80 Years Empty

It’s a lonely forgotten place, this rural property. The ride in takes one down a long dusty backroad, then a muddy cart track all squishy and rutted up, and finally cross country through pasture and field. Regular cars are unlikely to survive the journey. Arrive, stand and look around. In every direction it’s a vast swath of nothingness, this small group of buildings and corrals, the stuff we’re here for, the only things visible in any direction speaking of man’s presence. Civilization, my friends, is a far way off. Cell service? What’s that?

This here is what we call the C&M Farmstead, last occupied in the 1930s and we’re ready to give you a tour.

We’re in the Special Areas of Alberta, a huge chunk of land in the eastern half of the province. It’s sparsely populated, always has been, and one can travel for hours and not see a single soul. Happened to us and it felt as though we we’re on the moon! Talk about one remote and unforgiving place. You have to be tough as nails to set down roots here. Kudos to those who did, or tried.

This farm dates from the 1910s and was established soon after the area was opened up for settlement. The people who called it home, a large family numbering up to nine kids, plus Ma and Pa, had a European background. They made stops in the Dakotas and the Beiseker area before settling here. C and M are the first initials of the heads of this household. Later some overseas relatives came to Canada to join them on this property. Not sure if they lived in the house or elsewhere – one shed in back looks like it was a dwelling of sorts. Maybe? Either way, it must have been a busy place back then. Not so much today.

Filed under remote, this old house has been 80 years empty.

The house seen is not the the original and for a few years they lived in a sod hut. A “soddie” was a quick an easy way to get established and lots of settlers started out with one. Not exactly the tidiest place to live, but cozy and well enough I guess. This no longer stands. One child was born during this time. Imagine it, dirt floors, dirt walls and a new baby.

Soon after the current house was in built and a barn put in. In the 1940s the latter was moved to another farm some distance away and I understand might still exist. We’re going to do some looking. Rounding out the property are some ancillary buildings, all falling down, and a few corrals.

The family farmed grain and raised livestock. Water came from an artesian well (one that flowed naturally and needed no pumping). The old pipe that it gushed from still pokes out of the ground. But for some reason – shaking our heads – we failed to take a photo of it.

Times are challenging out here on the plains, doubly so in this part of the province where dry conditions are the norm. Sure there were a few good years, but most of the time the family scraped by. By the 1930s most of the children had scattered to the winds and with little hope in sight as to the long tern viability, the farm was abandoned. The owners moved away to somewhere else with the place empty ever since. Remarkable, yes, it’s been vacant some eighty years.

It’s said in some papers that the farm was on the main road through the area. No sign of that today – it’s well away from anything that can be driven. At times in the 1920s, the house doubled as a church some Sundays (Lutheran Faith).

Your author has seen old photos of the place back in the day, both when it was lived in and at various points in time afterwards. Some show family members, farm scenes, the house itself (it was painted a light colour back then), a peek into the lives of those who called it home.

A more recent (relatively speaking) picture from the 1960s shows the house looking not all that different than it does today. I guess we can thank the dry conditions for preserving it this well. Still, it’s open to the elements and in rough shape. It seems nice and square. The interior is completely empty unless you count thick layers of Pigeon poop. Nothing photogenic in that. Yuck!

The land around the farmstead today is cattle pasture, huge and stretching off as far as one can see no matter what point on the compass you face. There’s room for many moo-moos, although only a few were seen this day (if full we’d wouldn’t have gotten the okay to go in).

That big trailer seen is a chuck wagon, a place to feed wranglers during cattle round ups. It could be moved around as needed – recall it’s a HUGE property – hitch it to a tractor and go. It said to date from the 1970s (still, no one’s really sure) and clearly hasn’t been used for some time. It’s pretty intact and is kept from the cows by a fence.

There’s two trees on the property – yes I said two – only two – one beside the house and holding a raptor nest and a second out back, all by itself, just it and the endless plains. We call the latter a “John Sharpe Tree”, after a photographer friend, deceased a few years now, who took great pleasure in photographing ones that stood alone such as this. It was an obsession with him.

The nearest neighbour to the C&M farmstead today is many, many clicks away. The next closest after that, double. Old land records show there were other families on nearby quarter sections back when it was lived in. Evidence of these are for the most part long gone. Still, the area never really had much of a population. Even at its peak in the 1910/1920s. Like to be alone? Come here. The sense of isolation is almost overpowering.

Joining us this adventure was good friend and super photographer Rob Pohl. You know the guy, the man with the giant view camera. Those crazy film shooters! You’ve seen him make an appearance on this website from time to time. If not for his truck we’d have had a long walk into the property. For the ride we are grateful. Not that we’re scared to “hoof it” in, but hiking the plains can be rather tedious. The BIGDoer-mobile wouldn’t have stood a chance and it’s been places!

This chuck wagon is something more recent.

Why are no names given? We know you know them! Why so little location information? Why so vague? Simply this, the land owner asked for us to sort of be secretive in an effort to protect the site from vandals, pickers and trespassers. There’s been problems in the general area.

Just in case you were curious…this here post took roughly ten man-hours to compile. A couple of them were for field photography (not counting the drive in), the rest for post production, research (online, library, phone), writing, fact checking and proofing. It’s all done out of love, b’cause their ain’t no money in it! No complaints though!

Hope you enjoy the effort.

Keeping with that remote theme…
These Stone Walls – nothing around it.
A forgotten place called Comrey – even more remote.
DC3 Plane Crash – in the mountains.

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

Date: July, 2017.
Location: Special Areas, AB.
Article references and thanks: Landowners, Local history books.
BIGDoer.com was onsite with permission.

We’re well away from any road.

An odd bit of metal.

The cook wagon was used during cattle round ups.

Old school air conditioning…

The house dates from the 1910s.

And was last occupied in the 1930s.

In the distance, a “John Sharpe Tree”.

Odd bits of metal scattered about – here a scraper.

And here an old shovel.

A large family once lived here.

Weathered and worn…

One special place…

An outbuilding near collapse.

If not for the truck it would have been a fair walk in.

If you look close, a young raptor.