Summer Holiday: Visiting the Past - Carlyle

The same day we visited Redvers, we also visited Carlyle. These two communities are just a short drive apart. Carlyle boasts a population of about 1,260 and is my mother's home town.



This is a picture of the house that my grandparents used to own (my mother's parents). Of course this house looks nothing like it did when I was young and used to go there to visit my grandparents. In fact, when I recently showed this picture to my brother, he did not recognize the house at all. This is a picture of what we knew to be the "garden" that was next to the house. The trees have grown huge and you can't see where the flower and vegetable garden used to be behind the fence.
I went looking for old pictures of the house as I remembered it and came across this picture of my grandparents. I am unsure of the year this picture was taken, but I am sure either my aunt will know or my dad will recognize the year of the car in the background and be able to help with a time period as well.

I did find this picture of the house as I remember it. This picture was taken in the early 60's. There was still a garage attached to the house at this point.
And while I was hunting for pictures of the house, I came across some others taken in front of the house. This is a picture of me in front of my grandparent's house.
This is my brother and I. This picture was taken from the "garden" side of the house. You can see the roof of the house in the background.
This picture is my parents, my brother and I. Aren't we a cute family?

A visit back to the places I grew up would not be complete without a trip to the graveyards. This is the cemetery at Carlyle. Many of my relatives from my mother's side rest here including my grandparents pictured above. I have always had an interest in my family's history and family tree. A visit to the graveyard when I was young with my grandparents always stimulated stories of my ancestors.

This picture was taken outside the cemetery. You can see the fence of the graveyard to the right in the picture. This picture is very representative of the many prairie grid roads in the area--gravel only. Only major highways are paved.
This picture was taken from my great uncle's quarter section of land. If you look very close, you can see the town of Carlyle on the horizon. This is the only active oil well left that is associated with the land that used to belong to my grandfather. This pump jack is located adjacent to the land that used to belong to my grandfather. This is a horizontal well that is extracting oil from under the land that used to belong to my grandfather. Oil is booming right now in Saskatchewan. Carlyle and the surrounding area is part of the Bakken Formation. The Bakken Formation includes North Dakota, Montana, and Saskatchewan. Oil was originally discovered in this area in the early 1950's. However, the oil is beneath the shale, not in it and it has been very difficult in the past to extract the oil. However, technology is changing and drilling for the oil seems to have taken off in the area recently. Saskatchewan has now found itself in the middle of an oil boom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_Formation