Mountain Park is a ghost town in western Alberta, south of Cadomin, elevation 6200 feet, [1] at the end of the historic Alberta Coal Branch line of the Canadian National Railway (originally the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway).
Production of steam coal for railroad use by the Mountain Park Coal Co. Ltd. began in 1912 or 1914. [2] [3] It closed in 1950 in response to rising debt, declining coal markets, and a flood by the McLeod River that washed out the railroad bed. [4] Mining throughout the area ceased as the railroads replaced steam locomotives with diesel, and the town was quickly abandoned. Almost nothing remains of Mountain Park today, except for a restored cemetery and a few remnants of the mine. At its peak, the town was home to about 1,500 residents. [2]
Mountain Park was the site of another coal mining operation, the Cheviot Mine, which opened in 2005 despite environmental opposition. Cheviot was operated by Teck Coal Ltd. and produced coking coal for export to Japanese steel mills. [5] It closed in 2020 due to declining coal reserves. [6]
Thurmond is a town in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States, on the New River. The population was five at the 2020 census. During the heyday of coal mining in the New River Gorge, Thurmond was a prosperous town with a number of businesses and facilities for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
Teck Resources Limited, known as Teck Cominco until late 2008, is a diversified natural resources company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, that is engaged in mining and mineral development, including coal for the steelmaking industry, copper, zinc, and energy. Secondary products include lead, silver, gold, molybdenum, germanium, indium and cadmium. Teck Resources was formed from the amalgamation of Teck and Cominco in 2001.
Tumbler Ridge is a district municipality in the foothills of the B.C. Rockies in northeastern British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Peace River Regional District. With a population of 2,399 (2021) living in a townsite, the municipality encompasses an area of 1,558 km2 (602 sq mi) of mostly Crown land. The townsite is located near the confluence of the Murray River and Flatbed Creek and the intersection of Highway 52 and Highway 29 and includes the site of the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and Tumbler Ridge Airport. It is part of the Peace River South provincial electoral district and the Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies federal riding.
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.
Nordegg is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is 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.
Bankhead, Alberta was a small coal mining town that existed in the early twentieth century, in Banff National Park, near the town of Banff, Alberta. The mine was located at Cascade Mountain, which contains high grade anthracite coal deposits. The Bankhead coal mine was operated by the Pacific Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which needed the coal to fuel its steam engines. The mine began operations in 1903.
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.
Seddonville is a lightly populated locality on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is most famous for the historical role it played in New Zealand's coal mining industry.
The Conns Creek Branch was a 2.7 kilometre branch line railway in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. It diverged from the Seddonville Branch at Waimangaroa and followed the southern bank of the Waimangaroa River to the line's terminus at Conns Creek at the foot of the Denniston Incline. The line operated from 1877 until 1967 and existed for the sole purpose of conveying coal from mines to the port of Westport.
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.
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.
Mitford is a ghost town in Alberta. Established in 1886, Mitford supported a sawmill, and later a coal mine, before being abandoned by 1898.
Corbin is a ghost town in British Columbia, Canada. It was a coal mining community located at the foot of Coal Mountain, south of the Crowsnest Pass in the southern Canadian Rockies.
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.
The Waterloo Mining Railroad, also known as the Calico Railroad or Daggett-Calico Railroad, was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad built to carry silver ore from the mines in the Calico Mountains north of Calico to the mills located at Elephant Mountain near Daggett, California, from 1888 to 1903.
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.
52°55′49″N117°16′21″W / 52.93028°N 117.27250°W