DanOCan

CAMT 2017: PasKaPoo Historic Village and Smithson International Truck Museum

Posted on July 26, 2017 by danocan

Now well into the afternoon of Day One, our small caravan of museum hunters worked our way even further north. Our destination was Rimbey, Alberta.

Back in early March, Emily was attending a horse seminar near Sylvan Lake and so I had a couple of days to explore the area. I had taken the opportunity to drive through the town of Rimbey which is when I first discovered this museum. I’m not sure how it had stayed under my radar for so long but it certainly qualified as the “hidden gem” of our first day.

The Smithson International Truck Museum is home to 19 fully restored International pickup trucks spanning the years from 1935 – 1974. (International did not release a model every year so this counts as a complete collection, even if every year is not represented.) In addition, there were some other vehicles of note, including my favorite, a 1961 Chevrolet which had served as an ambulance at the Rimbey Gas Plant right up until 2001.

After touring the trucks, we were given a guided tour of the tractor collection, the historic village, and then the other buildings holding a variety of artifacts ranging from medical to military to household. Our two guides assisted us by going from building to building and opening them up for us as we walked around. It pays to reach out to them in advance if you want access to the inside of the buildings, which is highly recommended.

The buildings include the 1906 Kansas Ridge school to the 1908 Church of the Epiphany, which was the first church building erected in Rimbey. The old Rimbey town office is here, a general store, a barbershop, and even a caboose for good measure.

There were so many things to see I couldn’t decided which photos to include in this post so I instead opted to go with a slideshow instead.

Posted in Events, History, Travel | Tagged Alberta, CAMT, Canada, history, museum, Paskapoo Historic Village, Rimbey, Smithson International Truck Museum | 1 Comment

CAMT 2017: Stephansson House

Posted on July 25, 2017 by danocan

Our next stop on the Central Alberta Museum Tour saw us make a short ten minute drive north out of Markerville to the Stephansson House Provincial Historic Site. I had originally thought about combining this post with the Markerville Creamery, but felt that would be doing a disservice to this location.

Now, I’m going to make a confession here. I knew nothing of Stephan G. Stephansson nor his poetry. I was here purely because of the historic house and to learn a bit more about the man behind it.

Stephansson moved from his native Iceland in 1873 and, after stops in Wisconsin and North Dakota, eventually settled in the Markerville area here in Alberta in 1889. This is where he built a one-room log cabin which would undergo several expansions and renovations and eventually be built into the house we see today.

When first arriving at the site, the house is hidden behind the trees and not visible from the parking area. What you do see are some picnic tables, some washrooms, and a display which outlines the history of Stephansson and the house. It is only after walking a short distance down the path you emerge into an opening and finally get your first glimpse of the house itself.

Restored to its 1927 appearance, the house is tiny by today’s standards yet must have seemed like quite a palace on the prairies by the time the final addition was made in 1906.

Emerging from the picnic area, through the trees, and into the house area really does create a sense of stepping backwards in time, especially when you reach the house and are greeted by the interpreters in full period costume.

Watch your head as you wander around the house. While Stephansson was not reported to be a short man, there are many places where you can whack your head even if you are my height.

We enjoyed some fresh baking, chatted with the staff, and then posed for our first official group photo of the tour. We had the entire place to ourselves. We wondered how many visitors they would see on a typical weekday visit.

We returned to the parking area and decided this would be a perfect place to break out our lunches. It was a very hot and sunny day so the tall trees and picnic tables made it a perfect spot to take a break before heading on to our final stop of Day One.

The Stephansson House Provincial Historic Site is open daily from 10:00 – 17:00, May 15 to Labour Day. Admission is $5 for adults.

Posted in Events, History, Travel | Tagged Alberta, CAMT, Canada, history, Markerville, museums, Stephansson House | 1 Comment

CAMT 2017: Markerville Creamery

Posted on July 20, 2017 by danocan

After leaving Dickson, our small group headed northeast towards the town of Markerville.

Markerville was named for C.P. Marker who was the territorial dairy commissioner. The first post office under the Markerville name opened in 1902, but the history of the settlement goes back a bit further. In 1888, twelve families from the Dakota Territory settled in the area. At that time, the post office was named Tindastoll.¹

It is fitting that C.P. Marker was the dairy commissioner because today Markerville is known for its creamery museum. The building housing the museum operated as a creamery for seventy years, from 1902 – 1972. It was owned by the Tindasoll Butter and Cheese Manufacturing Association.

Today the creamery building has been restored to its 1932 appearance. A small ice cream shop operates in the front of the building while the museum portion houses much of the original equipment used in the preparation of butter and cream. Admission is charged for visiting the museum.

Everyone should have a riding tractor that looks like a cow

It is not a large museum and does not take much time to tour. However, this doesn’t mean it isn’t an interesting place to stop for a visit. The displays are very professional and informative and they open your eyes to a part of our province’s history that doesn’t get all that much attention.

We opted for the self-guided tour, purely in the interest of time. I’m sure a guided tour would go into much more detail and make for a more in-depth visit. Unfortunately, we still had some more places to visit so time was a factor for us.

The creamery building in 1908 (top) and 2017 (bottom)

Markerville itself is also a very picturesque little town. Whether it is the bridge over the river, the large creamery can “monument” on the side of the road, or the 1907 Lutheran Church, there is more here for the fan of history than just the museum. Get off the highway and check out Historic Markerville. I’m glad we took the time to visit,

Markerville Lutheran Church

Hours of operation for 2017 are May 13 – September 4, from 10:00 – 17:00. Adult admission is $5.

¹Aubrey, M. K. (2006). Concise place names of Alberta. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary Press.

Posted in Events, History, Travel | Tagged Alberta, CAMT, Canada, creamery, Historic Markerville, Markerville, museums, Tindastoll | 3 Comments

CAMT 2017: Dickson Store Museum

Posted on July 18, 2017 by danocan

Emily and I got on the road at 8am and began working our way north up Highway 22 towards the first stop on the Central Alberta Museum Tour. Our destination was the Dickson Store Museum. Once we reached Highway 27, we left the highway and took a combination of back roads and we picked our way along the Red Deer River before finally turning east towards Dickson itself.

Now, in all honesty, I had never even heard of the Dickson Store Museum prior to beginning my research for this event. Once I learned of its existence, I was immediately intrigued and knew it had to be on the list. How it ended up as the first stop was a purely selfish decision; it was the closest point to our home so I picked it so we wouldn’t need to get up excessively early in order to get there to meet the group at 09:30.

Some of our group had already arrived when we reached the museum. Having not seen many of these people since last Fall — and meeting some for the first time — we had a chance to catch up and wander around before the museum opened at 10am.

Welcome to Dickson

Dickson is named for the nearby Dickson Creek which, in turn, was likely named for the Benedickson family who settled in the area. The name of the creek has been recorded as early as 1892. Dickson had a post office from 1906 until 1970 when mail service was moved to nearby Spruce View.

SOURCE: Aubrey, M. K. (2006). Concise place names of Alberta. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary Press.

It is worth noting that the Alberta’s History sign in town mentions the first post office in Dickson was opened by Carl and Laura Christiansen in February 1905.

Signed in and the tour is underway

Kitchen exhibit inside Dickson Store Museum

The museum covers both floors of the 1909 store building. In addition, the area outside features the original lumberyard/shed and a reconstruction of the original log home used by the Christiansens before the construction of the store.

There is a small ice cream counter in the back of the museum and that was a nice added bonus for us as the temperature was already beginning to soar, even this early in the day. The museum staff were super friendly and quite happy to share their knowledge with us. We tried to make sure to purchase some postcards (in addition to the ice cream) and make some donations to support their efforts in keeping this place alive.

A Then and Now Comparison

In addition to their official webpage (link in the first paragraph above), also visit their Facebook page and show them some support on social media. Let them know DanOCan.com sent you.

If you’ve been to Dickson and/or the museum, let us know in the comments. Share your experience with us. Let me know what you want to see from the upcoming postings from the CAMT tour — details of our trip or more “just the facts” on the museums. I’ve had to cut this posting a little short as it’s time for me to get out the door and on my way to work.

Posted in Events, History, Travel | Tagged Alberta, CAMT, Canada, Dickson, Dickson Store Museum, history, museums | 2 Comments

Central Alberta Museum Tour: The Introduction

Posted on July 17, 2017 by danocan

It started simply enough. Last year my friend Frank Lloyd made a comment about how it would be fun to get a group of like-minded individuals together and spend a weekend visiting a number of small museums.

Frank is a member of the Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village & Museum near Moose Jaw, SK and knows the challenges that museums face. An aging volunteer base, a lack of funding, and a public that seems to be losing touch with the past. Many of our small town museums struggle to make ends meet and simply don’t get the attention they deserve.

“Can you imagine if we got a group together and visited these places and each dropped $5 in their donation bins? It’s a small contribution for each person but could mean a lot to some of these places.”

His idea sat in the back of my mind for several months until one day in May when Emily and I were talking about all the museums we have seen on our travels but didn’t get a chance to actually stop and visit. We finally decided we should take one of my long weekends and head out on the road and do a tour and finally check a number of these places off our “Must Visit” list.

We checked the calendar and picked the dates — July 14 and 15. That’s when I decided to act on Frank’s idea. I created a simple Facebook event, outlined the plan, and then invited a small number of friends to join us on the journey. I didn’t know if anyone would be interested or if anyone would be able to make it, but I figured even if it ended up just being me and Emily we would still have a lot of fun.

Over the weeks, the route started to take shape. More planning took place as I spent lots of time with Google Maps planning out how long we would need to drive between museums and how much time we would want to spend at each place. Having never visited any of the places on my list, I didn’t have a great frame of reference but went with the “best guess” scenario. Hey, a career working in IT management means I’m used to making decisions with incomplete information, right?

With a tentative schedule and timeline in place, I began to reach out to the various museums along the route. “Hey, this is who I am and what I am planning. Here is when we think we’ll be there. Are your posted hours accurate and are you likely going to be open?” Again, we know many of these places are counting on a small number of people so it couldn’t hurt to check, right?

As the replies came back to me, my spreadsheet continued to expand. Hours of operation, contact names, phone numbers, email addresses, our expected arrival and departure times. (I am a firm believer that Excel spreadsheets can be used to solve any problem in the world.)

CAMT 2017 Attendees at the Paskapoo Historical Village in Rimbey, Alberta

Now, my original plan was to do one big blog post about the whole Central Alberta Museum Tour (CAMT) experience. I soon realized that CAMT 2017 was going to need multiple posts. I have close to 300 photos and about 30 minutes of video that need to be reviewed, processed, logged, and then edited. Trying to fit in two days, 800km, and multiple museum visits into a single posting wasn’t a) going to be practical if I ever want to get anything posted, and b) not doing justice to these places and the people who make them run.

So, that’s it for now. I wanted to provide you with some background on how the whole thing came to be and to provide some context for the posts which will be upcoming over the next few days (weeks?). I really hope to hear from some of the museum employees in the comments.

Posted in Events, History, Travel | Tagged Alberta, CAMT, Canada, ExploreAlberta, museums | 4 Comments