J. Whyte Photography

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 ...

Close to the Alberta border is a lovely little (almost) ghost town named Loverna.   In fact, I think its one of the most interesting lost towns on the Canadian prairies and one I hope to visit again sometime soon.   Loverna is located about 50 km northwest of Kindersley  at the intersection of  Highway 772  and  Range road  290.  In Loverna, you will find old abandoned storefronts, abandoned churches and abandoned homes.  In fact, it has a church that was abandoned as a church and converted to a home and then abandoned as a home - an abandoned church house!  Loverna's history is directly tied to the railway system that was designed to gather and move grain and oilseeds produced by farmers on the prairies.  Originally, the  Grand Trunk Pacific  went through town as it was completed in 1913 and connected Biggar, SK to Hemaruka, AB. The line was planned as a thorough route, but changes to the design of the network of tra...

When you're an explorer of the great plains of North America, you'll understand that there are very few short cuts, no quick ways home. Truly, I have learned from past experiences that the distances involved necessitate some serious route planning to in order to pack in the most in terms of exploration and photography.  So on the way back from a trip to photograph Jack's Shoe Store in Coronation, Alberta, I decided to take Highway 36 towards Hanna so I could look for and explore the area of Garden Plain. There were a couple of spots that I knew I wanted to visit, including the old Netherby School and the old Garden Plain Community Hall.  You also hope to find some other unexpected spots and that can add interest to the trip. Sometimes the unexpected locations are the most exciting for an explorer.  Garden Plain  The town was named by T.A. Kane who moved from a town of the same name in Iowa. Apparently, he settled in the area and became the storekeeper and owner of a ...