Elkhorn Township School

This country school is northwest of Fortuna, North Dakota and just a little over two miles south of the Canada/U.S.A. border.

Elkhorn Township is about sixty square miles in size with a population of less than thirty people.  The feeling here is much like Comrey, Alberta or Marienthal, Saskatchewan...wide open spaces and miles and miles of miles and miles.

The last photo was taken from Oslo Cemetery, about half a mile west of the school. 

Photographed on October 27, 2017.

Near Eastend

A big blue sky above a yellow field along a gravel road near Eastend, Saskatchewan.

Every year this same scene "looks like new!"  

Photographed on July 11, 2019.

Geraldine Milwaukee Depot

After touring the back roads of Montana for a day I checked into the Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton for the night (it's always a treat to stay in a hotel built in the early 1880's).  The following morning, being well rested and fed, I decided to take a little detour to the town of Geraldine before I headed back home.

There I found the historical Geraldine Milwaukee Depot.  It has been well preserved and looks much like it would have when it was built over a hundred years ago.

Quoted from the National Register sign located at the depot:

"The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway completed
its line across Montana in 1909 as soldiers began to
populate rural areas under the Homestead Act.  In
1913, a branch line stretching from Harlowton to Great
Falls was nearly finished.  Midway between Lewistown
and Great Falls, the brand-new town of Geraldine,
named for the wife of Milwaukee Railroad financier
William G. Rockefeller, anticipated a bright future.
The Geraldine Review reported that Milwaukee officials
planned to make the town 'the show place of the new
line.'  Workers put the finishing touches on the only
custom-built depot on the central branch and a gala
New Year’s Eve dance ushering in 1914 christened the
building.  Its hardwood maple floors were pronounced
'splendid.' The special design, described as 'a rustic
bungalow of the California pattern,' featured two
waiting rooms, a ticket room, freight room with scales
embedded in the floor, nickel-trimmed hot-blast
stoves, and a ventilating system that changed the air
every five minutes.  Geraldine was a busy stopover
serving two daily passenger trains and freight crews
until passenger service ended in 1965. All the other
depots were sold and, after the Milwaukee’s demise in
1980, salvage companies removed the rails from the
Great Falls-Geraldine section.  The nonprofit
Geraldine Historical Committee acquired the depot from
Central Montana Rail in 1995.  A model of expert
workmanship and quality materials with most original
details intact, the depot is still Geraldine’s
centerpiece and central to the town’s history."

Drop off your freight here.  I'm sure lots of milk and cream cans passed through this door.

Get your bill of lading for your freight here...

...and purchase your passenger tickets at this wicket.

A map of The Milwaukee Road train services.

All of the original wood is intact.  The maple floor really is 'splendid' (as mentioned in the quote).

Each mail box has two combination dials and a little window to see if anything is inside.

Everything you need...including farm machinery.

Money orders were the way to pay for many things in the day.

The original semaphore train signal.

The Geraldine Historical Committee has done a wonderful job of restoration on the depot.  This was well worth the detour on the way home.

Information courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, the United States Department of  Interior and the Montana Historical Society.

Photographed on April 19, 2018.

Boy Killed by Runaway Team

I found this grave marker north of Cascade, Montana in Saint Peter's Mission Cemetery.

The written memorial is a copy of the news article that appeared in the Great Falls Leader newspaper dated January 23, 1917.  It reads:

"Boy Killed by Runaway Team

Leslie Craig 'J.R.' Harris, the 16-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. L.C. Harris, was killed by a runaway team near the home of his parents, south of Cascade, at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon.  The boy was driving the team near his home when the horses became frightened and ran, throwing him from the wagon and injuring him so that he died within a short time."

A tragic event.

Looking southward...

...and northward.

The cemetery is located on a hillside in a ruggedly beautiful landscape.  See more of the scenery here: Mission Road Travelogue

Photographed on November 24, 2017.

Three Windows

Three stained glass windows at the Foremost United Church in Alberta.

A couple of months ago I was on a road trip through the County of Forty Mile in southern Alberta.  I'd stopped in Foremost for an early lunch and on my way out of town I took an alternate route to my usual which led me past the Foremost United Church.

From just driving past I could tell they had some lovely stained glass windows.  I got out of the car  just as a man walked by..."by any chance would you know who has a key to the church?"  He pointed up a few blocks up the street..."the people who live on the corner might know."

I then met up with a young mother and baby who said..."try here."  After a short trek I then met up with a young lady who phoned Deb...Deb and I were to meet at the church in ten minutes...which we did.

After a talk about town and country she said..."lock up when you're done."  I love small towns.  Thank you Deb for giving me the opportunity to photograph the beautiful windows in your church!

There are several other stained glass windows in the church but these three that depict farm life were my immediate favourites.

The three windows together on the west wall of the church.

Photographed on May 29, 2019.

Roseflat S.D. No. 3596

An abandoned one-room school near Fox Valley, Saskatchewan.

This one is in pretty rough condition but I was glad to see it still standing.  Looks great against that prairie sky.

There was still a little snow left but it was sweater-weather.

These telephone poles have been stored here for years and years.

The historical sites in the area are marked with signs of like design.

This basic design just screams "Saskatchewan one-room school house."

Just as I was driving away I noticed something move in the stubble field.  I had to take a look and it turned out to be a raccoon.  I don't think I've ever seen one out here before.  Too bad I didn't have a couple of clams for him/her.

Photographed on April 5, 2018.

Balcony Garden

Gardens come in all shapes and sizes, colours and textures.

Even though most of my gardening is done for other people I still like to have some flowers out on the balcony of my apartment.

The theme this year is blue/purple, orange with a touch of white and yellow.

In two corners of the balcony are big orange clay pots from Peru.  This year they are home to dwarf globe cedars.  In the fall I'll take them out and plant them in one of the gardens I maintain.

The orange-flowered black-eyed Susan vine is doing well this year...lots and lots of flowers.

A small challenge for the blue jays.

The eyes sockets in the skulls are another great place to stash peanuts.

I planted lots of purple/blue-coloured violas this year and they all have a heavenly fragrance...especially in the evening.

The small lime-green tree in the lower-middle of the photo is a Monterey Cypress.  When the foliage is brushed it smells like lemons.  In the afternoon when the sun is high and shines through the die-cut table top the sun-ray like pattern appears on the balcony floor.

Just a note...all of these plants were available at the local garden centres this spring.  

I hope you enjoyed the garden.

Photographed on July 9, 2019. 

Église de Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc

An abandoned Roman Catholic church in Dollard, Saskatchewan.

The area was predominantly settled by French speaking pioneers in the early 1900's.

I've photographed the church on a number of occasions but not until this visit did I get the photos that I thought "captured the spirit."

The church faces north so in order to get some light on the subject (I mean that literally) I got up early in the morning and hoped for the best.  "The best" was captured in these photos.

The clouds were like a pillow of winds above the sunlit structure...really beautiful.

Photographed on July 12, 2019.