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25 Years…

Last week (July 22) marked 25 years of marriage for my wife and I and this weekend we are travelling the backroads of our province (avoiding Covid) to celebrate. Today we were able to check off another couple of ghost town locations out of the 50 or so I have marked out on a map. This one is Hackett. Which according to my research was surveyed in 1924-25 by CPR railroad. Hackett never really thrived until the 30’s – 40’s and was a little hamlet with 2 grain elevators, a general store and a post office. For 20yrs Hackett was an important point for shipping but by the 1940’s better roads nearby led to a syphoning off of business to towns like Stettler, Hannah and Castor. By 1950 the general store was forced to close and the building moved away. The last grain elevator closed in 1971 and has since been removed. There is little left (other than Google maps) to show Hackett even existed. The following images show a satellite image of the farm with the former roads of Hackett superimposed. Another photo shows where the original railroad went through, all that remains is the raised bed the rails were on and a finally a photo of the farm that now exists overtop where Hackett once stood. This was a great day. I’ll have another post up later of another Town Leo, that we tried to find but again is all but gone. There is word however, that some of it was moved to Byemor which we shall visit tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Until next time – Tim

Hackett according to Google Maps
Satellite view of Hackett showing where the farm now stands with the original roads superimposed.
Photo of the farm from another side road. Couldn’t access the area as it was all fenced with many many stay out signs.
For perspective I drew in the rail lines. This is heading towards where Hacket once was.

Quick update… the next day I located the original Hackett railway sign at the Stettler Museum.

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The Roads That Led To Nowhere…

Picture taken while on the backroads - May 2018

So many roads so little time.

It’s a dream of mine to roam the roads of Canada with camera and journal in hand and find all the nooks and crannies of forgotten places. Perhaps one day it will become a reality but in the meantime we take little trips around our province. I journal about our days and organize my photos, all of which will one day become a book that may provide more financial backing for further trips abroad. I write down what I can find out about these forgotten places either from first-hand accounts or from research on the internet, slowly putting together a record of their passing.

There are some collections of stories and histories already but not many from current years, most are 30 – 40yrs old already and even their authors may have passed into the annals of time. Alberta is so rich with what I call “current” history, it’s not hard to find or learn, as most of it took place in the last 100yrs or so, which in comparison to other provinces isn’t long. The “wild west”, prairie settlers, gunslingers, moonshiners, gold rushes, coal towns, railroads… so much of what we see in westerns took place here. Strong men and women of both endurance and character. Families weathering the years of hardships and blessings. Slow expansion of society and civilization. Loss of traditions, loss of land, loss of peoples the almost extinction of species. Our history is not pleasant, but then what nation’s ever are?

Learning about our past, the forgotten places, the events leading up to their abandonment, these are the things that may help us to unlock the doors to a better future, a more fixed and resolute future, a future that we can be proud of.

Until next time my friends,

Tim

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Way Too Long

Abandoned grain elevator on the way to Prince Albert.

It’s been six months since my last post, and at least two months since my last road trip in search of the abandoned. It has definitely been too long. Work schedules are the problem, well, not for the lack of posting but for the lack of road trips. My wife and I are no longer on the same schedule so we haven’t’ been able to get out together and it’s a joint vice of ours. She enjoys wandering down the backroads and I enjoy the hunt of things long lost. There are so very many amazing places to photograph in this Province, I have but scratched the surface. Full-time work, Freelance jobs and side projects have kept me busy the rest of the time. I have 7 clients of varying frequencies from once a year to almost monthly. It’s nice to keep busy.

I continue to research Ghost Towns in Alberta and have begun to make my own list of finds as we stumble upon them. Perhaps some day I will make a book on them all, there hasn’t been an updated book on them since the 80’s, at least none that I’ve been able to find. That would be a dream job for sure… or is it dream project? Either way it would be nice to get paid to travel around Alberta (or all of Canada for that matter), taking pictures and writing down the history and story of these amazing places of the past. So if anyone is reading this that has any pull with any publishers give me a call and maybe my dream job could become reality.

Tim

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Ghost Towning Part 2 and Other Things

Hello, hello, hello.

It has been a few weeks to a month now, since my last post about our excursion to find Windfall and although we didn’t have any success finding anything left after 50yrs (no big surprise there), we did have a very enjoyable day. We came across some other neat finds instead.

The Rochfort Trestle Bridge: Is one of the longest wood trestle bridges in North America at 2,414 ft (736 m) long and 110 ft (33.5 m) tall; built in 1914 over Paddle River; two short portions were replaced by steel; still in use periodically by CN. We also found an old farm house along Hwy 43 not far from Sangudo, AB.

Since our trip to Windfall I have started a new position as Graphic Designer with Lock Surgeon, a family of companies dealing with residential and commercial security. I will be working on web design, content creation, catalogues, advertisements etc… It is a new direction for me in that I have not had much work along those lines for the past 5yrs at my previous job.

The summer is flying by and I am looking at all the places I still want to visit with a modicum of distress. So many places so little time. It was our 23rd wedding anniversary last weekend and we took a trip to Red Deer.

This is from the trail around Gaetz Sanctuary, a very nice little conservation area in the middle of town. On our way home the next day we took the back roads and found a small ghost town called Meeting Creek (population 39). There was a very nice heritage site there with Grain Elevators and train station.

These little finds keep us in anticipation for each and every trip we take, we never know what we will discover.

Stay tuned!

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Ghost Towning Part 1

First Saturday off for Marlene, so we’re off to find us another abandoned town. Today’s jaunt takes us to Windfall. So many abandoned towns in Alberta, this is going to be a busy summer.

Hoping to see some cool run down buildings or old cemeteries along the way. Gotta get my photo series going.

Have a great day everyone!

#GhostTowns #Abandoned #Photography #RoadTripping #Photo #Exploration #Alberta #Windfall

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End Of One Chapter, Onto The Next!

Almost 2 months ago now I learned that the company I have been working for the last 5.5yrs was closing.  We were given severance packages and asked to continue on for 8 weeks until the plant was shut down. 7 weeks later, we’re down to the last week and I couldn’t be happier.  Working in Prepress was an eye-opening experience to the world of Graphic Design that I live in. It opened my eyes to the number of jobs that don’t come in as “ready for print” as designers think. Files built to the wrong size, images in RGB not in CMYK as they should be, 4 colour type rather than black only… the list could go on but you get the idea. All of this has made me, I hope, a better designer. I am careful to ensure that I am designing in the right colour space for the appropriate output of the job. I watch that I am only using Pantone colours if a Pantone is going to print, otherwise I switch them to CMYK equivalents and so on… I have learned a lot from working in Prepress but it is indeed time to move on. In truth, I have been ready to move on for the last year but didn’t have the motivation to leave a stable, well-paying job to hit the classifieds and look for something new. This has released me, while at the same time providing a small cushion of income should any emergencies arise.

My new job starts only 3 days after this one ends, I will be the lead Graphic Designer for a company that has been around for 35yrs and is still growing here in Edmonton and in Calgary. This is the first time I will have a job (not counting freelance jobs) that is straight graphic design and not working in a print company. I am excited to finally be moving forward in my career. I have also secured another client for myself, I am typesetting the City of Red Deer’s Recreation Facilities guide 3 times a year. Progress, progress is good.

Until next time.

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Get’r Done

Working on finishing up a business directory for a client, the last few days are always a blur getting things wrapped up for these kind of jobs.

I have to remember to post here more rather than just Facebook and Instagram.

#Work #Edmonton #YEG #Freelance #GraphicDesign

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“Why are you so old?” ~ Gru

Another lazy Sunday afternoon watching the icky snowfall from last night melt. Everything is drip dripping away outside and I’m in research paradise with 6 books and a DVD of Ghost Town history. The one thing that concerns me so far is that all this information has become as old as these towns were at the time the books were written. Are any of these places still worth having a peek at? Are the buildings in their photos still standing 45 – 50 years later? These books were all that was available at the library but there is still a wealth of information available online, I just wanted to start with a traditional method before jumping full-on into the new.I have also come to realize that the vast majority of these places are 5 – 6hrs south of me and will require a weekend trip rather than a day trip to get to. On the upside quite a few are fairly close together. On these trips I plan on stopping to check out anything abandoned that I find along the way as well, which will add time to the travel of course. If you read this and you have any suggestions of places I should see in Alberta than kindly drop me a line and I’ll add them to my growing list. #Alberta #Abandoned #Ghosttown #Photography #touristinmyownprovince #old #research #planning #plannerUntil next time,Tim

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Upcoming Adventures

Hello everyone! I realize that it’s been a very long time since I’ve made a post here. So here’s quick update, at least for the past month.

I finally made the plunge and updated my camera equipment (finally using a full-frame DSLR), and have been planning some weekend adventures for the spring and summer. I have plans for 5 different photo series and am currently deeply researching places for my first set. I plan on making sellable prints from them so stay tuned it’s going to be fun!

Until next time!

Tim

#photography #Edmonton #YEG #planning #research

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Anniversary 

Yesterday (July 22), was my 22nd wedding anniversary. We took a day trip down to Calgary to take in the local sights. It was a great day. Calgary is a nice city (although I’m partial to Edmonton, as it’s my home town). 

We enjoy day-tripping when we can, it affords a lot of conversational time while driving. We packed a picnic lunch, which is a great way to cut down on costs on these trips since food is a big expense while out and about. We drove around the city some and then settled on Heritage Park, a nice 127 acre park housing restored or replica buildings from many different decades, (Similar to Fort Edmonton in Edmonton). There was a great deal to see and do, although we were disappointed in some sections not having enough staff resulting in buildings not being open and the train wasn’t running, but we did take in the paddle-wheel boat ride.

It was a great way to celebrate our 22years together, they haven’t all been good, we’ve had our ups and downs, but we have many more ups than any down could ever ruin and it’s all about the effort and time we put into it. Marriage should never just be put on cruise control, marriage takes focus, energy, selflessness and a lot of shifting gears. Here’s to another magnificent 22years or more ahead of us!

Until next time my friends,

Tim