Month: November 2020

On the way to Moose Jaw, I spotted this out of the corner of my eye – the disadvantage of having to drive.

It instantly reminded me of the old house along Highway 2 that the scary movie was filmed at.

So the next morning I was up before the sun and decided I would head out there before Colton woke up. Upon my arrival I realized that it wasn’t as abandoned as I thought it was and I think it might still be occupied in some manner.

I took a quick ride around to the back and found this old barn but it was hard to eliminate some of the new equipment parked around it.

I was happy to find these old vehicles on the lot though. I didn’t get out though, one, because there could be dogs wandering around and we all know how I feel about dogs and two, it was early in the morning.

The cars were just kind of everywhere so there was no real clear shot of any one of them. And there were more but there was only so much I could do roadside.

If I were to get out this way again, I think I would head back to this location and see if I could find someone to get permission to get some more shots.

I am now convinced that Saskatchewan has a lot more abandoned properties than Manitoba and if I were ever to move, rural Saskatchewan would be high on my list.

Found this on my way back to the Wilcox Inn on a snowy, dreary morning of exploring.

When I took this photo this past spring, I never really thought much about it. Today while working on some history, I found it.

Donated to the local heritage group to ensure that it was preserved for many years to come. This home was built between 1898 and 1902 and was built by Mr. Sylvester Holden who lived in Deloraine and was a member of the Deloraine Holiness Movement Church.

In 1904 a “large, spacious Tabernacle” was built. On the grounds there was plenty of space for families to pitch tents during the Summer camp meetings. This house was meant for Church leaders and as a temporary home for families coming back from Missionaries. In 1958 the home was then used as parsonage by the then Reverend of the church.

This little service station, close to the border, has had many owners over the years. The first recorded owner does not mention his time owning the shop and the second owner mentions a time when he was employed there restoring antique vehicles.

In 1952 Mr. Smith purchased the station and over the years it became a “sound venture with complete engine building.” Mr. Smith’s hobby of restoring antique vehicles gave himself and his wife much pleasure and he tried very hard to keep his popular little service station known in the small town which was slowly declining in population.

Mr. Smith had a fondness for Hudson automobiles and attended Hudson meets all over North America with his wife Barb.

He employed 3 men who catered to customers on both sides of the 49th parallel.

Do you think this old car might be a Hudson? I think so.

There were many old vehicles on this property. Some were very hard to photograph because you couldn’t get a clear shot of them because they were parked beside a building or their was a building in the background, etc, etc. Regardless, here is what I got that day. It was hot, sunny and the landowner had a very sketchy looking rooster who I was afraid to turn my back on. He never took his eyes off of me while he was hunkered down in the tall grass.

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I’m thankful that not everyone plows down their old buildings and scraps their old cars and equipment because I’m not sure what I would photograph.

I spotted this church while the sun was going down.

At 109 km/hr its hard to know if you really did see what you thought you saw so I did a quick google search when I reached my destination and sure enough. Unfortunately it was going to be dark on my way back so the next morning I woke up long before Colton so I headed back.

Built in 1911 this old United Church is still pretty stable. Unfortunately most of its windows are broken but it is still something to see. I could not avoid the hydro lines, which I truly hate! I guess if I really wanted to, I could Photoshop them out.

I didn’t go around to the other side of the church as there was a house right next door and it was early in the morning so I didn’t want to freak anyone out by walking around by their house. What I did find on google showed photos of the inside of the church as well but I also didn’t want to start poking around in there. I would imagine that now that the windows are gone, most of the things posted online would have been removed.

Found this little house East of Weyburn on my way to visit Colton a couple weeks ago.

This was another one of those roadside stops that I didn’t have to get out of the Jeep for, which was fine with me because I knew I had to stop to get a photo but it saved me time to get to the boy.

A couple weeks ago, during a brief stint of remote learning, Cade & I were driving around and I spotted these cars in town, just nicely tucked away. Of course I made note of the location to find the owner. Must have been my lucky day because when Cade drove around the corner, there was a truck parked there with a person inside. Long story short, he was the man I was looking for and let me know that he had a real little treasure that I might want to photograph.

It was an oldie and he told me that his Dad drove him to his first day of school in it. He said he would make sure that it was a in a location good for photographs.

This car was very popular on Instagram. I think every photo of it that I posted got featured on a page dedicated to old cars.

There were some outbuildings and other stuff parked around these cars so I had to get close, down and sometimes awkwardly angled to get good shots. And of course I wasn’t able to get the car from all sides.

The photo below was featured 4 different times on different pages on Instagram and easily has become one of my favorite photos.

This car is a Chevy Biscayne. The year, I do not know but I bet it was a real head turner in its prime. I’m happy that I was able to find it and capture it.

Parked behind this car was an old International Harvester.

I’m going to make the assumption that these trucks were highly sought after for farming operations. I have lost track of how many I have found, all in different stages of life or decay, for lack of a better word. Better yet, all in different stages of patina.

This old truck has definitely seen a lot of weather and sun and even though its paint is all gone it really is a nice old truck.

With all the stuff around these cars, some of the shots were hard to get and I did have to crop them to get some of the background “noise” out. Who doesn’t like a close up? I think you’ll agree, it worked out fine with this old truck.

This shot was also popular and it is also one of my favorites. I’m really enjoying black and white these days.

I often wonder how hard it would be to get some of these old vehicles to run again. I can see why all of these car enthusiasts try to save these old beauties.

This has got to be one of my best finds. I’m thankful that the owner allowed me to stop and take some photos. I should wrap this off and give him a call and shoot his other car, while the weather is still bearable.

Sixteen kilometers from Wilcox, Saskatchewan is the small town of Rouleau. Rouleau is better known as Dog River, the home of the sitcom Corner Gas. The show ran from 2004 to 2009 with a majority of the show filmed in the small town except scenes inside Ruby’s, the police station, inside Emma and Oscar’s house.

Without stopping, you would never know this successful sitcom was filmed in this town, except for the grain elevator on highway 39 which still bares the name of the small, made up town.

While driving through the town early one morning I easily located “The Howler”.

On the side of the building is a series of cut outs of the shows most popular characthers that you can pose with.

And right across from the street is the “Dog River Hotel” which is don’t recall from any of the episodes.

To bad it wasn’t open when I stopped.

While there are many of these location markers in the town, most of the buildings have been restored and you wouldn’t know that they were part of the shows set.

After shooting these photos I had to make sure that I wasn’t missing Corner Gas or The Ruby. I stopped and did a search on the internet and found out that the set for these two locations was built under the premise that they would be used for 13 episodes. They continually had to made repairs to it in order for it to last as long as it did. They left the set up for many years after production wrapped up but eventually it became dangerous and had to be taken down.

The one thing I did drive around to find was Emma and Oscar’s house.

You can do a self-guided tour of town which says will take approximately 1 hour. I contemplated not making the stop but am happy that I did. I likely creeped these people out by taking a photo of their house but I’m sure they are used to it.