Georgetown

Georgetown

Following Anthracite's failed mine venture in 1901, the operation's owner, the Canadian Anthracite Coal Company, opened a new seam on the slope of Mount Rundle, three miles west of Canmore and a mile east of the present boundary of Banff National Park. By 1912, the Bow Valley's new coal mining community of Georgetown was born.

Photo courtesy of the Centennial Museum Society of Canmore.

However, when the First World War started two years later, company funds - badly needed for expansion - dwindled, as well as traditional markets. Within three years after the first miners appeared, the mine closed.

The small mountainside community reached a population of close to 200 citizens. Before closing, the town site witnessed the construction of several one and two-bedroom cottages, a bunkhouse for single men, community hall that also served as a school, and a well stocked store which also housed the post office.

When the mine and community closed, miners either moved to nearby Canmore - with their houses, store and community hall - or to the Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta
or the Drumheller Valley in the central region of the province.

Today, the foundations of the store, a few homes and mine buildings can still be seen in the mountainside bushes near cross-country ski and hiking trails. There are some original homes still standing in Canmore.

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