Mercoal, Alberta
Encyclopedia
Yellowhead County, Alberta
Yellowhead County is a municipal district in west central Alberta, Canada.It is the only county in Alberta Division 14, and shares the boundaries with this census division.-History:*1994: Established as a Municipal District of Yellowhead No...
of western Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It was one of several communities along the historic 'Coal Branch' segment of the Canadian National Railway
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
(formerly known as the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historical Canadian railway.A wholly owned subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway , the GTPR was constructed by GTR using loans provided by the Government of Canada. The company was formed in 1903 with a mandate to build west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the...
), which included Embarras, Robb
Robb, Alberta
Robb is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Yellowhead County. It is located on Highway 47, approximately southwest of Edson. It has an elevation of .Statistics Canada recognizes Robb as a designated place....
, Coalspur
Coalspur, Alberta
Coalspur is an abandoned coal-mining community in Yellowhead County, Alberta. Situated in the Alberta foothills, the community was home to a substantial coal mine, and acted as a transportation hub for the Alberta Coal Branch. The community began after a group of British financiers founded the...
, Coal Valley, Cadomin, Luscar
Luscar, Alberta
Luscar was at one time a coal mining town in Alberta, Canada. It is situated about northwest of Cadomin along the Bighorn Highway , at the end of the CN Railway line....
, and Mountain Park
Mountain Park, Alberta
Mountain Park is a ghost town in western Alberta, south of Cadomin, at the end of the historic 'Coal Branch' line of the Canadian National Railway, formerly known as the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway....
. At its peak in the late 1940s and early 1950s the town had over 800 residents. Mercoal, which shut down its coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
operations in 1959, is now essentially a ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
, with only a small number of summer residences remaining. It is situated on Highway 40, 70 km southwest of Edson
Edson, Alberta
Edson is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Yellowhead County, west of Edmonton along the Yellowhead Highway and east of the intersection with Highway 47.- History :left|thumb|200px|Welcome Sign...
, 8 km (5 mi) west of Coalspur
Coalspur, Alberta
Coalspur is an abandoned coal-mining community in Yellowhead County, Alberta. Situated in the Alberta foothills, the community was home to a substantial coal mine, and acted as a transportation hub for the Alberta Coal Branch. The community began after a group of British financiers founded the...
.
History
During the 1950s, Mercoal attracted an influx of workers from other Coal Branch towns, after the closure of Mountain Park in 1950, and Cadomin in 1952. The Mercoal mine finally closed on July 17, 1959.