Come take a look at a hair raising section of road blasted out of the rock years ago, out in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia and near the community of Slocan City. It’s a narrow winding shelf, barely wide enough for two cars to pass and right there...
Forced perspective (noun): the use of any of various techniques (as in photography…) to create the optical illusion that objects or people are smaller, larger, closer, or farther away than they really are. Credit: Merriam-Webster Dictionary. It’s often done for humorous effect β maybe you’ve seen those pictures where some...
Few Words: The Cutest Little Farm House (ever). It’s charming, cozy and so tiny you might think it’s a doll house. On the main floor there’s a bit of room to move, barely, but upstairs anyone over average height will have to stoop. Claustrophobic types will feel the walls closing...
This urban hike has a definite gritty edge and that’s not necessarily a bad thing in our world, but certain sections had us questioning our own sanity. Still, this Bow River Loop is not without its charms, and the trek thoroughly enjoyable on the return leg, but less so at...
This will be a variation on the theme and the fun happens in Three Hills Alberta, on a wickedly frigid winter’s day, early 2022. Let me tell you, we did this one in record time! Rather than the usual comparison Then & Now type shot everyone’s all used to, which...
The quaint little town of Stavely Alberta is found just over one hundred kilometres south of Calgary and to those travelling the #2, most noteworthy for its huge grain elevator there beside the highway. It can’t be missed and the tall blue/green structure looms over “downtown”, passing motorists and the...
Dateline Torrington Alberta and it’s early in 2022. Someone, and we can’t shake the feeling that it’s a person with far too much time on their hands (wink, wink) has built a mini-Stonehenge out of random blocks of concrete. Why? Wait, the big question is why not? It’s one of...
There we were returning from a little hike out in Kananaskis Country (here: Eagle Hill) and out of nowhere it’s a chance discovery. It’s a highway Surf Side, caught along the Trans-Canada and a fitting end to a great road-trip adventure. It’s like the cherry on top β a good...
A chance encounter earns us a couple wonderful minutes getting to know the locomotives of 40 Mile Rail down in Southern Alberta. Trains are something we’re more into than our readers so normally not many pics like this are shared. Emphasis on normally. With such a spectacular setting we just...
We’re in downtown Castor Alberta and armed with an old image to be used in another BIGDoer.com Then & Now comparison. Standing roughly on the same spot where the original photographer did about a 110 years ago, we’ll look into what’s the same (a little) and what’s changed (a lot)...
There were once thousands of wood grain elevators across the Canadian plains, but the numbers have thinned considerably over the years. Almost every town in the grain belt had one, or more, and long before you arrived, you’d see them off in the distance. In this post we’ll take a...
We’re taking you back to when coal was king and use of the fuel wide spread. It heated homes and powered industry, among others. The rather insignificant building seen here is hidden away in a coulee and functioned as a mine substation. Right here and on this very spot was...
There we were driving about the provincial capitol and minding our own business, when out of nowhere something catches our eye. A couple blocks ahead, a familiar form is spotted, on the move, and soon a chase ensues. Always at posted speeds that is. If it times right, we just...
Today it happens down on the waterfront in Slocan British Columbia and for your enjoyment we present two comparison photos taken eighty one years apart. The first, captured in 1940, shows a railway barge setup and the other, how the location looks in 2021. The βthenβ photo comes thanks to...
The Trout Lake BC Cemetery is well hidden by the forest and all but a few burials date back to the early days. It’s a lost corner in this former mining boom town and the most frequent visitors the local bear population. Peace and tranquility reign supreme, deep in this...
As long time city residents, we’ve noticed there seems be a proliferation of back alley rhubarb growing in certain 1950s-1960s era neighbourhoods throughout the city. Our community fits that time frame, and yes, we need only go a block or two to find some. They usually appear deliberately and strategically...
There’s some interesting sidewalk tiles underfoot in this British Columbia community. If you know where to look that is. They pay homage to various classes of Canadian Pacific Railway locomotives and are located on 10th Ave S Cranbrook, in downtown. From what we know they were placed fairly recently and...
We’re spending a quiet evening with Tuxedo Park School (North Calgary) simply wandering about and snapping a few photos. The faculty was built in two stages, 1920 and then expanded upon greatly in the 1956-7 before closing some years back. With the property currently in limbo, there’s uncertainty at every...
Here’s a pleasant urban-hike in the charming community of Didsbury Alberta. It’s more a relaxed stroll about town, than anything serious, but not everything needs to be an expedition. There will be many historic homes seen and here’s a spoiler: they’re simply gorgeous! Then there’s lots of century(+) old buildings...
We’re getting two for the price of one and here’s a pair of Bolers that when not in use are stored out back of a home in an alley. These ones are well known to us and we’ve passed them by many times before (see:Bolers, After Dark). They’re in a...
This is a reworked Then & Now originally posted ten years ago and takes inspiration from by Mike Dunham-Wilkie’s well known train photographs of Wayne Alberta. His shots are from 1978. We’re reusing our original now photos, but have revised and updated the info. Ugly and somewhat outdated, the piece...
Here’s a comparison look at one little corner of downtown Viking Alberta thirty four years apart. The expression βsome things change and some stay the sameβ truly applies here. Certainly many things have vanished since the original image was captured in 1988, but the scene still feels the same. This...
Here’s a look at second oldest Calgary Stampede Dream Home (from 1959 – at the time called the Stampede Give-Away Home) and in outward appearances it looks much as it did when new. This lottery has been going on so long it’s become essential to the Stampede experience and tickets...
These concrete piers, seen off in the distance, are all that remains of the Canadian Pacific’s Lorraine railway bridge. The line it supported dates back to the mid-1910s, but didn’t last long and everything removed roughly four decades later. In the railway business that’s the blink of an eye and...
Today we’re visiting Nativity of the Virgin Mary Romanian Orthodox Church (or simply St Mary’s), built in the 1910s and last used many years ago. The Parish kept it intact even after the last services were held, but since our visit a couple years back, we’re told its been emptied...
It Continues: Elk River Inn Hosmer British Columbia. Here we’re paying a visit to a small town hotel for the Beer Parlour Project series with vintage film camera photographer Rob Pohl. Maybe you’ve seen him before on this website and while our techniques and equipment are worlds apart, we share...
It’s the last one in Willingdon Alberta and one of the very last wood grain elevators built in the entire province. While adapted for the era, it’s not all that different in form and construction from prairie sentinels dating back to the early 1900s. It’s old school tech and came...
Mewata Armoury is located at the west end of Calgary’s downtown core and a well known landmark that’s stood here for over a century. Architecturally stunning, this brick and sandstone edifice is a ceremonial and training base for a number of Canadian Forces regiments/groups. Built during World War One, it...
Almost seventy five years separates the two images shown here and outside one obvious change, the scene has an otherwise timeless quality. Emerald Lake & Crowsnest Mountain, in the Crowsnest Pass of Alberta, feature prominently in both and are a sight to behold. The then image is from a postcard...
The Bear Stare: here’s a random pick photo from the collection showing a brief but memorable face to face encounter that happened out near Trout Lake British Columbia. That place is simply crawling with those furry beasts and encounters quite common. There we were burning down some logging road, at...
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 π
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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