East Coulee is a community within the Town of

Drumheller Drumheller is a town on the Red Deer River in the badlands of east-central Alberta, Canada. It is located northeast of Calgary and south of Stettler. The Drumheller portion of the Red Deer River valley, often referred to as Dinosaur Vall ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. It was previously a

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

within the former Municipal District (MD) of Badlands No. 7 prior to the MD's amalgamation with the former City of Drumheller on January 1, 1998. It is also recognized as a

designated place A designated place (DPL) is a type of community or settlement identified by Statistics Canada that does not meet the criteria used to define municipalities or population centres. DPLs are delineated every 5 years for the Canadian census as the s ...

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

. East Coulee is located on Highway 10, approximately southeast of Drumheller's main townsite and northeast of

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

. It lies in the

Red Deer River The Red Deer River is a river in Alberta and a small portion of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a major tributary of the South Saskatchewan River and is part of the larger Saskatchewan / Nelson River, Nelson system that empties into Hudson Bay. T ...

valley and has an elevation of . The community is within Census Division No. 5 and in the federal riding of Crowfoot. It was one of the filming locations of the television series '' MythQuest''. __TOC__

History

During its peak years around 1930 and again later in the mid-1940s, East Coulee was home to over 3,000 residents and dozens of thriving businesses. In the mid-1950s, however, its population began to plummet and its business count dropped to three—a hotel, a garage and a grocery store. By 1970, the community's school had closed. As with other coal communities, East Coulee's demise began in the 1950s due to the combination of expanding oil and natural gas industries and the transition of many industries to fuels other than coal. The reduced demand for the valley's coal resulted in the closure of all Drumheller area mines at the time except for the Atlas Mine at East Coulee. The Atlas Mine survived until 1979 as a severely scaled back version, decreasing from year-round to seasonal operation, and from employing more than 200 miners to having only 60 on the payroll. The mine's reduction in the 1950s sent much of the community's population to other areas in search of work, leaving an eerie mix of boarded-up buildings and abandoned mines amid the stark scenery of Alberta's badlands.

Demographics

As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by

, East Coulee recorded a population of 148 living in 87 of its 119 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 140. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016. As a designated place in the 2011 Census, East Coulee had a population of 140 living in 77 of its 95 total dwellings, a −20.9% change from its 2006 population of 177. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2011.

References

{{authority control Drumheller Former designated places in Alberta Former hamlets in Alberta Ghost towns in Alberta

History

Demographics

See also

References