Foto Tunes

Tom hosts Foto Tunes

Calgary Alberta Gasoline Alley

Sheryl Crow told about.com about this song GASOLINE: "You know, part of what amazes me is that we're in a war based on, basically, oil ownership. We're very tied to oil, we're tied to coal. In the '60s and '70s when the Vietnam War was going on, every single day you saw people out on the streets rebelling, revolting. You don't see that now. You hear about people trying to change the way they live and not become oil-dependent, but the bottom line is that the government has made it so that we are dependent on oil. The kids are going over there and fighting for this idea of democracy, when really it's all about oil, about oil ownership. So the song was really inspired by that, acknowledging that things are not as they appear. And what if we do wake up and become enraged, and we did take it to the streets? It's kind of a sci-fi story looking back on a future when people actually demanded that our oil dependency come to an end."

Tuesday Treasures

Tom hosts Tuesday's Treasures.

July 2013 - Calgary Alberta

Gasoline Alley Museum at Heritage Park Historical Museum.

I didn't know much about the Depression and its impact on the Canadian Prairies.

This car from 1937 spiked my interest.

 I found the following information at Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan.

The province of Saskatchewan experienced extreme hardship during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Grasshoppers, hail and drought destroyed millions of acres of wheat . The drought caused massive crop failures, and Saskatchewan became known as a dust bowl.

The term “Dirty Thirties” described the Prairies, creating pessimistic perceptions and negative stereotypes about life in Saskatchewan. In 1928, the net farming income was $363 million; by 1933, it dropped to $11 million; and by 1937, two-thirds of the farm population of Saskatchewan was destitute. Relief costs for the Saskatchewan government escalated to $62 million, which was higher than its total revenues. At least 250,000 people left the prairie provinces between 1931 and 1941. 

While the federal and provincial governments struggled to address the desperate conditions of poverty and unemployment in Saskatchewan, aid came from across the country. Media accounts alerted the rest of Canada to the hardships faced by farmers: photographs of massive dust storms, huge Russian thistles, and the bleached bones of Saskatchewan cows dominated Canadian newspapers.

Drifted soil near Cadillac, 1937: a common sight during the Great Depression.

Saskatchewan Archives Board R-A3368