Rails Across the Prairies. Ron Brown

      Moose Jaw’s main street remains dominated by the CPR station.

      Tunnels discovered beneath the streets fueled speculation that they either were part of a prohibition-era rum-running operation (Moose Jaw was linked to Capone-era Chicago by means of the Soo Line) or were hideaways for Chinese railway workers. And so, to promote this unexpected story, the city now offers “Tunnels of Moose Jaw” tours with the nearby “Capone’s Hideaway” Motel, a ’30s-era bus, and a Capone-style yellow Rolls-Royce automobile to round out the image.

      Although the CPR’s grand station has closed its doors to passenger service, it is now “Station Square,” dominated by a liquor store, and still stands grandly at the end of the main street. Beyond the station, the CPR still maintains an extensive area of sorting yards, although fewer lines radiate from the city now.

      Calgary

      Before the CPR arrived on the banks of the Bow River, Calgary was little more than a small settlement clustered around Fort Calgary. The first railway station was added a distance away from the settlement, forcing the few merchants at the fort to uproot and re-establish themselves by the station. That first building was a mere converted boxcar but was quickly replaced with a more substantial structure. In 1912 the CPR established its Ogden yards across the Bow River, and the city became a major repair centre for the railway.

      Downtown, the CPR added is elegant Palliser Hotel, beside which it built a solid three-storey station, the fourth on the site. A busy downtown evolved along Stephen Avenue, two blocks from the station. When that station was removed, passenger service moved into the ground level of the hotel.

      Neither the CNo nor the GTP built stations of their own, moving instead into existing structures — the CNo into a Catholic parish hall and the GTP into a Mountie barracks. With the elimination of VIA Rail’s passenger service by the Mulroney government in 1990, the station facilities closed down. Today, tourists board the magnificent Royal Canadian Pacific tour train through a new facility in the renovated former post office. The CNo station still stands but is now a ballet school, although its former role had no influence on the urban form around it.

      The Palliser Hotel still offers luxury accommodation, while the earlier station grounds are now the site of the Calgary Tower. Stephen Avenue continues to reflect its roots in Calgary’s rail-related growth and is now a designated heritage district. Here, a pedestrian mall passes historic structures, and heritage plaques recount those early days of rail.

      The Ghost Towns

      The prairie towns were born of the railways and died with them. They dotted the main lines and the branch lines every ten to fifteen kilometres. Most of the smaller communities remained utterly dependent upon the trains that carried their residents to visit other towns, that carried their mail, and most importantly that hauled their grain. Even after the Canadian National Railway took over the failed Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railway lines, it added still more branch lines.

      Depression and drought, however, took their toll, and branch lines began to become uneconomical. But the big move to abandon rail operations came in the 1950s and 60s with the switch to diesel from coal and the advent of automated signalling. Larger grain companies moved to more centralized terminals, and many of the elevators fell into disuse. Improved roads turned most people to cars and away from rail travel. All of these factors combined to doom the little railway towns, and very quickly they shriveled to a mere handful of people or emptied completely.

      Strewn across the Prairies and along the vacant rail beds, there today lies a litany of ghost towns too numerous to list in this volume, although there are some concentrations. The southern portions of Saskatchewan harbour what may even be considered a “ghost town” line, with a string of such desolate places. Others stand out for retaining a certain railway feature, such as a grain elevator or even a station.

      To celebrate the ghost town heritage of the Prairies, however, is too painful for those who had to surrender homes, businesses, friends, and indeed even lifestyles, and few places wish to acknowledge their status. Proposals by the “Harper” government to kill the wheat board will create even more. Surprisingly, then, there are some that have chosen to promote their ghost towns.

      Alberta

      Heinsburg

      This quiet hamlet, on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River north of Lloydminister, bills itself as Alberta’s “liveliest” ghost town. It is a community that has been working to celebrate its railway heritage. While the main street of empty storefronts puts it in the “ghost town” category, the preservation of both the village station and the wooden railway water tower underlie a lively community.

      Heinsburg began life as a ferry crossing. It was not until 1928, however, well after the Canadian National Railway had taken over the bankrupt Canadian Northern, that the tracks finally reached Heinsburg, making it that line’s terminus. With its two grain elevators, Heinsburg grew into a focal point for the many First Nations and European settlements to the north and east.

      Dieselization put the tower out of use in the 1960s, and road improvements rendered the line itself uneconomical, and, in 1983, the tracks were lifted. Today, the community is a terminus of a different sort, being the jumping-off point for the popular Iron Horse Rail Trail (described in a different chapter). Partly as a result, the water tower and the 1950s-era Canadian National railway station are preserved on their original sites. Meanwhile, lurking on the once main street, the sagging ghostly shells of former businesses remind us of Heinsburg’s days as a vital rail terminal.

      “Rowleywood”

      The ghost town of Rowley in central Alberta gave itself this ironic nickname because of its role in such Hollywood blockbusters as Bye Bye Blues and in various documentaries and commercials. The quiet community has only a few occupied homes, while the main street buildings, although vacant, are kept in repair. In fact, the last Saturday of each month, the community hosts a pizza night. The town has also managed to retain its Canadian Northern railway station and three Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevators. Buildings that formerly served as a bank and hospital still stand on these silent streets, and the site is now known as the Yesteryear Artifacts Museum.

      Wayne

      Tucked into the gullies of Alberta’s Drumheller badlands, Wayne may not declare itself to be a ghost town, but it doesn’t hide the fact either. What remains of its once busy main streets lies scenically at the foot of the layered, eroded wall of Rose Deer Valley. Here, in 1912, the Rose Deer Coal Mining Company began to access the coal deposits, which were intermingled with the ancient eroded bedrock of the badlands. Soon, the town of Wayne could count 1,500 residents, most of them working at the coal mines. A small station stood by the tracks, which ran down the main street. By the 1930s, the coal mines were closing down, and by the 1950s, only a handful of residents remained in the town. But the still-functioning Rose Deer Hotel’s cowboy-style Last Chance Saloon, with its prairie-style facade, contains photos that recount the town’s early heyday.

      The authenticity of the saloon and street has lured Hollywood filmmakers to the site, including the makers of Shanghai Noon, starring Jackie Chan. Each summer, the ghost town comes to life for the Wayne motorcycle rally. Otherwise-empty streets and a few scattered homes and cabins remain, as do a few samples of railway equipment from the coal-mining days.