Alberta Tour Part 5 – Markerville, Spruceview, Dickson

The third and final morning of our 3-day tour started with rain. As outlined in Part 1 of this series, my friend and fellow photographer, David Buzzeo, and I spent 3 days touring central Alberta photographing a variety of old buildings in small towns.

Both David and I tend to mount our cameras on tripods whenever practical when taking photos. However, with rain pelting down at our first stop, the Hamlet of Markerville, we shot hand-held. Basically we stopped the car in front of the building, jumped out, composed our shot, pressed the shutter and jumped back into the car.

The area around Markerville was originally settled by a group of Icelanders who travelled to the region from the Dakota Territory in the Spring of 1888. They were followed about a year later by another group of Icelanders from the Dakota Territory. They were drawn to the area largely because of it’s isolation. Their hope was that, in a remote and isolated area, they would be able to maintain their Icelandic language and culture.

As more settlers came to the area, in 1899 the Dominion Government established a creamery in the area. Markerville grew up around the creamery and soon became a supply center for the homesteaders in the region. Today, the population of Markerville, located southwest of Red Deer, has dwindled to about 38 people.

A short drive from Markerville is Spruce View, a tiny hamlet located on Highway 54 southwest of Red Deer. Again, due to rain, our stop was brief: long enough to photograph an old gas station and a bar next door.

Turning south at Spruce View, we came to the Hamlet of Dickson.

Following the influx of Icelanders to the Markerville area, Danish homesteaders started to settle a little distance to the west. As their numbers grew in the early 1900’s the hamlet of Dickson arose to service the farmers in the area. Very early on, the Dickson Store was established and serviced the needs of the community until 1980. Today it is a museum.