Tuesday June 18th was another day of exploring in Saskatchewan for Chris and I. In the morning we just killed a little time, and visited a couple of previously explored small towns. We had been unable to shoot a couple of things on the previous windy day, and went back to try again.
Around lunch time we had arranged to visit a former Massey Ferguson dealership. We contacted the owner, Al, and he agreed to meet us at the building and let us in. When we arrived, Al was there, with his jacknife, trying to pry a piece of glass out of one of the windows. We quickly introduced ourselves and questioned why he would want to damage his building. He advised that he had not been in the place for many years, and although he had the key, the door knob has ceased and would not open.
Rather than damage the window, we went back to the door to see if we could get it to open. Al pointed at the door edge and told me to "kick it right here" pointing at the knob. I refused and told him that we did not want to see his property damaged and would rather not get in, if that's what it came to.
Instead he phoned his hired hand from his nearby farm and asked him to bring a cordless drill. Once he arrived we were able to remove a plywood panel from one of the boarded up windows. There was no longer any glass in this window, so the hired hand was able to crawl through. He then opened the large sliding door at the back of the building so that we could gain access.
The dealership had once belonged to Al's father, and it was closed in the 1980's. Al wanted to get around to removing the last of the contents, and then demolish the building. It was badly deteriorated, and will probably not stand for too many more years. It was like going back in time and there were old hand tools and tons of old parts in the shop, the parts room and front office. There were brand new bias ply tires, mufflers, bearings and countless other items. The roof leaked so badly that the cash drawer of the till was full of water. Al and his helper hung around for about ten minutes, and then told us to just lock things up when we left. He said he would return later to screw the plywood back into place over the window.
We were extremely grateful to him for allowing us this opportunity and took advantage of it and shot a number of photographs. We were able to lock the sliding door from the interior, and then put the plywood back into place over the window before leaving.
I'm not sure how much demand there is for old Massey parts, but if these could be cataloged and offered on line I suspect that Al could make enough money to cover the demolition costs. He is of the age that he probably doesn't do a lot on the internet, so he would need some help in this regard.
While we were there we explained to Al that we were also working on the Beer Parlour Project. He recommended that we visit the Fife Lake Hotel. It was a long operating Hotel, managed by an owner that had been there for decades. It was a couple of hours away, but we decided to hit the road and pay a visit.
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