Rediscover the Past in Alberta's Forgotten Ghost Towns
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SAVE BIG ON AG! Run longer with Chevron Lubricants AND WIN A SHOP Faba beans can be a good Fit Visit UFA.com for Contest details. But make sure you have a contract first » page 11 Publications Mail Agreement # 40069240 20439 UFA_ChevronEarLug_3.08x1.83.indd 1 13-05-29 3:36 PM Volume 10, number 15 J u ly 2 2 , 2 0 1 3 ‘ghosters’ rediscover the past in alberta’s forgotten ghost towns Their residents are long gone but the crumbling homes and shops remain Boyd Stevens sits in front of his pioneer hardware store in Orion, a ghost town along the historical Red Coat Trail in southern Alberta. Photo: Johnnie Bachusky cine Hat and the u.S. border — home “i try to look after things. but the hunt- hand and many questions about days By JOhnnie BAchuSky for most of the past 78 years, taking ing season was down last year and i gone by. Stevens is happy to invite af contributor / red deer over the hardware store more than 50 hardly saw anybody. With Manyber- ghosters into his shop for coffee, regal- years ago from his late father Howard. ries’ hotel down the highway closed, ing them with tales from orion’s glory or decades, boyd Stevens has in its heyday, the hamlet founded in hunters stayed in either foremost or days, or those from the neighbouring been a dutiful guardian of ghosts 1916 and named for one of the bright- Medicine Hat. there’s no future here.” ghost towns of nemiskam, Skiff, Wren- F and the unofficial mayor of est constellations, boasted 350 citizens but there is still the past, along with a tham and Pakowki. orion, a ghost town along the famous and more than 30 businesses. unique group of dedicated and curious “there had been a lightning strike red coat trail. today, Stevens is one of just four wanderers who come each summer to in a nearby field and boyd went to Stevens has called orion — located residents find it. they are ghosters, a clan of gen- on Highway 61 halfway between Medi- “the writing is on the wall,” he says. tle-hearted eccentrics with cameras in SEE GhOSTERS } page 6 PREDATOR COMPENSATION: bUrden of proof too high } PAGE 16 2 NEWS » INSIDE THIS WEEK JULY 22, 2013 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA INSIDE » LIVESTOCK CROPS COLUMNISTS HAIL BEATS UP THE GRIZZLY NUMBERS FABA BEANS A BRENDA SCHOEPP SOUTH AGAIN ON THE UPSWING GOOD FIT GREENING THE DESERT IN QATAR 17 Extensive damage, but not as bad as 2012 CAROL SHWETZ 13 A HAPPY HORSE EQUALS A HEALTHY HORSE 19 DOING THE RIGHT THING BERNIE PEET Farmers should be SOME THOUGHTS ON THE proactive in animal care More bears ranging But make sure you 7 onto the prairie 15 have a contract first 11 NEW PIG CODE 18 NEWS Backyard hens Alberta cowboys shatter dumped by ‘hipster farmers’ stereotypes on Canadian version of reality TV hit Gay teammates Jamie Cumberland and Pierre Cadieux have long wanted to be on ‘The Amazing Race’ — in part, to ‘push the barrier just a little bit’ ou’ve heard of city folks body who is hard as nails and goes out dumping unwanted BY JOHNNIE BACHUSKY every day and ropes calves, does all the Y dogs and cats, but NBC INNISFAIL PROVINCE things a cowboy does. Part of him also reports that animal shelters wears his heart on a sleeve. and rescue organizations are ierre Cadieux has wanted to be on “I think it is important that we push receiving abandoned backyard “The Amazing Race” since it first the barrier just a little bit, and say, ‘They chickens, sometimes dozens at P aired in 2001, but as a Canadian citi- are that and there is so much more.’ Just a time. zen wasn’t eligible to be on the American because you are a cowboy doesn’t mean “Hipster farmers” are finding reality TV show. that you can’t be gay and have feelings.” that rather than being a free Which was why the Innisfail resident was The series was filmed in May but source of eggs, raising chickens thrilled when his best friend, Airdrie’s Jamie Cadieux can’t say where or who ulti- can be messy, labour intensive Cumberland, called with news that a Cana- mately won. and expensive, the story says. dian version was in the works. But he is more than willing to say the Susie Coston, national shel- “Jamie saw a CTV commercial one night entire process was extraordinary. ter director at the Farm Sanc- and phoned me instantly and said, ‘You “This experience was the most tuary based in Watkins Glen, won’t believe what is coming to Canada. rewarding yet challenging, yet incred- New York, said about 250 The race is coming. We have to apply,’” said ible, yet amazing all wrapped up in one abandoned backyard birds are Cadieux. incredible package,” said Cadieux. waiting for homes at the shel- And that they did. The pair is one of nine “This show catches you with some ter’s three sites on both coasts. teams competing for $250,000 in prize really big highs. Some days things go They’re among at least 400 to money for the 10-episode “Amazing Race your way, and everything is great, and 500 abandoned chickens that Canada,” which begins Monday, July 15 on some days things just don’t go your way “This community has been show up every year, including CTV. and catches you at a very low point where awesome — I have never had a problem, I many suffering from maltreat- Cadieux said he and Jamie figured they you are vulnerable, exhausted and you are have never encountered one single instance ment or illness. had to be distinct from the rest of the con- tired — all those things.” where I felt anything negative towards me “They’re put on Craigslist all testants. Both men are gay, having met 15 In many ways, the experience was like because I am a gay man,” said Cadieux. the time when they don’t lay years ago through an Alberta Rockies Gay participating in a rodeo. “Innisfail has been a wonderful home to anymore,” Coston told NBC. Rodeo Association fundraising dance. “There are good days and there were bad raise our children.” At the Chicken Run Rescue “We’ve seen different personalities make days, and on the bad days you just pick He said he hopes his performance on in Minneapolis, Minn., owner the show,” he said. “Our opinion was, yourself up and get back on the horse,” he “Amazing Race Canada” — win or lose — Mary Britton Clouse said sur- ‘Where else do you find a couple of gay said. will make Innisfail and all of central Alberta rendered birds have increased cowboys?’ We can openly come out of the While Cadieux adores the cowboy and proud. from fewer than 50 in 2001 to closet and say, ‘I like the country and west- western lifestyle, he loves Innisfail even “I hope everyone enjoys the experience nearly 500 in 2012. ern lifestyle and I am also gay.’ They’ve had more. He came to the area in 2007 with his and goes through the journey with me on The story notes that would- cowboys but not gay cowboys.” life partner Dwayne Sparks. They were liv- television — that’s what these reality shows be urban farmers don’t realize Cadieux said that while he and Cumber- ing happily near Gleniffer Lake with their do,” said Cadieux. that hens can quit laying after land, who grew up in Red Deer, are best two teenage boys, Wyatt and John, until “I really hope that my kids, family mem- about two years, but can live friends and partners on the show, they are 2010 when Dwayne tragically passed away bers and anybody who knows me in town for several years after. And not life partners. from a heart illness. or if they don’t know me, will enjoy the little since baby chicks are hard to “At the end of the day, we wanted to tell Cadieux, an executive with ATB Financial bit of comic relief, the humour, the fun, the sex, they sometimes find they our story,” he said. “I think the public per- corporate head office, then moved to Inn- Canadianism that was what this show was have roosters, which are not ceives a cowboy stereotypically as some- isfail with his two sons. all about.” Salford_SFM07_12-10.25x3-FBC_AFE.qxdpopular with the neighbours. 7/13/13 1:09 PM Page 1 I-5100 High Speed Primary Tillage See your Salford Dealer this July for discounts on fall tillage equipment and SFM07_12-10.25x3-FBC special financing options on Salford Precision Seeding Equipment. Client: Farm Salford Machinery Alberta Express/ Famer Manitoba Cooperator Size: 10.25” x 3” Ad#: Precision Disc Drills & Carts Call your Salford dealer today, or visit www.salfordmachine.com Salford, Ontario • 1-866-442-1293 SFM07_12-10.25x3-FBC ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • JULY 22, 2013 3 U.S., Canada meat groups ask court to block U.S. labelling rules The suit seeks to undo recent revisions to the four-year-old rules BY ROD NICKEL REUTERS ight meat and livestock groups from the United E States and Canada have asked a U.S. court to strike down stricter U.S. meat labelling rules that they say have hurt U.S. pro- cessors and Canadian farmers, arguing that they violate the U.S. Constitution. The suit, filed July 8, seeks to undo recent revisions to four- year-old rules that required retail outlets to label meat according to where it came from.