Coal Train Comin'

Coal Train Comin'. . In 1884 Canmore was just a whistle-stop on the newly built Canadian Pacific Railway when two prospectors unearthed black coal on the west side of the Bow River. Two years later, Queen Victoria granted a Charter to mine coal in the Canmore area and in 1887 the No. 1 Mine opened just below present-day Quarry Lake., Soon Canmore grew to be one of the most important coal-mining centres in southern Alberta, producing almost five million tons of coal a year at its zenith just before the First World War. By 1969 however production had dropped to about 200,000 tons a year. On Friday July 13, 1979 the last mine closed for good. Within a year, virtually all the buildings and railway spur lines that served the mines were removed., It has not been nearly as easy to erase the environmental impact of coal mining on the Bow River and surrounding lands. For many years, leftover mining waste, including piles of fine tailings created by the extraction process has trickled potentially harmful substances such as coal tar into soil and nearby waterways. In recent years efforts have been made to reclaim Canmore's old mine sites and reverse their polluting effect., The Engine Bridge , This iron railway bridge was built by the CPR in the late 1890s to link the mines on the west side of the river with the main railway line. Today the Engine Bridge serves as an important link in Canmore's trail network., To learn more about Canmore's coal-mining history, visit the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre, located in the Canmore Civic Centre.