A rare black and white image for me. I took a variety of shots of this tiny church that I love to see, but thought I would make this black and white one the first to be uploaded. Have to admit that the only reason I drove as far as this location was that I was totally out of luck that day, as far as seeing any Great Gray Owls was concerned. Didn't want to go home with a completely empty memory card, lol! I also stopped off at the Ghost River Reservoir, which was completey frozen over. A young guy was having great fun speeding around the frozen surface on his motorcross (?) bike. Not the easiest thing to try and photograph, but I might be able to find one shot to post sometime.

A nearby sign had the following words on it:
"The historic church at the end of this pathway was constructed in 1875. At that time, native people were still hunting bison on the prairies. The young nation of Canada was only eight years old; the Canadian Pacific Railway still nine years in the future. And this church would become the heart of a thriving community, Morleyville, and for a time the largest settlement in what would be southern Alberta.

The story of this church is really the story of Rev. George McDougall who moved to western Canada with his family in 1862 to minister to the fur traders and native people. In 1873, the McDougalls established the first mission in the region and built this church. In doing so, they wrote an important chapter of Alberta's settlement history".

After George McDougall's tragic death in a snowstorm, his body was brought back to the church at Morleyville and laid to rest.

www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=8788