I often make road trips during the week and that means restaurants, town offices and gas stations are open in the small towns. I like to support the local businesses when I can and things can be pretty quiet on the weekends. On this occasion I was travelling in the R.M. of Whiska Creek on a Thursday and, as I often do, I stopped at the R.M. office in Vanguard, Saskatchewan. Maybe there was an old school in the area...
I talked with the secretary and as soon as she knew what I was looking for she said, "You'll want to talk to this guy," and promptly made a phone call. Within a minute I was talking to a long-time resident and R.M. employee who was not only generous with his time but even photocopied part of the municipality map, marked the locations of two old schools and the best route for the current winter conditions.
At this point I'm more than happy with my windfall and then, when we shake hands, he hands me a business card and says, "Hope you enjoy the sites and if you get stuck or have a problem, don't hesitate to call." Well, sometimes a "thank you" just doesn't seem like quite enough.
Did I mention that it was cold and everything had a blanket of blanket of snow? I'd take photos for a few minutes, run to the car to warm up, then repeat. Lucky for me both schools were fairly close to the road.
Burton School is northeast of Vanguard and sits on top of a hill.
Bonus: A sign where Arnold School used to stand.
For some reason, the landowner stripped Easby School of its bricks and all that's left is a skeleton. Nice skeleton it is too.
On that first picture, the moment I first saw it I thought "a for sale sign?", then I remembered where I was. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe skeleton pictures are really interesting.
Thanks for the comment, Rob. It's the only building for miles around so I'm sure it would command a hefty sale price...lol!
DeleteI just like the sound of that name "Whiska Creek"!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a name out of a cowboy novel. A few others that put a smile on my face are "R.M. of Happyland" and "R.M. of Big Stick."
DeleteThese are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve.
DeleteI love this post. Grateful to have Michael and Steve post stuff like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks, BW.
DeleteUsed brick have both a practical and sometimes a sale value. A LOT of prior civilizations tore down their history to build something new, or fill a pot-hole.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever seen a "stripped" school building a few other times and one of those times was just a few weeks ago. Thanks for the comment, Gorges.
DeleteAwesome Michael! It's always a good idea to talk to the locals, you never know what you'll find out!
ReplyDeleteThe local folk have pointed me in the right direction so many times that I've lost count. This was a great example of "the kindness of strangers."
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