The landscape between Hanna and Oyen is flat as a tabletop with Highway 9 and the railway paralleling each other for many miles, straight as an arrow. This provided the ideal opportunity for a pan shot of "Brass" and his two steeds at work, something neither one of us had ever tried before. Lying at the peak of the Palliser triangle, this part of Alberta has been depopulating steadily for many decades now. When John Palliser explored the region between 1857 and 1860 he declared it to be a desert, unfit for human settlement. Fortunately, for the most part he was proven wrong and people do make a living out here in ranching and oil and gas. The Canadian Northern Railway enticed settlers, mainly from eastern European countries to relocate in the triangle and for the first few years, the prospects looked good. Unfortunately, for both the railway and the settlers these endeavors were undertaken when the precipitation was much higher than normal. As drought became the rule rather than the exception, the homesteaders steadily trickled away to find greener pastures. The Alberta Goverment still designates this part of the province as a "Special Area"