Not to be forgotten: Prairie’s declining gems live on

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Every time Dion Manastyrski returned to his rural roots, he couldn’t help noticing a sizable change in its landscape. In fact, the transformation was so drastic and rapid that in 2003 he felt compelled to photograph some of Alberta’s deteriorating structures, not yet aware it would turn into a compilation of Alberta’s vanishing treasures: Prairie Sunset: A Story of Change.
After capturing images of aged abandoned barns, schools, houses and churches, as well as interviewing over 70 people including retired farmers, one-room school teachers, and railway workers across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the book made it on the shelves in 2015. Thrilled with its success, the author decided on a second printing this year to commemorate 150 years of Confederation.
“There was just this noticeable change and I guess being away from there makes that stand out even more,” said Manastyrski, who came through Strathmore to promote his book on Nov. 30.
“They disappear so quickly so I started photographing them and I also did this in part because it’s a really compelling subject matter. The buildings have a sentimental value, there’s a mystery to them. Most people I talked to and myself, we wonder what the lives were like of the people who lived there.”
Manastyrski, who now resides in Victoria B.C., got the inside scoop when he embarked on eight road trips across the three Prairie provinces between 2003 and 2014 to research his book. The stories and people he encountered, including a 105-year-old one-room school teacher, educated him on the importance of the family farm, survival and the way of life back then – lessons he hopes to share with Canadians through his book, which includes 200 quotes, more than 100 of Manastyrski’s photographs, and 50 black and white documents from government archives.
Manastyrski spent his youth on a small family farm near Rose Valley, Sask.; the youngest of his siblings were 15 to 18 years older than he. The Saskatchewan native credits his upbringing for his appreciation of the Prairies.
“My parents were pretty old when they had me and what that meant was that I heard a lot of the stories from further back,” he said. “The further back you go, the smaller the farms were, the smaller the machinery was, the more involved everyone on the farm was. In living that life and working on it, I thought I had heard all the stories, but after I talked to all these people … I was amazed at the diversity of what they had to say. It was an incredible experience and the end result worked out better than I could have imagined.”
Although the book is Manastyrski’s first published work, it won’t be his last. He is already talking about future books and within a year’s time hopes to post numerous photos and experiences from his travel over the past few years.
Prairie Sunset: A story of Change is available in Strathmore at Home Hardware and Peavey Mart.