1913- W.C. Dunn, (Sec.-treas.) F.B. Smith, (mine manager - 1913-1919). Investment from E.A. McBain, Edmonton. Digging straight north into the bank they struck the coal seam within 150 feet. Mining and local sales began under the name Wabamun Power and Coal Co. Two miners were hired and produced about ten tons of coal per day.
1914 - W.C. Dunn proposed selling electricity to the city of Edmonton. A railway wye was built to the mine site from the main line of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in November (Mirror newspaper, Wabamun). A three storey bunkhouse and a cookhouse/dining hall were built.
1915 - The drift had been dug to 400 feet (Mirror newspaper-18 Feb, 1915) An airshaft was being sunk 400 feet from the entry (Mirror - 25 March, 1915).
1917- Lakeside Coal Co. formed
1918-May-Mine fires could not be controlled so production was slowed. Sixteen men were employed. In late 1918 W.H. McBain (President) and F.B. Smith ran the mine.
1919 - W.C. Dunn sold out to E.A. and W.H. McBain. A.B. Hunter appointed manager (until 1923).
1923 - A new entry was opened to circumvent the fires, tunneling east about a quarter of a mile, then north. The wash house was built. An electrically powered coal cutting machine was put into use. Wm. Foster was hired as manager of Wabamun and Robb mines (until 1944). An agreement was signed with the miners for 75 cents per ton.
1934- 50 men employed. Rate of 50 cents per ton (a good days work was ten tons). Track laying and timbering were included in the tonnage rate. Manager J.T. Burton appointed(until 1941).
1939 - John Vivyurka hired as Overman, he had come from the Coal Branch.
1941- W.G. Flint appointed manager (until 1944).
1944 - J. Vivyurka appointed manager (until 1948)
1948- The mine was sold to F. Mannix of Calgary. There was a miner's strike and lockout, which the miners lost, and the union was broken. Anyone with a mining certificate was guaranteed a job somewhere by the union, so many of the miners moved along to the Coal Branch or the Drumheller area, or to smaller mines in the Edmonton area. All the surface and maintenance workers were laid off and the underground mine was closed for good on May 1 and strip mining began. The name was changed to the Alberta Coal Co. then in 1951 to Alberta Southern Coal Company. J. Vivyurka was appointed manager. (until 1963)
1948- (April or May) Strip mining started in what we always called the Number One pit, north of the bunkhouse, then on NW10-53-4-W5, about a half mile east of the tipple. There were flooding problems from the artesian springs at this location so the pit was moved up on the bench north of that with a new haul road crossing the road to Wabamun.
OK Construction Co. stripped the gravel above the old workings on 16
My father was rehired as a laborer on July 30, 1948 and our family moved to a house at the mining site in July of 1949, just before my third birthday, so this was the mine as I remember it while growing up.
Register of Employees - 1913-1948
Register of Employees - 1948-1963
Miner's Agreement - 1923 and 1924
Magazine article on the Wabamun Mine - 1959
Districts, Villages and Points of Interest