Photo: Orion Welcome Sign Alberta

A welcome sign to the town of Orion in Southern Alberta, Canada along Highway 61 in the almost abandoned part of the region.

Driving along Highway 61, you will eventually come to a welcome sign to the town of Orion in the Southern part of Alberta. The town of Orion was established in 1916 and after a couple of years the population of the town grew to about one hundred and fifty people.The crops were plentiful due to a vast amount of rain and you could find three general stores, a hotel, bank, blacksmith and cafe in town. Soon after that a drought hit Orion and crops dwindled away but the welcome sign still remains standing as approximately seven people still reside here.Up until a few years ago, grain elevators were still erected which was one of the last remaining hopes for Orion. When you travel through Orion in Southern Alberta today, the streets are full of empty houses and buildings and every sound echoes through this almost ghost town.Most of the towns along this stretch of highway became abandoned except for a few of them like Wrentham, Etzikom and Orion. ... continue below the picture...

... When traveling in Southern Alberta, Canada it is worth stopping when you see the Welcome to Orion sign and explore the town to feel what a ghost town actually is like. It is an eerie feeling when the winds whip through the buildings and along the street of Orion."Welcome to Orion" sign at the entrance to the small South East Alberta Town of Orion established in 1916, Alberta, Canada.