A Visit to the Ghost Town of Travers Alberta

I recently did a quick trip to the almost ghost town of Travers, Alberta.  Like many small towns in Alberta, in Travers there is still life amongst the abandoned buildings and the wildly overgrown grasses and trees. The town strangely incorporates two worlds, one of the living and one of lost memories.  

Travers wasn't always dying. Travers was once a boom town along the Canadian Pacific railway. Three grain elevators were built, including the first in 1914 by the Home Elevator Co. Later a UGG elevator and an Ogilvie elevator were added to the elevator row.  Sadly, the last of the grain elevators was demolished in 1989.

As Travers grew, the intrepid newcomers built a bank, barber shop, butcher shop, harness shop, two hardware and lumber yards, blacksmiths, livery barns, restaurants and boarding houses, garages and machine dealers, three grocery stores, pool room, men's clothing store, hotel and real estate office. 

Not much is left today. There are a few abandoned buildings and other debris. According to Wikipedia, a 2007 municipal census indicated that there were no residents. However, there were three houses that were clearly occupied when I visited. Perhaps there is a boundary in play here, but it looked to me like all three lived in homes were part of the town. 

Interestingly, a massive new solar power project has been completed just down the road.  While these solar power facilities are large, I don't know that that many people work on location following construction. And since there are bigger towns in the area, the solar power and wind farms aren't likely to help keep the local population declines in check. 




Check out a few of the photos that I took from the ghost town of Travers. 










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Location: Travers, AB T0K 0V0, Canada

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