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 Ugly and somewhat outdated, the piece...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 “some things change and some stay the same” 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’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...
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 – 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 – 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...
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
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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)
Dale:
Forgotten Coal Town Cemetery
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
Royston Wrecks (Vancouver Island BC)
Dale:
Shandro Historic Village (Closed)
Margaret Nemeth:
Bridge Hunting: Highway 13 Scotsguard
Anonymous:
Grain Elevators of Consort Alberta
John Kinnear:
Commander Mine 1935-1956
Cindy Miller Reade:
Prairie Sentinels: Coderre Saskatchewan
Margaret Nemeth:
Eastern (Deutsch-Canadier) Block (2014)
Jason Sailer:
Fairbanks Morse H16-66 (CPR #7009)
Margaret Nemeth:
Robsart Saskatchewan 61 Years Apart
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