Embarras is a
locality in
Yellowhead County
Yellowhead County is a municipal district in west central Alberta, Canada. It is the only municipal district within Alberta census division No. 14.
History
*1994: Established as a ''Municipal District of Yellowhead No. 94'' on January 1.
...
,
Alberta, Canada. It takes its name from the
Embarras River. 'Embarrass' is French for 'barrier', probably in reference to the piles of
driftwood that often clog the shallow, winding river.
History
Embarras was founded in 1913 by the
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) when that company built the
Alberta Coal Branch
The Alberta Coal Branch is the name given to a segment of the Canadian National Railway (originally the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway) and the region through which it passes. It is located within Yellowhead County in west-central Alberta, Canada. ...
line south from
Edson on the
Edmonton-
Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...
mainline. The Coal Branch line was constructed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Branch Lines Company (GTPRBL) from the mainline at
Bickerdike south to
Coalspur and
Lovett. Coal mines were opened by GTP subsidiaries at
Mercoal,
Cadomin
Cadomin is a hamlet in the west-central Alberta, Canada within Yellowhead County. It is located along the McLeod River in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, approximately south of Hinton near the Bighorn Highway. It is served by a spur of th ...
and
Mountain Park.
Embarras, along with other sidings on the Coal Branch Line such as
McLeod River,
Erith
Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...
,
Weald, and
Oke Oke or OKE may refer to:
* Ōke, branches of the Japanese Imperial Family
* Oka (mass), an Ottoman measure of mass
* OKE (mixtape), ''OKE'' (mixtape), a 2013 mixtape by rapper Game
* Oke (name)
* Oke, Alberta, a locality in Yellowhead County, Alber ...
were all ghost towns by the 1960s with the decline in coal mining as railways converted to diesel locomotives.
The Embarras siding housed a GTP type "E" station house on the north side of the tracks that was common on the Coal Branch Line. The station house was removed in 1968 and the railbed regraded, removing all traces of the station.
Prest Creek flows into the
Embarras River near the station. E. B. Johnson and Son operated a sawmill on the site between 1940 and 1963. Remnants of several buildings can still be found on site today. There are no permanent residents but the site is still popular with users who can access the multitude of recreational activities in the area.
See also
*
List of ghost towns in Alberta
References
{{coord, 53, 18, 18, N, 116, 53, 52, W, display=title, region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki
Ghost towns in Alberta
Localities in Yellowhead County