Beaver Mines is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

southern Alberta Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9 The Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9 is a municipal district (MD) in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Located in Census Division No. 3, its municipal office is located in the Town of Pincher Creek. History The MD of Pincher Creek No ...

. It is located in the

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

of the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

on Highway 507, approximately west of

Pincher Creek Pincher Creek is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located immediately east of the Canadian Rockies, west of Lethbridge and south of Calgary. History For centuries before European settlers reached this area and inhabited it, Indigen ...

History

The community was formed with the opening of a coal mine in the early 1900s. At one time Beaver Mines had over 1,500 residents. Because of the requirement for steel (rail tracks) during the wars and the reduction in the need for coal, the coal mines eventually closed and the community residents moved away. The last mine shut down its operations in 1971 and currently the mine site and many of the building foundations are on private land. For the past 30 years Beaver Mines has been considered a ghost town and has had numerous write-ups in ghost town books.

Contemporary issues

Currently, due largely to the expansion of

Castle Mountain Resort Castle Mountain is a ski resort located in the Westcastle Valley of southwest Alberta, Canada in the Rocky Mountains. It is approximately from Calgary and the Calgary International Airport; from Lethbridge; and west of Pincher Creek. The reso ...

and the growth of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

to the north, the hamlet has begun to grow again as a popular recreational destination.

Climate

Beaver mines has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Dfb DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback ...

) with mild to warm summers and cold, snowy winters with heavy snowfall for 8 months of the year. Late Spring and early Summer tends to be the wettest time of the year.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Beaver Mines had a population of 85 living in 43 of its 64 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 82. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Beaver Mines had a population of 82 living in 36 of its 59 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 80. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

References

{{Alberta, hamlets=yes Hamlets in Alberta Designated places in Alberta Mining communities in Alberta Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9

History

Contemporary issues

Climate

Demographics

See also

References