J. Whyte Photography

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...

Along the Alberta and Saskatchewan border there are two amazing ghost towns, one on each side.  In Alberta there is Esther, and in Saskatchewan, Loverna. The town small towns are located not too far north of Highway 7 near Alsask.  These towns are both amazingly photogenic, even if well out of the way for all but the most intrepid adventures.  Lets start with Esther. Esther, Alberta Esther is located on a lonely stretch of highway 899 in Alberta. Highway 899 is an older road, lightly maintained but remains an okay drive.  While there are a couple of occupied houses in the town of Esther, the ghost town proper takes up a fairly large area.  There are a number of abandoned buildings, including an old general store and a number of abandoned vehicles. An old truck is particularly nice.  The star attraction of Esther is the old Wheat Pool grain elevator.  These old wooden elevators are disappearing from the prairies at a rapid pace, and while this one appea...