Deserted Places: Canada

Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts

Monday, September 25, 2017

Herschel Island: The abandoned island of the Arctic

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In the north of Canada, 5 km (3 miles) away from the shore, there's an abandoned island with long history but no population. Herschel Island, known as Qikiqtaruk ("island") in the Inuvialuktun language, had been inhabited by Thule people for at least 1,000 years according to archaeological excavations. The first European who set foot on the island was Sir John Franklin on 15 July, 1826. At that time the island was a base for whaling, fishing and hunting and was inhabited by 200 to 2000 people.

In the late 19th century, Herschel Island became a whaling base after whalers discovered that the Beaufort Sea was one of the last refuges of the depleted bowhead whale. At the height of the Beaufort Sea whaling period (1893–94) the number of residents on the island was estimated at 1,500, making it the largest Yukon community at that time. That was also when a number of buildings still standing today were built on the island. The most prominent of those was Community House built in 1893. It included a recreation room, an office for the manager and storekeeper, and storage facilities. Today it is well preserved and it's the island's visitor center. Another building, known as the Bonehouse which was built in the mid-1890s as a storehouse for baleen (whalebone) was were the first court case in the Arctic took place in 1924.

Whaling subsided after the first decades of the 20th century but Herschel island saw some renewed activity in the 1970s when it became a temporary safe harbour for oil-drilling ships. The last family permanently living there left the island in 1987. From that year, Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park was established, encompassing the whole island. It is jointly managed by The Government of Yukon and the Inuvialuit. The park is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, protected as a cultural and also natural site.

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Ansgar Walk/Wikimedia Commons

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Monday, June 5, 2017

The deserted Boblo Island Amusement Park of Ontario

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For almost 100 years, Boblo Island Amusement Park was known as Michigan's Coney Island, even though it was built on Canadian land. The amusement park opened in 1898 in Ontario's Bois Blanc island, above the mouth of the Detroit River. Its name, Boblo, is an abbreviation of 'Bois Blanc'.

The island was accessible by boats departing from from Amherstburg, Ontario as well as from Detroit. SS Ste. Clair and the SS Columbia excursion boats, two steamers known as Bob-Lo Boats, served the island for more than 85 years.

On the island, the most popular attractions were The Nightmare, Falling Star, Wild Mouse, Sky Streak, and Screamer rides, a Ferris wheel, a zoo, and a carousel. Visitors would move between different rides via a railway that the park constructed. Henry Ford financed a dance hall which at the time was the second largest in the world, holding 5,000 dancers at full capacity.

Boblo Island Amusement Park closed down in 1993 after 95 years of operation. Most of its old fashioned structures were torn down and the island was renovated for luxury homes. A few remains bring back memories from when Boblo was an island of joy.

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SEE ALSO: More abandoned amusement parks and abandoned theme parks around the world // More abandoned islands // More abandoned places in Canada // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
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Thursday, April 14, 2016

McBarge: An abandoned floating Mc Donald's restaurant in Canada

There was a time when floating McDonald's restaurants were a thing. McBarge -officially known as Friendship 500- was built for the Expo '86 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was basically a 57-metre-long (187 ft) barge that was converted into a McDonald's restaurant during the 1986 World Exposition. It was designed by Robert Allan Ltd and it was one of the 5 McDonald's locations inside the Expo grounds with the intention to showcase future technology and architecture.

The McBarge was initially supposed to be used as a restaurant after the Expo but it remained empty in the Expo grounds until 1991 when the owner forced McDonald's to remove it. Since then, it had been anchored derelict in Burrard Inlet, north of Burnaby, British Columbia. In 1991, the barge's new owner proposed a plan for a waterfront development on the Fraser River, with the former McBarge as the centrepiece. The plan however was rejected by the local government for environmental reasons.

In December 2015, the owner announced that the barge would soon be leaving Burrard Inlet after nearly 30 years. It was moved to Maple Ridge, British Columbia on December 22 where it is scheduled for a $4.5-million refit, before being relocated to an undisclosed location.

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