Category Archives: Decay
Whistler’s hidden past
While Whistler may seem to have been built on the foundations of tourism, the area does indeed have a real history. In between the mountain biking trails and golf courses are telltale signs of Whistler’s industrial past, old logging roads and rail lines reveal hidden mines and abandoned homesteads long forgotten.
Mr. Clean
All abandoned buildings have a distinct smell, a mix of mold, stagnant air and other healthy particles that fill your lungs everytime you go exploring. True, you can wear a respirator to protect yourself, and you can wear a harness when you climb cranes. But the truth of the matter is, this is not a safe hobby, some people explore just for the sole reason that it IS dangerous and risky. If being safe and secure is your thing, you picked the wrong hobby and should probably stay at home in the comfort of your own home.
Derelict industrial sites are notorious for nasty leftover hazards. Although the massive complex at the foot of the Don River in Toronto is industrial, they made soap, detergents and other cleaning products so instead of the standard abandonment smell, the air is filled with the smell of cleaning agents. Although many cleaning products are designed to smell pleasant, the constant cleanliness was nauseating.
Safety Behind Bars
Camp Bison was a minimum security industrial farm located south of Sudbury. It was part of a small remote community called Burwash that housed the staff working at the jail and other support structures. During this time the camp was self-sufficent and inmates worked in the surrounding farms. The prison closed down in 1973. Part of the land was transferred to the Department of National Defence for use as a training area.
Is America in Decline?
Inside an abandoned school in Detroit lay a discarded copy of a book titled “Is America in Decline”. The last three abandoned posts of mine were from south of the border. In case you need clarification, here is some more ruin prOn.
Long live Detroit
Despite its negative connotations, Detroit is an amazing place full of wonderful people.
Since the 70′s the population of the city has fallen by more than half a million people, leaving behind entire abandoned neighbourhoods, hospitals, churches, schools, police stations, but more importantly, a changed and divided city. Metro Detroit has a reported literacy rate of about 50% and more than one third its residents are below the federal poverty level. At the same time the surrounding suburbs are among the more affluent in the U.S.
I came to see the aftermath of this mass exodus and the hundreds of leftover abandoned buildings that scar the landscape. But what I was left with was a respect for those who endure hardship in order to call the Motor City their home.
Long Live Detroit
Schools out… forever!
Detroit’s Lewis Cass Technical Highschool was home to thousands of students from 1917, until its closure in 2005. The 7 storey school hosts a 3,100 seat auditorium, 2 swimming pools and an array of chemistry labs, those of which are still stocked with all sorts of instruments and hardware left behind when the school was relocated across the street. I am not sure how people can study and pay attention in class, when across the street they can see inside their former school. Through the large smashed windows staff and students can see classrooms full of supplies: textbooks, desks, chairs, overhead projectors, you name it.
