Month: October 2019

Book Review: Forgotten Saskatchewan

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I have been looking forward to Forgotten Saskatchewan for a while now. I’ve followed author Chris Attrell‘s work for some time on his web site, and in fact he used to own grainelevators.ca before I bought it from him. I’ve admired his spectacular photos of abandoned buildings and I expected his book would be great. It didn’t disappoint.

Forgotten Saskatchewan is chock full of images of abandoned Saskatchewan. Its 144 pages feature forlorn old farm houses, weathered grain elevators, rusting vehicles, empty churches and abandoned barns. Each image was carefully created, and often feature starry skies, aurora borealis or eerie lighting.

This book is really a love letter to Saskatchewan, a tribute to the decaying beauty in its disappearing small towns.

The book was published by MacIntyre Purcell and the print quality is excellent. If I ever write a photo book, I would strongly consider this publisher. Each page features a beautiful full colour image with a descriptive caption.

A glimpse into the book

Some of the photos were clearly taken from a drone, giving a unique perspective.

There are a number of grain elevators featured in this book, including Dankin, Bents and Neidpath.

If you’re here on this site, you would probably like Forgotten Saskatchewan. You can buy it on Amazon, through McNally Robinson or at Chapters/Indigo.

This post contains affiliate links, which pay me a small commission if you purchase something through the link, at no additional cost to you.

Gone But Not Forgotten – Book Review

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This is a review of the book “Gone But Not Forgotten: Tales of the Disappearing Grain Elevators” by Elizabeth McLachlan. The book is a collection of stories about grain elevators and the towns they are/were in.

The 28* stories cover all sorts of tales about grain elevators, from bringing grain to market through elevator fires and other mishaps, and include such titles as “Lead in Her Pants” and “Dam(n) Progress”. In general the stories are amusing, touching, and sometimes poignant.

* there are actually 29 stories; the last is Ms. McLachlan’s own story of being married to an elevator agent.

The book is illustrated by historical photos as well as some contributed by noted photographer Chris Stackhouse, including the stunning cover photo of the grain elevator on a farm near Woodhouse, Alberta.

You can buy the book on Amazon or your local bookstore, or maybe find it in your local library.