The subject in today’s Then & Now is the quaint-looking Chinook Motel, Sentinel Alberta, in the scenic and historic Crowsnest Pass. With Crowsnest Mountain a backdrop, we’ll first look at it in the 1960s, thanks to an old postcard image sent in by a reader, and then again some fifty...
In spite of their close proximity to many places we frequent, we’ve seldom explored the Porcupine Hills in Southern Alberta. They’re always within sight when driving major highways in the area yet to us remain mostly a mystery. There’s scattered history in those hills, that we know, and many hiking...
Tranquille BC Sanatorium near Kamloops: opened in 1907 to treat tuberculosis, closed as a mental health facility about 75 years later, mostly empty ever since and said to be haunted. It’s on private land and in talking with an employee(?) of the agricultural firm working on the property, the entire...
The Fort Motel in Fort MacLeod Alberta does it old school and offers road weary travellers vintage motor court style accommodations. You might view it as dated or tired, but to to us it’s a charming throwback and wonderfully kitschy. What ever your opinion, it’s a style of motel that’s...
Let’s explore the grain elevator row in Arrowwood Alberta across time. First we’ll look at it many decades back, and with all but one of these iconic buildings now gone, we’ll present a more recent view. The change has been dramatic and a touch sad too. Once they’re history a...
Depending on the write up you might see it called Sunrise Hill, Rainy Summit Overlook or maybe both will be used (like here). It’s an outlier of long Powderface Ridge and can be reached in one of two ways. The first is via a side-path off the popular and aptly...
St Francis in the Woods is found out in BC’s Kootenay region and dates back well over a hundred years. Secreted away down a seldom used back road, this quaint little church seems far removed from the modern world and while no longer used in a spiritual capacity, it still...
The Crowsnest Pass of Southwestern Alberta draws us in like a magnet and we’re regular visitors. If you’ve followed our exploits for a bit, however, then you already knew we had a romance going on. Today our subject is the CPR Crowsnest Railyard at Summit Lake, at the west end...
We’re in Three Hills Alberta doing a research project and have a few hours to spare after finishing early. What to do…what shall we do…? How about a little walk about and let’s get to know the community a little better. Sounds like a plan but given it was a...
โThanksโ to prevailing winds, smoke from distant forest fires will sometimes blanket the city of Calgary during the summer. It’s just how it plays out and the skies will often remain hazy for days or even weeks on end. Heaven help those with respiratory problems and even for people who...
We’ve driven through beautiful Kaslo British Columbia countless times but any stops made in the community have always been brief in nature. It’s odd, because it has all the traits of a place we’d really like to get to know, yet here we are. There’s so much history and it’s...
Random Pick: It’s just as the title suggests and we simply close our eyes, select a previously unpublished photo and post it here. Be it good or bad, profound or embarrassing cringe. So far it’s been pretty decent stuff, but one day it’ll be awful and we just know it....
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster. Yup, that’s this post nicely summarized and while it might seem silly, we love stuff like this. If it’s got an obscure angle, like here, we’re on it even more and although a serious time waster, we can’t help ourselves. Presenting the Pointless...
The Marblehead Underground Quarry is an expansive, graffiti covered chamber, that up until the late 1930s produced dimensional building stones. These blocks were shipped out by rail and used in the construction of commercial and institutional structures in the region and all across the west. We’ll list a couple of...
It’s Boler Bob, a little egg-camper from the 1970s spotted for sale in the Crownest Pass of Alberta in August 2021. It’s not ours, so please don’t message us. It happens every time we post – remember we have this weird obsession and only photograph them. These trailers are always...
These Alberta Government grain cars have been roaming the rails for forty+ years and approaching retirement, but a select number have found a new home on the Battle River Railway. While looking worn out, and graffiti covered, they’re still serviceable and help alleviate car shortages on the line. That they’re...
This hike to Myrtle Mountain, in the Kimberley Nature Park Trail Network (Kimberley British Columbia), visits a number of superb viewpoints. Look out over town, the broad Rocky Mountain Trench and up the St Mary’s River Valley โ it’s all wonderful scenery. It’s a fair sized loop with a bit...
The historic Pilot Bay Lighthouse, in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, dates back to the early 1900s and remained in use for almost ninety years. Post retirement it’s been preserved in place on a point overlooking gorgeous Kootenay Lake and easily reached via a short hiking trail. Spectacular...
Let’s stop and pay a visit to the little community of Willingdon Alberta to see what’s going on. Such diversions are a road trip ritual and we simply pick some town along what ever route we’re on, ditch the car and get acquainted for a bit. We’ll wander the streets,...
Meadow Creek BC: stopping in a small town museum while on a backroad adventure in the remote Lardeau region. It was early May and the place had yet to open for the season, but we could still wander the property to view outside exhibits. That’s a good start and we’re...
The Bee Line Cranbrook BC is a fun, albeit relatively short hike, in loop form, and goes up and over a low hill just outside town. It’s in the Community Forest Network and if you want to do more afterwards, there’s an endless number of connecting trails to help round...
The the first image takes us back to 1974 and shows a Calgary Transit trolleybus heading south down Elbow Drive. There’s downtown in back. Forty years later we’ve returned to this location to see what’s changed and you’ll notice it’s been dramatic. The city skyline today, if not for a...
This former mobile home (or maybe it’s a retired construction/oilfield bunkhouse) might not seem like the most secure building for such a purpose, yet it didn’t stop a certain entrepreneur in this prairie community. Presenting small town mini-storage, satisfying a need with an economical and gloriously makeshift solution. These โrelocatable...
Shelter Bay Boler: here’s a little fibreglass trailer discovered in the Columbia-Shuswap region of British Columbia and a little south of Revelstoke. It’s seen at a landing while waiting for and later onboard the MV Columbia Upper Arrow Lakes ferry. The water crossing is otherwise too wide for a bridge...
This adventure happens in front ranges of Kananaskis, out in the Highwood River area and for a modest effort comes a nice reward. Be in awe of that mountain scenery! Following a trail up Pack Trail Coulee, one tops out at Grass Pass, then it’s on to Fir Creek Point...
We’re down by the tracks in Coronation Alberta or rather on our visit, standing where the tracks used to be. From this angle and observed today there’s nothing left of the railway. Not a thing. Presenting two views captured from the same location but separated by many, many decades. It’s...
Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park is a wonderful natural area between Calgary and Cochrane. There on the north side of the Bow River, it’s a huge playground for outdoorsy types, with lots of rolling hills, grasslands and the odd wooded grove. Despite being close to the city, itโs easy to imagine...
Main and Railway or 50th and 50th? In most Alberta communities one or the other usually marked the most important intersection there in downtown. Or what was the most important – things change but names remain. In some communities it was one then the other (almost always the former to...
Flashback to a couple summers ago (how time flies) and we’re out cruising backroads of British Columbia. While exploring one of our homebases for the trip, in this case Revelstoke, we came to a realization. It turns out this mountain community is a real hotspot for little fibreglass trailers. Remember,...
Shaunavon Saskatchewan is located in the southwest corner of province, it’s been around for just over a century and home to perhaps eighteen hundred people. Give or take, that is. There’s a quaint downtown with lots of nice old buildings and a few of them will be seen in this...
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
We couldn't run this website without your help!
Thanks to Recent Sponsors...
Johanna (Connie) Biggart
Empress Alberta at the 4th Meridian
Johanna (Connie) Biggart:
St Peter and Paul Church 1918
Anonymous:
Radio Shack Westbrook Mall (Calgary)
Anonymous:
Ghost Railways: Fort Macleod Alberta
Anonymous:
Berte Georgeโs Williamโs Grocery Lethbridge
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
Union Bay (Vancouver Island) Coal Wharf
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
1 Day: Denman & Hornby Islands (BC)
Wilfrid Lambo:
Crossley Slides: A Corner in Erlton
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
Ioco Port Moody BC (Ghost Town)
Anonymous:
Historic Fort Macleod After Hours
Anonymous:
Ghosts of the Crowsnest Subdivision
Franco Media:
Moose Jaw SK Train Station (~90 Yrs Apart)
Anonymous:
Kart World or Kart Gardens? (2014)
Ross Hamilton:
Prairie Sentinels: Cadillac Sask
Anonymous:
Dominion Bridge Calgary (Ramsay) ca1960-2014
John Kinnear:
World of F.E.A.R Figure-8 (Abandoned)
You cannot copy content of this page
Javascript is required for this site to function. Please enable it in your browser settings and refresh this page.
This popup is only shown once per month. We hate them too, but need your help.
Donate & help keep new content coming...
Or
Chris & Connie thank you!
Comments are (OFF)