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About this series:
The ghost town of Nordegg is situated in the Shunda Valley, some 320 km north - west of Calgary, along the David Thompson Highway, Alberta, Canada. We visited the place on October 8, 2004. The Nordegg Heritage Centre and Brazeau Collieries Industrial Minesite Museum is a seasonal operation. It's open from mid - May until late September - early October. When we got there, their office was already closed, and there were no official tours anymore... so we decided to drive/walk around the area, and see what we can find.
Here's some info we've found on The Nordegg Historical society site:
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...Nordegg's Brazeau Collieries, which was a joint venture of Mackenzie and Mann, of the Canadian Northern Railway, and of the German Development Company, represented by Martin Nordegg, was created in August, 1909. Coal holdings were amalgamated in order to create a coal mining empire to funnel coal onto the Canadian prairies. The town of Nordegg was to be headquarters for this coal empire...
... The Brazeau Collieries began mining at Nordegg during the fall of 1911, stockpiling the coal until the railway reached the new mining centre. Log buildings were constructed at the minesite to house and feed the workers, and to act as a temporary on-site headquarters...
... The Canadian Northern Western Railway reached the new mining centre late in 1913 and, by March, 1914, it was ready to be taken over from the contractors. This was followed by rapid development of Nordegg town, and permanent construction at the minesite. During the summer of 1914, 100 homes were constructed, as well as numerous support buildings...
... Very little of the old Nordegg remains today. It now is a ghost town, visited by thousands of people every year, who come from countries throughout the world. People drive and walk these streets, trying to imagine how it once was - a thriving community which approached a population figure of close to 3000 people during "boom" years, when the mines were working steadily...
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From another source we've learned that in the 1950s, railways began converting to oil and diesel, and coal markets declined. Brazeau Collieries, and the town of Nordegg, closed in 1955. There are few people still living there today, and there are plans in motion to develop the place as a tourist attraction.
So we were on our own, walking around without seeing another living soul, praying that there are no bears in the area *s*. From a distance we saw people working on the entrance of the old mine, so we kept away from this area. But... there's so much to see there... lots of bits and pieces of the past just laying around... and that's what we're going to show you... and share with you... on this series.
Click the upper left thumbnail to start the viewing... and enjoy *s*.
October 21, 2004, @ 08:20 PM MT
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