Chris Attrell’s journey to preserving rural history

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

Shaynee Modien

Shaunavon Standard Local Journalism Initiative

The Grand Coteau Heritage and Cultural Centre recently welcomed its first guest speaker of the year for their Coffee Chat: well-known YouTuber and local photographer Chris Attrell.

The event, sponsored by Jae’s Pharmacy, drew a great turnout, giving Chris the opportunity to share his Saskatchewan ghost town photos and videos with the audience in Shaunavon on January 9.

“It was about ghost towns in abandoned places in southwest Saskatchewan,” Chris stated. “The audience was a large percentage of seniors – it was a packed house, and it was really exciting. First, I showed them a video of the pictures I’ve taken, mostly of abandoned buildings all over Saskatchewan, so they could see what I do.”

He also showed the audience a video of one of his tours of southwest Saskatchewan.

“I’ve visited a whole bunch of ghost towns, many of them in this area,”

he explained. “And a lot of people recognized houses that were in the video.”

When discussing the production side of his work, Attrell mentioned that he prefers shooting at night, using lighting to bring the scenes to life.

Chris shared with the audience how he started photography as a hobby, which eventually led to a book and then a YouTube channel.

However, he expressed regret over not saving his earlier projects and hoped that the seniors in attendance might be able to help him recover some of those past stories.

“My biggest regret is that I never really saved the stories I learned all those years ago,” he said. “I didn’t know it would turn into this.”

These days, Chris aims to focus more on the stories behind the places he visits, as there are many interesting tales to be told, such as the introduction of electricity and phone lines, which are still etched in the memories of the seniors.

“You hear stories from people about when they got their telephone line, or when they got  electricity,” said Chris. “People take those sorts of thing for granted now, but you learn that some of these places didn’t get services like electricity until the 1970s in some cases.”

He also noted that many of these ghost towns are disappearing as villages and towns undergo development and improvement.

“I’ve started to go to back some of those ghost town, revisiting some of the places and trying to learn more about them so people can have some record of their history. They’re disappearing so fast.”

While Chris loves exploring ghost towns in Saskatchewan, he also enjoys venturing across the border. However, he exercises caution when exploring in places like California, where he has encountered suspicious activity along the highways.

According to Chris, “In Saskatchewan, exploring old ghost towns makes you feel safe, but in places like California, there’s a lot of sketchy stuff going on.”

Chris has had no major issues crossing the border, although he has noticed that the Canadian side tends to be more thorough when he returns.

As the weather warms up, he plans to head south again.

Although his explorations of Saskatchewan are well-received, it’s his YouTube videos of Route 66 in the USA that have garnered millions of views, including one video with close to 6 million views.

When asked about the secret to his videos’ success, he explained, “YouTube will send out videos to people if they think they have an interest in them. You don’t need to have lots of subscribers; you just need to make quality content.”

Chris’s next project involves creating a video about a Bonnie and Clyde location, and he hopes to continue filming along Route 66, which may help unite the interests of both countries through his content.

Chris has also produced a follow up to his hugely popular book Forgotten Saskatchewan, which was the best selling photography book on Amazon six years ago. The publisher plans to release Chris’ new book this year.