Luscar, Alberta

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Luscar

| other_name =

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| settlement_type = Locality

| motto =

| image_skyline =

| image_caption =

| pushpin_map = CAN AB Yellowhead#Alberta

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| pushpin_mapsize = 220

| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_name = Canada

| subdivision_type1 = Province

| subdivision_name1 = Alberta

| subdivision_type2 =

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| subdivision_type3 = Municipal district

| subdivision_name3 = Yellowhead County

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| government_footnotes =

| government_type = Unincorporated

| leader_title = Mayor

| leader_name = {{Yellowhead County Council|mayor}}

| leader_title1 = Governing body

| leader_name1 = {{Yellowhead County Council}}

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| timezone = MST

| utc_offset = −7

| timezone_DST = MDT

| utc_offset_DST = −6

| coordinates = {{coord|53|04|N|117|24|W|region:CA-AB|display=inline,title}}

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| area_code = 780, 587, 825

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}}

Luscar is a ghost town in west-central Alberta, Canada that was once a coal mining community. It was in the foothills of the Northern Rockies about {{convert|12|km|mi}} northwest of Cadomin along the Bighorn Highway (Highway 40), at the end of the CN Railway line.

History

{{stack|{{Historical populations

| title = Population history
of Luscar

| type = Canada

| align = right

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| footnote = Source: Statistics Canada{{cite book | url=https://ia801601.us.archive.org/24/items/1951981951M71954engfra/1951981951M71954engfra.pdf | title=Ninth Census of Canada, 1951 | publisher=Dominion Bureau of Statistics | volume=SP-7 (Population: Unincorporated villages and hamlets) | pages=55–57 | date=March 31, 1954 | accessdate=October 24, 2021}}{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/download/195692506A1957engfra/195692506A1957engfra.pdf | title=Census of Canada, 1956 | publisher=Dominion Bureau of Statistics | volume=Population of unincorporated villages and settlements | pages=56–59 | date=October 25, 1957 | accessdate=October 24, 2021}}

|1941|620

|1951|557

|1956|301

}}}}

Luscar lies in an area known as the Alberta Coal Branch, which has a long history of coal mining. The original underground mine at Luscar opened in 1921, and by 1922 the community consisted of about 25 or 30 homes, a small cottage hospital, a school, a general store, and other shops. The mine worked the strongly folded Jewel Seam and produced steam coal, primarily for railroad markets. Surface mining began in 1945 and underground mining had ceased by 1954. Fire destroyed the briquette plant in 1956 and later that year all mining ceased due to lack of markets for steam coal, after which the community was abandoned.{{cite book|last=Kyba|first=Daniel and Jane Ross|title=Exploring the historic Coal Branch|year=2001|publisher=Rocky Mountain Books, 336 p.|location=Calgary, Alberta|isbn=0-921102-83-6}}

In 1970, the old Luscar townsite became the headquarters for an open-pit coal mine owned jointly by Luscar Ltd. and Consolidation Coal Company and operated by Cardinal River Coals Ltd. It produced coking coal for export to Asian steel mills.Tribe, John 1980. Luscar's coal mining operations. Bulletin of Canadian Mining and Metallurgy, January 1980, p. 97-100. That mine closed at the end of 2000. Coal from the Cheviot Mine near Mountain Park is currently trucked to the Luscar site where it is cleaned and loaded into rail cars.{{Cite web|url=http://www.teck.com/Generic.aspx?PAGE=Teck%20Site/Diversified%20Mining%20Pages/Coal%20Pages/Cardinal%20River|title=Teck Cardinal River Operations|accessdate=2014-01-24|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202164659/http://www.teck.com/Generic.aspx?PAGE=Teck%20Site%2FDiversified%20Mining%20Pages%2FCoal%20Pages%2FCardinal%20River|archivedate=2014-02-02}}

Luscar, Alberta

History

References

See also