Ghost Town Stories of Alberta: Abandoned Dreams in the Shadows of the Canadian Rockies.

David W. Leonard is Project Historian—Northern Alberta, Historic Sites
and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development, the author of
Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909, and the co-author of
The Lure of the Peace River Country: A Fost

In 2004, Altitude Press of Canmore, Alberta, released a two-part series of vignets on south-western Alberta and south-eastern British Columbia called Ghost Town Stories. The two books (booklets) have now been re-released by Heritage House as Ghost Town Stories of Alberta. This book is part of the “Amazing Stories” series and is written by Johnnie Bachusky, who is a collector of ghost town stories with many other publications under his belt.

The term “ghost town” is somewhat misleading because some of the places are viable communities, and also because the stories have little to do with the places themselves, but rather certain colourful characters who lived in or around them. Nor do the very short stories have much to do with the personalities overall, but rather recount in a folksy, home-spun manner certain humorous or tragic episodes within their lives. Sometimes, actual places and times are hard to discern. Most stories take place in the early to mid-20th century, and none are documented. This book is a very light read and can be digested by a slow reader in about 45 minutes. Most of the stories are accompanied by a photograph.