The fun this fine day happens in Red Deer Alberta and here’s a nice little pathways loop that starts close to the downtown core. It all takes place in the middle of the city, but sometimes you may not know it. The parks, natural green spaces and wooded groves you’ll...
Long story short: so there we were searching out the former home of an artifact from the Pioneer Acres Museum collection (in Irricana Alberta) and what’s that we see over there? Out of the corner of our eyes, it’s a special distraction, something unexpected but never unwelcomed. Parked down the...
We’re visiting the restored Meeting Creek Railway Station in central Alberta and shooting a slight variation on our popular Then & Now series. It’s a perfectly delightful spring evening, we’re here all alone and since we’re shooting a general historic piece on the building anyway, let’s have a little more...
Two Churches Trochu Alberta: a look at historic St Anne of the Prairies Catholic and St John’s Lutheran, the latter doubling as a home, in this charming little community. We are no strangers to challenging conditions and this outing was on one most frigid days in all of early 2022....
This shuttered business in Castor Alberta has had many names over the years – Jessie’s Cafe – Royal Cafe – Golden Crown β but later tenants never bothered to change the old sign. It goes back something close to seventy five years (give or take) and maybe kept out of...
Here’s the most northerly extant section of an unfinished railway line that was to run south from Calgary. Part of Canadian Northern Railway’s Alberta Midland,. it dates from the 1910s and a planned foray into southwestern Alberta. This was in competition with the dominate player in the region, Canadian Pacific...
We find them even watching TV and in fact it’s happened quite a few times now. Here’s a channel surfing Boler seen while searching aimlessly for something to watch and not having much luck at it. Here’s it on some rural channel (don’t recall) and the show on the subject...
The building seen here was constructed in 1913-1914, as the most expensive and elaborate sandstone school in the city. Calgary at the time and today remains home to many of these iconic structures. In addition, Balmoral School ended up being the final example built and with this a chapter dating...
Here’s a couple interconnected loops in the Cochrane Pathways system and they make for a nice in-town hike. There’s lots of variety and this includes a couple pleasant stretches along the Bow River. The terrain is easy going, with the trail mostly passing through green spaces and parks, plus a...
Industrial Park Life: here’s an odd little home in a Calgary neighbourhood full of warehouses and factories. A train track runs right out front of the property and the road past is gravel (or muck when wet). This dwelling seems so out of place, but in the past, there was...
Here’s a Then & Now look at the former Tri-Way Motel, now Kootenay Country Inn, out in Cranbrook British Columbia. Presenting two photos separated by about half a century and we’re going to chat a little about what’s seen. The business, and the whole scene for that matter, is timeless....
In today’s posting we’ll be looking at Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Cemetery out in central Alberta. Both date back to the 1890s, although the church building itself is not original to this property and moved here from elsewhere about fifty years ago. The cemetery still sees use, although most...
Here’s an interesting discovery preserved in concrete for all time and it’s paw prints from 1913 found on a Calgary sidewalk. The date stamp confirms it. The pooch walked over the cement soon after the pour, before it set and left their mark. The flaw was not worth repairing I...
Triple E Manufacturing of Manitoba produced a Boler-like trailer starting sometime in the mid-1970s and early into the following decade. Some reports say 1980, others 1981, so make of it what you will. It’s called the Surfside (or Surf Side β two words – or sometimes stylized as SurfºSide), more...
We’re deep inside Banff National Park armed with a vintage photo showing a train and our first goal will be to find the location seen. The person that supplied the image only had a hunch, but with a little detective work we felt confident it could be found. Using good...
Elevator Row Nanton Alberta: two photos captured down by the tracks (or former tracks, present day) and separated by close to fifty years. The railway line through town is history, that little shack is long gone, but some of the grain elevators seen in the then photo have been preserved....
Here’s a nice walk through the bedroom community of Chestermere Alberta using pathways and sidewalks. It takes in residential neighbourhoods, there’s a stretch down by the lake and it’s all quite pleasant. While a longer one, it’s flat and overall pretty easy going. This is the Chestermere Town Loop, an...
The Cranbrook History Centre, Cranbrook British Columbia, is home to a huge collection of railway stuff and in this post we’ll be showing you just a little bit of it. Founded in the 1970s, as the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel, the organization has grown over the years and today...
Bamboo Gardens Mayland Heights Calgary is a literal hole in the wall restaurant down some back street and secreted away on the upper floor of a nondescript building. Reviews suggest the food is pretty good over all (mmmm, ginger beef) but looking at the exterior may belie the fact. Its...
We’re in Calgary’s Ogden community and looking at the Hong Lee Laundry building. Dating back to the 1910s, it’s under threat from construction of the Green Line Light Rail Transit extension and unless things change, might have little time left. The Ogden Block, as it’s also known, functioned as rental...
We’re in bustling “downtown” Trout Lake British Columbia armed with a photo from about seventy five years ago to shoot a BIGDoer.com Then & Now. The fun’s about to begin, so give us a big WOOHOO! Our goal is twofold, and out of the gate we want to get as...
Welcome to Mother’s Day Hill in the East Kootenay region of BC and out near Cranbrook. It’s an easy trek up the top of this little hump and while the summit is treed, there’s a superb viewpoint later on. You can gaze down at the St Mary River below and...
βHarvestβ is a curious roadside attraction in the remote West Kootenay community of Meadow Creek British Columbia and placed there a couple years ago. It’s just one of many “Koots” sculptures in the region and they’re hidden away in forests or like here, more out in the open. No matter,...
Today we’re visiting an abandoned coal mine in the Alberta Badlands of the Red Deer River Valley. It’s a region once home to over hundred such operations and mostly what’s left today are hidden remains like you’ll see here. Many of these mines were substantial in size, this one included,...
An old saying warns us any time is train time, but in our world the same holds true for little fibreglass trailers and they always see to appear randomly out of nowhere. Of course, we’re subconsciously always on the prowl, but still it’s amazing how many we come across. So...
For your enjoyment it’s two photos of the waterfront in Silverton British Columbia separated by at least a century and similarly composed. The angles line up and it’s a good match! The mountains and lake present a timeless scene, but the SS Slocan, and the railway’s presence in the valley...
Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions #41 is a century old steamer just recently returned to service after a lengthy absence and seen here in 2019 awaiting repairs. Based out of Stettler Alberta it powered tour trains full of happy folks down the scenic line to Big Valley and now it’s back....
We’re at the Greenhill Hotel in Blairmore Alberta and documenting another installment of the Beer Parlour Project (working title) with noted film photographer Robert Pohl. Below, it’s a behind-the-scenes image from this, the second location shoot. It’s really quite a simple concept and weβll pay these fast disappearing small town...
Backalley Boler: the lanes behind homes are a favourite haunt of little fibreglass trailers and in towns big or small, they account for a good number of our discoveries. We’re always looking down them and this action is often rewarded. Parking spots such as this are a convenient place to...
TV Wasteland: this old CRT television was found well away from any roads, farms or towns in the Alberta Badlands and one has to wonder how it ever got here. We were in search of a little mining history (with permission of the landowner) and hoofing-it cross country through a...
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.
Comments are currently turned off