The trademark red and white smokestack from the coal-fired Generating Station could be seen for miles when driving down the long flat Trans-Canada Highway from Winnipeg. Brandon is a mere two-hour drive in a vehicle, though if one chooses to paddle down the meandering Assiniboine River, the trip takes eight days. The sight of the smokestack from highway or river meant you were close to home.
The plant is operating to this day, adjacent to wheat fields, no longer coal-powered, no longer generating electricity, but serving to stabilize voltage from other sources. Almost all other similar stacks in North America have been demolished.
“A smokestack can survive any explosion – even the shock wave from one of the new cosmic bombs.” ~ Thomas Pynchon in Gravity’s Rainbow
Location: Brandon, Manitoba
Date: Summer 1981
Source: Pentax ME Super with Kodacolor 125 ASA film
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