Edson is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Yellowhead County, west of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

along the

Yellowhead Highway The Yellowhead Highway (french: Route Yellowhead) is a major interprovincial highway in Western Canada that runs from Winnipeg to Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia via Saskatoon and Edmonton. It stretches across the four western ...

and east of the intersection with Highway 47.

History

The town was founded as Heatherwood, but the name was changed around 1911 in honour of Edson Joseph Chamberlin, vice-president of the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...

. When Edson was declared the local rail centre, smaller communities such as Rosevear (abandoned), Wolf Creek, Carrot Creek and Niton Junction fell into a decline that continues today. In the 1950s, upgrading of Highway 16 caused a dramatic increase in private, commercial and industrial traffic. Today, the Yellowhead Highway carries some of the heaviest traffic flow in Alberta and has been declared the second

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

. In the 1970s, a revitalized coal industry launched the Cardinal River Coal and Luscar Sterco mines in the area. In the 1980s Pelican Spruce Mills (now Weyerhaeuser Company Limited) and Sundance Forest Industries (now Edson Forest Products a division of West Fraser Mills Ltd.) became two of Edson's major employers. The former hamlets of Glenwood and Grande Prairie Trail were annexed from Yellowhead County by the Town of Edson on 1 January 1984.

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 cultu ...

, the Town of Edson had a population of 8,374 living in 3,386 of its 3,768 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 8,414. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Edson recorded a population of 8,414 living in 3,359 of its 3,762 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 8,475. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016. The Town of Edson's 2012 municipal census counted a population of 8,646.

Geography

Edson lies in the McLeod River valley, immediately east 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 ...

foothills. The surrounding landscape consists of primarily

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, sp ...

forest with sand hills and

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or p ...

. The town is located at an altitude of . Two provincial parks are located west of Edson: Sundance Provincial Park along Sundance Creek and Obed Lake Provincial Park surrounding the three Obed Lakes.

Climate

Due to Edson's high elevation, the community experiences a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, g ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Dfc''). The highest temperature ever recorded in Edson was on 30 June 2021, with the

humidex The humidex (short for humidity index) is an index number used by Canadian meteorologists to describe how hot the weather feels to the average person, by combining the effect of heat and humidity. The term ''humidex'' was coined in 1965. The humi ...

reaching 41. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 22 January 1943, and 14 January 1950. Summers in Edson are generally mild to warm with chilly nights and moderate precipitation. Winters are long and severely cold with relatively high snowfall, higher than surrounding areas due to the town's high elevation.

Economy

The main industries that drive the local economy are resource based – coal, oil, natural gas and forestry products.

Sports

Edson was home to Canada's largest slo-pitch tournament until 2017.

Infrastructure

Edson is connected to the

from east to west and to Coal Valley via Highway 47 to the south.

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

's '' The Canadian'' calls at the Edson railway station three times per week in each direction as a flag stop.

Education

; Grande Yellowhead Public School Division No. 77 * Mary Bergeron Elementary School (K-5) * Parkland Composite High School (9-12 English, French) * École Pine Grove Middle School (6-8 English, French) * Westhaven Elementary School (K-5 English, French) ; Living Waters Catholic Regional Division No. 42 * Holy Redeemer Junior Senior Catholic High School (7-12) * Vanier Community Catholic School (K-6) ;Private * Yellowhead Koinonia Christian School (K-12)

Media

;Newspapers Edson has one weekly paper, '' The Weekly Anchor'', published every Monday. A second paper, '' Edson Leader'', was established in 1911 before ceasing publication in 2020. ;Radio stations * CBXD 1540

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...

* CFXE 94.3 Newcap Broadcasting * CKUA-FM-8 103.7 CKUA Radio Network

Coat of Arms

On 15 October 2019, the town was granted a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, while the announcement of the

Letters Patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, tit ...

was made on 28 March 2020, in Volume 154, page 692 of the Canada Gazette.

Notable people

* George VanderBurg, Canadian politician, Progressive Conservative MLA (2001-2013)

In popular culture

* In the 2020

Netflix Original Netflix is an American global Internet streaming-on-demand media provider that has distributed a number of original streaming television shows, including original series, specials, miniseries, and documentaries and films. Netflix's original pr ...

series '' ''Into the Night'', a plane flying west in an attempt to survive a catastrophic solar event that kills all living organisms during daylight hours, lands in Edson during Episode 2. * Below Zero (2011) was filmed in and around Edson * Television series Hellfire Heroes (2018) was partially filmed in EdsonFilming Location Matching "Edson, Alberta, Canada"
IMDb. Retrieved 10 January 2022

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1911 establishments in Alberta Towns in Alberta