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TRunna — Empty Street in a Deserted Town
Published: 2012-06-15 20:31:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 608; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 0
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An empty street in the abandoned town of FarmerRelated content
Comments: 75
Well as near as I can tell the street ran from in front of that old barn to the general store (which is just behind me in this photo). The old road into town is a little better preserved, but not my much. fav.me/d59ol18
This old town emptied out about 90 years ago and the sage and bunchgrass reclaimed the site. Now the whole area sits in the middle of a wheat field.
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Wow. Wondered what the town looked like beforehand.
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I don't think there was much of a town. There are only 3 buildings left (mostly) standing and what looks like the remains of 4 others. But most of them were sheds or barns. I think there were only a few houses. There was at some point a one room school not too far away, but I have never found it or even the remains of where it might have been.
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So it was probably either a fail boom town or a farming community then, I guess.
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Definitely a farming community. The name of the town was "Farmer" and was likely settled by German immigrants in the late 1890's. There is a German Lutheran Kirsch fav.me/d3015ux not too far away that in so no longer used but has been lovingly preserved. There is also, on the hill above the town, and old cemetery with grave maskers dating back over 100 hears. fav.me/d3c5pbz
There are 100’s of old abandoned homesteads up in that area. When this area was settled, land was worked with horses. So places like Farmer was the closest place to get supplies for all the farmers.
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My guess is civilization advanced. Under the Homestead Act of 1862 (signed the Abraham Lincoln) anyone over the age of 21 could file on federally owned open land in the west, make improvements and would own the property. A man or woman could claim a quarter section (160 acres) and a married couple 320 acres. That is a lot of land to farm with horse drawn plows and harvesters. As machinery for farming became more common and tractors and trucks replaced horses more land could be farmed by one family. So lands were sold and farms grew larger and getting to a community with supplies easier so these small outposts lost their usefulness.
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EH! Did not know you were Canadian!
Well, without that technology (the internet) we would not be talking, you would walk or ride a horse/mule to school, your phone would be hanging on the kitchen wall instead on in your pocket and I would not have captured those images.
So in the long run technology has been a good thing for all of us.
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(I'm not Canadian. I'm an African American. I just use different works here and there...)
Well, yeah. You got your points.
BTW. Have you ever thought about being a history teacher? You sound like you'd be good at the job.
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Well it is nice to meet you.
Yes, at one time I thought about being a history teacher...but nothing ever came of that.
After college I sorta changed career goals and then, as often happens, life charted its own course.
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Ah. It is a good back up job though.
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Yes, but my backup job wont be teaching...that train has long sense left the station.
Are you looking forward to or dreading the start of school?
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Nope. Btw, school started last Monday. I want summer to be back again. So thank God for the Labor Day weekend.
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So am I glad for the 3-day weekend...but because of work not school.
I want summer back too. I only got to take a week off for vacation...but it was a great one.
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Heh... reminds me of one of my previous years where I spent all of my summer time in summer school and then joined marching band the following week. Overall that summer I only had 2 weeks of break, and it was the most stressful weeks too.
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Why were the 2 weeks stressful, or did you mean the weeks in summer school and band were stressful?
What instrument do/did you play? From 5th grad to my junior year I played saxophone...mostly alto but occasionally baritone.
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Well I meant stressful because those two weeks weren't successive. After the first session of summer school we had a week break before the next session. Then the second was the transition from summer school to summer band, marking the end of what summer was.
I played Euphonium B.C. or as it's more known as Bass Clef Baritone. Looks like a miniature Tuba.
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Ah...I think I read something in your journal about summer school this summer. Are you now on track to graduate?
We called it a baritone horn...and my nephew plays one in his school band.
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Ehhh... I would hope so. If you read some of my previous journals I've been talking about repeating the 10th grade because of which. Turns out I passed the 10th grade with 1/2 a point. (Talk about a close call.) So now, my mom and I decided to restrict me from many extracurricular activities in hopes of graduating on time. If anything hits the fan, I'll hopefully recover... in theory...
Oh... well we've been taught to call it either a Euphonium or Baritone BC. And I wish I could pursue it, but as I stated in the upper paragraph, I cannot...
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Well at the risk of sounding like a parent...I must emphasis the importance of getting an education. You can survive (barely) flipping burgers or you can have a career and an life full of options and possibilities. But unfortunately, this is the time of your life when the dice are rolled and your path is chosen.
I can tell by your writing you have the ability...the ambition and motivation will be the challenge.
Well, enough of this parenting crap...but I do wish you well this school year.
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The tree works perfectly in this shot. Looks like it has come out in sympathy with the old building.
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Thank you Simon, that is the element I was trying to capture. The tree is now as dead as the town and one of the few left standing.
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An abandoned town? Is it really like a ghost town? With no one left to stick around?
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I should look up the history…but I would guess the store closed up in the early 1920’s or maybe a bit earlier. But it likely was never much of a town…it looks like about 6 or 8 buildings. The general store was built onto the back (or maybe the front…I can’t tell) of an old farmhouse. (I have yet to post photos of that side.) When this area was settled and planted the average farm size was 180 acres or so, all worked with horses and each with its own farmhouse and out building. Later with mechanized farming the average size is 2,000 to 4,000 acres. Smaller farms were consolidated into larger ones…that is the main reason there are so many abandoned farmhouses and buildings up in that area. When cars and truck replaced horses and wagons it was easier to drive the 15 to 20 miles to a larger town to get supplies.
There is really nothing nearby except two massive grain elevators (Farmer Grain Coop) and the Farmer’s Community Hall. There are active wheat fields all around and scattered farmhouses…but your next door neighbor is apt to be a mile or two away. And it is a 2o to 30 mile bus ride to get to school.
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It sounds like something that could be an interesting project. Something like restoring an old town, whether it's for economical or historical purposes. Sorry, I tend to get that way with old, abandoned places!
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There are a lot of them up there. Don’t know how feasible it is to restore any of them…but they would make a great backdrop for one of your photo shoots with the children. You could almost tell a story with just a few shots.
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Thanks! There are a lot of them up there.
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Thank you! This is one of the many ghost towns in that area.
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Ghost town? Really? Interesting...
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Ghost towns....several of them.
But that is an American term for an abandoned town that's just left to decay...I doubt there are ghosts...
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Oh, I thought that there are some real ghosts there
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There might be a haunted house here or there, but not a town....
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Thanks! I can find you a horse if you want to ride down the street and turn left in front of the general store.
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Do you ride?
Would be kinda cool...very western feel to it.
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That's good...a real western adventure...I'll even lend you my cowboy hat.
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