On the road with Steve

I got to meet up with Steve on June 23, 2018 who blogs at blog.traingeek.ca and is kind enough to contribute a post here when the mood strikes. Steve lives in Winnipeg and happened to be in town on the weekend. We took the opportunity to cram in as many grain elevators and other sites as we could in about eight hours. Hopefully he got enough material for his hobbies and I am glad we got to meet in person..

Frenchville, Saskatchewan

Or what remains of Frenchville.

This is from the cemetery looking down the road where the church stands and the school is directly opposite.

You can type Frenchville, Saskatchewan into Google Maps and it will show you exactly where this is.

There is a plaque near the church. From it this place was founded by Peter Filiatrault. He built a two storey inn that had a post office, store, dining room, and bedrooms for travellers. It was also a stopping place for the Northwest Mounted Police (which became the RCMP). Homesteaders arrived in 1909, the Catholic Parish of St. Joseph was founded in 1912, the current church in the photo replaced the old church in 1940. The first mass was June 5, 1940, the last mass was May 10, 1987.

The church and school remain.

The figure of Christ is hand carved. I would have loved for this to show up better in a photo.

The Roman Catholic Church has the fake brick tarpaper covering it. The steps are unsafe and it appears that the doors are locked so I did not attempt a look inside. The last service was in 1987. The church is not small so there must have been a fair number of people in the area at one time.

I have seen similar school designs, not one exactly like this. I did not see a sign on the school so I do not know the name or when it operated. It is unique.

Annenthal Baptist Church Cemetery

This century old cemetery sits along a grassy road allowance in the Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan area. It's a mile off the main road so I wouldn't imagine it gets many visitors, which is a shame as it's really quite beautiful...especially in spring.

A large metal sign states that a church once stood on the property as well...now long gone.

A local family renovated the cemetery in the late 1990's as a memorial to their son who passed away at the age of nineteen. They continue to maintain the cemetery to this day . . . my kind of people.

These are the days that will last forever.

- Michael Truman

Archibald School

I stumbled across this lonely school district sign north of La Rivière, Manitoba. This is an area known as Archibald and once featured a school, church, and presumably some houses. Today it is open farm land.

The school was open from 1883 until 1962. During this time there were at least two different school buildings. Today there is no trace of it other than this sign.

The Archibald Museum was nearby. It closed in 2016.

I saw this old house up on a hill near the school sign.

- Steve Boyko

Sunrise Hay Bale

I was out looking for trains and found a hay bale instead.

- Steve Boyko