Coalspur | |
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Coordinates: 53°10′58″N117°00′58″W / 53.18278°N 117.01611°W Coordinates: 53°10′58″N117°00′58″W / 53.18278°N 117.01611°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Alberta |
Municipal district | Yellowhead County |
Government | |
• Type | Unincorporated |
• Mayor | Jim Eglinski |
• Governing body | Yellowhead County Council
|
Time zone | UTC−7 (MST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−6 (MDT) |
Area code(s) | 780, 587, 825 |
Coalspur is a nearly abandoned coal-mining and railroad town in Yellowhead County, Alberta. It is situated on Highway 47 beside the Embarras River in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1941 | 88 | — |
1951 | 133 | +51.1% |
Source: Statistics Canada [1] |
Coalspur was established during the construction of the Alberta Coal Branch, a spur line of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (later the Canadian National Railway) during 1911–1912. Located where the east and west lines diverged, it was home to the railroad construction camp and became a transport hub with a roundhouse and repair shops. It later became the headquarters for the Brazeau Forest Reserve and the Alberta Provincial Police. [2]
Soon after the railroad arrived in 1912, a group of British financiers founded the Yellowhead Pass Coal and Coke Company. [3] The original Yellowhead Mine near Coalspur employed 70 men, produced 500 tons of coal per day, and sustained the small community. At the peak of production the mine employed 400 men. [4] A massive underground fire occurred in 1915 [5] and again in 1922. The mine closed in 1923, although other mines in the area continued to operate until the 1950s. [2]
One of the earliest oil wells in the central Alberta foothills was drilled near Coalspur. In 1924 Imperial Oil sank a test well near the community, and discovered a significant flow of natural gas that was used to heat boilers in the mining camp. No commercial quantity of petroleum was found however, and drilling ceased near Coalspur, [6] although several natural gas fields were later discovered in the Coal Branch area. [2]
The population throughout the Coal Branch area declined during the 1950s as the railroads replaced steam locomotives with diesel, and the mines closed due to lack of markets. The Coalspur post office, which opened in 1914, closed in 1963. As of 2001, the community was home to a dozen or so residents. [2]
Crowsnest Pass is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border.
Edson is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Yellowhead County, 192 kilometres (119 mi) west of Edmonton along the Yellowhead Highway and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the intersection with Highway 47.
Dawson is a ghost town in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. Dawson was the site of two separate coal mining disasters in 1913 and 1923. Dawson is located approximately 17 miles northeast of Cimarron. Dawson was a coal mining company town founded in 1901, when rancher John Barkley Dawson sold his coal-rich land in northern New Mexico to the Dawson Fuel Company. The Dawson Railway was built connecting the town to Tucumcari. The mines were productive, and by 1905 the town boasted a population of nearly 2,000, later reaching around 9,000.
Big Valley is a village in central Alberta, Canada that is southeast of Red Deer. It is located 32 km (20 mi) south of Stettler and 64 km (40 mi) north of Drumheller on Highway 56 in the County of Stettler No. 6.
Nordegg is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is located in the North Saskatchewan River valley in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, just east of the intersection of the David Thompson Highway and the Highway 734 spur of the Bighorn Highway. A former coal mining town, it was named after Martin Nordegg and the name probably means "North Corner" in a German dialect. The railway station name at the locality was called Brazeau rather than Nordegg at certain points in its history, but the local post office has always been named Nordegg. The name Brazeau is now obsolete.
Beaver Mines is a hamlet in southern Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9. It is located in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies on Highway 507, approximately 19 km (12 mi) west of Pincher Creek.
Alexo is a ghost town in Alberta, Canada. Built as a coal mining town, it lies in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies at an elevation of about 1,260 metres (4,130 ft), near the David Thompson Highway between the towns of Nordegg and Rocky Mountain House. The Town of Alexo has recently been transformed into a summer camp by YouthHQ which operates out of Red Deer, Alberta. Shunda Creek and the North Saskatchewan River run to the south of it.
Mercoal, a former coal mining town, is located in the Yellowhead County of western Alberta, Canada. It was one of several communities along the historic Coal Branch segment of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, which included Embarras, Robb, Coalspur, Coal Valley, Cadomin, Luscar, and Mountain Park. At its peak in the late 1940s and early 1950s the town had over 800 residents. Mercoal declined after the mines closed in 1959, and it is now essentially a ghost town with only a small number of summer residences remaining. It is situated on Highway 40, 70 km southwest of Edson, 8 km (5 mi) west of Coalspur.
Cadomin is a hamlet in the west-central Alberta, Canada within Yellowhead County. It is located along the McLeod River in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Hinton near the Bighorn Highway. It is served by a spur of the Canadian National Railway.
Luscar is a ghost town in west-central Alberta, Canada that was once a coal mining community. It was in the foothills of the Northern Rockies about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Cadomin along the Bighorn Highway, at the end of the CN Railway line.
Mountain Park is a ghost town in western Alberta, south of Cadomin, elevation 6200 feet, at the end of the historic Alberta Coal Branch line of the Canadian National Railway.
Cardiff is a ghost town in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. Founded as a coal mining town in 1899, it boomed in its first few years. The closure of the mine in 1912 soon led to the community's demise. It is located in Round Grove Township, between the villages of Campus and Reddick.
Embarras is a locality in Yellowhead County, Alberta, Canada. It takes its name from the Embarras River. 'Embarrass' is French for 'barrier', probably in reference to the piles of driftwood that often clog the shallow, winding river.
The Lovett River is a short river in the Alberta foothills. The Lovett is an early tributary of the Pembina River, itself a major tributary of the Athabasca River. The Lovett River was formerly known as the Little Pembina River, but to avoid confusion its name was changed. The new name was derived from Lovettville, a defunct coal mining town in the vicinity. The settlement took its name from H. A. Lovett, President of North American Collieries, a mining company in the area.
Coal reserves in Canada rank 13th largest in the world at approximately 10 billion tons, 0.6% of the world total. This represents more energy than all of the oil and gas in the country combined. The coal industry generates CDN$5 billion annually. Most of Canada's coal mining occurs in the West of the country. British Columbia operates 9 coal mines, Alberta nine, Saskatchewan three and New Brunswick one. Nova Scotia operates several small-scale mines, Westray having closed following the 1992 disaster there.
Georgetown is a ghost town in Alberta, Canada at the foot of Mount Rundle, near Banff.
Lille is a ghost town and former village in the Crowsnest Pass area of southwest Alberta, Canada. It was a company-built coal mining community that, between 1901 and 1912, hosted a population that grew to over 400. The mines at Lille closed in 1912, due primarily to weak coal prices, increasing production costs, and the increasingly poor quality of the coal. The community was then dismantled and most of its structures were moved elsewhere. Today the site is an Alberta Provincial Historic Resource and is known for the elegant ruins of a set of Bernard-style coke ovens that was imported from Belgium.
The Alberta Coal Branch is the name given to a segment of the Canadian National Railway and the region through which it passes. It is located within Yellowhead County in west-central Alberta, Canada.
Saunders Creek is a ghost town in west-central Alberta, Canada. Built as a coal mining community, the town existed from 1913 to 1954. It is located in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies near the David Thompson Highway, about 55 km west of the town of Rocky Mountain House. It was named for Saunders Creek, a small stream that runs immediately west of the townsite. The North Saskatchewan River flows nearby to the south.
Coal in Alberta is found in the Coalspur Formation in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the foothills of southwestern Alberta. The Coalspur Formation, which has large quantities of high-quality coal, runs from south of the Wapiti River to the North Saskatchewan River. The Coalspur coal zone is about 120 metres (390 ft) to 200 metres (660 ft) thick.