Documentary Film - Prairie Ghost Towns - Day 1

I just returned home from a four day trip down to southwestern Saskatchewan.  I was out with my friends Chris and Connie, writers of the "Off the Beaten Path" website...   http://www.bigdoer.com/

We were taking part in a documentary film project being produced by Rueben Tschetter, an independent film maker from Red Deer, Alberta.  Rueben was documenting the last remaining residents in some once prosperous small towns, that are now slowly dying and disappearing.  Rueben wanted to also show how dedicated a group we were, in researching and documenting these historic places.  Byron Robb, a photographer from Calgary, rounded out the group.

I left Edmonton on the morning of Friday April 14th... Good Friday, and headed off to the southeast.  Conditions were less than ideal as there was an accumulation of about 4 inches of wet snow on the ground when I left the house in the morning, and more was coming down.  The QE2 Highway south of the city is probably the busiest highway in the province and it was mostly snow covered and quite slippery in places.  By the time I had driven the first 50 miles, I had counted a dozen vehicles in the ditch.  Conditions improved quite a bit by the time I turned east onto Highway 12 at Lacombe.  But a short time later I drove back into more snowy conditions and the travel was rather slow going.  I made a quick stop for fuel in Consort, and a short time later turned south on Highway 41.  It was a little warmer here and what had been snow further north was only rain here.  But the wind was pretty intense with gusts that must have been up in the range of 30 to 40 miles per hour.

Shortly after noon I met up with Chris and Connie at the town of Esther, Alberta.  Rueben was riding with them and we were introduced to each other upon arrival.  Byron was driving out separately from Calgary and followed in his own vehicle.  Further introductions took place.  Chris had arranged with Bill, one of the last residents of the town, for permission to explore.  The most interesting building in Esther is the Alberta Wheat Pool elevator.  With the intense wind, it was virtually impossible for me to consider setting up my view camera outdoors.  So I spent a couple of hours photographing inside the grain elevator and the engine house.  Later we wandered about town and checked out a few other buildings and old vehicles.  We then spent an hour visiting with Bill and his wife, who graciously provided us with some hot coffee and shared stories about the history of the town.  Rueben recorded interviews with them that will provide some of the audio for the film.  

After saying our goodbyes to Bill and his wife we hit the road in a convoy and headed southeast into Saskatchewan.  We travelled to Kindersley, which would be our base for the next few days.  We had reserved rooms at a small but dated motel that was clean and affordable.  The bathroom was rather unusual though, with the toilet facing sideways.  Kind of had to hook your knees under the vanity in order to seat yourself on the throne.  A bit of a challenge following the whiskey sampling that we undertook later that everning.  Seems just a sideways seat on the the bowl was easier...
Being Good Friday many of the restaurants in town were closed.  We settled for the sports bar at a franchised chain restaurant and later convened in one of the rooms and visited until late into the night.  We sampled some fine Scotch and Irish whiskey, as well as some home made wine.  It was a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other a little better, and gain an understanding as to what our own personal interests were with these old places.