The coal mines of the
Drumheller Valley started much later than many others in
southern Alberta and British Columbia. The first coal lease was
taken out only in 1903 by a local rancher, James E. Trumble. He
envisioned much commercial coal mining in the area in the near
future and profited later from his foresight.
In the winter of
1907, an American entrepreneur named
Jerome "Sam" Drumheller
arrived in the Drumheller Valley. The ambitious resident of
Walla Walla, Washington knew that a railway would soon be built
through the district and he sought to establish a townsite
around a seam of coal located on a local ranch owned by Thomas
Greentree. Much of Greentree's large tract of land was sold to
Drumheller, who set out a townsite on the land in 1910. The next
year, the town was named Drumheller by the Canadian Northern
Railway Company.
The same year, work
began at the first commercial coal mine in the valley, the
Newcastle. In 1912, eight other mines opened. The coal mining
era of east-central Alberta was underway. Production increased
steadily until, by 1921, there were 27 operating mines at
Drumheller, the most up-to-date being the No. 2 Mine of Midland
Coal Company. The two Midland mines alone were producing 1.5
million tons of coal annually, employing approximately 2,000
men.
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Heritage
Trails No. 292Towns, Drumheller
Today, when we think about Drumheller, dinosaurs and fossils
come to mind. However, this southern-Alberta town began as a
service centre for the coal mining industry. Through the
1920s and 30s, the area was promoted as a prime place to see
hoodoos and fossils, which marked the town's beginnings as a
tourist attraction.
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The Atlas Coal Co.
Ltd opened its first mine March 7, 1917. Owners of the company
were James McCulloch and James O.E. Holden, who served as the
first president of the company, and Dr. Omer H. Patrick, who
later assumed control of the company and was president until his
death in December 1947. Dr. Patrick opened another mine, also
bearing the name Atlas Coal Mine on May 5, 1928. The founding of
the Atlas and the Murray mines resulted in the establishment of
the community of East Coulee. The
Atlas Mine closed in 1979.
Today the site is preserved as one of the best examples of coal
mining structures in western Canada and became a National
Historic Site in 2002.
The Depression of the
1930s saw drastic cutbacks in production of Drumheller coal and
in 1940 the No. 1 Midland Mine closed. The war years, though,
brought a sharp increase in production as the sub-bituminous
coal was used to fuel factories across Canada. The Drumheller
coal mines produced two million tons of coal in their peak year,
1947. However the discovery of oil and gas deposits heralded the
end of the coal based prosperity for Drumheller. Gradually the
mines shut down. Between 1911 and 1966 a total of 124 mines had
operated near Drumheller, 34 of which had a long and productive
history. Today, there are no operating coal mines in the
Drumheller Valley, though a coal mine and thermal power plant
operate today at Shawnessy, 80 kilometers to the east of
Drumheller.
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