The day before yesterday, this blog went to Esk in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a place that most Canadians have never heard of, far from anywhere and even less significant than it used to be. It is located in pancake-flat prairie land. There you can see for miles.
I neglected to mention that a branch of the Canadian Pacific railroad passes right through Esk but these days the trains never stop. This track was once vital in opening up central Canada and transporting grain as well as mineral products.
During my investigations about Esk, I came across two amateur videos about the settlement. In the first one, the laidback narrator is often battling with the wind. At one point, he refers to the farming families that established themselves there or thereabouts. One of the families he mentions is the Kleins - later to become the Klines...
In the beginning Esk was remote because they only had animals for travel (1905). Now Esk is remote because very few people live there. Look at the video and yo don't find farmsteads.
ReplyDeleteI guess that mechanisation and mega-farms turned Esk back on its heels.
DeleteThat's exactly what happened. Very few people live in the area.
DeleteIt does look very remote and so flat there'd be no escaping the wind unless you were able to get inside. It isn't a place I would ever go.
ReplyDeleteOh. I would love to go there and to Lanigan too. Saskatoon was where Joni Mitchell grew up. She has referred to it as her "hometown".
DeleteThe videos are great, thanks for sharing. Drones are terrific. Maybe I'll watch them tomorrow, or down the track.
ReplyDeleteNo Andrew! Please watch them now!
DeleteI would love to visit Canada but Esk would be far too remote for me to live there.
ReplyDeleteThe few people who live in and around Esk might get you to plant 500 miles of hedgerow. That would keep you occupied for a while.
DeleteA population of 220 or thereabouts is very small in such a remote area. The videos were fascinating. I like drone footage and aerial photographs.
ReplyDeleteI saw that figure too Janice but it is far too large. Hardly anybody lives there or within five miles of Esk. Just ask Red at "Hiawatha House".
DeleteFrom central Texas north to the arctic, from the Appalachians to the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, 1,500 miles east to west, and 2-3000 miles from north to south, that is how much of the middle of North America looks, gently rolling farmland, with hedgerows, and wooded patches. There are thousands of once thriving small towns, that are a shadow of their former self. The railroads only stop for freight, and farming requires far - far fewer people than it did 75 years ago. I have post coming up about my mother's home town in Michigan, it is much the same story.
ReplyDeleteRed has lots of good stories from his early days. It was a different time and he can look back with amazement at all of the changes and adventures he has had in his life.
ReplyDeleteI remember Red's posts about Esk! It would be fun to live somewhere where drone use wouldn't draw suspicious inquiries from the authorities and potentially hostile neighbors. I think flying drones in most places in London is pretty much verboten.
ReplyDelete