Beautiful Abandonment

I was too busy looking to the right and missed this beautiful old house on the left....luckily the driver of the expedition saw it and turned around.

What struck me most about this old home. besides the wood shaker siding, was how straight and true it still appears to be.

Skiff and the Sweetgrass Hills

I got to enjoy a quick 3 day trip to Lethbridge, AB this weekend. We got to see old friends and celebrate their sons birthday. It turned into a 4 day weekend when my son woke up sick Monday morning and we had to stay home. Such is life. It gave me a chance to blog and catch up on reading blogs while he was resting.

I was able to get out and do some exploring as well this weekend. Exploring in this part of Alberta is different from where I usually haunt. It seems lonelier, buildings and farms are less frequent and towns are small and far apart. Better make sure you have a full tank before heading out. I was expecting snow when I planned this trip but it turns out a chinook blew through and melted all the snow (not global warming). It was windy and the skies were beautiful, with lovely colours of pink and orange on the horizon over the Sweetgrass Hills to the south.

One of my many stops was Skiff, AB. This tiny quiet hamlet has a few streets of houses an old General Store and, the reason I stopped in, a grain elevator. The name Skiff appears to be a nautical reference as there are streets called Rudder, Tiller and Bow.

Minty shed, near Skiff.

Most if not all prairie towns had a grain elevator, usually more than one. Skiff used to have 3. This remaining one is now privately owned. The previous owner was Parrish & Heimbecker. The other elevators were originally Alberta Wheat Pool. They have been gone since around 2000.

The old general store is a block away from the elevator. You can still faintly read 'General Store' and John Deere Farm Equipment'.  

Below is an old photo from 1999 of the elevators courtesy of Chris Stackhouse, who has photographed many wooden grain elevators as well as prairie life and much more, check him out!

I love the painting-like quality of this photo

A photo from the 1970's by Eric Musekamp via Flickr

Photo courtesy of Joe Kuzmiski 

After leaving Skiff, I found an old homestead. All that remains are several sheds and outbuildings. There was also a stone set of steps that once led to a house. It would've been a magnificent view from the front door of that home.

All my photos taken on November 25th, 2017. 

Marshall and Forest Bank: A Short Journey into Saskatchewan

Recently I was in Lloydminster, AB. I say Alberta since I was staying on the Alberta side but part of the city is also in Saskatchewan. This brings up so many questions about laws etc...but I digress....

Saskatchewan is a mostly undiscovered territory for me. I wish I had paid more attention when I was younger, since I visited southern Saskatchewan just about every year. Fast forward many years...I had the opportunity to explore a bit in the very west central portion of Sask. On my earlier visit this year, I checked out Waseca, Paynton, and Bresaylor. This time I stopped in Marshall, and a couple other sites on the backroads.

In Marshall, we saw a train approaching as we were stopped beside the grain elevator, I didn't have time to get in a better position for a cool train + elevator shot. This is my 'Train Geek' attempt.

Comin' in hot!

Moving fast!

Marshall Hotel now.

Marshall Hotel then. Photo courtesy of http://peel.library.ualberta.ca

After Marshall, it was onto a couple of planned stops. Just down the road from the church I was looking for, I found an old school that had become a community centre. It has an overgrown baseball diamond, and some rusty playground equipment. No one has played there in awhile, but that didn't stop my son from trying out the spinny, rusty, probably will need a tetanus shot thing. However, the area around the community centre was mowed.

The church and the community centre are both called Forest Bank. What does this mean kids? It means there was a pioneer community here. I could not find much info on the school, but I did confirm it was Forest Bank School #1659. While I was taking photos, my son told me the door was open, so we took a quick peek inside. As we went in, a familiar smell hit me. It's not a pleasant or unpleasant smell, just the smell of an unused place. Dust and time and forgotten things.

Once you go in you have to go up or down, the basement level was flooded, but a look from the bottom of the stairs showed some desks and other furniture. Not much to see upstairs, just left over paraphernalia from it's days as a community centre, chairs, kitchen equipment and various odds and ends. We left and made sure the door was secure. Remember, touch nothing and take only photos.

Fun?

Game over.

Thanks for the Memories and a crude primitive chalk drawing.

Finger lickin' good.

Down the road is St.Paul's Anglican Church at Forest Bank. This place is beautiful and there will be post later this week, here is a teaser:

Photos taken on September 16th, 2017.

Abandoned Summer

Summer is over, today is the first day of Autumn. Which means the SNOW we had yesterday actually happened in the summer. Luckily it looks like we are back to regularly scheduled fall programming with warmer temperatures and sun returning on Sunday.

Here are a few photos of abandoned homes that I took this summer. I love the character in these places and the stories they must be keeping.

I took hundreds of photos this summer in Alberta (and a few in Saskatchewan). This is a good way to remember where I was. Plus this way I don't have to post them individually and think of clever things to say each time. So onward we go!

Near Innisfree

Near Vegreville

Near Viking

Near Benalto

Near Spruceview

 

Near Caroline

Near Sylvan Lake

Near Pine Lake

Near Carbon

Near Hesketh

Near Hesketh

Near Carbon

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, without snow. It is much too early for snow.

Hit & Miss near Hoadley, AB

A random find. Hit!

I was out near Hoadley, AB recently looking for something specific, which I found. However....it is an occupied property and not much was visible from the road. It is heavily treed and is not the kind of place you just roll up on and expect them to welcome you. In fact, I have heard they are not big on photographers. (Miss!) I moved on, hoping to come back in the fall and perhaps the tree cover wouldn't be as dense. Or maybe I will call them up and charm them with my wit and they'll invite me in with open arms. Don't laugh, it could happen.

The drive wasn't a total bust, I got a few photos and revisited an old school that I had seen earlier this year when it was covered in snow.

Pineville School. Opened in 1914. The original school was dismantled in 1951 and this school was moved in from the nearby Harmonien District (built in 1922) and used until 1959. I read it was then sold to the Anglican church and then was later remodelled as a home. I did not look inside.

February 2017

August 2017

Better view of the old school

Just east of the school was this old place, just needs some TLC, it'll be as good as new. These were taken on a previous trip through the area, not on the same day as the school. 

Some days are better than others when out exploring. I am usually happy if I get a photo or 2 of something interesting. Sometimes it's just nice to be out driving.

Enjoy your day, hope you have more hits than misses.

References: Pioneering With a Piece of Chalk

The Leaning Church of Bresaylor, SK

Bresaylor, Saskatchewan. What can I say about this place that will accurately portray my short time there? I am not a writer, in fact I have always disliked writing. I like to think of myself as a recreational photographer who has to say something about the photos I take. I am fully aware that my writing could be better and I look up synonyms a lot to avoid using the same words over and over. I really hope the pictures tell the story when I cannot.

Photo Courtesy of Sask History Online

A friend suggested I stop and see a church in Bresaylor.  I noticed that it was not far from Paynton, so I added it to my stops. I thought Bresaylor was a town but it's what's left of a hamlet and is now a heritage museum. If you look at the historic photo above, you can see it was a small village with 2 grain elevators across the road and the church in the top right, where it still sits. There is still a grain elevator across the highway, it's privately owned and repainted to read 'Blais Farms'. I read it is the old Federal Elevator as pictured above. It also appears to have been moved a bit west and turned a quarter turn judging by the buildings I recognize in the photo and where I was standing when I took the photo.

There was not a person in sight in Bresaylor but a sign that pointed to a house that said Museum Office and Gift Shop. The door was not open so I looked it up online and called a number that came up...I didn't come all this way to not see the church and I didn't want to go traipsing through someones property. A did get someone on the phone and asked if I could just take photos of the church and be on my way. She offered to come let us into the museum but warned they hadn't been cleaned or made ready for visitors. I didn't want to bother her and make her come from wherever she was but she insisted it was no trouble and to give her 10 minutes. While waiting for her we walked to the church, through a maze of fences and openings, and took some photos. I was instantly infatuated with this old, tilted, quirky looking church.

I assumed the lady I spoke to lived close but she came out of one of the houses in 'town'. I mistakenly thought that no one lived there. Oops. I had just met Velma, the museum curator, resident, groundskeeper and owner of the church. Velma was originally from the area but it was when she had returned to visit relatives that she found out the church was not being used, this drew her back to the area. She bought the church and actually lived in for a time. The church, Ste. Anne's Anglican, was built in 1906, coinciding with the arrival of the railroad, although services had been held in various homes and schools since 1882. The last service was held in 1966 for Joseph Sayers Sr. Velma has had the church foundation repaired but as you can see it has a lean to it due to being it being partially lifted and plopped back down during a tornado! The cost is too much to restore it completely.

The name Bresaylor is a mix of the 3 founding family names, the Bremners, the Sayers, and the Taylors. These Métis families had come here from Manitoba together in 1882. The museum contains artifacts from these early settlers as well as from the Barr Colonists who settled the area a bit later, around 1903. There is a ton of interesting history here!

Office and Gift Shop, former Bresaylor elevator across the highway

The Main museum house is known as the Alex Lennie house and was added to the Register of Canada's Historic Places in 2009. It was built in 1907. You can see this house (and possibly the office) in the historic photo, it is also still in it's original place. More on this house can be found here. Velma let us in through the back of the house. Inside the back entry the floor felt a bit soft under the old linoleum, I am guessing people normally enter through the front door. The museum as well as the office in the other house, were full of photos, old tools, kitchen implements, gadgets, the old post office window, and old Apple Mac computer (like I had in the late 80's at school), cobwebs, memories and history. These kinds of places are the types of places you need to see more than once because chances are you've missed something. I can't believe I didn't take photos inside! I guess I was busy listening to Velma. You can tell how much she cares about this place and it made me wonder what will become of it in the future?

The marker reads: This Plaque was Dedicated in the Jubilee Year 1955 to Honour the Pioneers who
Founded the Bresaylor Settlement in the N.W.T ? to 1905. Year unreadable but 1882 would make sense.

School Marker for Federal School #4048 1918-?

I gave Velma my address (mail not email) so I can receive the Bresaylor newsletter. I'd like to visit again and keep up with the activities. Thanks for reading!