Category: Exploring History

Kart World or Kart Gardens? The folks that ran this Calgary family-fun business sure made things confusing and a sign in front lists BOTH names. No matter which you choose, the place is now closed and the site (on this visit in 2014) was quickly falling into disrepair. You’ll hear...

Flashback to May 2014: the Team is on a grain elevator tour of southwest Saskatchewan and having a blast. We saw and documented more, but it’s Prairie Sentinels that we came for. Many were visited and the one seen this day is found in the small town of Cadillac (south...

The spectators gather, drinks in hand and the engines roar to life. Brave warriors with their metal steeds take position and the flag drops. Let the CARnage begin! There’s the acrid smell of grease and stinking exhaust, the sequel of tires, the sickening sound of tearing metal followed by shrieks...

All but a couple burials in this forgotten coal town cemetery date predate 1917 and many of the grave markers have been lost to time. Nature’s reclaiming the site and much of everything remaining is well hidden by the underbrush. Still, there’s old metal fences and more resilient grave markers...

This post will explore one of Saskatchewan’s iconic “bowstring” concrete arch bridges. With their graceful lines, they’re a thing of beauty and are delightful subjects to photograph. They can be found all over the province and this example is located in the southwest quadrant. It’s close to ninety years old...

Ahead, it’s a piece called Grain Elevators of Consort Alberta and it contains two interesting photos from long ago. It’s Chris here and in the 1990s I worked oilfield “hotshot” trucking. On these travels, I’d pass many interesting places, but always under a time crunch. Stopping or even slowing down...

These old and decrepit coal cars were found scattered about the forgotten Commander Mine site (earlier and briefly, the Sterling Mine) in the Red Deer River Valley of Alberta. They were abandoned back in the 1950s, with the closing of the mine, and have been here ever since. Tossed aside...

We’re in Royston on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and looking at something incredible. There’s historic ships here, some fourteen in number (with a 15th suspected), and they’re not that far out in the bay. These date from 1876-1943 and were scuttled to be part of a breakwater. Welcome to the...

Team BIGDoer first visited Coderre Saskatchewan in 2014 and a decade later made a triumphant return. On the follow-up visit there were parades, speeches by dignitaries and a holiday declared. Well, the town dog showed up to see the goings on but soon left to chase a leaf blowing in...

This post is originally from 2014 and presented in that context: It appears time is running out for the 100 year old Eastern (Deutsch-Canadier) Block on busy MacLeod Trail near downtown Calgary. Neglected and showing its age, the building has been vacated and boarded up recently. The future is uncertain...

It’s abandoned, weather-beaten to all hell and found at a lonely prairie crossroads. Our subject, Notre Dame de Savoie Catholic Church is well over a century old now but last used for services some sixty years ago. So empty longer than used. It’s showing its age and keep in mind...

Here’s something a bit different, a disused golf course and it’s right in the city. Located in an older Calgary neighbourhood, the facility, Highland Golf Course (alt: Highland Park Golf Course) closed down a dozen years ago now. Most of the photos seen here date back to February 2016 and...

Middle of Nowhere: a place far away from other people, houses, or cities (Merriam-Webster). Many spots in Saskatchewan are in contention here! Today’s subject might just claim that proverbial title, and it’s pretty far removed from everywhere. There are people in the area – just not that many – and...

Flashback to early 2013 and some bad snapshots! Farmer Jones Carz was a Calgary institution for decades, a used car dealer selling el-cheap-o transportation and doing it in an unashamedly quirky style. They sold vehicles that no other self respecting lot would touch and seemed truly proud of the fact....

It’s just a former rail siding, and nothing more, with the name of Oberlin Alberta. No town here. Its claim to fame, at least at the time of our visit in spring 1997, were the two grain elevators that stood along an abandoned railway line. Like so many other prairie...

Hello Rosebery BC! It’s the summer of 1989 and yours truly (for those who don’t know, this means Chris, half of Team BIGDoer, who’s writing this particular post) was single and living out in Vancouver BC. Awesome place in many ways, but too expensive and chaotic. Anyway…after working non-stop for...

Flashback to 2014! The old train station in Manyberries Alberta has been around for well over a century now. Somehow it’s survived when so many others like it have been relegated to history and when visited by us being cared for by a couple that called it home. It sits...

The old grain elevator stands alone in a field, battered and beaten after having been abandoned for many decades. We’ve seen a lot of structures like this in our travels and few are as sorry looking as the one seen here. Still, it has a rather odd dignity and elegance,...

Today we’ll visit the historic Ainsworth Cemetery in a shady and peaceful setting overlooking Kootenay Lake. There among the trees, a bit up the hill above former mining camp, it’s a perfectly serene location to spend all eternity. We’re in BC’s East Kootenay region, itching to explore and connect with...

Over the years we’ve explored hundreds of forgotten farm houses, in cooperation with landowners, and never tire of it. Here’s one in a building material we’ve not encountered before in such an application, and we think you’ll agree it’s something special. Something a bit odd and out of the ordinary,...

Just inside Saskatchewan and we’re talking no more than a hair’s-width from the Alberta border, there’s a curious structure. You can’t miss it, standing sentinel just outside the little community of Alsask along the highway between Calgary and Saskatoon. Just a little to the north and it’s that big giant...

Welcome to the lonely Laing House, constructed over a century ago and empty for about half that time. In a state of advanced decay, it stands alone and on the edge of a little coulee far from any road or access point. It’s a wonderfully picturesque setting – a delightful...

The town of Morrissey British Columbia only existed for a short time in the early 1900s, had a brief but sad reprieve of sorts less than a decade later, and then was gone. It’s now relegated to history. Nature has taken back the townsite and there’s scant evidence to be...

The location is British Columbia’s scenic Fraser Canyon and our subject, the historic Alexandra Bridge. It spans the turbulent river at a point where it narrows and when standing there it’s a long drop down to the water below. The deck is of grated metal and when crossing it almost...

Today, we’re looking at an abandoned section of the CPR’s Southern Mainline and this post should be fascinating to anyone into railway archaeology. So us and a couple other folks! Our subject is a stretch of line out in Southeastern BC, bypassed due to the building of the Libby Dam...

Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass has a storied history of coal mining and well into the 1950s, it drove the economy here. Back then everyone and everything had a connection to the industry. Period and end of story. People came from all over the world to work underground in the valley and...

It happened on a gloomy day, overcast and blustery, but challenging conditions be damned. Adventure calls and even biting, wind driven sleet unable to put a damper on the fun. Appearances suggest there’s little to see out this way, but sometimes things are hidden and need searching out. Our subject,...

Something curious can be seen from the Kootenay Lake (BC) Ferry, there on the east shore and a bit south from the of line of travel. Down at lake level. It appears something industrial once occupied the site, but clearly long ago. There’s not much left but it looks real...

Today we’re looking at remains of a silver, lead, zinc and gold mine on a rocky shelf almost at water level. While worked for decades, overall production in terms of volume were quite modest, but the ore nice and rich. This is Molly Hughes by the lake and we’re happy...

This sectionman’s home stood in the literal middle of nowhere and depending on your take that might be either a downside or perk of the job. If you were to ask us, we’d lean more towards the latter. It’s really out there in the sense that the nearest anything, civilization...