research

I get alot of people asking me constantly how I find locations. It is under most peoples belief that there are no more than abandoned ghost towns and farms in Saskatchewan. Newsflash, there is more than that in Saskatchewan it just takes some effort. Alot of effort actually, hours and hours, but the payoff is usually worth it. So how do I find all the locations?

Books & Lots of them. Books on travelling. Books on the province. Books on history of the province. Books on towns around the province. Books on churches around the province. Etc.

Maps. All kinds of maps. Maps on paper, new and old and maps on the internet.

The internet. Sites on UE. Sites about the province. Articles on the province. The local news. Sites from local photographers around the province. Etc.

Magazine & news articles. All historical & loaded with information.

Encyclopedias. Self explanatory?

Word of mouth. Stories. Rumours. Speaking with older people & especially those who use to work for CP or CN.

..... and last but not least. Driving. Senseless driving for hours on back roads. Hours well spent to find some very cool locations.

my fav UE links

Here are some links to some of my favorite urban exploring sites from around the world:

Urban Exploration Resource - a gathering place for all (although if you explore as much as i do, you are rarely seen online)

SaskUrbex - my fellow exploring partner

Winnipeg UE - Curious George from Winnipeg

Drains of my city - Reduxzero & Nancy Drew from Alberta

Opacity - UE photography from the states

Infiltration - home to Ninjalicious(RIP)

Urban Eden - Urban Exploration photography portrayed artistically

ghosttownscanda.ca cont'

On another note this site is a good idea. But what most people don't realize is that once a location gets onto the internet it is bound to be destroyed by:
a) antique hunters & people looking to take collectibles for their own collections
b) kids who decide to make it a party spot and destroy things or
c) people who find it funny to burn down old buildings aka arsonists.
There has been a lot of arson attacks on old buildings around the province this year. And this is why you don't see any of my locations posted on the internet. I want to protect these pieces of history, preserve & document what is left. Eventually these locations will all be gone but why not try and save them for as long as we can?

The internet is good, but when something like this site is started there is more bad that comes out of it then good. The few decent people that check out and add to the site are one in a few. As most people just leach off the locations and before you know it, there is nothing left. It is to bad we can not all share our locations publicly without worrying that they may be destroyed. I love to share pictures but you will never see me post any names unless of course it is already gone. I want to preserve the ghost towns and other locations I have worked hard to find and I plan to share them with those I trust.

I am posting this because a town that I use to go frequently has been vandalized and most things taken out of the houses. This use to be a classic ghost town with lots of old houses and lots of antiques. Now the houses are all boarded up because of vandals and kids partying. As well the owner of the land has started knocking some of the houses down because to many people are getting into them and they are dangerous. It is to bad that the owner has to do this at all. For years this town just sat there, visitors came and went no worry at all. Now look what has happened and I am willing to bet because of this site.

What I know is that another location publicly posted on the site is the cause of vandals stealing precious items from an old elevator as well as an old general store. I spoke with the owner of this old town and he told me that since the place was posted on this site the activity has doubled and people come out to party all the time. They have to monitor the vehicles coming and going. People are destroying and taking things from the elevator as well are other things from the land. The worst part are these things are being posted on the internet. For example, an old gas pump was stolen from the site and the owner stated it was a beautiful original pump that really added to the site. Someone came and stole it, a picture of this item was posted on the internet stating it was from there. The owner agrees that the site does more bad then good. He does however get the occasional photographer come out and ask to take photos of the site. They find it on the ghosttownscanada.ca site.

You can never really win with a site like this. But it is sad to see things like this happen to these classic locations.

ghosttownscanada

www.ghosttownscanada.ca

I ran across this site a little over a year ago. Wow I hit the jackpot when it comes to rural exploration. Who needs to drive around needlessly to find ghost towns when you can have them handed to you on a platter. Names, pictures and sometimes history of the town all on this site. Did I mention sometimes they tell you how many residents are left? I thought this was the greatest site ever. Well was I ever wrong. For starters the only way to urban/rural explore is to go out driving on gravel roads yourself looking for towns, following all kinds of maps and doing some research. I refused to believe this site was that great, how could there be so many ghost towns? So I decided to challenge the site when I go on road trips. I made a map with purple dots on every town listed on the site. If we were in the area we would check it out.

Turns out I was right, things aren't always what they seem. As I suspected people were taking pictures of one or two abandoned buildings on the main stretch of these towns and listing them as ghost towns. Some ghost town, when you have one little abandoned building surrounded my occupied ones. Little by little I went through this list and wrote them off. None of these are ghost towns and a lot of them are very inaccurate.

One town that is almost a ghost town was listed with no residents and a classic ghost town! Funny how every time I go out to this place there is a resident living right across from the couple buildings remaining from the town. Not to mention that everything is decaying or being destroyed by teenagers or even antiquers. Mostly because people have found out about this town on this ever popular site and have turned it into their own party spot, not caring at all about its history.

This site disgusts me. Great idea, bad control. Anyone can post a couple picture of abandoned buildings in town and call it a ghost town. Who is verifying all these towns? Absolutely no one. And not to mention all those people that think because they have found a couple abandoned buildings in a town they can call it a ghost town and then consider themselves an urban/rural explorer? I'm confused shouldn't you find something that is actually worth our while. If we want to drive out to see a ghost town at least make sure its a real one, that means no residents and at very minimum six buildings. Someone should be verifying these towns, there should be standards and guidelines one must follow before posting on there. Admittedly this wouldn't solve everything but it would certainly weed out most of these supposed “ghost towns.”

Just a thought thought.