Category: History

A visit to a private car museum near Calgary

A couple that were on my 2015 Yukon Quest tour have a large collection of cars, trucks, toy cars and other stuff in De Winton, just south of Calgary. I’ve had a standing invitation to come for a visit, and finally made time to do that, on our last...
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Alberta ranching history at the Bar U Ranch

Compared to the mileages we’ve been putting on in recent days, Day 32 of the trip – Wednesday, May 25th – was a fairly long one, with a historic site stop that was much longer than I’d expected. We needed to drive a total of 258 km (160 mi)...
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Mounted Police Museum, & Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

The 31st day of the trip – Tuesday, May 24th – was so varied that I broke the journal up into 2 posts, the first about our coal-country stops, and this one about Prairie history – the Mounted Police, and buffalo. We didn’t put on many miles this day...
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Coal days: Visiting Sparwood and the Frank Slide

After leaving Fort Steele at about 4:00 pm on Day 30 of the trip – Monday, May 23rd – we soon left gold country and entered coal country, and visits to Sparwood and the Frank Slide over the next 24 hours gave us a look at the present and...
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Exploring Fort Steele Heritage Town, BC

The National Historic Site of Fort Steele Heritage Town was our main focus for Day 30 of the trip – Monday, May 23rd – and we only drove 123 km (76 mi) to Sparwood following that visit. We spent over 4 very enjoyable hours at Fort Steele, and this...
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The Crowsnest Highway from Osoyoos to Fort Steele

Neither of our overnight locations as we drove the Crowsnest to Fort Steele on Days 28 and 29 were the ones I’d planned on, and the weather was mostly awful, but it was still a beautiful drive. On Day 28 – Saturday, May 21st, we only drove 160 km...
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Driving the Hope-Princeton Highway, Hope to Hedley

The parking lot at the Hope Slide was a great place to overnight, although there was some noise from the truck brake check stop below us. As Day 18, Wednesday, May 11th, began, this was the view from the little window straight ahead of me at the table I...
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A short drive, Chilliwack to the Hope Slide

After a couple of days camped at the Cottonwood Meadows RV Park at Chilliwack and visiting long-time friends in the area, Day 17, Tuesday, May 10th, was the next exploring day. I had 2 nights, 3 days to drive the 358 km to Bear Creek Provincial Park in West...
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A short weekend in Atlin

I have a very understanding wife. Despite the fact that Saturday was our anniversary, I needed to go to Atlin for an article that’s due in a few days. We had gone out for a very nice dinner at The Wheelhouse Friday night, though, and Cathy needed some bonding...
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Bennett, a ghost town on the Chilkoot Trail

Anyone who enjoys visiting ghost towns can keep busy exploring and researching for years in BC. Wikipedia lists 165 ghost towns in BC, although their criteria for what qualifies as a ghost town is very loose. In any list of of BC’s ghosts towns, the furthest north and one...
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