Founded just over a century ago, the tiny community of Robsart Saskatchewan is today a shadow of its former self, home to many, many more ghosts than people. It’s one of the more picturesque such towns ever visited by BIGDoer.com (that’s a big statement) and our group has seen its...
In the days before 7-11s and Macs, one shopped at local mom and pop owned corner stores located right in your own neighbourhood. They used to be everywhere, a place to pick up a jug of milk and loaf of bread on the way home from work. They were a...
The unique chalet style A-frame condos seen here are clearly a product of the the late 1970s, they scream it, and were interesting enough to be included in an article published in National Geographic magazine, many years ago; not as the main subject matter mind you, but still seen none...
Sometimes we just sit and watch trains go by. We have a special spot in town were we do this, that we call our own, along a section of public pathway with some grass to sit upon, that parallels the CPR’s mainline just east of the Alyth Yards. The action...
The little red caboose seen in this article is located at the Stettler Alberta museum and can be viewed by anyone visiting that venue. Once owned by Canadian National Railways, it was originally a boxcar built in 1918, so darn near a century ago, that in the 1950s was converted...
After looking at this Boler, it’ll be clear why many people refer to them as eggs on wheels, especially so if coloured white, as this example is. You’d lose it in a snowstorm for sure and looks how it blends so well into the featureless sky behind. It was spotted...
Built over a hundred years ago, the rather spindly looking St George’s Island (12th St SE or Zoo Island) bridge still carries traffic, although its future is somewhat up in the air. Crossing the mighty Bow River just east of downtown Calgary, it connects the community of Inglewood, with others...
An “almost” ghost town, Lemsford Saskatchewan is located in the western part of that province and is home to a little brick schoolhouse, a nice one too, that’s sadly seen better days. Long since closed as learning facility, it was later used for grain storage (as strange as that seems)...
This report we tour the compressor building at the historic Turner Valley Gas Plant, just south of Calgary. Inside this long cavernous structure is a bank of ancient engines with integral compressors, the size of which are are hard to describe. They’re big, really big…let’s call them behemoths! These were...
This fairly long urban trek is part loop and part out and back and takes us west from Edworthy Park to our final destination, Bowness Park. Along the trip, paralleling and close to the Bow River much of way, we’ll pass through many parks, natural areas and green spaces via...
Spanning the Elbow River just before it empties into the Bow, the 9th Avenue road bridge connects the Calgary downtown core with communities to the east. Built just over a hundred years ago, this fine old structure sees heavy use and as such, according to the city anyway, is wearing...
The giant globe shaped tanks seen here are known as Horton Spheres and are located at the historic Turner Valley gas plant. Built in the the early 1940s, these “Big Balls” were used to store specialized gaseous products produced at the facility, most notably a World War Two era fuel...
The fine looking church we’ll be discussing here is located in the old Calgary community of Bridgeland and is just over a century old. In fantastic shape given its age, over the years it has served two separate Christian based faiths. We’ll look at the building twice, first in the...
The old road bridge we’re looking at here, located in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, is something close to a hundred years old and is still sees use to this day. Crossing over the placid Moose Jaw River, a winding and rather muddy water course, it’s located inside a city park. That...
This 13 foot Boler (when built Canada did not use the metric system) was found in southwest Calgary, not terribly far from where were live, on a blustery cold day in early December 2014. You might say it’s feeling a little blue, what with the low temperatures, that blue bottom...
Join us as we take a tour of an abandoned school in the Crowsnest Pass of Alberta, a fine looking albeit simple two storey brick structure constructed close to a hundred years ago. It’s been a very long time since it was last used as a learning facility and today...
The large wooden structure seen here is an annex, a simple ancillary building used to increase the storage capacity of a grain elevator. This particular example used to sit along the trains tracks in the tiny burg of Legend Alberta, in the proverbial middle of nowhere. After the elevator it...
In this post we find ourselves at Parade Square in the old Currie Barracks base, officially Canadian Forces Base Calgary, in the southwest quadrant of the city. The first image takes us way back to 1971 and shows a military ceremony taking pace here. In our photo, captured in March...
This old fire hydrant and the tall tower seen in behind, emblazoned with the Firestone Company name, are pretty much all that’s left of a tire plant that once operated in Calgary. In production from 1960-1978. the factory lands are for the most part an empty field, siting next to...
This cute little 13 foot Boler was found in a back alley – these sort of locations are a absolute goldmine for Boler spotters – in the Calgary community of Ramsay. You’ll notice the trailer and garage almost match in colours. A strange coincidence perhaps? Hmmm. This one was found...
Even in winter months, we still get out and hike. More times than not we stay in town, but given there are a huge number of public pathways to choose from in this fair city, this works out well. Often though, these types of outings are rather dull and mundane...
We’ll call this motley grouping of vehicles the Badland’s Collection for no reason other then they were found in the scenic Badlands of Alberta, in the Red Deer River Valley near the town of Drumheller. We were on foot wandering about the area, looking for adventure and fun and any...
In this “then and now”, we take two scenes from the 1985 Disney flick Journey of Natty Gann, set in the 1930s, then return to the exact spots where they were shot to document what things look like today. The location here is downtown Coleman Alberta, in the historic Crowsnest...
Not a lot of years separate these two photos but in that time the change has been dramatic. The trains are no more and the row of elevators has been reduced to one.
Down by the tracks in Arrowwood Alberta, 1997 and 2015. Interestingly the then photo is from us and this a rare case of Team BIGDoer shooting both. It was captured by Chris back when he was doing oilfield hotshot.
The last elevator standing is a former Alberta Wheat Pool facility and dates from the 1970s. That's it's fairly modern is perhaps the reason it survived into today and it's now used by a local farmer for grain storage.
Check the comments to know more 👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
Spotted while documenting The Great Beater Challenge, 2021 edition! Here, it's a little diversion into the near ghost town of Orkney Saskatchewan to look at a disused Patterson Grain Elevator. The structure dates from the 1970s and was built with features foreshadowing those used in high throughput grain terminals of today. Fast load systems and the like.
Check out that vintage yield sign and we doubt it's really needed any more. There's no traffic on these streets.
BTW, we got to chase the Beater Challenge 2023 and we'll post about it soon.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2021. Posted by Connie.
After we drop off a couple rolls for processing, we'll call home! A little corner pharmacy, in a nondescript Calgary strip mall, and it's sort of lost in time. Shot in 2016 and we find anachronisms like this fascinating!
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
St Francis in the Woods out in BC's East Kootenay region dates back over a century. It's sort of hidden away down a little backroad and is far removed from the modern world. While no longer used in a spiritual capacity, it still hosts community functions from time to time. Otherwise, silence rules.
Know more about this subject in a link posted to the comments.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Posted by Connie.
The same stone house about a century apart and from almost the same angle. It came close to being a proper Then & Now, but interestingly, we didn't know of the old photo when we captured ours.
The house was only lived in for a few decades, starting about 1910 and abandoned on account of arid conditions.
A family of twelve (yes, two parents plus TEN kids) lived in this modest-sized dwelling. Those early pioneers were hardcore. A house in the middle of nowhere, farming conditions that at best were marginal, brutal winters, few neighbours, little of anything and a bus load of children to raise in a house the size of a garage. Give them credit!
Know more via a link in the comments.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2015. Posted by Connie.
The Fort Motel in Fort MacLeod Alberta, seen in an old postcard circa 1960 and again on a quiet evening late in 2023. It's one of many old style motor-court motels in this historic town and as you can see it's little changed over time. Too bad about that sign, though. The Fort Motel first makes mention in phone directories in the early fifties.
To know about our subject scroll down to a link in the comments. Hey Lethbridge Historical Society, thought you'd like this!
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
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