Southern Alberta Ghost Towns

In this video I visit 14 ghost towns and abandoned places in southern Alberta. We'll see grain elevators, Churches, stores, hotels, mines and much more.

GPS of abandoned bunker
51.04648, -115.18832

00:00 Introduction
00:26 Esther, AB
01:52 Bindloss, AB
03:34 Empress, AB
06:43 Rowley, AB
08:31 Dorothy, AB
11:19 Atlas Coal Mine
12:44 Sharples, AB
13:38 Retlaw, AB
16:09 Skiff, AB
17:00 Nemiskam, AB
17:58 Etzikom, AB
19:42 Orion, AB
21:20 Secret Bunker
23:20 Bankhead, AB

[georgemeek]

I was born in the ghost town of Wayne in 1939 and believe I am the oldest remaining individual born in the town hospital which does not exist today. Wayne is a fun filled place to visit. As of March 2022, 25 people lived there...which gives it the ghost town designation...

[outstandinginafield]

I have lived in southern alberta my whole life, i work in agriculture delivering farm equipment to farms. I am always too busy to stop but see so many ghost towns while driving back roads for hours on end. Very cool to see some of the places i drive by in this video!

[ItsLexieMarie]

As an albertan who loves the small hamlets of alberta.. this video hit close to home and my heart! Thanks for sharing the beauty and history of my home province. ❤

[toaster]

Thank you for highlighting our beautiful province! Alberta is hands down the most diverse landscape across Canada

[cannedgoose]

You've absolutely earned a sub, Chris. I'm an Edmonton local who's been dabbling in urban exploration and checking out abandoned places like this, and seeing this video come across my home page has been absolutely eye opening to how much I just haven't seen in this time capsule of a province. I actually visited the Atlas mine with my father just before the pandemic, it was an excellent experience and certainly one of the things that got me into urbex as a whole. A more recent experience for me was visiting Hairy Hill in August of this year. It truly is surreal to walk around a town like that, seeing buildings absolutely frozen in time. I look forward to checking out some more of these places over the next few years, excellent work!

[SparkleDairyFumSchrein]

I like your style of narration, it's very soothing and relaxing

[greathodgy]

Threshing machines. The sheves were brought to the threshing machines by horse and hay rack. You then threw the sheves into the machine to separate the wheat from the chaff. Combines are just that, combineing the thresher with the forward movement and pickup of the wheat or other grains.

[markroath]

I grew up along the Montana highline, and frequented Alberta, Canada many times. Wonderful people, and a beautiful province.

[ELMS]

This was great, Chris. Back in the 80’s I worked for Canada Post and my job was closing down rural post offices, so I’ve been to most of these towns. I’ve since had occasion to drop by others I worked with - Wrentham, AB comes to mind - and they’re all met a similar fate. Anyway, I’ve subscribed.

[MrSilver]

I absolutely loved this!! You are an amazing tour guide and love how respectful you are to private property etc. You narration is perfect as well. Please do more of these! 😁

[dmax]

Seeing ghost towns always makes me wonder what the towns were like in their heydays.

[andytuveson]

Thanks! Fascinating to see the old towns that I have not heard off before but now plan to visit some of them.

[rebelsatcloudnine]

This was really cool, my Aunt lived in or around Empress, I can't remember, and it was really cool to see what the town looked like. It's really sad to see these towns that were once so alive and are now gone. I live in a small town outside Waterton Park, and thankfully it's survived all of these years later, but it's not the same as when it was in it's prime.

[MichaelMetcalfQueKara]

We buy your calendar every year! Great to see a video. My grandma lived in Etzikom at some point between the 50s and 70s and always pronounced it "Ett-zee-kum" for whatever it's worth. My grandpa was a station agent for CPR, so they lived in a lot of these little places.

[aaronshouting]

Lived in Southern Alberta my whole life and have never heard of these towns so this was very exciting to watch!

[kellylybbert]

The old combines you referred to were called threshing machines. They were stationary and the wheat was brought to them and fed through the machine to separate the wheat grains from the chaff. The small railway car was motorized and could carry a few workers at about 50 km /hr

[phmoffett]

16:42 Those old "speeder" section cars were gas powered and used before railroads started using hi-rail dual purpose highway/railroad trucks. Gas powered speeders could tow a trailer with equipment the section gang needed for track work.

[tazremtulla]

What a great video! Really enjoyed your coverage!! ❤

[coldiaultimatebase]

i swear, ive been many places around the world and nowhere will ever be as beautiful as southern alberta. underrated as hell

[sheldondyck]

I’ve been to the Atlas Coal Mine a few times. It’s a really cool place to visit.