The Bendix Company, founded in the 1920s and absorbed by a competitor in the early 1980s, was a well known producer of automotive parts, avionics equipment and the like. At one time they also manufactured retail electronics, TVs, Radios and so on. Interesting, during the recreational vehicle boom of the...
When playing the Boler spotting game, the rules dictate that a player shout out “Boler!”, as loudly as possible I might add, upon seeing one. Them’s the simple rules – well, there’s points for rarity and difficulty, but we won’t go into them here. When travelling with friends, all who...
The CPR’s short Pecten Subdivision runs from the Crowsnest Subdivision mainline, at the town of Brocket Alberta just east of the Crowsnest Pass, south towards a large gas plant, Shell’s Waterton Complex at Pecten. Very near the end of this line, south of Pincher Creek, is train bridge crossing over...
The Mountain Mill United Church is located in a gorgeous pastoral setting, a secluded wooded river valley near the foothills of southwest Alberta, close to the communities of Pincher Creek and the Crowsnest Pass. At just over a century old (built in 1906) the building is still used from time...
We actually don’t capture that many Bolers in motion, so finding one on the road is extra special. Most we see are parked, at campgrounds or between outings, stashed away in alleys, back yards and the like. This example, a seventeen foot model, with a rather unique crocheted spare tire...
This post has been updated and can be found here: Chinook Motel Crowsnest Pass ~50 Years Apart. More Then & Nows… Shaunavon Saskatchewan ~70 years apart. Downtown Trout Lake British Columbia. Grain Elevators at Carbon Alberta. If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact...
For some strange reason we’re crazy about bridges. Older spans, of course, are the ones we search out the most, but we even find modern examples fascinating. Not everyone shares this strange obsession it seems. Of all the varied subjects covered on the BIGDoer.com website, articles on bridges are the...
Calgary has an extensive pathway system, covering all corners of the city. It’s one heck of a great resource which we use a lot, especially so in winter, when we can’t always make it to the mountains. These paved lanes head here, there and everywhere, most of them passing through...
This odd looking and brightly coloured rail mounted contraption is a Herzog Railroad Services “MPM” or Multi-Purpose Machine. It’s a specialized piece of equipment hired out under contract to rail carriers across the continent for maintenance of way work, travelling about as the need dictates. Highly adaptable it’s able to...
When one thinks of structures associated with Canadian railways, things like stations or perhaps roundhouses probably come to mind first. They both pretty iconic. There are lots of other types of buildings connected to then however. One that was once very common, yet little known or understood, was the lowly...
The Greenhill Hotel can be found in Blairmore (well…West Blairmore) Alberta, in the historic Crowsnest Pass, in the southwest corner of the province. The barn-shaped structure has been around for well on ninety plus years. Once a busy watering hole for local coal miners and also accommodation for those visiting...
Chris rushed in excitedly and showed me this comparison, but after a short pause, his look changed. It's that confused expression one gets just before the face-palm, when they realize something they did just doesn't add up.
One year shy of a century separates the two images but as it turns out, they're not even of the same building. The top is Westmount School and the bottom McDougall School, both in Edmonton and not far from each other.
It took this long to realize we'd been shooting at the wrong place all this time! The two schools were built in the same year and very close in design, so it's still an interesting comparison. We had a good laugh and we'll give Chris a mulligan on this one.
Looks like we're going have to head back for a do-over.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photos: 1924 and 2023. Submitted by Connie.
It's amazing how many of these Canada Centennial Maples Leafs still exist out in the wild across the prairies. We could fill an album with the ones we've photographed. It seems rural folks embraced patriotism with more fervor than their urban counterparts, but that's just an observation.
This example was found in a small Saskatchewan town. When they placed this up above the community hall there was a certain optimism that's not seen now. Today, only a handful of people call the community home, and it's that close to being a true ghost town. Almost sixty years in place and this memorial to a 100 year celebration is still here.
If our readers have found any of these while out exploring, please share in the comments. We'd love to see them.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2014. Submitted by Connie.
Billy Clark’s Cabin in Meadow Creek BC and it dates back over a century. Now at the local museum it formerly stood in a valley a little to east and on the shores of Duncan Lake (now Ducan Lake Reservoir).
Billy was a trapper, hunter, and woodsman. All he had was this tiny log house, a small plot of land, the surrounding wilderness, and his wits for survival. Nothing more. That spirit of self reliance seems to be a lost art today.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Submitted by Connie.
Both Chris and I both grew up in the malaise era for cars and get giddy when we spot one from that time out in the wild. It's like meeting an old friend. This '80s beauty was found out in a hiking area of Kananaskis and by all appearances, looks to be driven regularly.
The malaise era is marked by cars with uninspired design, quirky traits, hobbled performance and often questionable quality. Depressing stuff. This Cutlass is probably one of the better GM cars of the time, and both Chris and our son Will have owned examples in the past.
Have a malaise era story or photo to share? Post it in the comments!
Out in nature with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Submitted by Connie.
We come over many rises on a the prairies and on doing so surprised by many interesting things. This one caused a double take.
This lonely locomotives sits at the then very end of track outside Leader SK and was out of service at the time. Guess they socked it away out of sight to forget about it. We found photos showing it in service the year before our visit but here it was cold and dead.
Since this photo was taken, the Great Sandhills Railway has extended the track across the road and set up some kind of transloading operation. In years passed, the track (under CP ownership) continued west all the way into Alberta, but that's a distant memory.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2014. Submitted by Connie.
The messages have been coming fast and often. No, the book we produced a couple years back is not being published after all, in spite of appearing on many websites recently. Oddly some are showing it with the cover from another volume altogether. Please don't order and it must be a glitch.
The other two books shown in our capture are available however (and are awesome) and were produced by some friends. Interestingly, Chris contributed to each and those you can order.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Submitted by Connie.
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