Archival Restorations & Medicine Hat in 1883

While I've always had an interest in old photographs, it's a relatively new skill that I've been practicing in restoring and colourizing archival images. I was particularly interested in some of the earliest images that I could find of my hometown, Medicine Hat, Alberta.  

Here are some of my recent experiments from Medicine Hat's founding in 1883.

1. This image was taken 142 years ago today on June 14, 1883.

It shows a North-West Mounted Police outpost with a newly formed tent town in the distance. The timber train bridge in the background had just been completed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, with the first train crossing taking place just a few days prior on June 10, 1883. 

It was the beginning of a place called Medicine Hat.

2. Another piece of 142 year old history.

This photograph depicts the first train crossing on the newly built timber bridge in Medicine Hat on June 10, 1883. You can see that the train is full of railway ties and telegraph polls as the workers of the Canadian Pacific Railway continued their westward expansion across the South Saskatchewan River.

With the mountains ahead, the final spike in CP's coast to coast railway would finally be driven in Craigellachie, British Columbia on November 7, 1885 - a year and half after this moment was captured in the newly founded Medicine Hat.

3. This image was taken on June 18, 1883.

The craziest thing about finding and restoring these archival images when I did, is that I seem to be unintentionally following in the footsteps of this unnamed photographer who was capturing some of the first ever images in the area.

This image shows the newly founded tent town of Medicine Hat about a week after the completion of the CPR bridge across the river.