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...
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...
Exploring History / Old Things
by Chris Doering · Published November 9, 2022 · Last modified November 24, 2022
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...
“Harvest” 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,...
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