Road Trip 1954

On July 31, 1954, freelance photographer Rosemary Gilliat and her girlfriends, Anna Brown, Audrey James and Helen Salkeld, packed up Helen’s Plymouth station wagon and began their 12,391-kilometre road trip across Canada. During the next 38 days, they crossed five provinces and four states, travelling through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, and returning to Ottawa on September 6.

Helen Salkeld, Audrey James, Anna Brown and Rosemary Gilliat (left to right) 

getting ready to leave Ottawa, Ontario for their Trans-Canada Highway trip, July 31, 1954

  

 Anna Brown, Helen Salkeld and Audrey James stopping at 

Deep River (Ottawa River), Ontario. July 31, 1954

  

Audrey James in a tent, possibly near Temagami, Ontario, July 31, 1954

 

Where do we go from here? Audrey James standing at a large road sign on 

the Trans-Canada Highway near Kirkland Lake, Ontario, August 1, 1954

 

Audrey James, Anna Brown and Helen Salkeld erecting 

tents, Moonbeam, Ontario, August 1, 1954

 

Anna Brown half asleep in a tent, Moonbeam, Ontario, August 1, 1954

 

Downtown street in Hearst, Ontario, August 2, 1954

 

Supper by deserted gold mine buildings, possibly 

near Geraldton, Ontario, August 2, 1954

 

Anna Brown cooking outdoors, possibly in the vicinity of 

Klotz Lake near Geraldton, Ontario, August 2, 1954

 

Anna Brown getting out of a lake in Northern Ontario, August 2, 1954

 

Anna Brown and Helen Salkeld on a lakeshore, Nipigon, Ontario, August 3, 1954

 

Supper beside English River, Ontario, August 3, 1954

 

 Anna Brown and Helen Salkeld erecting tents, 

English River, Ontario, August 3, 1954

  

Source: BiblioArchives/LibraryArchives Canada