• Indigenous effigy made from coal in the form of a bison

    Early indigenous people transform coal found in seams in foothills and mountain regions into effigies.

    Most of the effigies depict bison, usually cows, with tongues out, indicating either running or being in labour. The specimens have all suffered damage from ploughing but are still remarkable and accurate anatomical reproductions of bison.
    Source: Royal Alberta Museum

  • First record of coal in Alberta, Peter Fidler’s Journey page

    The presence of coal in Alberta is first recorded by a European explorer.

    In the February 12, 1793, entry of “Journal of a Journey over Land from Buckingham House to the Rocky Mountains in 1792 & 3 by Peter Fidler,” Fidler describes his coal discovery.
    Source:  Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba, E.3-2 fo.30

  • First commercial coal mine in Alberta, Sheran mine in Glenbow, Edmonton, 1948

    The first commercial coal mine begins operation near present-day Lethbridge, Alberta.

    Nicholas Sheran’s mine, 1881
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-1948-2

  • First large-scale commercial coal mine in Alberta. Nicholas Sheran’s mine, 1885

    The first large-scale commercial mine begins production in Alberta.

    The entrance to Galt Drift Mine No. 1 in 1885 near present-day Lethbridge; Sir Alexander Galt establishes the mine to exploit the region’s abundant coal deposits. Galt also establishes the North Western Coal and Navigation Company in the same year to supply coal to the Canadian Pacific Railway.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-3188-43

  • A view of International Coal and Coke Company at Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass, ca. 1912

    Coal mining begins in the Crowsnest Pass region of Alberta.

    A view of International Coal and Coke Company at Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass, ca. 1912, eleven years after production started; the region yields a high volume of industrial steam coal.
    Source: Image courtesy of Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries, PC003325

  • Mountain Park Station, Mountain Park, Alberta, ca. 1920-1923

    Coal Branch mines open southwest of Edson, Alberta.

    Mountain Park Station, Mountain Park, Alberta, ca. 1920-1923; small-scale mining had begun in the Coal Branch about 1909, but after 1910 the arrival of the railway opened up the region to large-scale mining. Mountain Park appears to have been the first major community to grow, reaching a population of about 330 by the early 1920s.
    Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, CL26

  • Pit ponies pulling loaded coal-filled wooden mine cars underground at Newcastle Mine in 1914

    First large commercial mine in Drumheller starts production.

    Horses pull coal-filled wooden mine cars underground at Newcastle Mine in 1914, three years after Newcastle opened in Drumheller.
    Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A6152

  • An initial gas explosion triggers a larger coal dust explosion, killing 189 miners. The initial fatalities estimate reported in the Edmonton Capital newspaper on June 19, 1914, was later revised

    Alberta’s deadliest coal mine disaster occurs at Hillcrest, Alberta.

    An initial gas explosion triggers a larger coal dust explosion, killing 189 miners. The initial fatalities estimate reported in the Edmonton Capital newspaper on June 19, 1914, was later revised.
    Source: Image courtesy of Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries, Ar00113

  • Strikers from One Big Union (OBU) at Drumheller, Alberta, in 1919

    Cost of living rises by 65% since onset of World War I in 1914, contributing to coal industry labour unrest and heightened union activity.

    Strikers from the One Big Union (OBU) at Drumheller, Alberta, in 1919; the union forms after labour workers broke away from the United Mine Workers Association union. Miners are drawn to the OBU because of the deepening economic crisis.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-2513-1

  • Newcastle Mine in the Drumheller mining district of the province after ten years of expansion in 1921

    The province is divided into thirty-two coal mining districts as the industry expands broadly.

    Newcastle Mine in the Drumheller mining district after ten years of expansion, 1921; Drumheller is one of thirty-two districts created to facilitate keeping track of the booming industry’s developments, inspections and infrastructure requirements.
    Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A6081

  • A view of the booming International Coal and Coke Company Ltd. at Coleman, ca. 1945

    The Second World War begins to revive Alberta’s economy and coal industry, which had declined during the Great Depression.

    A view of the booming International Coal and Coke Company Ltd. at Coleman, ca. 1945; increased demand for steam coal during the war years led to greater production within the industry.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NC-54-2930

  • On February 22, 1947, an issue of The Western Examiner proclaims the discovery of the Imperial Leduc No.1 oil well as the birth of a new Alberta oil field.

    The discovery of a major oil deposit at Leduc, Alberta, foreshadows a decline in the province’s coal production.

    On February 22, 1947, an issue of The Western Examiner proclaims the discovery of the Imperial Leduc No.1 oil well as the birth of a new Alberta oil field. During the decade after the 1947 discovery, many mines close, and most coal towns decline significantly.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-789-80

  • A heavy-duty truck hauling coal at the Wabamun surface mining operation near the TransAlta Power Plant demonstrates the advanced mechanization propelling Alberta’s modernizing coal industry in the 1960s

    Large-scale surface mining begins in Alberta near Lake Wabamun to fuel a large thermal electric power plant.

    A heavy-duty truck hauling coal at the Wabamun surface mining operation near the TransAlta Power Plant demonstrates the advanced mechanization propelling Alberta’s modernizing coal industry in the 1960s.
    Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, gr1989.0516.1088#1

  • The Whitemud Creek Mine in Edmonton’s river valley in 1968

    The last mine in Edmonton’s river valley closes.

    The Whitemud Creek Mine in Edmonton’s river valley in 1968; this operation is the last of Edmonton’s coal mines to close in 1970. At this time, the mine continues to rely on horses to haul coal to its opening.
    Source: City of Edmonton Archives, EA-20-4998

  • Atlas Mine in Drumheller Valley after restoration.

    Drumheller Valley and Canmore mines close after decades in operation.

    The Atlas Mine in Drumheller stops production in 1979 and officially closes in 1984. The large structure is the last wooden tipple standing in Canada. The mine is a Provincial Historic Resource, a National Historic Site of Canada and one of the region’s star attractions.
    Source: Courtesy of Sue Sabrowski and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

  • The retired Marion 360 Stripping Shovel at the Diplomat Mine site near Forestburg, Alberta.

    Mining near Forestburg ends after more than seventy years.

    The retired Marion 360 Stripping Shovel at the Diplomat Mine site near Forestburg, Alberta; the interpretive site is a Provincial Historic Resource and Canada’s only surface coal mining museum. The kind of large-scale surface mining conducted near Forestburg requires massive equipment such as the Marion 360.
    Source: Diplomat Mine Interpretive Site

  • The Wabamun power plant in the final stages before destruction.

    Wabamun coal-fired power plant is retired and demolished after almost fifty years in operation.

    The Wabamun power plant in the final stages before destruction; it had begun generating electricity in 1962 by burning coal mined at large-scale surface operations near Wabamun Lake. The planned closure of the plant is featured in an Edmonton Journal article on April 2, 2010.
    Source: Edmonton Journal

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Glossary

Anthracite: The highest rank or quality of dark black coal, containing only a small percentage of volatile matter and a high percentage of carbon up to 90 to 95%.

Bituminous: A high rank or quality of coal that contains 70 to 85% carbon.

Blackjack: A dark material of zinc blend or sulfide of zinc.

Btu: Abbreviation for British thermal unit; a measurement used in the coal industry to describe how much heat per pound of coal is created when burning the different ranks of coal.

Bump: A sudden, unexpected release of stress and pressure from an underground coal seam that can send coal and rock flying with explosive force and can leave nearby miners buried or trapped by debris.

Coal cutter: A machine powered by compressed air or electricity for undercutting coal from a seam.

Coal face: The place at which the coal is being worked and broken away from a coal seam by miners.

Coal mine: Any excavation made for the extraction of coal from the Earth.

Coal operator: The individual or company who runs a mine or colliery.

Coal seam: A layer, bed or vein of coal in the earth that is considered to be a significant deposit.

Coke: Bituminous coal that has had non-carbon volatile matter burned off by heat, so that the pure fixed carbon and ash of coal are fused together; used to fire industrial burning ovens often for the melting and shaping of metal products.

Colliery: The whole coal mining plant operation; usually refers to all of the buildings around the mine site on the surface, including the preparation plant and shops, but sometimes refers to the mine itself.

Commercial mine: A mine operated for the purpose of supplying coal to purchasers in general.

Domestic coal: Usually lower quality coal burned for powering and heating houses.

Dragline: An excavating machine that uses a bucket operated and suspended by lines or cables, one of which lowers the bucket from the boom, the other allowing the bucket to swing out from the machine or to be dragged toward the machine to remove overburden above a coal seam.

Drift mine: A horizontal passage underground created by miners usually on hillsides or foothills, river banks, or the sides of mountains, and which usually follow a coal seam.

Iron-ore smelting: A heating process using high-rank coke coal to melt and shape metal.

Lignite: A low rank or quality of coal with brown streaks containing only about 60% carbon.

Locomotive: An engine powered by steam that is generated from the burning of coal or wood, by compressed air, or by diesel fuel; used to move empty and loaded mine cars in and out of a mine or along railway tracks between communities.

Methane: An explosive gas present in some underground coal mines; formed by the decomposition of organic matter; tasteless, colourless, non-poisonous and usually odorless.

Miner: One who mines and extracts coal at a coal face underground.

Outcrop: The portion of a coal seam or coal bed appearing at the surface, or immediately below the soil.

Overburden: Layers of soil and/or rock covering a bed or seam of useful coal.

Panel: A method of mining coal in which distinct rooms or spaces are created, often with pillars of unmined coal left to support the mine roof.

Peat: The partly decomposed organic plant matter of swamps, which is partly carbonized.

Room-and-pillar: A method in which coal is mined from underground rooms separated by pillars. The pillars are either solid blocks of coal or wood timbers and support the roof of the mine in order to prevent a mine collapse in any of the rooms.

Shaft mine: A vertical or highly inclined tunnel made to reach a coal seam.

Slope mine: A mine tunnel shaft on an angle to reach an underground coal seam.

Steam coal: A hard coal with high carbon content used for industrial use such as to fuel steam train locomotives.

Subbituminous coal: A rank or quality of coal above lignite coal and below bituminous coal; often used for thermal electricity generation; contains between 42%-52% carbon, with a heat value ranging from 8,200 to 11,200 Btu/lb.

Surface or strip mining: Mining carried out from the Earth’s surface rather than underground by removing the soil and rock cover above the coal.

Tipple: The building and rail tracks near the opening of a mine where unearthed coal is dumped, screened and loaded.

Ton: A measure of weight; a short ton = 2,000 lb.; a metric tonne is 1,000 kg
(2,204.6 lbs.).

Trapper boy: A boy stationed at an underground door in a mine shaft to open and close the door in order to control ventilation and air currents in the mine.

Ventilation: The air circulating in an underground mine that is necessary to avoid methane buildup and explosions in gaseous mining regions.

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