Ontario S Ghost Town Heritage

Well-illustrated with photos and maps this book has the best 80 ghost towns in Ontario described in Ron Brown's previous books. Each essay explores a town, some abandoned, some still populated, whose former glory makes it an interesting destination.

Ontario is rich in ghost towns, communities that were once thriving but which have been reduced to mere shadows of their former selves. Nine villages -- including silver camps, fishing ports, crossroads hamlets, and farming settlements -- come alive on the pages of this book. The term 'ghost town' invariably conjures up images of fog-shrouded cemeteries, buildings with sinister visages, and of course, restless spirits of the dead. While often this is merely our imagination at play, in some cases, these ghost towns are indeed said to be haunted.

Whether you hike, bike, ride the rails, or drive, the shore of Lake Ontario can yield a treasure trove of heritage sites and natural beauty – if you know where to look. Travel with Ron Brown as he probes the shoreline of the Canadian side of Lake Ontario to discover its hidden heritage. Explore "ghost ports," forgotten coves, historical lighthouses, rumrunning lore, and even the location of a top-secret spy camp. The area also contains some unusual natural features, including a mysterious mountain-top lake, sand dunes, and the rare albars of Prince Edward County. From small communities to the megacity of Toronto, history lives on in the buildings, bridges, canals, rail lines, and homes that have survived, and in the stories, both well-known and long-forgotten, of the people and places no longer here. In From Queenston to Kingston, Ron Brown provides today’s explorer’s with a window into Ontario’s not so distant past and shares a hope that, in future, progress and historical preservation go hand in hand.

The Red Coat Trail of southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta runs near the route of the North West Mounted Police’s famous 1874 March West. Today, this lonely highway passes through a windswept land of ghostly abandoned towns. Johnnie Bachusky takes readers back to the heyday of these towns, which sprang up as settlers travelled west during the last great land rush. The Roaring Twenties brought bumper harvests, but also bootleggers and bank robbers; fortunes were won and lost in high-stakes poker games. The Great Depression devastated the region as disease, drought, dust storms and grasshoppers took their toll. History comes to life in these exciting true stories, from an account of a 1920s bank robbery in Manyberries to the tales of a boisterous Govenlock rancher who hunted with Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok.

Many of BC's old mining towns are now abandoned ruins, disappearing into the wilderness. These once-thriving towns and the pioneers who built them are remembered in 10 fascinating stories of hard work and heroism. A mine rescue worker sadly recounts a tale of death underground at Coal Creek. Three eccentric old bachelors become the final residents of Phoenix. Legends of Spanish treasure near a Vancouver Island gold-rush town persist to this day. Experience BC's colourful past in these entertaining stories from the province's vanished communities.

Whether you hike, bike, ride the rails, or drive, the shore of Lake Ontario can yield a treasure trove of heritage sites and natural beauty – if you know where to look. Travel with Ron Brown as he probes the shoreline of the Canadian side of Lake Ontario to discover its hidden heritage. Explore "ghost ports," forgotten coves, historical lighthouses, rumrunning lore, and even the location of a top-secret spy camp. The area also contains some unusual natural features, including a mysterious mountain-top lake, sand dunes, and the rare albars of Prince Edward County. From small communities to the megacity of Toronto, history lives on in the buildings, bridges, canals, rail lines, and homes that have survived, and in the stories, both well-known and long-forgotten, of the people and places no longer here. In From Queenston to Kingston, Ron Brown provides today’s explorer’s with a window into Ontario’s not so distant past and shares a hope that, in future, progress and historical preservation go hand in hand.