyone travelled by rail.

The Then photo was captured from the train station grounds, but today this spot is a parking lot. The tracks were behind the original photographer’s position and the station to their right, but out of view. Trains are a memory and the railway pulled out about 2010, but passenger service ended decades earlier.

This old image is thanks to the University of Calgary archives (Alberta Liquor Control Board fonds) and they’ve dated it ca1935. Based on the cars seen, which appear to be early 1930s models, that should be about right. Note a good number of people are seen on the right side of the photo, but the image is too small to clearly see their form of dress. It does seem consistent with the era stated.

We captured a few people ourselves by the the Vintage Tap House entrance and some are close in location to folks in the old photo.

“The Alberta Liquor Control Board was an agency of the Alberta Government that regulated the liquor industry in the province for over 70 years, including the sale of liquor in hotels. The fonds consists of photographs of hotels in Alberta.” – UofC.

The bottom right corner of the main building housed a barber shop in the old photo and you can see the striped spiral pole clearly.

The only really noticeable change to the larger brick section of the hotel is the windows. They’re smaller now. The sign up at the parapet has changed, but on the west wall there’s some painted signage that might be original. Or very old at the least.

The Waldorf calls and it’s time to get back to work. Be sure and check out the Beer Parlour Project webpage (new tab), and watch for the Waldorf appearing soon.

Know more (new tabs): Hotel Alexandra Drumheller Alberta.

They’re saying…

“I was recently doing some research on grain elevators and found write-ups about many of them on the BIGDoer website. The information was very helpful. Thank you Chris and Connie for all that you do!” Christine Kalauz Hanlon for the Chris Attrell book Grain Elevators: Beacons of the Prairies.

Random awesomeness…
Liberty School (SD#1940) 1909 to 1939.
Prairie Sentinels: Cadillac Sask.
Superman 1978: Cemetery Scenes.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: Ca1935 and June 2025.
Location: Drumheller, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: University of Calgary Archives, Vintage Tap House/Vintage Kitchen & Bar, various Henderson directories, Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society (vintage phone books) and the book “Hills of Home – Drumheller Valley”.

Hotel Alexandra in Drumheller Alberta ~90 years apart.

We were shooting at the Waldorf next door – note old signage.

The windows have changed and the sign up there is different – that’s all.

A break from the Beer Parlour Project on a fine evening in June.

The post Hotel Alexandra Drumheller Alberta first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Our location today is Calgary’s Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood, off 10th Street NW, and there’s been a grocery here since the early 1910s. It finally closed in the 1970s, and right from the start, and into today, the building also functioned as a residence (or residences). As was common practice in the old days, there was an apartment upstairs for the store owner. Now the whole place is a home.

The grocery business located here operated under several names over the years, but it’s last incarnation as Sunbeam Grocery was the longest uninterrupted stretch. Since it’s the most current, it’s the name people today are likely to remember the most.

The signage exposed is a faded billboard for Ginger Ale from Calgary Brewery. This storied beer making firm in the city’s Inglewood community also produced sodas at various times.

Calgary Brewing and Malting, as they were officially known, ceased to be in the early 1960s. They became part of the Canadian Breweries at this point, whose most famous brands were Carling and O’Keefe. Later still it became a Molson’s property and produced beer into the 1990s. The plant still exists but it’s mostly empty.

Calgary Brewery first started making soda during prohibition (1916-1923) and it was a way to keep the plant going. With no beer to produce, they has to do something. These non-alcoholic drinks ended up being popular enough that even after beer production returned, they continued to produce it for many decades to come. All the way until they closed up shop.

They offered many flavours – we noted lime, orange, fruit punch and grape – but it seems ginger ale was their biggest seller. We base that on the frequency of ads found during research and nothing scientific. They had slogans for that flavour: “Time for a COOL Cal”, “Season’s Treatings for friendly meetings” (Christmas themed, with two snowmen enjoying a drink), “A host of Cheer!” (with Santa and also Christmas themed) “Refreshment at its best”, “Truly Canadian – Calgary Dry Ginger Ale – Since the west began” and “Call for a Calgary Ginger Ale”.

Calgary Brewery’s iconic buffalo logo was well known in the city and region. It appeared in company ads and on bottles of beer or soda. The design changed slightly over the years, but there’s no definite timeline, so it’s hard to guess what year the one depicted on the side of this building dates from. The Calgary Brewery did some heavy marketing of soda products in the post World War Two boom period, so that era seems possible.

The first store to show up here is James Barratt Grocer about 1911-12. At this point in time, the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood had just been established and the store was on its west periphery. We’re talking the very edge of the city and beyond was farm country. The city of Calgary says the building dates from 1910, incidentally.

It became George Jones Grocery by 1913 and Pleasant Heights Grocery by 1915. George Jones (Geo Jones in ads) soon returned and a couple years later it became Mrs Mary Barratt’s Grocery (James Barratt’s wife?). Then it was Pleasant Heights Grocery again for a time. By the mid-1920s it was vacant and a few short years later appears as Pleasant Heights Grocery once more. Then the directory shows it as empty again for a stretch.

During this period the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood was still not well developed, so perhaps there was not enough population to reliably support the business. Aerial photos from the 1920s show there were more empty lots in the area than ones with homes. Not until later in the 1940s, did it it fill in completely. This may account for the store changing hands often during the early days.

All the while, it appears the upstairs was occupied, either by the person(s) running the store, or rented out. Incidentally, the storefront was on 18th Avenue, but the broad side of the building faces 10th Street, which has always been much busier with traffic.

It appears both levels functioned as residences in the early 1930s. By about 1933, it shows as McKenzie Grocery (alt: MacKenzie, Mckenzie or later Mac’s) and later that decade, Pleasant Heights Grocery again. It had many owners during this time. Later in the 1940s, Pleasant Heights Grocery became Mackenzie’s Red & White. Lots of back and forth during this time.

Red & White functioned as a collective of sorts for smaller grocery stores and offered both name recognition and better purchasing power.

J Mackenzie lived upstairs during his tenure and even did so late it the Pleasant Heights era.

At various times in the first half of the 1950s it functioned as Mac’s Red & White or J Mackenzie Grocery – same owner. Why so many business names though? By the mid-1950s it became Sunbeam Grocery (owners included Joe Wong and later Gordon Louie) and this business closed by the mid-1970s. It became the last grocery store here and with that, an era ended.

It appears the old Sunbeam Grocery mostly functioned a residence, or residences, ever since. Outside appearances suggests are are upper and lower suites today, but perhaps at times they were one. How amazing would it be to live in the old store? The odd (home?) business occupied this address from time to time in recent memory, but usually not for long. Data is a bit patchy and that’s something we see all too frequently.

Then one day while doing some work on the building, they were peeling back the layers and exposed something special. There’s the old buffalo logo for all to see, albeit faded and it’s likely been a long, long time since anyone laid eyes on it. On a more recent visit, they had removed more siding from the old Sunbeam Grocery and more parts of the old sign were gone. It’s possible that work progressed even further, resulting in even less than before.

What happens from here is unknown. We knocked on the door, but no one was about. A note was then left with no response received as yet.

Perhaps on our next visit, it’ll a be gone, or who knows.

Know more about company behind the old sign (new tab): Calgary Brewing and Malting Company.

They’re saying…

“…Your site is brilliant and showcases your talent well, but to me it’s the passion that makes OTBPwC&C a game-changer. You set the bar so damn high.” Pauline West.

Random awesomeness…
Bankview Calgary: They Moved a House.
St Matthew Lutheran Calgary 70 Years Apart.
Radio Shack Westbrook Mall (Calgary).

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: September, 2025.
Location: Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, Calgary Alberta.
Article references and thanks: City of Calgary, assorted Henderson Directories from the 1910s to 1960s, and Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society.

Formerly Sunbeam Grocery (& others), Calgary Mt Pleasant.

There was a corner store here from the 1910s to the 1970s.

A recently exposed Calgary Brewery Ginger Ale Billboard.

The post Sunbeam Grocery Mt Pleasant Calgary first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

All through the summer and even into September 2014, it was common to catch them out in the wild during the morning and afternoon rush. By the second week of October that all changed, abruptly, and sightings became few and far between. Clearly the end was near…or had the worst already happened? A quick call to a friend and contact within the CTS organization was needed.

This is a piece from a decade ago and we brought it back for your enjoyment. And ours – we like buses – it’s strange and there’s no denial there. The context is from 2014 – keep that in mind – but we’ve added an updates within the post. Now let’s begin…

That insider told us a small number of Classics remained in service – great – but they were likely to only last a few more days. We could still catch them – fingers and toes crossed – but only by acting fast.

The next day, October 15th, we stationed ourselves at the exit to the Spring Gardens bus barns in anticipation of the afternoon rush. This facility is on 32nd Ave NE, close to Deerfoot Trail and it’s where almost all the Classics operated from. If any were to leave for service, they’d pass through these very gates.

The times passes and a parade of buses exit the barns, but not a single Classic appears. Well, not one in use that is. A large group parked on the grounds look out of service and this suggests the odds are against us.

Still, one must hold out hope. Wait…is that a Classic coming out of the building? Yes, they live! Well…one lives! We caught a single example heading out, so it was mission fulfilled, we guess.

No more appeared, and an hour later with the rush-hour exodus over, our Classic count still stood at one. As we found out via our contact a week or so later, this turned out to be the final day of regular service for any in fleet. They said a couple were used in the days before, but were pretty certain only one – the one we saw – hit the road on the 15th. And then there were none.

Truly the last CTS Classic? We think so, but it’s said cautiously since we’re only going by non-official information. A search found no in-service photos of these buses from after this date.

General Motors Diesel Division in Saint-Eustache, Quebec developed the Classic in the early 1980s. This model replaced the well known and proven GMC “New Look” (affectionately called “Fishbowls”) and they were one of the most popular transit buses ever produced (from 1959-1986). The two designs share much in common and in many ways the Classic was simply a redesigned New Look, with an updated skin and other modernized features.

In 1987, the company MCI (Motor Coach Industries, of Greyhound Bus fame) took over the GM plant. In 1993, the factory changed hands again and became the firm Nova Bus. All the while Classic production continued and it ran all the way from 1983 to 1997. These Canadian made buses proved so popular that many US operators purchased examples new.

Calgary Transit’s Classics, just over a hundred in total, were built in 1991 and 1992 across two separate orders. They also bought a few used ones from a US transit agency, in the mid-2000s, which were also MCI produced (1990-91). Whether built by GM, MCI or Nova, they are all pretty much the same outside and differ only by the maker’s nameplate.

These were some of the last high floor transit buses CTS purchased and post 1992, all orders were for low floor models. These designs, a standardized form now with all bus manufacturers, makes entering and exiting much easier. That’s especially so for the elderly, the handicapped and those with wee-ones, baby carriages or packages.

With the Classics now retired, the CTS fleet is one hundred percent low floor. The oldest buses on the roster date to 1993 and are New Flyer model D40LFs in the 7500 series. Update 2025: New Flyer D40LFs from 2002 and in the 7800 series are presently the oldest buses in the fleet.

The one MCI Classic captured leaving was #5066 and the display showed both routes #711 (a school bus run) and #11. Okay…? Those parked that we could see included #5020, #5032, #5034, #5038, #5051, #5058, #5067, #5077, #5079, #5090, #5092, #5096, #5101 and finally #5106. Many others are probably still on the property and out of view. It’s a big complex.

What will happen to these buses is not certain. Surely they’ll scrap some of the most worn-out examples, but it’s also likely they’ll sell a few of the better ones, perhaps, to other transit agencies or charter firms. Update 2025: Indeed some were sold to various operators, who got a few more years out of them. Bus #5066 was sent to Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO or Gatineau QC Transit) and it ran into 2018.

A few operators in Canada and some in the US still run Classics, so they’re not extinct everywhere. But they’re probably on the endangered list everywhere. Southland Transportation for example, a local charter company, has some in service and they’re often seen shuttling people about the Spruce Meadows venue. Update 2025: it’s safe to say they’re all done for and now relegated to history.

Nova still makes buses and Calgary Transit has some. They bought LFS series models built in the years 2010 to 2013. CTS seems to prefer New Flyer, based out of Winnipeg Manitoba, more however. Update 2025: CTS switched allegiances and have eschewed Flyer for Nova.

This photo came from a cheap-o little camera on an dreary, ugly day, so it’s not the greatest and outside the odd bus-obsessed nut like us, the event is hardly momentous. But when you look at it and think back, you might make a little connection. See it as something more than a normal day at the transit system.

Did I ride that bus once? How many miles has it run? How many people has it transported? Why did this bus become the last? You can’t help wonder.

More than two decades on the road and here’s its swansong. There was no one but us there to record it all, but it felt important to do.

Around this same time last year, we captured some of the last Calgary Transit GMC Fishbowls in service and here’s a link to that article…Calgary Transit: the Last GMC Fishbowls.

Know more (new tab): GM MCI Nova Classic Transit Buses.

They’re saying…

“They have no fear when it comes to searching in remote areas, and they have an artistic eye for picture taking. It’s a very enjoyable site.” James Robinson (sometimes we’re in the city too).

Random posts you’ll like…
Armitage Hotel – Lougheed Hotel Lougheed AB.
Reynolds Raiders Big Valley Alberta.
Legends of the Fall (1994) Family Cemetery.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: October 2014.
Location: Calgary, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Calgary Transit and the Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board & Wiki.

Calgary Transit’s Last Classic?

The post The Last Classic? (Calgary Transit) first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Pass it by and you’ll surely ask, what year is this?

This humble neighbourhood service station is a throwback to when things were done different and has all the old school elements. Full service at the pumps and repair bays are both something you don’t see much any more. They do have a convenience store of sorts (old gas station often didn’t), but it’s limited in selection and perhaps the only modern feature. The place looks like it’s right out of the 1960s…because it is.

This piece is from a few years ago and we brought it back for your enjoyment. Ours too and we really had fun making it. The context is from 2018 – keep that in mind – but we’ve added an update at the bottom of the post. Now on with the show…

Lakeview Husky is pretty much as built and dates all the way back to 1963. The architecture of that era is so different from any other period and is instantly recognizable.

Old aerial photos show it was slightly smaller when built, but they expanded it to the current size soon after (demonstrated in another aerial photo). It looks like they added a third service bay to the right (north-facing) wall and at the same time, expanded the parking lot in that direction. This was all an empty field before.

We don’t think there’s a single service station in Calgary that’s still operating in 2018, that goes back this far. In fact, we were hard pressed to even find ones from the ’70s and ’80s, save for a couple exceptions.

Today’s subject is in contrast to the huge convenience store/gas bar combos of of today. Outside being a place to top up your tank, the current incarnations differ in nearly every way compared to this outlet. Their emphasis is on selling you something – junk food or some vice – while you stop in for a fill. In the old days, selling you some gas, new tires perhaps, or doing a brake job paid the way. And they knew you by name.

This community goes back to the early 1960s and is located on the north side of the Glenmore Reservoir (hence the Lakeview name). Busy Glenmore Trail on its south periphery sort of cuts off the area from the rest of the city. It’s a neighbourhood alone and by itself and if not for popular Glenmore Park, there would be few reasons for those not living here to pass through or visit. The area around Lakeview Husky almost has a small town vibe.

We’ve seen an old photo from the early days showing the gas station and it appears pretty much as it does today. Originally Lakeview Texaco it became Lakeview Esso after 1989. Esso Canada bought out Texaco Canada that year. It then became Lakeview Husky only a few short years later, in the mid-1990s.

In the past, there was another service station nearby and it went by the name of Lakeview Shell. It was a couple blocks north and in a shopping mall complex. Built about the same time as Lakeview Texaco/Esso/Husky/Esso, it lasted into about 2010-ish.

There is, incidentally, a Shell Station in another Calgary neighbourhood (Varsity) that’s housed in a very similar building to this one, only it’s newer by a couple years. Old phone books confirm it was always a Shell. While appearing similar, it doesn’t retain all the retro charm to this degree. It’s self serve, has pumps under a canopy, but it still has service bays in use, so it’s not far off in that regard at least.

That two completing firms, Shell and Texaco used such similar architecture is curious. Usually they wanted an image unique from anyone else. A visual search showed both used their respective (similar) designs extensively in the ’60s.

It’s believed Lakeview Husky is the oldest station in town and the next oldest found is that Shell we spoke of a couple paragraphs up (late ’60s). There was that place downtown by city hall, and it was older still (1950s), but it closed recently. It looked tired (and ratty) and didn’t have the time-standing-still charm of this one.

Lakeview Husky is full service and outside some Co-op stations today, in this part of the world, there a few others that offer this. When was the last time someone filled it for you? We bet it’s been a while.

Lakeview Husky has open islands, with no roof or cover to protect one from the elements and only a couple pumps. Very different. Many gas bars today can accommodate dozens of vehicles at a time, with six, eight or even more pumps and all are usually under a protective canopy. You sure appreciate that when it’s pouring out. The pumps out front are a fairly modern, however.

They have a humble convenience store and that’s practically unheard of today. They sell a bit of pop and chips or stuff like that. The mega-marts at most gas bars in 2018 are usually bigger, with aisle after aisle (after aisle…after aisle) of stuff that’ll clog your arteries and make a heart specialist cringe. But not here – to that degree anyway.

Lakeview Husky has service bays. Back when, this was the norm, and a good income stream (now it’s Slim-Jims and smokes) but ones like it are now few and far between. Of the hundreds and hundreds of gas stations in the city, we found only a small handful that do car repair. Interestingly many of those are Husky branded, but at stations newer than this.

Lakeview is not 24hrs. Yup, a regular nine to five, or what ever it is. We visited at 7-8pm-ish and no one was around. Anyway, this neighbourhood rolls up the sidewalks after dark, so there’s not much business to be had later on. They have bathrooms reached from the outside too and you probably have to ask for a key to open them.

In the 1960s and even into the 1970s, this is how a gas station worked. It’s from another era. From what we can see, business is pretty good here, so there might no reason for change. Seems they’re making it work, even if they’re one of the last doing it this way.

We didn’t see a ding-ding-ding air bell that announced when a customer drives in. But if they don’t have one today, I bet they used to. All service stations did. As kid it was fun to set them by jumping on the hose, much to the attendant’s annoyance, and then furiously running away as though you committed the crime of the century. We were hardcore troublemakers at ten!

Husky Energy dated back to the 1930s. They originally operated out of the US, but today are mostly a Canadian company. Of the all the big players in the industry, in this country, it seems they have the smallest presence in terms of number of stations. Some Husky outlets were formerly branded Mohawk.

Gas prices on our visit were about $1.38 per litre.

Seen out front of Lakeview Husky, the first time we dropped by, and we did so twice, is a beautiful 1940s Oldsmobile. Now that’s a ride! That colour…it gorgeous! That shine! That giant chromed grill! We’re not sure if it’s 60x, 70x or 90x series (the first two models are more common), all of which seem to share the same body and to us non-experts look pretty much the same.

We understand they differ mostly inside and under the hood. As usual, we didn’t look on the car itself, having been caught up in the moment while shooting and forgetting to do so. Silly us! We really should up our game when it comes to car IDing.

This body style was produced from 1941-1948 (varying slightly depending on the model) and by the numbers this one’s probably from the years ’46 to ’48 when production was the highest. Oldsmobile cars in Canada, from that era and based on our own observations, are not the most common. We’ve only seen a couple like it.

It seems this one’s from Northern Alberta based on the club plate seen. It reads McLeod Valley Classics Auto Club, Peers Alberta.

Updates 2025. It’s now called Lakeview Service/Lakeview Esso but still looks pretty much the same otherwise. They replaced the sign out by the road with something that lights up and it seems they stay open a bit later too (7am-9pm according to the Esso Home Office). Husky Energy ceased to be a few years back and sold all their assets.

When we snapped our current photo, the price of gas was $1.37, so not much different than in 2018 here. Lakeview Esso is still full service and they still repair cars (seemed busy too). It’s all pretty much as it was…now what year is this again?

Know more about the neighbourhood (new tab): Calgary Lakeview and the firm (new tab): Husky Energy.

They’re saying…

“Chris and Connie are the real deal – their adventures are truly interesting and fun!” Justine Cooke.

More awesome posts…
Loaf N’ Jug Stores Calgary.
The Last Grain Elevator in Torrington.
Camera Crazy @ Pioneer Acres Museum.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: October and November, 2018 + November 2025.
Location: Lakeview neighbourhood, Calgary Alberta.
Article references and thanks: City of Calgary Archives and the Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society (Phone Books).

2018…

Lakeview Husky – nice Olds – outside access bathrooms in back.

This old Shasta.

Gas @ $138.9.

Calgary’s most retro gas station?

A rare today, full service gas station with repair bays.

2025…

It’s now Lakeview Service/Lakeview Esso.

The post Retro Service Stations: Lakeview Husky first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Billions vanished in one of the most brazen frauds ever perpetrated on the general public.

By world standards of scamming today, however, they’re perhaps rank amateurs, but here and in 1997 it was a big deal. The deception was nothing short of obvious right out of the gate. Well, except for those caught up in the excitement or blinded by the promise of riches and these folks never saw it coming.

For the nitty-gritty details of how it all came down we suggest a little online or book reading for more info. We’re just not writers of that calibre – or of any calibre and can’t go that far in depth on the subject. Brief pop-history is all we do. We just wanted to share a personal, albeit brief memory of the company and reminisce. Look into Bre-X Minerals and you’ll be on your way down a deep, deep rabbit hole.

It’s fascinating story of a well crafted scheme and even though outrageously unbelievable, it convinced a lot of people to jump in with both feet. If you say it enough times it’s true and is all the more believable if a few others join in. Then it snowballs out of control and even otherwise sane people, or tight-fisted conservative types, soon found themselves caught up in the madness.

In the 1990s the company blatantly falsified reports and sloppily tampered with drill samples, turning what was actually (mostly) barren ground, in Indonesia, into the greatest gold find of the century. It was unprecedented on all levels and and everyone fell for it. Even when it came into question by experts, many folks chose denial and remained true believers. To the bitter end and bitter it was.

At the peak the stock price soared from penny levels to over $280.00. They had a total capitalization of over $6 billion and it looked like they had room to grow even more. The Bre-X scheme collapsed after the gold samples were found to be fraudulent. They salted samples with alluvial gold and jewellery shavings.

The unassuming office block seen here was home to the company’s headquarters and big gold coloured Bre-X signs once adorned the exterior, up there on the space above the top floor. We’re on 14th Street Northwest, just a little north of Kensington Road. It’s a busy stretch and no doubt lots of people saw the sign.

Our photo was captured during a rare quiet moment in traffic.

Chris here and I was driving a construction and oilfield delivery truck back then and by coincidence was stuck in traffic, in front of this very building, as a chapter in the Bre-X saga played out. Right at the door there on the left. There were many tremors leading up to this day, but the news that samples were fraudulent just received wide coverage and this brought out the masses. Right about the time I showed up.

It’s May 1997 and history happened right here.

With the breaking news, the area became busy with angry shareholders who on losing it all, were looking for answers. Reporters were on the scene to document it all and soon after the police arrived to keep order. There was shouting in the streets, people running about crazily and general mayhem. Someone called in a bomb threat.

A circus comes to mind.

As a result of the chaos, traffic on 14th came to a grinding halt. It happened in real time and was coming to a head just a few vehicles, including mine, arrived. By the time anyone could act, they were already committed and stuck in the mess. Guess none of us saw it coming…

There’s yours truly right outside and for the short while I had a front row seat to the action. It was only ten or fifteen minutes, but there was so much crazy that time stood still. The crowd pulsated with faces of anger and despair.

Order came quickly out on the street and everyone soon moved to the doors out front or adjoining sidewalks. Traffic started rolling again and it really didn’t impact any deliveries, but it did make for good conversation back at the office later. I shared some highlights over the radio as they happened, just in case the dispatcher questioned why a certain truck was not moving.

It was over and done quickly, for this person anyway, but the memory stuck. For those who lost it all in the melee, I bet it haunts them every single day. Even now, some 28 years later.

Being an intimate witness to something so newsworthy and having it happen completely by chance, is kind of wild. It’s another strange happenstance – nothing world moving or anything – but a window into something really interesting. Who doesn’t love the phycology of a good scam? It was seen up close and had the timing been a bit different, we wouldn’t be sharing this post. This thought keeps coming back: it seems deceiving people is easy.

What brought on this post, since it’s a little different from the norm here? While driving past the building recently, as we’ve done a million times, we got stuck in traffic right out front in the very same spot. The memories of that day came rushing back. There was nothing odd going on and it was just heavy volumes, but we didn’t see it coming I suppose…

Now let’s return to our regular programming.

Know more (new tab): Bre-X Minerals Calgary.

They’re saying…

“Chris and Connie have a unique way of documenting the places they visit, not copying the style or technique of others, but making it their own.” Alex Craig, Filmmaker.

Random awesomeness…
Mt Revelstoke (BC) Eva & Miller Lakes.
Four Houses Downtown Calgary/.
Bridge Hunting: Highway 13 Scotsguard.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: 1997 (the memory) and October 2025 (revisiting the building).
Location: 14th Street NW, Calgary Alberta.

Bre-X pulled off the biggest stock swindle in Canada right here.

The post Retrospective: Bre-X Minerals Calgary first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Customers are unforgiving and the margins…well…they’re thin. You measure them in microns. You’d have to be crazy to get into it.

Here’s a former computer outlet and the signage remains as though it’s still in business, but it’s been closed for a long time. Welcome to “Canada88.com – Alberta Computer Warehouse”, sometimes presented with 9th Ave SE Outlet in the title (since they had two locations). It operated out of an old, former Texaco Service Station and that’s an interesting place to house a business dealing in tech.

Now let’s go back to the beginning. Blackfoot Texaco dates to 1966 and when built was located on the corner of Blackfoot Trail (a stretch road that dates to the 1950s) and 9th Avenue Southeast. A firm called the Inglewood Lumber Yard occupied this lot before.

This was a busy intersection back then and there were service stations on three of the four corners. The Blackfoot Truck Stop and its legendary eatery was a stone’s throw away and is still there today. Mmmmm, breakfast with extra bacon and bottomless coffee!

Historic Colonel Walker School occupied the forth corner and it’s still there too.

Later this stretch of Blackfoot Trail was rerouted (1970s) and Blackfoot Texaco was bypassed on the one side when this happened. This likely resulted in a big decrease in passing traffic and data suggests this was the downfall of the business. The newer section of Blackfoot now runs about a block to the north and is as busy as ever.

As was common at the time, Blackfoot Texaco included service bays. Having an attached convenience store is a common feature today, but not back then. Fixing cars was actually a good money maker then and as a result most gas stations offered this service.

Blackfoot Texaco operated into the late 1970s (confirmed by phone book entries) and recall, this was about the time Blackfoot was rerouted. This change in traffic patterns must have killed them off as the two events happened almost concurrently. Later, several independent auto related businesses operated out the building – a repair shop and a used car dealer make mention. Also a demolition company was listed later on.

The pumps were pulled out once the service station closed and you can still see where the pump-islands were in some of our photos.

Canada88.com – Alberta Computer Warehouse first shows up here about 2002 and operated into about 2006-ish. That’s not long, but that’s the nature of the business. An entry for an Alberta Computer Distribution Centre also shows up for this location about this time and they were a sister company. Also a firm called Alberta Computer Security is similarly shown (in old directories).

Ever since the computer company shut down this old building has been dark. Never once have we seen any activity there – well sometimes a big truck parks in the lot, but that’s about it. We drive by often and have done so regularly for decades, so changes would easily be noted.

The website for this business, Canada88.com, is still up but now hosts a Chinese Newspaper. In the past one could dig deeper and find remnants from the computer business on pages they forgot to delete. Samsung Hard Drives! 40 gigs? I’m in! AOC monitors – we used to have one. Hercules Video Cards rule! “Canon S230 Power Shot 3.2Mega Pixel Digital Camera Retail Box with 16MB compact flash memory card….In Stock NOW!!!!”

You know, we could get into photography. Those abandoned pages appears to have been wiped away now and are no longer found.

Reading all lost pages brought on a chuckle and some fond memories. Those prices! The capacity of things and did we really get by with 128 megabytes of memory? Upgrade your 286 or 386! We reminisce, remembering brands vanished and parts long obsolete. The website was a time capsule and snapshot of computing from long ago.

This was Alberta Computer Warehouse’s second outlet and the other during the time this one operated was on 9th Avenue SW in downtown. It’s a near-straight line from that one to this one on 9th. We recall buying a one gig “Quantum” hard drive from this other shop many years back.

This other outlet seems to have vanished about 2006ish too. Too bad, because they have a good deal on Computer “Spekers” – that’s from a page on their still live (as of October 2025) website. Alberta Computer Warehouse earlier had a second location in the northeast before moving into the old Texaco. The other location was on Macleod Trail once too, but we’re getting off track.

Back on 9th Ave SE, the signage prominently displays Canada88.com in bold red and the Alberta Computer Warehouse part gets lesser billing in blue (that lower lettering is almost completely faded now). This was at a time when having an online presence was a big deal and it was worthwhile to promote it heavily. The Canada88.com website used to make mention of both stores and their second website, AlbertaComputer.com, tied to outlet one, still does the same.

The Canada88.com – Alberta Computer Warehouse building still looks every bit the service station. And more precisely every bit the Texaco Service Station. Those parallel lines of green and the distinctive round signs (long gone, but their frame is still obvious), are sure fire spotting features.

This design of Texaco station can be traced back to the 1930s in the US, but was not introduced in Canada until the late 1950s when the firm entered the market here. In the early 1960s the company came up with something new and more contemporary for the times, however, there was a transition period where both were made. This may be one of the last made in that earlier form and that it’s still so intact is amazing.

Typically the façades of Texaco Gas Stations were also decorated with stars. The stars were everywhere, including attendant uniforms – “You can trust your car to the man that wears the star” – a line from the company jingle (circa 1960s).

Texaco branded gas stations in Canada operated into the late 1980s, when the operation was absorbed by competitor Imperial Oil. Texaco still has a presence in the US.

We’re not sure what the future holds in store for this building but nothing shows up in recent searches for things like redevelopment permits. A disused building rarely lasts long in this city and given this one’s been unused for almost two decades suggests its time may be up soon.

It wouldn’t surprise us to see something happen in the future. There’s not much sentiment in Calgary for old buildings and the mindset is to bulldoze it all and put up something big and shiny. And probably soulless. It’ll happen and you know it.

Time will tell and since we drive by the site often, we’ll keep an eye on things.

We always give the old Blackfoot Texaco a second glance when passing by and imagine ourselves stopping in so an attendant can top off the tank. Check the oil too and maybe wipe the windows. Gas station attendants? There’s a memory. Now we fill it up ourselves, don’t converse with anyone the whole time, the car keeps an eye on the oil situation so we never check it, and we do the squeegeeing.

Know more about Texaco in this country (new tab): Texaco in Canada.

They’re saying…

“Their photography is wonderful and I love to read the background stories to the images” Peg Strankman.

Random awesomeness…
Rosedale Alberta 1948 & 2016.
Ghosts of the Crowsnest Subdivision.
Pilot Bay Smelter Remains.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: January 2018 and October 2025.
Location: Inglewood Neighbourhood, Calgary Alberta,
Article references and thanks: City of Calgary, Canadian Encyclopedia, Alberta Computer Warehouse/Canada88.com, Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society and old Henderson Directories.

This former Texaco was last a computer shop.

Canada88.com – Alberta Computer Warehouse closed a long time ago.

This alley & green space was Blackfoot Trail – gas station leftish of camper.

From 2018 and it looked the same.

(2018) It closed as a Texaco in the ’70s but still looks like a gas station.

The post Blackfoot Texaco – Canada88.com first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

On first impressions it may look as though they threw together some random bits with no a clue as to purpose or function. It’s a…I give up…I don’t know. However, it proved to be well designed machine and did its specialized job efficiently. It’s tech for the era, we suppose. There were several DNR Excavators made and they were a success in spite of looking like something from the mind of Rube Goldberg.

About a century ago you might find a machine like this hard at work in the dry-belt regions of Alberta constructing or maintaining irrigation ditches. Without, there would be no life giving waters for arid and otherwise unproductive land. Larger canals fed these smaller waterways, which extended out in all directions.

DNR Excavators (also spelled D.N.R) date from the late 1910s to early 1920s period and came from a plant in Calgary. We don’t know what the three letters in DNR stand for, but maybe one day we will. They’re initials or an acronym, presumably, but in regards to what or who remains unclear. We found the name of the designer and other higher-ups connected to the project and nothing matches up there.

Using a bucket mechanism, a DNR Excavator could cut a new waterway or clean out one already made. The machine straddled the work area and inched forward while doing its thing. In a continuous motion too. It then dumped spoil to one side and that’s the whole process. Viola! Let the H20 flow!

A similar machine sourced from the US inspired the DNR Excavator. Called a Ruth Dredger, they were made in Los Angeles CA starting about 1908. The Ruth company sent up a single machine to the Calgary area for field testing, but it didn’t work as hoped.

“One of these machines was obtained and tried out during the season of 1918 and proved that it was of the right type but was poorly designed and built, so that it would not stand up under the work. Since this problem at that time was a very pressing one, it was arranged to re-design the Ruth Dredger…The new machine was improved in every detail except the bucket line, which was the patented feature of the (Ruth) machine.” – Transactions of the Engineering Institute of Canada (1924).

The resultant data from the trial helped them design something similar and better. The bucket assembly was the only part deemed satisfactory and carried over to the new design.

Interestingly enough, Ruth itself later copied some of the features of the DNR Excavator. So, the crawler track for example – Ruth had a big wheel in that spot. This: “The Ruth dredger has since been greatly improved and the new models are in successful use now in the United States.” – Transactions of the Engineering Institute of Canada (1924).

By our tally, there were at least 16 DNR Excavators, but there may have been more. These machines were a success and got the work done more efficiently and with less cost when compared to other methods. Or compared to other machines. Reports suggest the cost benefits were significant and for one season (early 1920s?) in one irrigation district, they saved about $50k. We’re talking over three quarters of million today and that’s noteworthy.

“There are now six excavators in use on the Western section, nine on the Eastern section and one on the Lethbridge section (ed: with perhaps a couple in reserve). The credit for the design of the D.N.R. Excavator, rests chiefly with Ben D Fessenden, assistant canal superintendent in charge of mechanical equipment on the Western section and E Dutcher, mechanical engineer for the Riverside Iron Works.” – Transactions of the Engineering Institute of Canada (1924).

The irrigation districts seemed to identify each DNR Excavator with a unique number, but we were unable to find which in the group this was. Old photos show several different units and we wonder if this example might be any of those seen. In comparing it to old those photos it appears the Pioneer Acres DNR Excavator is complete. We wonder how far gone it is and if when first parked (whenever that was) if it was still functional.

A gas engine provided power for motion and drove the bucket assembly. You could adjust the angle of the latter, depending on the depth of the trench required. Rudimentary steering was via a single front drum-shaped wheel with a wind-vane looking arrow connected to the system. This confirmed at a glance the direction of travel. Since the machine moved slow and with the front wheel mostly hidden from view, it might not be so obvious where you’re heading.

The large wheel opposite the crawler was unpowered and using a telescoping axle, it extended out as needed to span the trench or ditch. The machine has a cable winch and this might come in handy in many ways. Like getting unstuck.

Overall the shape of the machine is that of wedge, with an offset tricycle type setup and with most of the working parts on one side. The machine is a great mass of steel beams, rivets, gears, cams and levers.

DNR Excavators worked at a snails pace and said to average a speed of five feet per minute with 13 to 15 buckets dumped in that time. The noise must have been deafening and the ride bone-jarring. And those many moving gears and chains, all open and exposed…so much danger. What’s the lost finger count?

Calgary’s Riverside Iron Works built the DNR Excavators at their compact plant in Bridgeland across from downtown. Interestingly, those old buildings still exist and are now home to some retail shops. The Riverside firm was the go-to in the city when one needed something formed or fabricated of metal. They seemingly could make anything of steel or iron. Among the things they built includes mine equipment, farm machinery, and structural assemblies.

Riverside moved to the Ramsay neighbourhood in the late 1920s and soon after was folded into the huge conglomerate Dominion Bridge. That former factory still exists too and for one, there’s a company there that makes film sets. We’ve been inside and it’s something to behold!

Is a DNR a Ruth? At least some documents/photographs seem suggest it. The former is clearly inspired by the latter and even uses some Ruth designed parts. Both serve a very similar purpose and even look somewhat alike. Still, think of them as two separate types, but with a family connection.

The DNR Excavators originally worked for irrigation districts owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. These include the Western District near Calgary, the Eastern District near Brooks and the Lethbridge District near the city of the same name.

Later the CPR would divest itself of these subsidiaries and ever since each has operated independently. Then, as today, water brought in from elsewhere is the only reason there’s large scale farming in those regions. The reservoirs, canals and ditches that make up the respective networks were and still are a life line.

Pioneer Acres received this DNR Excavator as a donation in the early 2000s. It’s the last to exist…we think. In years past, it was on display at the Western Irrigation District offices in Strathmore, but removed due to a widening of the highway. Given that location, we assume it was always a WID machine, but who knows for sure.

Old photos found during research show several DNR Excavators (usually listed as a Ruth Dredgers) at work. In two views of the same machine dated 1919 (Eastern Irrigation District – seen in this post – via UofC Archives), it shows they used crew of three and with one on the ground presumably orchestrating it all. No doubt it was a hard, back breaking job and to operate it required an attentive crew.

Modern day trenchers might look different, but they are not all that far removed from the DNR Excavator in spirit.

Pioneer Acres Museum is a heavenly place if you like old machinery, trucks or farm equipment and is definitely worth a visit. They have enough stuff to keep one busy over several visits. You might even find us there at random times wandering about. In the past, we’ve volunteered building exhibits or shooting promotional images and would love to do it again.

Now scroll down to the photos and marvel at this odd machine. The images are from a few years back and from several visits, but the DNR Excavator looks pretty much the same today as it did then. This piece is repost from one first published in 2016, but rewritten for better clarity.

Know more about the company that made the DNR Excavator (new tab): Riverside Iron Works Calgary and the inspiration for the machine, here: Ruth Dredger.

There is so little information on the DNR machine, that nothing really comes up in a search but this post.

They’re saying…

“Chris and Connie have a unique way of documenting the places they visit, not copying the style or technique of others, but making it their own.” Alex Craig, Filmmaker.

Random awesomeness…
Four Houses Downtown Calgary.
Union Bay (Vancouver Island) Coal Wharf.
Calgary Transit #7632.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: July 2012, May 2016 and July 2023.
Location: Pioneer Acres Museum, Irricana Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Pioneer Acres Museum, book – Transactions of the Engineering Institute of Canada (1924) and the University of Calgary archives.

A strange irrigation ditch digger called a DNR Excavator.

This engine powered it all.

A strange leviathan found at Pioneer Acres in Irricana Alberta.

The track assembly.

Cable winch left and telescoping wheel right.

Wood inserts on the crawler track.

So much machinery.

Gears and chains and all of it is out in the open.

We wonder how many fingers were lost to this machine?

Inset: two views from 1919 showing a DNR Excavator at work.

The post DNR Excavator (Ruth Dredger) first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

They called it quits. It was the last business of this sort, here in this town, and when the final day came, so ended a chapter in the book of Cadogan. They shut the doors, turned off the lights and now there’s nothing at all going on. It’s like countless little towns on the Canadian Prairies and often the hotel is one of the last to go. When it does, the community dies a little.

Cadogan is in the far central-eastern reaches of the province and is a quiet little backwater. Not that it’s bad and we for one, would kill for such solitude. It has a population of about a hundred but in the past it somewhat greater. A Henderson Directory from the 1910s lists it as 500, but that might be in error. We never seen it greater than about one hundred and fifty in any government records. However, old phone directories lists a large number of numbers in surrounding rural areas and this might be part of the Henderson tally.

The building which houses the Red Lion Hotel has an interesting backstory as former Canadian Bank of Commerce. The bank built it in the early days – we’ve not found the exact date of construction, but suspect sometime later the 1910s. That’s a few years after the founding of the town with the coming of the railway.

The first confirmed mention of it discovered during research was the early 1920s. It’s not visible in a very early photo of the town, showing the complete downtown, so it did come a bit later.

The Canadian Bank of Commerce had branch all over the prairies and in the 1960s merged with the Imperial Bank of Canada to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The Cadogan CBC closed in the mid-1930s during the depression.

The Canadian Bank of Commerce used a Caduceus symbol (two snakes entwined around a winged staff) for its logo and that relief is still visible on the hotel. Up high and centred. Caduceus is a symbol of commerce, among other things, but sometimes is mistaken or even misused as a medical symbol. The similar Asclepius symbol (serpent-entwined rod) is correct for health related things. Honestly, it’s easy to confuse the two.

With that, a person might then believe this building had a medical function, like a hospital, but that’s not the case. We know of several former Canadian Bank of Commerce buildings in various prairie towns and on many the symbol remains in place.

The Red Lion Hotel first shows up in the late 1940s (SJ Capowski listed as manager) but what happened to the building in the interim is a bit of a mystery. Likely, it was empty the whole time. Cadogan lost a lot of businesses during the great depression and empty shops were nothing unusual.

There is a history book called “Prairie Echoes: Metiskow, Cadogan, Cairns, Precious Memories of the Former Hillcrest Municipality” that likely clarifies this, and other missing pieces in this article, but we’ve yet to track down a research copy. If we do, expect some updates here. In the meantime, we’ve pieced this together from other sources as best we could and there’s enough to build a story.

This is not the first bank made into a hotel we know of and there’s one in Clive Alberta (Prairie Fire Cafe & Lounge – Clive Hotel) that was a Union Bank. We shot an episode of the Beer Parlour Project there in March of 2025 – search for it online.

Later in the 1950s and early ’60s they list a PI Marshall as manager of the Red Lion Hotel in phone directories. Then it changes to J Schrettlinger for a time. By the late 1960s Chuck and Dot Eldridge hold that position. Certainly there were many others not listed.

In some years, the phone entries read “Cadogan Red Lion Hotel”. In the only ad we found for the business from this time, they tout modern rooms and a licensed beer parlour. Emphasis on booze!

The Red Lion Hotel remained in business until about 2017 or minimally, they had an online presence until then. From September that year: “Tonight’s Supper Special: Ukrainian Platter with homemade cabbage rolls, perogies and sausage”. As someone who grew up with that kind of food, that sounds delicious. They seem to post regularly into late that month (lots of great sounding meals) and then is abruptly stops. Good deals on drinks too.

Earlier in 2017, they advertised an Oiler watch party and state that every time the ref makes a bad call, there would be a round of shooters on the house. That’s what did them in! From a comment: “FREE SHOOTER every time the Ref’s make a Bad Call!! That’s a BRAVE Gamble for an establishment to make!”

“You have tried the rest, now come to Cadogan and try the best.” – from their Facebook page. Also: “We will be closed on December 15th until after Alex’s funeral so we can pay our respects to this wonderful young man. Rest easy Alex. You will be greatly missed by everyone.” – December 10th, 2016. Not sure who he was, but someone loved him.

Also: “Relief for victims of the Ft McMurray fires is being organized as we speak! We have secured an enclosed trailer to house goods until transport to Edmonton Emergency Relief Services, which will distribute items where needed. WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING HOUSEHOLD GOODS/TOYS/FOOD/RANDOM CLOTHING AT THIS TIME!!! We’re also are NOT accepting financial donations. Any financial contributions can be made to the Red Cross or on the Edmonton Emergency Relief Services website & a tax receipt will be issued. If you are able to provide any of the following please watch for further info on drop off locations! Items needed are:
Diapers
Formula
Baby wipes
Soap
Body wash
Shampoo & conditioner
New brushes/combs
Deodorant
Feminine Hygiene products
Bottled water
New socks and underwear (men & women)
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes
Pet food
Kitty litter
Toilet Paper
New pillows
New sheets/blankets/pillowcases
Kleenex
New sweat pants/track pants
New t-shirts
If anyone is interested in volunteering with me for this project please let me know. Any & all help is appreciated! Also, please SHARE, SHARE, SHARE this post Things listed can be dropped off at the Cadogan Red Lion will be picked up next week and taken to those in need!”

It looks like they were community minded but then again, rural folks tend to shine in this respect. That page first posted in 2013.

The old photo seen in the comparison is thanks to the University of Calgary Molson Brewery Archives and dates from the 1950s. The Molson company likely supplied the hotel at the time and had this image taken for that file. There’s huge number of hotels in the Molson Archives that they presumably used in the same way. Team Beer Parlour Project has visited some of those seen, while many others have closed or they’re gone.

From the front view at least, this building appears little changed over time, but we’re unsure exactly when they put in that back addition. It’s not visible in the Molson image due to the angle and that’s if it’s even there. That siding back there is not that old, but who knows the age of what lies underneath. It is visible in a 1960 dated aerial photo we found, but is half-width when compared to today. So one part is at least that old and the other somewhat newer.

There are several cars parked in front of the Red Lion in the old days and you can see someone entering the building. It appears there’s a second entryway to the right and this might be the “ladies and escorts” door. Back then the rules were different and ladies either had their own barroom or a section within the main bar that was theirs alone. As long as they came in with a male escort. A husband, brother, boyfriend, relative, or in a pinch some random guy you convinced to join you, would all do.

That nice old tree is gone.

The Red Lion Hotel building (back when it was still a bank) shows up in a detailed fire insurance map from the early 1930s. The legend shows it as the only brick building in the town. The list of businesses in downtown then is extensive and includes a couple garages, a couple general stores, an eatery or two, a post office, phone exchange, butcher shop, theatre and others. All are gone and there’s houses on these lots now.

A Cadogan Hotel also shows in this map and it was previously unbeknownst to us. Further research turned up photos of it very early on (early 1910s). The location was a block away and near the train station. It’s not known what happened to it and when, but presumably it was gone before the Red Lion came on the scene. There are no phone entries for it, but that might not have had one – early on in rural parts, you could get by without.

Or maybe the new one replaced the old one? This requires further research, so for now we’ll not speculate further.

The origins of the Red Lion name are as yet unknown. It’s a symbol of courage, strength, and determination, plus of British Royalty, so perhaps the answer is somewhere in there. Again, the local history book might shed some light on this.

We believe the Red Lion Hotel rented rooms into the 1990s, but we’re not sure beyond that date. Ads for the hotel are scarce and usually not very informative.

It’s time to go and after one last look we’re on the way. We’d love to go back in time and see it when it was open. It’s not that long ago! Let’s shoot an episode of the Beer Parlour Project, get to know the people and building. We can dream it. Something tells us we’ll return to photograph the building and we really like the character.

Know more about the town (new tab): Cadogan Alberta and medical looking symbol used by the bank (also new tab): Canadian Bank of Commerce Caduceus Symbol.

They’re saying…

“Chris and Connie’s posts are among the best of the blogs out there. In fact this is my go to guide for where to explore in the summer. I like how well organized it is which allows a person to select from epic hikes to nearly forgotten history.” Glen Bowe.

Random awesomeness…
Sibbald Gentleman’s Club (Closed).
The Lonely Laing House (1910s).
Balmoral School Calgary 1913-1914.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: 1950s and June 2025.
Location: Cadogan, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: University of Calgary Archives, Alberta Government, Henderson Directories, Red Lion Hotel Facebook Page and the Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society.

The Red Lion Hotel in Cadogan Alberta about 70 years apart.

The hotel closed a few years back.

The backside view shows the addition well.

From when it was a bank: Caduceus is a symbol of commerce.

The post Red Lion Hotel Cadogan Alberta first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

The buses we’re documenting represent the very last of what was once a huge fleet of hundreds that Calgary Transit once owned. These ones date from 1978 to 1982, and came from the last orders the agency placed for the model. CTS once had other Fishbowls going all the way back to 1962, but they already retired these earlier.

With the youngest Fishbowls presently over thirty years old, they are some of he oldest transit buses in service anywhere. Interestingly they’ve outlived some other models that came later and that’s a testament to their solid design.

This is a post from over a decade ago and we brought it back for your enjoyment. Ours too and that’s because we like buses – crazy as it sounds. The context reflects this earlier time, so keep that in mind, but we added some new tidbits too. Otherwise the post is pretty much the same as the original and if anything demonstrates how long we’ve been at it.

Officially called “New Look” by maker GMC, they soon gained the Fishbowl nickname. This came about due to the multi-angle and multi-part expansive windshield that gave the effect of being in a fishbowl. The front was almost all glass and at certain angles, the view distorted a bit.

US production began in 1959 and Canadian followed in 1961. Up until 1980 or so (some sources say 1982) the huge General Motors Diesel Division locomotive plant in London Ontario produced the buses here. That factory is history now and stopped making locomotives in 2012.

Later, a purpose built factory in Saint Eustache Quebec continued to make Fishbowls into 1986 for various customers across North America. For the last few years most of these buses went to the US. This plant also made the Fishbowl successor too (the Classic), and for a period it happened concurrently.

US transit systems liked the Fishbowl design so much that they continued to purchase Canadian made models long after US production ended in 1977. Their replacement in the US, the RTS, was not well received by some transit agencies, so they went shopping for the old proven design up north.

The two GM factories produced about forty four thousand Fishbowls, in numerous variations and about a quarter of the output came from the Canadian side. Nearly every transit system in North America had at least some on their roster and in many cites they were the dominate bus. Fishbowls came in various lengths (35 & 40 feet mostly), widths, seating arrangements and with many drive train combinations. But they all looked similar.

Given the longevity of the design it’s clear they hit the mark. Not fancy, they were most certainly tough, reliable, easily serviced and clearly able to handle nearly anything thrown at them.

Only a scant few years ago they were fairly common across North America and in many fleets were only recently retired. Say in the last five to ten years (remember, it’s 2013 talking). Many Fishbowls ended up lasting longer than the buses that were to replace them!

The “New Look” or “Fishbowl” also came in a suburban highway model. Edmonton Alberta, until recently, had some trolleybus versions and these were the only electrically powered ones built.

It’s not clear how many Calgary Transit Fishbowls remain, but data suggests it’s perhaps a few dozen at most. The day of our visit, we saw eleven head out for service and one parked in the back lot. Given their advanced age fleet usage varies considerably and some days they might not head out at all. Mostly, they only come out during the morning and afternoon rush.

Many Fishbowls this day headed directly toward always dreadfully busy Deerfoot Trail and this demonstrates how much faith Calgary Transit has in these old buses. You don’t want to take an unreliable vehicle on that crazy stretch of road. Mad Max has entered the chat…

According to a few reports found, CTS plans to keep serviceable Fishbowls on the road for a little while longer and maybe into early 2014. We thought they were already done for and when visiting the barns over the last five or six months, saw many languishing in the back lot, presumably out of service. Never count them out and they were only in temporary retirement…we guess.

It was a chance spotting of #977 out in the wild a couple weeks prior that inspired this article and we last recall seeing some back in the spring. One can assume any bus developing a serious mechanical issue faces retirement ahead of any schedules.

On to the bus barns – we staked out a spot across the street just before the afternoon rush. In the span of half an hour, early in, we saw all the Fishbowls we’d see. In spite of hanging around much longer, no more would emerge from the barns. It was a short GMC parade, although an endless stream of other buses continued to leave afterwards.

Of the thirteen Fishbowls seen (in numerical order), #902, #934, #970 (not in service), #974 and #977 (the one that inspired this article) were all from an eighty bus order built in 1978. These originally had the traditional roller sign as built but were later retrofitted with the programmable electronic versions seen today.

On our way home later, we saw #902 hard at work and loaded with passengers.

The following two, #1010 and #1115, were from 1979 order comprising thirty six buses. These were the first Calgary GMCs that came from the factory with electronic destination signs. Calgary Transit ordered seventy five Fishbowls in 1980 and #1059 is from that order.

CTS made their final Fishbowl order in 1982 and #1094, #1148, #1154 and #1156 are from that group. These would be the final GMC produced buses of any model that Calgary Transit would purchase. GMC Canada sold the business later in the ’80s.

Most buses leaving had an out of service sign which presumably they’d change once on the assigned route. Some buses had 700-800 series route shown and these are school runs, plus one marked #52 Martindale.

Both of us here are pretty sure we’ve ridden some of these exact buses as some point. If you’ve taken Calgary Transit in the last few decades, chances are you have too.

Also seen in this post is an “MCI Classic”. Classic’s were first produced by GMC (1983-1987), then Motor Coach Industries took over (MCI – of Greyhound fame – 1987-1993) and finally came Nova Bus (1993-1997). All came from the same Quebec factory originally built by GM. Nova Bus would change over to to newer designs after production of the Classic model ended.

Designed by GMC to replace the Fishbowl, the Classic ended up being produced concurrently with the earlier model for time. Calgary Transit never purchased GMC or Nova Classics, but did acquire some from MCI. These date from the early 1990s and represents their next oldest fleet of buses after the Fishbowls.

Numbering over a hundred, CTS rebuilt many Classics in recent memory and for the time being their future seems assured for a year or two more. These buses, along with the Fishbowls, and a few older New Flyer models are the only non-low floor buses on the roster. High floor buses are not as flexible usage wise, but they’re good enough as pinch hitters. Look for a follow up repost here, where were captured some of the last Classic buses in service.

While the Classic model looks different from the Fishbowl, it shares a lot in common with the older design. Think of it as a re-skinned and slightly updated new “New Look”.

Fishbowls in 2013 are based out of the Spring Garden bus barn off 32nd NE and it’s a huge complex. It was the biggest facility the transit system and is home to hundreds of buses of all makes and types (Update: it’s since been surpassed). They do everything here from minor maintenance to major overhauls. Given how long they have been in the fleet, the mechanics must know these Fishbowls inside and out.

Before the Fishbowl bus era in Calgary ends, we hoped to catch a ride on one as a final hurrah. A good-bye to an old friend…if everything went well. As it happened, however, it was not to be and soon after documenting the action this day, CTS retired the lot of them. Permanently and not temporarily as before. That’s ahead of schedule by a month or two. It hinged on the delivery of new replacement buses, which were arriving at a pace quicker than expected.

These photos were captured on basic snapshot cameras and not the best quality as a result.

Know more (new tab): GMC New Look (Fishbowl) Buses.

They’re saying…

“Their photography is wonderful and I love to read the background stories to the images.” Peg Strankman.

Another finale…
The Last Classic? (Calgary Transit).

Random awesomeness…
Baby Boom in Didsbury Alberta
Highway History (BC): the Garbage Gobbler.
Silverton BC Waterfront (SS Slocan).

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: October and November 2013.
Location: Calgary Alberta, Calgary Transit Spring Garden Facility.
Article references and thanks: Calgary Transit and the Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board & Wiki.

Spotted in the wild in October & it inspired this post.

Nov 2013 – the parades begins with Fishbowl #934.

Followed by #902.

Right behind is #1156.

#977 smokes it up.

The fifth out is #1115.

#1010 heading away.

Next is #1154.

Then #1059…

Right behind is #1094.

On the ramp to busy Deerfoot Trail.

We almost missed #1148 as it pulled out.

It ends and the last one today is #974.

One of Calgary Transit’s MCI Classic buses (now all retired).

Fishbowl #970 did not move.

#902 passes by with a load of passengers as we call it day.

The post Calgary Transit: the Last GMC Fishbowls first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Strome is on lucky Highway #13, in the east/central part of the province and was founded about 1906. This was about the time the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived and with so many towns on the prairies it happened just like this. The community has a population of a 230 or so, but in the past was a bit larger. Shrinking populations is another story often repeated out in farming country.

The Selkirk Hotel, as it was originally called, dates to the late 1920s. It replaced two earlier hotels in town, the Lakeview and the Strome, both of which burned down. The location was strategically close to the railway station. That building was right across the street and at the time that’s where the action was.

The trains still run though town, but passenger service on this line ended long ago.

The Selkirk became the Strome Hotel during the second half of the 1970s. The origins of the Selkirk name are unknown to us and perhaps lost to time. The history book is silent on the subject and we found nothing else to explain it. The Strome Hotel name, of course, is self explanatory – Strome the town, incidentally, may be named after Stromeferry in Scotland.

The history book and old directories show there’s been a long list of owners. One thing we’ve found being hotel historians and being part of the Beer Parlour Project, is that turn overs in the business are high.

Owning and running a hotel is not an easy role to fill. You have to be astute with money, a bartender, dishwasher, MMA fighter, janitor, handyman, teamster, therapist, ringmaster and wear 100 other hats. The ROI is sometime good, sometimes bad and who’s the last person paid? You are! Hours are long and the pressures many. Often the owners simply burn out and then drop out.

Usually they sell, or try to sell, but sometimes there’s no takers or they don’t come right away. There might be a gap between owners and in the meantime, the building is likely to deteriorate some. These old hotels often date back a long, long time and need regular upkeep. They’re often cobbled together mechanically. With down time, it’s hard to win back customers and that’s a big hurdle too.

Incidentally, the oldest hotel visited by the Beer Parlour Project goes back to 1904 (Alix Alberta) and the newest, the late 1950s (Wildwood Alberta).

As you’ll see, the hotel looks much as it did seventy one years ago and presents a timeless scene. How many people have come and gone? How many business in downtown Strome have done the same? The world, the county, the province and Strome itself has changed in that time. All the while, this little watering hole is much as it was.

It’s not clear when rooms were last offered at the hotel, but it would seem a while ago.

A pizza place opened in the hotel soon after our brief visit to little Strome. We heard rumours of its pending arrival shortly before and looked around to see if any work was going inside, but couldn’t tell. Rob Pohl, who as you know if part of Beer Parlour Project, stopped by a couple months back, while the area and it was open then.

They hinted to Rob that it may reopen as a tavern and time will tell. We wish them luck and it’s good to see the business happening again, even if it’s on a reduced scale. It’s the only eatery in town, unless you count Slim-Jims washed down with a Dr Pepper as a meal, in which case, the gas station on the highway counts as a second.

In “downtown”, there’s really nothing much left and the hotel is now (again) a bright spot. In recent memory a grocery store up the block was once located within sight of the hotel, but it’s gone now.

The community needs a social place like this or it dies a little as a result.

The Then image comes thanks to the Molson Breweries file at the University of Calgary archives. It’s dated December 01, 1954. There’s no snow on the ground that we can see, so it must have been a mild winter to that point. One small building in downtown, in the background and on the left, appears in both images – look above the truck box in the Then image.

Molson kept a visual record of hotels they supplied and included them in their customer file. There’s hundreds of hotels in their archives, of ones long gone, and others still around. You can bet we’ll be shooting more Then & Now historic comparisons from photos pulled from that archive.

You’ll note an old wood grain elevator in the distance, in one of our photos. It’s something rare these days too and makes a good backdrop to that scene. It shouts this is the prairies. In years past, there would have been many more in close proximity to the Sekirk/Strome Hotel and no doubt some employees may have stopped in for a cold one at the hotel after work. Just one beer…

Know more about the community (new tab): Strome Alberta.

They’re saying…

“Criminally underrated and overlooked. A hidden gem.” Chris A.

Random awesomeness…
Planned Railway: Empress Alberta.
Ogden Road Calgary 1950 & 2016.
Legends of the Fall (1994) Family Cemetery.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: December 1954 and May 2025.
Location: Strome, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: UofC Photo Archives, the book “Lanterns on the prairie – Strome Diamond Jubilee 1905-1980”, Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society, and various old Henderson Directories.

The Selkirk Hotel/Strome Hotel Strome AB, 1954 & 2025.

A sign on the highway beckons travellers to stop in.

It closed a couple years ago…

However, someone is working to reopen it – read the post.

Strome has a population of about 230.

All quiet on our visit, but perhaps it’ll be busy again.

The post Strome Hotel – Selkirk Hotel Strome Alberta first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

We can’t play outside on a day off like this and certainly can’t stay at home, so here we are.

Its infamy mainly comes from one thing…that it’s a literal ghost town. No one speaks of it’s magnificence, but rather just how empty it is and all that lost potential. There’s a mere handful of retailers operating, and hallway after hallway of vacant store fronts. There’s room for many more but the occupancy rate then was hovering at about twelve percent.

And of customers at New Horizon, there’s few. Most people seem to be here to take in the odd spectacle and not shop. It’s a place brand spanking new, clean, tidy and should be a hit, yet it shows almost no signs of life. Patterned after a similar Asian Mall in Ontario, with tiny stores rarely more than a few hundred square feet in size, this one appears to have stumbled out of the gate.

Build it and they’ll come? Not here it seems. Still, come explore it with us….it’s beautifully weird and wonderful.

This is how it was for us the day we dropped by, many years ago. Business has since improved…somewhat…or so recent media pieces would state (and you know how trustworthy they are). This is not an anti-New Horizon Mall piece and we actually enjoyed the visit. Here, it’s just a fanciful look at how it was for us that day and nothing more. We love exploring the outer limits and the mall delivered in that respect.

As you many have guessed by now, this is an older piece brought back from archives and reposted. Keep that year in mind for some of the context, but we have updated some points to reflect the current status.

1) Arrival @ 11:19:48am. Seems we’re the second car in the parking lot. Fact is there was more than just the two vehicles seen in our picture, but most folks choose the heated underground parkade to escape the bone-chilling temperatures. Still, we counted only some forty or so vehicles overall down there and some must belong to those who work here.

The lot we picked incidentally fronts on the busy Queen Elizabeth Highway and seems consistently empty (not just on our visit, but always) which must give the wrong impression to those passing by. Is the place even open and should we bother stopping?

2) 11:22:40am. Our first photo inside. There’s three stores in quick succession and beyond a big void. As far as the eye can see, there’s not a soul about. All that stark white, sterile and cold, but not as cold as outside! Perhaps it’s too hospital-like (minus that maze-like quality of most health centres) and not particularly inviting for some folks.

3) 11:23:20am. Another hallway and a whole lot of empty. You got to wonder the cost to heat and light the place. With help from Google Translate: Xīn shìyě gòuwù zhòng xīn hěn qíguài or 新视野购物中心很奇怪 (New Horizon Mall is Strange! In Chinese).

4) 11:30:50am. Lunch calls! Upstairs at the “food court” the first signs of people. Go to the light…

5) 11:33:00. Later we’ll be entertained and here a performer gets ready for a show.

6) 11:42:06am. Food from Matty’s Asian Fusion Grill and it’s the only dining option this day. They’ve got a monopoly! We’ve since heard more food outlets have since opened there and the current map shows maybe nine or ten. The eats we had are reason enough to go back and it was yummy stuff. In fact we did go back! Matty’s still shows on current mall maps, so they must being doing something right.

7) 12:04:52pm. Share Tea had an opening soon sign dated almost six months prior. The map at the New Horizon Mall’s website later showed that business did do that, but they appear gone now.

8) 12:12:12pm. Back to walking. We explore this hall and that, each looking much like the last. That we ran into the same people over and over tells us were not the only ones here to get some exercise. Security guards, looking bored out of their chicken, are quick to engage. Briefly comes a smile, some small talk and they’re gone. We suspect they have little to do but stroll about and daydream.

It’s not like there’s any trouble or crimes in progress to attend to. Oh look, someone’s talking loudly – roll out, release the hounds and get that guy!

9) 12:13:36pm. A sale! But no customers. A lone soul looks out over an empty parking lot and we imaging him pondering life and its hidden meanings. Why are we here? What’s it all about? Why isn’t that legging place open…that damn legging place? Why the heck am I not next door at Cross-Iron Mills where the action is? Bass Pro has a freakin’ sale on camo!

Cross Iron is a mega-shopping centre and just to the north. It’s always busy, yet oddly New Horizon doesn’t seem to benefit from any spill-over traffic from there.

10) 12:16:08pm. Smart Deals, eh? We rough counted and found some sixty or so places occupied (of some five hundred+). Given all the vacancies it’s disturbingly disproportionate. Interestingly some stores didn’t open the day of our visit…or maybe they never do. We heard from security during one of those chit-chats that some owners have simply up and walked away, never to return. And they spoke further of others who have taken on second jobs to underwrite their New Horizon businesses, resulting in sporadic hours for those ones. Now it all makes sense.

11) 12:16:58pm. We’ve been in the middle nowhere Saskatchewan, the hinterlands of British Columbia, on remote backroads nowhere close to civilization in Alberta, and never have we felt more alone than at New Horizon Mall. Might as well have been on Mars. There’s a million and half people within a short distance of here, yet there’s complete solitude.

12) 12:18:40pm. While these places looked open, there seemed no one about. Refer to what we said a few paragraphs above. Selection in some stores, as evidenced here at Il Forno, was often minimal, further exacerbating the customer problem. With so little on the shelves to buy, why stop? All the vendor stalls are like this and glass-sided.

13) 12:26:18pm. A calendar from June 2018 and that’s one month after the building opened. No signs of recent activity in this shop and it’s something we saw repeated a lot as we walked about. Seems a fair number of people leased store fronts, not in hopes of opening a business, but rather on speculation with plans to flip them for big $$ on the mall being a success. Now they’re left holding the bag and with a place no one wants.

With little demand many landlords have essentially abandoned their spaces and some reverted back to mall ownership. Others have them for sale at liquidation prices. There are “condo” type fees to pay regardless of whether you’re open or not.

14) 12:27:32pm. Far in back the busy QE2 and the vehicle count out front holds steady at two. With help from Google Translate: 뉴 호라이즌 몰은 이상해 (New Horizon Mall is Strange! In Korean).

15) 12:35:08pm. Practising for a show. And while there’s an audience of one here, later a fair number of folks would show up, but few of them hung around once it all ended.

16) 12:38:52pm. The Fame Zone is gone now and does not show on recent New Horizon Mall Maps. Seems there wasn’t enough of a market for leggings after all. Stores on the outer walls, as this one is, are the smallest running about 145 square feet (with a few ones a quarter sized bigger). People spotted! We have new friends! Goodness, we’re lonely…

17) 12:48:16pm. Fizz & Dazzle, a place for bath bombs. New Horizon Mall is strange!

18) 12:50:52pm. There’s this peculiar optimism at the leasing office…or maybe it’s a state of denial. There’s broad smiles all around, brochures and posters speaking of the money to be made, and the success you’ll have owning your own business. It’s all manner of things contradicting the reality we’re witness too.

This was in contrast shop with shop owners where smiles appeared forced and the entire vibe was one of nervousness or outright despair.

19) 12:56:26pm. Someone’s coming! A new buddy?! Ten bucks it a security guard, who incidentally were little concerned with us photographing things, even if the signs at the front suggest it’s prohibited. But we asked beforehand and they seemed indifferent to it all.

Not seen, an aggressive store owner hot on Connie’s tail intent on selling her something. We encountered a few vendors which were pushy and for the third and last time, we don’t need nail polish! Most, however, looked at us with pathetic lost puppy-dog eyes. Please, buy something from me…please…for the love of…think of the children. We’re being silly here, but it’s no doubt serious stuff for these people.

We honestly felt sorry for most of the store owners here and can’t help think it’ll not end well for many.

20) 1:01:30pm. Stepping outside, a break from the crowds and mayhem. The skies are blue, the snow white, and yes, the world has not ceased to be. There’s lots of traffic on the QEII…

21) 1:12:50pm. High key: a photography technique where the background is of extreme contrast (white) so as to bring out colours on the main subject. See how the pink pops? In back, a sign shows how they’ve set up the various halls as though streets.

22) 1:46:16pm. By days end we’d put on about ten kilometres and it’s walking that keeps us strong. So many empty stores on Second Avenue. Curious as to the layout, south to north it’s 2nd through 8th Avenue, skipping 4th. There’s also no 1st here. West to east it’s 76th Street through 98th Street with 84th and 94th skipped.

Professor Google tells us eights and nines are particularly lucky in Chinese Culture which somewhat helps explain this arrangement. Four is real no-no, hence its complete absence. We just learned something today, together. BTW, our website applies numerical values to all posts for keeping track of things and this one when originally published was #40463. Oppsie! Now it’s #68383.

23) 4:02:32pm. After a break from the picture taking, the show begins and a crowd comes out of nowhere. Here it’s a fashion show and a model totally owning it. That intensity. And the drums played.

24) 4:03:08pm. Those colours! If anything the sterile décor helps all this amazing clothing really stand out.

25) 4:11:58pm. Lots of people now, but when the show ended they’d quickly vanish. New Horizon would be quiet and empty again. But for a moment though, the place looked like it was happening and a certified go-to.

26) 4:26:58pm. The noise echoed up and down the building breaking the otherwise ever-present silence. Boom, boom, boom and it was as though a war zone with the big guns sending out barrage after barrage.

27) 4:46:22pm. Those that know us are familiar with our predilection for the colour yellow. Bright yellow that is and maybe one day we’ll explain why. Okay, how about now? We once bought a jacket on sale that was bright yellow – you’ve seen it no doubt. We did for the fit with extra-long sleeves – gorilla arms are hard to deal with – and in photos it sort of became our trademark. It was not an intentional outcome and just us being cheap-skates.

There’s some elegant ladies here, but the left most one stands out to us.

28) 4:50:52pm. How do we get people to pose? We tell them we’re pro-photographers shooting a piece for the Times or the Journal. Really, that’s all it takes! No that’s silly and we ask nice while telling them our intentions. Here’s a decked-out pair rockin’ some vivid costumes and looking good.

29) 5:06:14pm. And here, looking incredible too, more participants in the show. Smiles all around and looking happy.

30) 5:08:02pm. In winter the sun sets way too early in this part of the world and full on dark at 6pm is hard on the psyche.

31) 5:10:18pm. Just one vehicle in the front parking lot, our lonely little pathetic car. That BIGDoer-mobile has since been replaced and to be honest, we sort of miss it. It looks like a plain old econobox (and in spec was), but was beast in every way. It said Cruze on the plate, but we swear it should have read Jeep.

32) A glint of sun on the glass exterior. Beautiful. But it’s to be appreciated for but a moment and the freezing cold had us making a bee-line for the doors.

33) 5:11:42pm. Rolling thunder! They play fast and furious, the beat intense and the skill incredible. A picture does this drummer no justice. You had to see it, and hear it, in person. We watched enthralled for a long time and were a bit deaf in the end.

34) 5:51:16pm. The show’s over, the quiet returns and the halls are again empty. New Horizon is supposes to close at 8pm but after the show, we saw at least a couple stores shutting early.

35) 5:52:50pm. The store map. Welcome! Yellow (nice colour), are units that are occupied. And with one more lap done – that’s like the thirtieth one – and all possible photo angles exhausted, we decide the adventure is done. What an experience. With help from Google Translate: Trung tâm thương mại Horizon mới lạ (New Horizon Mall is Strange! In Vietnamese).

36) 5:54:02pm. Next order of business, warm up the beast. The last bit of light of day is pleasing and and we’re the only ones out here enjoying it. We’ll call this a magic moment – an adventure done and the final curtain with Mother Nature putting on a show just for us. In a parking lot of all things. Odd how these play out and we love the memories fondly.

37) Finale @ 5:55:16pm. With the car making all manner of odd noises warming up, account that bitter cold, a photo of the New Horizon Mall sign facing the QE2. There’s room for announcements, but those spaces are vacant. Why even bother I guess. Empty is the theme here. An advertising opportunity lost – tens of thousands of cars per day pass in sight of it. I bet most question whether if anything there is even open.

One last look back and we’re gone. Turning to each other, it comes in unison “New Horizon Mall is strange!” But so are we and that’s what we like.

Let’s browse some interesting Google, Yelp and Reddit reviews. There’s thousands and these are just a few we cherrypicked. Go…

“Brick and mortar wish.com” and “It’s basically a physical AliExpress.” It’s a sentiment often stated and the mall is usually compared to various online selling sites peddling cheaply made junky stuff. Temu type places.

“Sooooo dead. It’s just north of the city, and has no anchor. Zero destination draws, just a bunch of tiny, one of a kind places that nobody ever heard of.” To the point and pretty accurate we suppose.

“The place is weird AF” and “I’ve seen cemeteries with more life to them.” Ouch.

New Horizon is often compared to a Calgary Mall that similarly opened with much promise and fanfare, but that later fizzled out. “New Horizon is the new Eau Claire” and “Eau Clair Mall has entered the chat.”

“But all the stores in there are either cell phone cases, or shops that sell like 3 items, but no one is there to sell to you anyway. Some have signs that say, I’m in the mall somewhere, text me if you want to buy something.” We noted there’s a lot of stalls marked with signs like that, suggesting the owner is likely single-handedly manning two stores and bouncing between them as demand dictates.

More…“Feels like this mall isn’t meant to be taken very seriously at all…More than half the (occupied) shops are only open on the weekends. Employees are either on their phones, or are out and about while leaving “be back in 5 minutes” sticky notes on their stores.”

Still, there’s lots of good things to be said about the place in reviews and we can’t help think they missed an opportunity. By our own account there are (or were) some stand-out shops and services. It’s debatable if the close proximity of nearby Cross-Iron Mill Mall helps or hinders the situation.

We browsed the New Horizon Mall social media pages and they’re about as quiet as the place itself. It’s an odd little story.

Since our visit many more stores have moved in and in the latest stats, occupancy is something like seventy five percent. Still, there’s seemingly a general malaise about here and retailers have been vocal at times regarding how badly things having been going for their businesses. Reviews from shoppers often reflect a similar tone and of being underwhelmed and leaving empty handed.

More people visit, but it seems few are buying anything. Dead pools have predicted the demise of New Horizon Mall many times, but even then it seems to endure. They must all have deep pockets or are dangerously determined to make something of it no matter the sacrifice.

We’ve gone back to New Horizon Mall a few times since this visit, but not recently. So in 2021 and 2022. At that time there were clearly more tenants (nothing close to the recently stated 75%) but it still appeared dead as before. That odd twilight zone vibe persisted. Many stores were not open during these times (mid-afternoon one Saturday and a Friday evening) and some almost looked abandoned.

You know, we might have to go back and see the current status for ourselves. Who’s in for a coffee chat? I see there’s a place up there near Matty’s and we could wander about afterwards.

Know more…

New Horizon Mall Balzac Alberta.

They’re saying…

So glad you know so much (and) your posts and pictures are appreciated! Irene Storteboom. (We only think we know much).

Winter adventures…

Fish Creek Park Western Trails.
Edgemont Ravine (NW Calgary).
Grain Elevators at Carbon Alberta.

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

Date of Adventure: March, 2019.
Location: Balzac, AB.
Article references and thanks: New Horizon Mall, Calgary Korean Woman’s Association, Calgary Korean Association, Korean Art Club, Calgary Traditional Chinese Fashion Show Association, Calgary Chinese Music Club and Shine Dance & Lady Club.

1) March 2019: this is going to be strange (and awesome).

2) Not a soul about and it would mostly be that way all day.

3) Empty is the theme and that’s obvious here.

4) Wait, we see people!

5) An entertainer getting ready for a show.

6) Good eats from the one and only vendor at the time.

7) Seating in the food court is limited!

8) Large gaps of nothing between stores.

9) A sale where no one came.

10) One of perhaps 60 shops, with space for over 500.

11) What it’s like to be utterly alone.

12) The lights are on…

13) From June 2018 but it never opened.

14) Vehicle count at two and holding.

15) An audience of one…

16) Kardashian famous?

17) Fizz & Dazzle.

18) An optimistic vibe at the leasing office.

19) The sound of footsteps and a familiar face – Connie.

20) Outside, relief from the the crowds and noise.

21) High-key heaven.

22) Walk up, walk down and it’s ten clicks behind us.

23) The show begins and out of nowhere, a crowd appears.

24) Bright costumes contrast with the sterile and stark decor.

25) When the show ends, they’ll all vanish.

26) The drums echoed up and down the halls.

27) Liking the yellow in particular.

28) We’re pro-photographers…don’t you know…

29) Happy to pose and they look fabulous.

30) Comes the setting sun.

31) Meanwhile in the parking lot.

32) Outside it’s numbingly cold.

33) Pound those skins and make some noise!

34) With the show over it’s a return to peace and quiet.

35) A map to guide the way and treasure awaits!

36) Yup, the BIGDoer-mobile is still there and looks cold!

37) All that’s left is a shot of the sign and we’re gone.

The post New Horizon Mall is Strange! first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Over there in the grass, there’s a depression marking the location of something (a home?) and over this way a concrete pad that belonged to a grain elevator. A small berm, the long abandoned railway line, splits the town, but blink and you’ll miss it. Ahead are odd bits of wood and outlines of what we think is a street. Hard to tell, and that’s it my friends. It’s gone…the town is totally gone.

While Carolside is no more, there’s still something interesting here. It was a community once, holding much promise, that today defines “forgotten”. For most ghost towns something remains, a building, a street sign, a sidewalk, but here, you’re left to your imagination and an eagle eye to uncover its secrets. There’s no Instagram moments to be had standing on the property, just silence and a feeling remote and lonely.

Walk about, look down and a wee story pieces itself together, incomplete and with big gaping holes. Some parts are only guessed at. Still, it’s something. This way was the elevator and that must have been the location of a store. Maybe, if Carolside even had a store. And here it’s likely where a home or two stood.

Main and Railway is “downtown” and a block over on 1st Avenue is out in the burbs. Surprisingly mapping program show these long grown over streets as though they were still there.

This town, as the case with many prairie communities, owes it existence to the railway. The line through dates to about 1920-ish and was a branch heading south from a point near Hanna to the Red Deer River at a community called Stevesville.

This stretch (commonly called the Peavine Line) belonged to Canadian Northern Railways. Plans were to have it reach Medicine Hat, but they never made it beyond the river, even if they graded it the whole way. Soon after completion, it became a Canadian National Railways property, after a merger involving the Canadian Northern and some competitors.

Major commodities moved on this line included grain, coal and petroleum products. The last train along this section was in the late 1970s, but it didn’t matter for little dot-on-the-map Carolside. By then it was gone.

The town thrived, modestly, in the early days. It appears there was a couple homes and a store or two perhaps. The local history book is rather mute on the subject, but old newspaper accounts speak of ambitious plans. This included many potential businesses, but it may have been a little pie-in-the-sky. To what extent the town actually developed is a bit unclear. By our guess, we can see at least a half dozen depressions potentially marking the location of something.

There was a post office confirmed, however and also two grain elevators. Trains came now and then to connect Carolside to the outside world.

In very short order, the town seems to have shrivelled and died. By the 1950s, it appears only one grain elevator remained and soon after even it was gone. Even in demise, the trains still passed for a time, but now there was no reason to stop. Present day, we bet no one the highway over there even knows it was here.

Carolside came and went in the blink of a eye. While many of the other towns along this same railway line fared better, most are flirting with ghost town status today. It’s a tough area to farm, with many dry years and much hardship. Still, there’s remains of these other burgs left standing, unlike Carolside where there’s nada.

We stand there as we often do, in an empty field, and think about those who called Carolside home, or maybe lived nearby or delivered to the elevators. It’s a period movie in our heads. We kick aside a plank and find some broken pottery. We stand on a grain elevator foundation recalling a time when it was the very lifeblood for local farmers. It’s here after all, after much toil and sweat, where one’s paycheque came.

With the closing of the elevators, farmers drove to the next town closest, Sunnynook in the north or Pollockville in the south. Later those elevators closed too, so producers had go even further afield.

By the train tracks there’s a few old spikes, long buried, splinters of wood and what appears to be a tie-bar for connecting two rails. There’s few things remaining of the Peavine Line. Some raised earth by the tracks suggests the location of the train station. It would have been pretty small and an unmanned flag stop, we presume. Again, the area history book hasn’t anything to say about it.

Trains came a couple times a week and for a time it appears there was also a dedicated passenger service. Late accommodations for travellers were a coach tacked on the end of a slow moving local freights. For the last couples decades only freights roamed the line, and they were sporadic at that.

Some old line poles have been sitting out in the sun a loooong time and are cracked and bleached. They’d probably turn to dust if disturbed. There’s the odd brick, some glass shards and bits of metal underfoot.

The more we walk about, the more we can make out the streets and visibly they’re a little more packed down than the ground in between. Confirming in person what Google Maps shows, the town was two whole blocks square (well, actually rectangle). Main, Railway, 1st St S, 1st St N and 1st Ave. Carolside: a few streets and two blocks. A stone’s throw will get you from one end to the other.

Randomly point yourself in a direction of the compass and look across endless pasture. Save for one angle, where off in the distance down the “road in” (more a cart track), the highway is seen, that’s all there is. Well that, plus some tall power lines over that way. You’re looking at all the signs of human activity.

Carolside is remote and always has been. So many lost memories and we only scratched the surface. The town is on private property and not publicly accessible.

Hosting us this day is a legend that needs little introduction (just don’t give him a hammer), Johnnie Bachusky. He’s the reigning Godfather of ghost-towning and deserving of the title. As we recall, Carolside was new to him. But then again, it flies under everyone’s radar, so it’s new to most.

We’re those strange types who can appreciate a literal nothingness, but we don’t think many others get the vibe. Well, Mr Bachusky does…yes, so I guess we’re a trio of weird misfits.

Johnnie agrees, Carolside is a sombre spot, but later this day we all visited what he’s often described as “the saddest place on earth”. We’re talking of Alderson, an hour to the south, that came and went in a generation or two and which similarly almost nothing remains. It grew to be bigger than Carolside, but it too vanished completely. Perhaps we’ll repost that adventure sometime down the road.

We say our goodbyes to former town and we’re off on the next adventure. We mostly saw grass and pasture, but still it got our minds to thinking about those who came before. Let’s give a cheer for their spirit and resolve, but we know not their names.

Carolside gets it name from an early settler, after their ancestral home in Scotland. We’ve yet to see a photo of the town in any archives we’re allowed into (and that’s a lot), but we have found brief mentions in various old newspapers. Nothing much really – so and so visited family in Hanna – that sort of breaking-news fluff. But there’s little that speaks of the town itself – what was there and for how long? That information is lacking and we doubt we’ll ever know more.

This visit was on what was perhaps the hottest day of the year. Or so it felt. The sun beat down relentlessly from a near cloudless sky and without shade, it was brutal.

This article is from the archives (it holds over a 1000 posts) and it got a rewrite in the process. Stay tuned for more like this, long forgotten posts from five years or more ago, that we’ll be republishing in the days to come. Hope you enjoy them.

They’re saying…

“Chris and Connie explore places most of us never have heard of, let alone seen! Outstanding pictures and stories and a generous spirit in sharing. I admire their determination to tell the whole story. I love the site!” Hans Schoendorfer.

Simply fabulous…
Centre Street Nordegg Alberta 87 Years Apart.
St Peter and Paul Church 1918.
Camera Crazy @ Pioneer Acres Museum.

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

Date of Adventure: July, 2019.
Location: Special Areas #2, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Johnnie Bachusky, the land owner for allowing permission, plus the books: Roads to Rose Lynn, Place names of Alberta Volume II Southern Alberta & the late Jim Pearson’s Vanishing Sentinels Volume 1 (we miss the guy). Also Hanna Herald archives at the University of Lethbridge (various years).

Welcome to Carolside – the lonely road in.

Depressions like this mark the site of buildings.

The foundation of a grain elevator.

We joined up with journalist Johnnie Bachusky.

Bricks and concrete underfoot.

Looking down and see little hints of what was.

Along the rail line, a hunk of metal (bottom, middle).

Old line poles next to the abandoned railway (left).

Weathered planks suggests a building stood here.

In Carolside you have to look hard – another depression.

More odd bits, but little order to it all.

Our own Chris – photo by Johnnie Bachusky.

The post This is Carolside Alberta first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

There’s change, as you’d expect and some of it is dramatic, yet there’s a certain timelessness about the place. It’s as though the clock has stood still. Connecting both eras is the mighty Atlas Coal Mine. It was a working mine back then, but now an historic site. It’s the last of its kind and you can pay them a visit. The Atlas tipple appears much the same today as it did in the old photo.

The Then photo is thanks to a reader, Doris Blair, who captured it on film long ago. We appreciate her allowing us to use it and love the shot. It’s from the 1970s, but the exact date is unknown and ours is from 2017. If you have an old photo showing a scene something like this, begging for the BIGDoer.com Then and Now treatment, we’d love to hear from you. We’re always looking for new and exciting ways to compare locations across time.

The Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator is most prominent in the old photo. It dates to the late 1930s and this was when a railway spur was extended here across the river to serve the coal mines. The building replaced an earlier elevator on the East Coulee town side and it was a forced move due to the railway expanding its yard there.

The Alberta Pacific firm had a good sized network of grain elevators across the province. The company amalgamated with parent Federal Grain in the late 1960s. A few years later the Alberta Wheat Pool acquired Federal’s assets in this province.

The elevator was in use up until the late 1970s and torn down a couple years later. Never repainted, it wore AP colours and logos right to the very end.

Flanking the elevator are two annexes and these were generally later additions used to increase capacity. Most elevators at some point had one or more of these built.

The elevator office is that small silver shed jammed between the main structure and an annex. Usually, they sat out front, but space was at a premium here to they tucked it away as you see. The other shed to the right might be a fertilizer storage building. Elevator firms often had sideline businesses.

There would be a rail siding on the opposite side of the building for the loading of grain cars.

Today, there’s no sign the elevator was ever here.

To the right is the Atlas Mine and dates to the late 1930s. There was an earlier Atlas Mine across the river opposite the East Coulee townsite and it closed when this one opened.

Once one of dozens and dozens of major coal mines in the Red Deer River Valley, it was the very last by this point. The mine, as did all those in the region, produced domestic heating coal (used in home furnaces and stoves) and were underground operations.

The market for domestic coal trailed off in the 1960s and dried up almost completely a decade or so later. This was thanks to the wholesale change over to natural gas. Due to lessening demand the Atlas only operated sporadically in later years. Production ended completely in the late 1970s or early 1980s – lots of contradictory dates were found during research.

In the past they mined the slope in back but at this late time, the coal came from some distance away up a side valley. A small railway brought it down and you can see a string of coal cars at the top of the hill in the old picture (left). There was a dumper up there.

The Atlas offered mine tours to visitors in off season back then.

That large building is the tipple where they cleaned the coal, sorted it by size and usage, and then shipped it off. The could load trains or trucks.

Photo evidence shows they mostly loaded boxcars here. These were filled by a special movable conveyor and typically emptied by hand at the destination. What a hard and messy job! Most heating coal, at the end, went to rural places, where natural gas had not yet made inroads.

The angled structure heading into the hillside lead to the original main entry and later where the conveyor brought in coal from the car dump on the hillside above.

The Atlas became a designated historic site in the late 1980s and opened to the public some years later. It’s a fine representation of what coal mining in the valley was about. It maintains a lot of historic integrity and is little changed from when built. In terms of production the Atlas Mine was not the largest in the area, but certainly one of the top few.

Scattered about the grounds today, including where the grain elevator once stood, are various pieces of underground coal mining equipment. Some are from this mine and some from others that once operated in the valley.

There were once other coal mines right in this area. Seen above the Atlas Tipple, bottom picture, is a tramway tower connected to the Murray Mine. You have to look hard to see it, but it’s there. This operation lasted from the late 1930s to the late 1950s. The tower supported a cable and bucket system that transported waste material for dumping in a side-coulee. There’s a few odds and ends connected to that mine still on site, but nothing substantial.

To the left of the elevator and off scene was the Western Monarch Mine which operated from the 1940s-1960s. They trucked in coal to the loading spur here, from their mine a short distance away. There’s really nothing left from this operation.

Take the Atlas, add the Murray and Monarch, toss in the grain elevator, plus the tracks needed to serve them all, and this side of East Coulee was a crowded place. There were even some company houses on these flats. Today, with the only the Atlas remaining, it’s far less congested. Imagine the noise and dust in the old days.

Not seen, but just right off frame, is a wood bridge used by the railway to access the mines and the grain elevator from the East Coulee town side. It also carried road traffic and we’re going to reposted about it sometime down the road. We know it well and first visited it over thirty years ago. The bridge has been unused since the ’80s and is in rough shape.

In the 1940s, at the peak, trains would service the mines here several times per day and the elevator typically a few times per week. By the 1970s it was all on an as-needed basis.

We were unable to line up the two shots exactly, as we usually strive to do. The height of the land at the shooting position has changed a bit over time. In 2017, it’s a graded parking lot, but back then appears as a small grassy knoll a bit higher in elevation. The Red Deer River is a short distance behind this shooting position.

Thanks for taking the time to read this piece, for your interactions on our social media page, and to those of you who donate to this site. It’s a costly one to run and that help is appreciated. Look for the donate buttons if you want to take part.

Know more (new tab): Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site East Coulee Alberta.

They’re saying…

“The background information is just amazing – I love being able to travel with them…” Jo Tennant.

Random awesomeness…
Coleville Saskatchewan Wheat Pool “A”, Ogden Road Calgary 1950 & 2016 and Downtown Elk Point Alberta.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: The 1970s and March, 2017.
Location: East Coulee, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Book – Hills of Home – Drumheller Valley, Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site, the late Jim Pearson’s Vanishing Sentinels Books Volume 1, Alberta Energy Regulator and Doris Blair for the fantastic Then photo.

East Coulee Alberta, some forty years apart – original Doris Blair.

The Atlas was the last working coal mine in the valley & is now a museum.

Centrepiece of the exhibit, the tipple.

The post Atlas Mine East Coulee AB 40+ Years Apart first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Even though it’s an in-town adventure, it doesn’t always feel like it. There’s lots of natural areas, green spaces, the river is always close by and there’s wonderful views west to the Rockies. The hustle and bustle of this fast growing community sort of fades into the background for a bit. There’s a million possible starts, but we decided to begin at the Sheep River Cove neighbourhood. Just because.

Back to the problem at hand, briefly, and then we’ll get down to business. The last couple years pressing health issues have limited our ability to get out and hike. We used to do it weekly, a mix of wilderness and city treks done at all times of year, but now it’s only once in a while.

Connie’s Cancer battle, her second, is the main reason, but frankly it sometimes seems like we’re both falling apart. Hers, of course, is the most pressing matter. Neither the long lead up to her last operation this year, nor the chemo to follow has been pleasant. It’s a rather big bump in the road, but rest assured we don’t think it’s the end of the world.

We should be back with gusto by next year. She’s doing amazingly and any other nagging issues with us, they’ll get fixed. We hope – finger’s crossed.

Our hiking adventures are not the most popular articles on this site, so even if we stopped them completely we doubt anyone would notice. But we love doing them and will continue as long as possible. Now go…

We began at at the very west end of Sheep River Cove, at a small park and hit the paved pathway meandering east in behind rows of homes. Most sections of this hike will be on pavement, but there are some gravel bits (at the end if you follow our route to the letter). Continue on by crossing a road, dipping in behind some homes next to a wooded slope, cross another road, then it’s in behind some stormwater ponds.

Note a junction soon after with a trail heading away and to the left. Don’t take that one now, but continue east. You’ll use it on the return leg, however.

Parallel the Sheep River for a time and if you look across to the to the north, you’ll see where you’re going later. Come to Southridge Drive/Highway #2A and cross over the river heading north. Pass over the CPR tracks – soon after that’s downtown Okotoks to your right – then soon after Elizabeth Street, duck in behind some homes away from the busy road. The way is always clear.

Climb up above the river, and on topping out, take to the streets briefly (left) and then soon after go left again. It’s back on the pathway and it takes a line at the top of this valley. There’s nice views of the mountains far off to the west but it’s been a while since we answered their call. Without a long lens, they’re really not easy to photograph.

The trail drops down to Mountainview Gate briefly and then climbs back up on the other side. The whole time you’ll pass backyards and gardens of homes in the community. There’s lots of places to have a picnic along here. We did! Lunch should be a high-point of any adventures and plain trail food won’t do.

Sit back in one of those easy chairs and enjoy the views. Some cured meats, an extra tasty pretzel thingy, a fruity $7 wine (haha), good company and good conversation makes it all the better. Trust us on that part.

Once in motion again – if you even stop – drop down to Mountainview storm ponds on the left. Loop around them to the right and head out to the parking lot if you so desire. There’s biffies there and when you get to a certain age, it’s good to make note of them. Mountainview Ponds are part of a nice little green space and it’s birding heaven. We noted water birds of all kinds, raptors and owls. And guys with really big lens on their cameras chasing them.

This post dates back early June (yeah, we’re a little slow to the party) and we saw lots of new ducks families swimming about. Lots of big cottonwoods here and it’s a peaceful, natural spot.

Once you’ve looped around further, retrace yours steps back to that junction mentioned earlier. But first, it’s up then down, then up then down.
Later, go right and enter the wooded river flats. It’s a pleasant stroll through the trees, with occasional glimpses of the Sheep River. There’s a lot of off-shoot trails and they go every which way. Stay on the widest and compact one (you’re on dirt now) and you’ll get where you’re going.

The trail bends around and comes out right where it all started. The trail, as you’ll note by this point, was pretty easy. The minor ups and downs on the north side of the river were a bit trying for Connie, but she’s a trouper. In the past would have hardly registered but today felt like Everest. We’ll get back to being better…finger’s crossed…and regain our enthusiasm.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure and be sure and watch for us out on the trails soon. The worst will behind us by earlier next year and then it’s off to the nearest trailhead. In the meantime, we’ll do some little ones and mostly in town.

Know more about the town’s pathway system: (new tab): Okotoks Alberta Pathways.

They’re saying…

“These two are amazing!! I love following their adventures and the photography is…jaw dropping. Enjoy your working vacation, Chris & Connie!!…” Dayna Kent. (We love what we do).

More in-town like this…
Mill Creek Ravine Edmonton Alberta.
Fish Creek Park Western Trails.
Lethbridge Pathways: Under the Viaduct.

If you wish more information about this adventure or if you love to chat don’t hesitate to contact us!

Date of adventure: June, 2025.
Location: Okotoks, Alberta.
Distance: 10.5km
Height gain maximum: 40m
Height gain cumulative: 130m.
NOTE: all distances and heights are approximate and may differ slightly from other trip reports (including our own).
Reference: Town of Okotoks.

Starting out in Sheep River Cove.

For the birds…

Around stormwater ponds.

The Sheep River is close by, but not always in view.

Frequent rest stops are needed.

Deer are often seen along here & appear little bothered by people.

After crossing the river.

A storm threatened overhead, but didn’t deliver.

He’s watching you…

If you’re going to do lunch, you might as well make it special.

In spite of what’s going on, she’s always cheerful.

Looking west – Rockies in the distance.

Nice flowers along the way.

Dropping down (left) to Mountainview Loop.

A natural space with stormwater ponds.

Watching birds and lost in the moment…

A brand new family.

Manhole covers are marked “City of Calgary”.

None of that going on today.

A little driveway art.

Dropping back down.

On the Sheep River Cove Trails.

We were just up by those houses.

The car is only a short distance away and the adventure ends.

10km of fun – X=start.

The post Sheep River Cove & Mountainview Okotoks first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

While the trains are long gone and it’s like they never existed here, the background looks the same.

The Then image is thanks to the University of Calgary and they’ve dated it ca1938. It comes from the Ray Matthews collection of train images, which is extensive. There’s thousand of railway shots there (heavy with roster photos) and browsing them is a real treat. We know not who captured this photo, but are thankful we could put it to use in an interesting way.

Not just a collector, Ray Matthew also co-authored a number of books published by the British Railway Modellers of North America. This includes Railways of Calgary and several volumes of Canadian National in the West. We’re so glad his images were saved and donated on his passing.

If you have an old photo that might work good as the starting point for a BIGDoer.com Then and Now, please reach out. Broad street scenes and landscapes work well. Railway themed ones like this are welcome too! We’re a bit train crazy and there’s not a twelve step program that can help.

East Coulee was founded in the late 1920s and this corresponded with the opening of several coal mines and the subsequent arrival of the railway. This was a joint Canadian Pacific/Canadian National line with each firm operating it for a portion of the year. There was lots of coal to move (East Coulee alone was home to a half dozen mines at one time) and no space here in the narrow valley for two competing railways.

So they shared trackage, which was not unheard of, but not terribly common either. Usually they harboured a deep, mutual hatred and were at each others throats, but if working together could turn a profit, they might begrudgingly cooperate.

In service of the mines, the railways built a yard on the north side of town. They hauled some grain out of the area too, but it’s coal that filled most trains. Some mines were right beside the yards, on that slope in back in fact, and a few others located across the Red Deer River and accessed via a bridge. That old structure is still there and we may have to write about it again sometime.

From East Coulee coal moved west to Drumheller and from there to many points of the compass. Coal was of the domestic variety, for heating and cooking. Calgary was a big market. Trains could also head east from here on a line serving Eastern Alberta and Western Saskatchewan.

They moved mountains of the stuff and at the peak many trains per day originated in East Coulee. Passengers came and went too. Many locals and through trains made it a busy place. A switch crew kept busy shunting cars at the mines and at times, and old photos shows the yard was sometimes full to bursting. There was a station at the south side of a yard and a small area for locomotive servicing area with turntable, not far away.

Today, it’s all gone.

With the wholesale change over to natural gas, the demand for domestic coal fell off precipitously by the end of the 1950s. Mine after mine closed. Still, two coal companies in the East Coulee area continued on into the 1960s and one, the Atlas Mine went on to be the last one in the entire Red Deer River Valley. It only closed in the late 1970s or early 1980s (data is a bit contradictory).

In later years the railway used the yard mostly for the storage of rail cars awaiting repair or scrapping. They closed the line to the east in the late 1970s, but the line west lasted a few more years. With the coal market in decline the joint operation ended at some point and the line became CP only. The shared track shows up in late 1960s maps and timetables, but by the next decade seems to vanish from the record.

With the rails and infrastructure removed, the property is just a big field-sized plot of empty land and is overgrown. Some sections at the far eastern edge have houses on them now. The current highway runs on the north side and the town of East Coulee is right behind our shooting position.

Canadian Pacific Railway #674, is a D10c class Ten-Wheeler built in 1906 by the Canadian Locomotive Company of Kingston Ontario. Canadian Pacific owned hundreds of similar engines and they proved themselves well suited for lighter duty, yeoman work. They were perfectly at home pulling local freights or passenger trains, branchline runs or doing switching duty.

As jacks of all trades, they found use all across the entire CP system. They proved perfect for all the low density grain branches the railway had out this way and handled rough track well.

The CPR scrapped #674 just as diesels were making inroads. How many miles did it travel from 1905, when built, to 1949, when stricken from the roster? What towns did it see? How often did it pass through East Coulee? We can speculate, but will never know. Here perhaps, it’s just brought in the local run from Calgary, or perhaps just finished switching the many mines in East Coulee.

The locomotive is rather haggard looking and the white-ish stains are from hard prairie water. It’s full of minerals and leaves a distinctive film behind anywhere water leaks or escapes.

The D10c class engines built by the Canadian Locomotive Company comprised fifteen units numbered #670 to #684. CLC built other subclasses, the CPR themselves also did for some, as did the Montreal Locomotives Works and an American builder. Across all subclasses (D10a through D10h) the railway acquired over five hundred in the years 1905 to 1913.

Management, crews and those who maintained the engines all seemed to like them.

“Their success lay in a dependable and uncomplicated design, which incorporated such technical improvements as piston valves and simplified valve gear.” – Canada’s Science & Technology Museum. They have one in their collection and it’s a D10g subclass.

All D10 classes were similar in design and abilities, but with subtle differences. They had six driving wheels and four leading, used to help the the locomotive negotiate curves and for stable tracking. Several of the class are preserved at various museums.

East Coulee is in the scenic Alberta Badlands and a bit east of Drumheller. It’s an area marked by stark landscapes of distinctive alternating bands or layers. These comprise mudstones, sandstones, shales, and of course, coal. Little vegetation grows on the slopes and this leads to erosion. Their shaping is always changing, yet remarkably from this view, it as though they’re static.

Some 80-90 years later and the land in back looks exactly as it did. People come and go and what they create is often here and then gone, yet this scene is timeless.

Know more about the town (new tab): East Coulee Alberta.

They’re saying…

“You guys are the absolute best.” Richard Graydon (thanks!).

Random awesomeness…
Planned Railway: Empress Alberta
Stampede Speedway Calgary (1982-1987)
Pilot Bay Smelter Remains.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: Ca1930s and June 2025.
Location: East Coulee, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: UofC Photo Archives, the late Larry Buchan, the book “Constructed in Kingston”, Alberta Energy Regulator and Frank for letting us crash at his place.

CPR #674 at East Coulee Alberta & the same scene ~85 years later.

In the scenic Alberta Badlands.

The post Canadian Pacific #674 East Coulee Alberta first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Here we “bring it home”, down some back alley in downtown Cranbrook and to the very place from which is was created. Over there in a room of cinder blocks, in that nondescript building with the roll up door to the left. This was the back side of Kemball’s Jewellers and the workshop where this piece and much (all?) of Manwoman’s artwork emerged.

It doesn’t look like much, but back there and back in time, some rather special things happened in that utilitarian place. Chris here and I got to go inside in the 1980s. I only knew MW in passing, but via some mutual friends his son was an occasional acquaintance.

Picture it, a game of Dungeons and Dragons, the players: Ivan, Manwoman’s kid and also a creative type, brothers Al and Trevor and some gangly guy named Chris (me), and others, battling demons in the underworld. It happened right here. Oddly shaped dice, no clue how the game works, vodka spiked Super Big Gulps and surrounding us, many prints and sculptures. Some were complete and others works in progress.

I recall a custom snake-shaped guitar…and maybe some animation cells for a short film project.*

Manwoman’s gone now, having passed a number of years back. He stood out and was a fixture in Cranbrook back then. Always dressed in bright yellow, with his big yellow van and big yellow everything. Hmmm, yellow’s become our trademark colour too, but it’s totally coincidental.

And there were his many Swastika tattoos for which he became a sometimes controversial figure…among those that were ignorant to the symbol’s true meaning and backstory. For eons it was associated with spirituality and positivity, but later hijacked by the Nazis and made bad.

Manwoman made it his life’s work to repatriate the symbol and take it back. Reclaim it…but still most people today see it as something awful. They ruined it, those damn Nazis ruined it, but he tried.

There’s no ceremony here, just a photo or two and a moment of silence. And some chuckles…hard liquor makes it so much easier to understand the game. Roll for…what? Which shaped dice do we use? And where are we again? I’m lost. Oh, pretty colours (looking at a can of paint). Then some demon offs you before you know what to do next.

Interestingly, the building in behind is home to another jewellery place. Kemball’s was the family name by the way, which Manwoman ceased to use once he found his awakening I suppose.

Moodonna & Child presently hangs on the wall at BIGDoer World HQ (aka, a small corner in our dining room). Now if only we could find a “Sisters of Mercy Dumptruck” and place it beside this one. That one always struck a cord – recall them making copies of it back then. Nuns, singing, in a dumptruck – you got it. How quirky and strange and for that reason, it’s perfect.

Interestingly, the very image of two cows seen in this print showed up prominently in Manwoman’s old web store. That page seems to have vanished, but he did pass on some time ago now. Cows were a big thing for him. A dancing top-hat-wearing skull guy (Mr Death) shows up often in his work too, and that memory comes flooding back. And nuns…lots of nuns.

This is another older piece brought back for your (and our) enjoyment. We’ll do this for select articles found in the archives and post them anew. This one retains the original photo, even if that darn reflection is driving me mad, but was rewritten for better clarity and flow.

Madonna and Child (“my lady” in Italian, so Mary and baby Jesus) is the subject of many works of Christian art. It inspired this print and Moodonna & Child presents it with a little reimagining.

Thank you thrift store for this Moodonna flashback and now I only need to turn right a bit, to get those memories flooding back again. There’s those cows, there on the wall and they’re staring right back.

*No amount of searching brings up a Manwoman made animation flick, but still I swear he and Ivan (Cat) were doing something for the National Film Board of Canada(?) or some such entity. Spray on Joy is the name that comes to mind, and while some prints with that title come up, I can’t help think it was an extension of those. But then again, the liquor made the whole thing a blur.

Know more (new tab): Artist Manwoman Cranbrook British Columbia

They’re saying…

“Chris and Connie have a unique way of documenting the places they visit, not copying the style or technique of others, but making it their own.” Alex Craig, Filmmaker.

From the Cranbrook area…
The Bee Line Cranbrook BC
The Sidewalks of 10th Ave S Cranbrook. Next block over.
Tri-Way/Kootenay Country Inn Cranbrook

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: July 2018.
Location: Cranbrook, British Columbia.
Article references: Nothing but old and fractured memories.

Moodonna & Child by artist Manwoman, brought home.

The post Moodonna & Child by Artist Manwoman first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

They must have been crazy to build it and the section we explored never achieved the on-line traffic levels anticipated. Still, it lasted some sixty years.

The folks behind it (the railway, promoters and the government) had high hopes for the area, but it wouldn’t happen without irrigation. Construction on canals started concurrently, but the whole scheme soon collapsed and they remained unfinished. By the time this happened, the railway was already committed.

Remains of the canals are still there, and a silent reminder of dashed dreams. They’re not the subject of this post, but we suspect they will be some day. Today, we’re railway archeologists and looking for anything connected with this forgotten line.

We found it in a little place marked Cecil on maps (visited with permission of the landowner). All that’s left is a railway roadbed, the foundation of a grain elevator and an old loading dock. This paucity of remains means a good imagination is needed to picture what was here, but set your mind free and it all comes together. The obscure places like this fascinate and thrill us the most.

That berm marks the main track and it continues on in both directions to the horizon. You can see depressions marking the location of ties. Underfoot, there’s the odd spike or tie-plate left behind after they salvaged the track.

Another berm was for a siding and on one end there’s remains a dock for handling bulky shipments moving by railway. Like lumber or farm equipment.

On the opposite end of that same track is the remains of a single grain elevator. There’s cement pads indicating its location, that of an annex and a third for the drive house/office. Metal banding is scattered about this area.

This my friends is Cecil and you just got the full tour. We searched around the area for signs of a train station – a depression or pad – but found nothing. It was likely a flag stop and the station not much more than a shed in form, but still we thought something might remain. But, no.

The search broadened to look for signs of a house or houses nearby, but outside accommodations for the elevator operator (possibly) we don’t think there was ever anything else here. There’s no records in that regard, but still we looked and came up empty. Nothing as far as you can see and it’s just natural, undisturbed prairie.

Think of Cecil, not as a town, but as a siding along the Suffield Subdivision. It was marked on maps and still is, but then as today, there’s not much reason to note it. Still, the railway served an important function as a lifeline for people from the area, what few there were. It’s a little backwater, but an outside connection to the world was no less important than if it were a big city.

The CPR’s Suffield Subdivision branch left the mainline outside Suffield Alberta and continued on to Cecil and beyond. It then proceeded to Vauxhaull and on to Lomond, where it connected with the Lomond Subdivision. That track continued west on to a point south of Calgary where it joined with a major north/south line.

Along the easterly half of the Suffield line, it passed through arid country with no irrigation and farming was minimal. Further west there were canals or natural rainfall was sufficient to support crops. But here, that’s a hard no and as such the western section was always busier.

Otherwise it was a typical prairie grain branch, albeit longer than most and comprising two subdivisions. Track arrived in the Cecil area during 1913, but not completed to the most westerly point of the combined subdivisions until 1930.

The only shipper of note along this stretch was the Cecil grain elevator and that’s hardly enough to support its continued use (also a local coal mine, but it didn’t last long). There was also some through traffic in earlier days, but still, it was not an ideal situation. When the Cecil elevator burned down in 1973 the trains stopped running along altogether. However, the railway listed it as in-use up for a few more years, even if there was nothing moving.

“No traffic has been generated on the Hays to Suffield portion for some years.” – A Canadian Government report on grain dependant prairie branchlines from the mid-1970s. It goes on to say that authorization to remove unproductive sections of the line (and you needed a nod from the feds at the time) would occur in 1977.

Regulatory approval didn’t come easy back then and in the meantime, a railway was forced to bear the cost of the disused line. The commission was hard to convince and acted at glacial pace. Soon after they got the okay, the railway removed the rails and ties.

On the other end at the Lomond Subdivision and on westerly sections of the Suffield Subdivision, traffic was sufficient enough to keep it in use into about 2000.

Ogilvie Flour Mills built the Cecil elevator in 1940 and it was pretty typical of the era in size (35K bushels). This firm had a modest network of grain elevators across the province. The company made flour, cereals and other ground-grain products.

In 1960 Ogilvie sold their elevator network to the Alberta Wheat Pool. At some point early on in the Pool era – we think – an annex was added the west side of the building to increase its capacity. Records are scarce (and we’ve never seen a photo), but in a report from the 1960s it seems the listed capacity of the building had increased.

The Cecil elevator burned down in July 1973. By this point, it was the only grain elevator (and presumably the only shipper of any kind) along the most easterly 55km section of the line.

The next nearest grain elevators along the Suffield line were in Grantham, some 30km away by rail and after 1954, in Hays, some 15km away by rail. Hays marks the most easterly section of irrigation and from there to Suffield, it was dry as a bone.

Looking at Cecil one can’t help feel a little sadness at what was. There was never much here to begin with, but it was the centre of the world for some folks and now it’s all gone. That it was a gloomy, wet and cold day, in this remote and lonely corner of the province, did not help lift spirits. At the same time, however, it allowed a deeper connection to the things and people that came before.

Both of us stand there silent and look around, as we often do. We try to imagine it in the past but who known how right we are. Even though drenched and shivering, we take the time to reflect on this little unknown place. The cold makes it seem like hours, but it’s over in a minute or two.

We’ve known many out-of-the-way places, but none as lonely as this. Not a one, and we’re no strangers to remote backroads.

Know more about the two firms that owned the elevator (new tab): Ogilvie Flour Mills Grain Elevators and Alberta Wheat Pool.

They’re saying…

“Love the stories, love the history and appreciate the effort to document both in words and pictures before it’s all gone…” Kathleen Raines.

Random awesomeness…
Ogden Hotel Calgary 100+ Years Apart.
Ghosts of the Crowsnest Subdivision.
An Evening in Brooks.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: October, 2023.
Article references and thanks: The late Jim Pearson’s Vanishing Sentinels Book Volume 1, the University of Calgary archives, Canadian Government Grain Commission reports (1970s) and the book “From Sod to Silver”.

Ghosts of the Suffield Subdivision in Cecil Alberta (not public land).

Pads for the elevator and annex in back, office/drive house in front.

Main track right and a siding with remains of a loading dock left.

Metal banding scattered about.

A grain elevator stood here from 1940 to 1973.

Left behind when they removed the railway.

A tie plate – the siding was just to the right of the crumbling foundation.

Picking a pumpkin for Halloween.

The post Ghosts of the Suffield Subdivision first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

These were shipped to you as do-it-yourself kits and even with limited experience a reasonably proficient handyman could put it all together. Or you could hire a local contractor to do it for you. The Earlsfield design was the Eaton Company’s most common and with its distinctive double-gambrel roof, the most recognizable. It’s really pleasing aesthetically.

The majority of Eaton’s homes – any model and not just this one – can be found out in rural parts. Still, we know of some in towns and cities. It was just an easy way to become a home owner, especially in areas not yet well developed. Browse the catalogue, pick your design (they had many), add options, and arrange delivery to the nearest railway siding.

Eaton’s produced this design from 1912 to 1920, but the Earlsfield name did not come until late in production. Even so, it soon became the blanket name for all of this design, even the earlier built ones. Sort of a retroactive renaming, if you will.

In the past, it was listed as plans #68 or #668 in the catalogue, depending on the year, or in some issues also known as the “Modern Home”. To everyone today, they’re an Earlsfield and always will be.

The Eaton’s company offered homes from 1910 to 1932, but none left a mark like this model.

There were several other players in the catalogue home market in Canada – United Grain Growers and Aladdin come to mind. Eaton’s was by far the largest and most well known. Sears, an American firm, offered kit homes down south, but did not have a Canadian presence at the time. Everyone knows of the firm, so it’s understandable there’s some confusion. If you see a catalogue home in Canada and someone says it’s from Sears, it probably isn’t.

Eaton’s catalogue homes were often given fanciful names in later years, all beginning with an E. There’s an Eastcourt, Eastholm, Eadwin, Earlswood and so on. This replaced that less exciting numbering scheme used early on.

We have a access to a few Eaton’s Home Catalogues and share the following…

In 1913, the cost was $696.50 for the base home. That’s FOB or Freight on Board (or Free on Board) Origin, meaning the consumer paid the cost of shipping.

An Earlsfield in the 1916 plan book cost $887.50 delivered to the nearest railway siding and from there it was up to you to get to the final location. That’s for the lumber and any extras incurred additional shipping costs, but still, it was cheap. Heating and plumbing added an extra $240.

By 1918 the base cost had risen to $1192.73, with heat an additional $155 and plumbing $200 more. Inflation hit Canada as World War One wound down and it’s reflected in the cost of the house.

Once on site, a foundation was needed, but otherwise the kit had everything you needed to finish it to completion. Then all you had to do was move in and put your feet up.

Many rural catalogue houses did not receive wiring for electricity at the start and that would come later. It’s hard to imagine that things we take for granted as every day, were a luxury at one time.

This Earlsfield received some modifications, with an enclosed porch – useful during cold Saskatchewan winters – and an upper deck, also enclosed. It’s not clear if they customized it during construction (not unheard of) or if they added it later during renovations.

The house is sheathed in that fake-brick siding so popular in the 1940s and 1950s period. Insulbrick, as the industry called it, was an inexpensive, and low-maintenance alternative to traditional siding and usually applied over what ever sheathing was already in place.

Insulbrick had some insulating properties and eliminated the need for painting. It’s not the prettiest thing, but it was functional.

For a long, long time this house has been empty. It seems pretty solid, however, and this is a testament to Eaton’s choice of materials and presumably, the care taken in building it. Considering it’s open to the elements, it looked pretty tidy inside too. Some windows, a good sweeping and you could move right in.

Don’t tempt us.

The late Les Henry, a Catalogue Home expert, mentioned knowing of several dozen confirmed Earlsfields out in the wild. We can think of at least a dozen or so that we know of, but we’ve hardly been everywhere and nor have we kept a proper tally. There were some copies made, so not everyone we’ve seen is necessarily an Eaton’s, but probably is.

Of the ones we know of there’s a mix of occupied houses and like this Earlsfield, some that are empty.

In spite of looking far and wide for the total Earlsfield production numbers, we not found anything concrete. Hundreds? Thousands? Somewhere in between? We chatted with Les before his passing and while he didn’t know himself, he was working on an estimate. We never heard what it was, if he got that far.

The comparison image used in this post comes from the 1919 Eaton’s Home Catalogue. It seems they printed these separate from the main catalogue, but we’ve also seen them as an addendum. Eaton’s distributed their catalogues far and wide, and the company proved especially popular on the prairies. While they had outlets in major centres, they’d also ship anywhere and that was the appeal. Not matter how out of the way or remote, it would get to you.

Interestingly, most Eaton’s Catalogue homes were sold in Western Canada and are especially common on the prairies. Ditto for catalogue homes from other firms. The west was going through a growth spurt at the time and housing was in demand, especially in out of the way places.

Time eventually caught up with the Eaton’s firm and they closed in 1999 after 130 years in business. It seems they lost their way in later decades and went from being a budget friendly department store that sold everything, no matter how everyday, to offering higher-end merchandise alone.

Know more (new tab): Eaton’s Earlsfield Catalogue Home.

They’re saying…

“You guys are the absolute best.” Richard Graydon (thanks!).

Random awesomeness…
Planned Railway: Empress Alberta.
Molly Hughes by the Lake (Ag-Pb-Zn-Au).
Murray’s Camera.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: 1916 and May 2025.
Location: Western Saskatchewan.
Article references and thanks: University of Calgary archives, Les Henry and his book Catalogue Houses – Eaton’s & Others and Eaton’s Catalogues at various sources.

An Eaton’s Earlsfield Home, catalogue view and out in the wild.

The post Eaton’s Earlsfield Catalogue Home first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

How unique is that?

Built to tap the vast mineral resources and timber riches of the area, this line, incredibly, remained in use well into modern times. It was no doubt a headache operationally, a costly endeavour, and an amazing curiosity for those of us into trains. Or anyone witnessing the operation and wondering just what was going on. By the time this service ended, there was nothing else like it anywhere.

It’s then and Now time, so read on. This is a BIGDoer Classic from early 2019, using the original photos but with updates and a rewrite.

In the then photo, circa 1960s, we see a laden barge either just arriving or in the process of leaving the Rosebery transfer slip. Without knowing, it’s hard to tell the direction of travel, but the wake in back (far right, above the action) and lack of one ahead of the barge suggests arriving. They were probably just creeping along.

In any case, this is where trains transitioned from water to land or land to water.

On visiting the same spot in 2018, we see what differs – most obvious the railway is long gone – and what’s remained the same – those majestic mountains. They stand fast for all time. Come back in a couple centuries and no doubt they’d cut the same profile. If the world lasts that long.

The CPR invaded Southern British Columbia in the 1890s and did so with reckless abandon. They built lines this way and that, servicing mines and lumber operations. They also served a huge smelter where they processed all the minerals produced in the area. A map showed a spider-web of branchlines, but they’re gone now.

The section of track served by the train barge ran from Rosebery to Nakusp to the north and by way of a second line south. That one headed to New Denver before trending east to the mines of the Silvery Slocan near Sandon. Construction of these spanned the years 1892 to 1895. The line to Nakusp ran right below the shooting position for these images and in the old photo is marked by that leaning line-pole. Look for it bottom left.

From Rosebery the barge travelled south down Slocan Lake, where trains would offload. That’s a journey of some thirty kilometres on the water. Once back on land, they would head further south again and make connections to the CPR’s Southern Mainline using the Slocan (City) branch.

It was a rather time consuming and complicated way to get a train from A to B, but the rugged nature of the area precluded building a railway connection between the two points. The CPR and its customers accepted this, even in spite of the cost or inconvenience. There was after all, freight to move, and lots of it in the early days.

The old Nakusp and Slocan into Sandon lasted into the 1950s and the track into New Denver followed suit in the 1970s (or thereabouts). The Rosebery to Nakusp section, amazingly, lasted into 1988 or 1989 (depending on the source). The railway worked to rid itself of this money losing operation for some time, before finally given approval.

No doubt at the CPR there was a collective sigh of relief when the okay to end it all was finally granted. As a highly regulated industry back then, you needed to jump through hoops before shutting down a line. Surely, it was a money loser for decades.

By the end service was sporadic, with trains visiting only as needed. Sometimes it’d be weeks between runs or even more. The only freight moved at that time was some outbound lumber and utility poles, with some inbound fuel shipments. The mineral traffic dried up decades earlier.

Before Team BIGDoer, it was just Chris and he visited Rosebery in the summer of 1989 to see the transfer site. That’s less than a year after the last train, but before they removed everything. Come take a look here: Railway Barge Slip Rosebery BC (1989).

About six or seven cars, plus the then mandatory caboose, and the locomotive was about all they could haul per barge, per run. It’s not much really and at busier times they might haul two barges. We’ve seen evidence of this in older photos. Or they might just run more often. In the then photo traffic looks light that day.

The locomotive for this train is a Montreal Locomotive Works model S4 and we think it’s #7110. It’s a bit hard to make out in the photo, but all the data points to it. When this same photo was posted online, old timers seemed in agreement with this.

The CPR owned twenty of these locomotives, built in the years 1949-1953 and they were well suited for switching work or pulling short branchline freights like this. If it’s #7110, then it dates from 1952. Most of these locomotives lasted into the 1980s.

The locomotive wears the old colours of the CPR, so Tuscan Red and Grey. The caboose (or van) was pretty typical of the era, as was the boxcar.

The tug powering the barge is out of view to the right. One closer examination, we can see two at least men left of the caboose, and perhaps one back on land.

The slip is a frail looking Rube Goldberg contraption, mounted on rail wheels which allowed it to be repositioned (with the help of a locomotive) in relation to varying lake levels. The slip rides atop the same tracks used by the train and these continue down into the water. Once where it needed to be, you anchored it in place somehow.

Once off the barge, trains entered a small yard out of sight to the left.

We don’t know the date of the then photo, but the 1960s seems a good bet. We base that on a number of factors, one being that the photographer, who we’ll touch on in a bit, seemed most active then. Plus we know that style of locomotive was assigned to the area in around that time and #7110 is sometimes mentioned specifically.

There is zero evidence of the barge slip in the Now photo, nor of the tracks leading to it. Still, if one wanders about the area where the yards once were, bits and pieces connected back to the railway can be found there. The tracks are gone and there’s new buildings and the trees have grown in.

The most notable remains is steel bridge over crystal clear Wilson Creek. The structure is now incorporated into the Nakusp and Slocan Railway Trail, that you can hike or bike.

You can see this same bridge some thirty five years ago in this article (the same post shared earlier): Railway Barge Slip Rosebery BC (1989).

There’s also some small sheds that look suspiciously railways related.

The Selkirk Mountains in back are timeless. There’s some big hills out this way! The spit of land in front has changed profile, but otherwise it looks much as it did. Minus the train stuff, that is.

There is a sunken barge just beyond the former slip location and at low water, some of it can be seen. The tip of it is showing in our photo – on the shoreline about a quarter of the way in from the left. Kind of in the distance, but it’s there. We might just to have to go back and look into it. We didn’t know of it at the time of our photo and were only made aware of it during research.

This was not the only lake barge service on the Canadian Pacific. To the east and the next mountain range over, there were several isolated branchlines and spurs similarly served along Kootenay Lake. More rail barges plied the Upper Arrow Lakes (out of Nakusp) and some lakes of the Okanagan. A number of these operations lasted into the 1970s.

The then photo comes from fine folks at the Lost Kootenays Facebook Page and is part of the Ellis Anderson Collection. It worked out so nice! Ellis was a busy photographer back in the 1960s and 1970s. He captured day to day life in the area and lots of train stuff. We looked through more from his collection and it left us mesmerized. He took his camera everywhere it seems.

If you have an old photo you think should get the BIGDoer Then and Now treatment, please let us know. It needs be your copyright (so from a family collection, for example) or in the public domain showing a scene from days past. It need not be train themed, and can show a street, building or something scenic, where a comparison like this can applied. When they work, and not all do, the results can be incredible.

We hope you liked this post as much as we did presenting it. It was so cool to match it up, delve into the scene and revel in the history of it all. That’s why we do it.

Know more about the little town (new tab): Rosebery British Columbia and this unique floating railway (also new tab): Railway Barge Slocan Lake British Columbia

They’re saying…

Love seeing your posts…love the stories that go with it…heck I am travelling with you. Daryl Tucker.

Random awesomeness…
Gravitas by Keith Harder
Crossley Slides: A Corner in Erlton.
Grain Elevators of Consort Alberta.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: Ca 1960s and September 2018.
Location: Rosebery, British Columbia.
Article references and thanks: Ellis Anderson via the Lost Kootenays Facebook Page, Book – The Skyline Limited: The Kaslo and Slocan Railway by Turner & Wilkie. Also, the Arrow Lakes Historical Society, our friends in nearby Sandon BC who let us crash there for free, the Internet Brain Trust in general and Canadian Trackside Guides.

Rosebery BC, Then and Now. (Then pic: Ellis Anderson).

Bridge hunting…target acquired.

Wilson Creek.

Along the Nakusp and Slocan Rail Trail.

A little cabin marked Rosebery.

About where the yards were – an old railway shed?

Beautiful Slocan Lake on a hazy September 2018 day.

Zoomed in – the sunken barge.

The post Rosebery BC Trains & Barges first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Built in the early 1910s (1912 seems most likely), it more than doubled in size just a couple years later. You can readily see evidence of this addition where the colours of brick differ from one side to the other. It’s most dramatic if you head around and look at the back wall. At the same time, they added some school space upstairs.

This post is an old one and has not seen the light of day for many years. We’ve published so many pieces over the years (thousands, here and elsewhere) and we’ll bring back select ones like this from time to time. The good stuff, for your enjoyment, and not the stinkers. There’s lots of those and they’ll remain locked away – haha. We’ll keep the original photos in this case, but the rest has been updated.

Initially they taught all grades here but later on it was elementary classes only. This change seems concurrent with the roads in the area improving, although the date is not clear. The older kids were then bussed to Kindersley, which is not far away and the next town west. It’s a much bigger place and more centralized.

Netherhill School closed in the mid-1960s and then all local kids had to travel further afield to attend class.

Not long afterwards the building was acquired by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) and they used it for meetings or to host community events. You can still see their iconic chain-link logo above front door.

When the group last used it is not entirely clear. We spoke with locals (phone interviews, after our visit) and while no one agreed on an exact date, all seemed to think sometime in the late 1970s/early 1980s era was probable. Further research, with the republishing of this piece, has not turned up anything new. Frustrating stuff, but that’s how research goes.

The Odd Fellows were founded almost two hundred years ago. With chapters all over the world, this benevolent organization works for the betterment of mankind through charitable and social work. Their motto is “Friendship, Love and Truth”. Nethehill is a pretty small town for a chapter, but then again, maybe they made up for it by being enthusiastic. Perhaps a few farm boys got together and needing an excuse to get out of the house, came up with the idea.

There’s also a sign listing the school district (#2659) above the door and the township coordinates (S11, T29, R21). The building has a stone foundation.

The structure sits in a field bordered by high hedges and it’s a quiet setting today. One can easily imagine it a noisy chaotic place back then, come recess or lunch. At one time, there was likely some play equipment on the grounds and maybe some biffies out back. Netherhill is a few blocks square, and the school is at the north edge of town.

You’ll find Netherhill in Western Saskatchewan. It’s off the main highway and few people stop in. There’s not much reason, we suppose. Today it’s home to a few dozen people and Main Street is mostly empty. There’s an old hotel made into a residence and it’s all that remains of the business district. The stories it must hold and being old hotel aficionados, we’d do anything to take a peek inside.

The town dates to about 1910 and that’s just before the Canadian Northern Railway came through. It’s now a Canadian National line, a secondary track that runs west from Saskatoon to Oyen Alberta, and formerly all the way into Calgary.

We’ve not be back to Netherhill since this visit, but long to return to the area. We have lots of unfinished business out that way and getting there is long overdue.

Recent Google Streetviews and posts from other adventurers shows the former school looking about the same as when we stopped by a decade back. At least from a cursory glance it looks the same. It’s a strong old structure, but all it needs to hold now is memories. It’s mostly boarded up, but a few windows with missing/broken glass were open to the elements.

Sections of the wall above the front entryway show buckling from anchored cables and these are from when the building was used for grain storage by the local farmer. It’s not the first school turned granary that we know of and frugal farmers (are there any other kind?) have been known to do this any old building they can find. We’re not sure how long it was used in this capacity after the Odd Fellows moved out.

One thing we missed and hope to see if can make it back is some old scratched-in graffiti in the brick and stonework. So the names of students and the year they attended. That sort of thing. How they were overlooked is beyond us, but then we can get so focused on one thing that we miss others. It’s a curse and it’s been there for a long time.

The then image is a scan of an old postcard and is thanks to the reader – appreciate it Larry Stroobandt (2015). The postmark reads 1912, so we know it’s from very early on for both the town and the school. The building may have been brand new at the time and certainly looks it.

If you have an old family photo or old postcard (most are in the public domain) you think could be used this way, please reach out. We always love making these historic connections and sharing the results here with you all.

Know more about the community (new tab): Netherhill Saskatchewan.

They’re saying…

“Love the variety and always look forward to seeing the places they visit.” Brian Brandon – River City Classics and Eamon’s Garage High River Alberta.

Random awesomeness…
Anastasia Lords of Anastasia Village.
Dominion Bridge Calgary (Ramsay) ca1960-2014.
Superman 1978: Cemetery Scenes.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: ca1912 and June 2015.
Location: Netherhill, Saskatchewan.
Article references and thanks: The book Memoirs of Hillsburgh (an incomplete copy), Provincial School Records, and Larry Stroobandt.

Netherhill School was smaller when built in the early 1910s.

The school district, township coordinates, IOOF logo & a buckling wall.

It later became an Odd Fellows hall.

We really want to return to the area and will be sure to stop in here.

That they added to the original building is clear in this backside view.

Netherhill Saskatchewan, population about 25.

The post Netherhill SK School ~100 Years Apart first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

Our home at this time was some flea-bag, dive motel and that tiny little shack looking thing in back, on the left side over my shoulder in the photo of me, was our unit. The step-dad was a career petty criminal (have cheque book, will travel) and we often lived on the road, out of the car or we crashed at cheap rooming houses, the law and those he swindled always in hot pursuit.

A sibling and I would often stare longingly across the street towards that temple of ice cream, broken-hearted knowing the folks only had money for other things. So booze or smokes, but little else. Living near a DQ as a kid, but being denied on account of certain lifestyle choices of those entrusted as our parents, was pure torture.

Stand there, stare, hope, pray, scour the ground for loose change. Nothing. The dream was not a terribly big one and even a lowly cone would do, but it seemed unreachable. Hang your head, shuffle back in and watch Bugs Bunny with my sister, while the folks drank themselves into a stupor. Yet again.

Fast forward to the summer of 2016 and we got some gigs in the Nelson area. Driving by, heads turn…the old motel, it’s still there…the Dairy Queen too! Connie, knowing the story, shouts “stop…ICE CREAM!” It’s been forty five years and now it’s time. Hard brake, jump out excitedly, grab a shake. Connie’s paying! That’s little me smiling and satisfied. Got my Dairy Queen…

It’s the best damn ice cream I ever had.

From BC…
The Tug SS Hosmer (1909) (not far away and visited on this same trip).
Alexandra Bridge Fraser Canyon BC.
Nakusp Rail Society.

Short Subjects: Reports a few paragraphs in length and brief in nature. Think silly little snippets, vignettes and things of that sort. You’ll be in and out in no time.

To reach out or to say hi, go here: contact us!

Date of adventure: July, 2016.
Location: Nelson, British Columbia.

It took forty some years but DQ, it’s good to see you!

A childhood “home” in back & the best damn ice cream, ever…

That unit with the bike in front…the motel is social housing now.

The post The Best Damn Ice Cream Ever… first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

The building is the fourth courthouse to serve the city and dates to 1909. It cost between $70 000-$100 000 to construct (reports vary) and that’s about couple million now. It’s not really bad using the standards of today and considering the cost of buildings presently, but was described as a princely sum at the time. Regardless of the cost, isn’t it a gorgeous building and a scenic setting?

They still hold some preliminary court service here, but most of the space is for provincial government related business. A cenotaph out front honours those who fought and died protecting our freedoms – hats off and let’s raise a glass.

The Fernie Courthouse was a stop on the Great Beater Challenge 2023, a parade of junkers that traveled from Fort Macleod Alberta to Ainsworth BC and back over two days. We were there as a chase vehicle to documented the chaos and hilarity for a magazine article (no longer online, but we may resurrect it).

Participants are given hints and awarded points for visiting specific checkpoints, like the courthouse here. Stop, take a photo and then move on to the next puzzle. The Challenge is a ton of fun for participants, something curious and laughable for folks watching the motley procession pass, and a wildly memorable experience for us documenting the event. It’s not easy to keep tabs on 40-50 vehicles of questionable reliability. We went crazy trying to capture it all and were left spent and exhausted by the end.

From BC…
The Giants of Cathedral Grove (BC).
Big Eddy Bridge Revelstoke BC.
Nelson and Fort Sheppard in Under a Minute.

Short Subjects: Reports a few paragraphs in length and brief in nature. Think silly little snippets, vignettes and things of that sort. You’ll be in and out in no time.

To reach out or to say hi, go here: contact us!

Date of adventure: August, 2023.
Location: Fernie, British Columbia.

Welcome to the historic courthouse in Fernie BC.

It was a photo stop for the Great Beater Challenge 2023.

The post The Historic Courthouse in Fernie BC first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.

This famous work is purely fictional, although it is loosely based on people, places and events Robert Service the poet (and then bank employee) encountered during his time in the north. One of the people he knew was Sam McGee, the the man who lent his name to the legend. He truly did exist, although that’s where his tie-in with the story ends.

Nothing relating to Sam’s life was otherwise immortalized in the poem. Not a one. Most noteworthy, Sam McGee was not from Tennessee, but rather hailed from eastern Canada. I guess “Sam McGee from Lindsay, Kawartha Lakes Municipality, a little northwest of Peterborough, Ontario” didn’t have the proper ring to it and was not so easy to rhyme. Still, Sam was an adventuresome soul, but not in the way described by Service.

Born in the 1860s, McGee did find his way north during the great Klondike Gold Rush at the turn of the twentieth century. Landing in Whitehorse Yukon, a chance meeting between himself and the banker/poet Service is where the connection was made. McGee, while up north, only dabbled in prospecting. Road building became his trade.

His full name was William Samuel McGee, but everyone seemed to know his as Sam. For the last year or so of his life, resided in the Beiseker area of Alberta, where he passed on in August 1940.

Of all of the poems that Service wrote, this one is probably his best known work. It made Service famous and McGee too, although the latter was often a victim of ribbing thanks to the connection. Still, it seems like he begrudgingly accepted his lot and in doing so, became a legend.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
  By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
  That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
  But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
  I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam ’round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.”

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! Through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see;
It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,
He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;
And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
“It’s the cursed cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone.
Yet ’tain’t being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains.”

A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn’t a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
With a corpse half hid that I couldn’t get rid, because of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: “You may tax your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it’s up to you to cremate those last remains.”

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows—O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
And I’d often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don’t know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: “I’ll just take a peep inside.
I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I looked”;…then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door.
It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm —
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
  By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
  That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
  But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
  I cremated Sam McGee.

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service is in the public domain.

From the Calgary Herald, September 11th, 1940…

“End of Sourdough Saga – Last Rites Held For Sam McGee, Yukoner Flies To Pal’s Funeral.”

“This afternoon they buried one of the north country’s most colourful figures, 72-year-old Sam McGee, who was “cremated” thirty-odd years ago by Robert W Service.

The story of how Sam McGee came to be the “hero” of Service’s famous poem was told today by McGee’s partner, a man who had flown down from Whitehorse, Yukon, to attend the funeral. He was Dick Corless, famous “flying prospector” of the north, who has been successfully operating an extensive prospecting and mining business in the Yukon since 1912.

Several times, since he left the Yukon 30 years ago, Sam McGee went back to his former haunts and accompanied Mr Corless on prospecting trips. He was going to go back this summer. Their equipment is still waiting for them in a little cabin at Burwash Creek, 200 miles west of Whitehorse.”

From the local history book “Beiseker’s Golden Heritage”, a passage by Margaret Toews…

“Sam McGee wasn’t from Tennessee, nor did the Yukon prospector of that name freeze to death and get cremated on the marge of Lake Lebarge in 1898. He died in his bed at the age of 74, eight miles east and three miles south of Beiseker on his daughter’s farm, worn out from a life of work and adventure. A bigger hero and a much better story than that of the frozen stiff in Robert Services’ poem.”

“And no one has ever gotten the story right”, says Mrs Emil Gramms daughter of the real Sam McGee.

Sam passed on fifteen years before his wife Ruth and on her death, she was buried next to him. A new headstone was added at this time so they could add her name, but the older, smaller one was retained as well.

Know more (new tab): The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service.

They’re saying…

“Thank you so much for your fantastic articles and photos. Alberta and BC are dear to my heart. I could spend 24/7 here with you…especially love the before and after articles. Keep up the great work guys!!” Byron Robb (lots from Then & Nows coming!)

Random awesomeness…
Ogden Road Calgary 1950 & 2016.
Comox Fisherman’s Wharf Comox BC.
Fort Macleod Alberta ~75 Years Apart.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: August, 2025.
Location: Level Land Cemetery, Beiseker Alberta.
Article references and thanks: UofCalgary photo archives, Calgary Herald archives @ Google Books and the book Beiseker’s Golden Heritage

The grave of the real Sam McGee (William Samuel McGee) and his wife.

The original headstone was retained even after they put in a new one.

The post Sam McGee – not from Tennessee first appeared on Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie.