MP-0000.25.578 | Coal mine at Bankhead, AB, about 1923
Coal mine at Bankhead, AB, about 1923
Anonyme - Anonymous
About 1923, 20th century
Silver salts and transparent ink on glass - Gelatin dry plate process
8 x 10 cm
Gift of Mr. Stanley G. Triggs
MP-0000.25.578
© McCord Museum
Description
Keywords: Industry (942) , Photograph (77678)
Keys to History
The demand for coal for steam locomotives was so great that coal mines were opened everywhere along the railway lines, even in Banff National Park, Canada's first national park, created in 1895. At the time, national and provincial parks did not prohibit the exploitation of their natural resources. That is why, less than 10 years later, a few kilometres north of Banff, at the foot of Mount Cascade, the Bankhead mine was allowed to open. It sold its output to CPR until closing down in 1923. Today the mine site is one of Alberta's ghost towns and a tourist attraction.
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What
Like a boat washed up on shore, the silhouette of the mill at the abandoned Bankhead mine, with its ramps made of wooden beams, has a kind of aesthetic appeal to it.
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Where
The cars are loaded with coal from the deposit on the mountainside. They roll down the ramp on the right, while the horizontal ramp, on the left, is used to get rid of the waste, heaps of which are still visible today.
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When
Two factors explain why the mine closed in 1923: the poor quality of the coal and labour disputes, which were also taking place in other industries in the aftermath of the First World War.
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Who
While the Bankhead mine was operating, up to 300 miners lived in the village of the same name, in a hundred or so houses.
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