Solace In Abandon

In Rowley, Alberta lies a small town nestled in the Badlands. Now virtually a ghost town, the bones of the historic buildings still stand true. A compilation of broken down trains, homes left in disarray, the local pub and a small church, it is the perfect snapshot into a life once lived in a settled prairie town. In the early 1920’s, roughly 500 residents called Rowley their home, but by the mid 1970s, it became beat up and deserted. Now, a quarter into the new millennium, there are only 12 residents.

Rowley was mostly a farming town, with the expansive Alberta landscape offering its fruition to hopeful settlers planning to make Western Canada their new residence. The train line, which was officially abandoned in 1999, allowed local tourists to see the budding community, but as it slowly began to disintegrate with lack of opportunities and growing nearby metropolitans. This series hopes to capture these places and not forget the families that were hopeful of a new life in the West.