Full-steam behind for Crowsnest Coal

I know I can't, I know I can't, said the Little Engine that Couldn't

By David McIntyre

It happened back in the early ‘50s. That’s when the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) converted from steam power to diesel engines. Result: Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass coal lost its primary market.

Those were the days, my friend. AI image.

Crowsnest Pass coal, ideal for powering steam engines, can’t compete economically with British Columbia in terms of suppling metallurgical coal. Mining engineers, coal mining companies, and geologists have reported this simple fact for decades.

What’s happened as a result? Crowsnest Pass coal mines closed during the following three decades due to the Elk Valley’s thicker, superior, and much more easily mined seams of metallurgical coal.

What’s changed of late to alter the economic picture? Nothing! Certainly not the geology of the Rocky Mountains.

Perhaps the CPR, in a wish to define its future by relaunching its storied past, plans to fire-up yesterday’s rusting boilers to create a steamy tomorrow offering Crowsnest Pass coal a market?

As we wait for the CPR to steam boldly into tomorrow’s sunrise, let’s celebrate quality-of-life living and the internationally revered beauty and intrigue of Alberta’s Crown of the Continent landscape. Let’s treasure and protect the headwaters of the drought-plagued Oldman Watershed and its 200,000 downstream residents.

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