Embarras is a
locality
Locality may refer to:
* Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada
* Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England
* Locality (linguistics)
* Locality (settlement)
* Suburbs and localitie ...
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
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 takes its name from the
Embarras River. 'Embarrass' is French for 'barrier', probably in reference to the piles of
driftwood
Driftwood is a wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides or waves. It is part of beach wrack.
In some waterfront areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides ...
that often clog the shallow, winding river.
History
Embarras was founded in 1913 by 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 ...
(GTP) when that company built the
Alberta Coal Branch line south from
Edson on the
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
-
Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 ( O.S.) 7 December 1619 (N.S.)– 29 November 1682 (O.S.) December 1682 (N.S) was an English-German army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first rose to ...
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 (place), hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada, within Yellowhead County. It is along the McLeod River in the Rocky Mountain Foothills, foothills of the Rocky Mountains, approximately south of Hinton, Alberta, Hinton near ...
and
Mountain Park.
Embarras, along with other sidings on the Coal Branch Line such as
McLeod River
The McLeod River is a river in west-central Alberta, Canada. It forms in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, and is a major tributary of the Athabasca River.
__TOC__
Course
The river begins in the southern arm of Whitehorse Wildland Prov ...
,
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 north ...
,
Weald
The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High W ...
, and
Oke 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
The province of Alberta has several ghost towns that have been completely or partially abandoned. Many of Alberta's ghost towns exist as a result of a number of failed coal mining operations in the area during the early 20th century.
Ghost t ...
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