Forestburg is a village located in east-central
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. The rich farmland of the area was first settled by Europeans in 1905. Soon after the first of many "gopher hole" mines, homesteaders were soon
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
on the banks of the
Battle River in 1907.
Forestburg's economy is based on agriculture, coal mining, oil and gas activity, and power generation. Forestburg has a variety of retail and services, with major employment by
Atco Power Ltd. and
Westmoreland Coal. The village is the headquarters of the
Battle River Railway
The Battle River Railway is a co-operative shortline freight railway created in 2010 in central Alberta. The track is 236 foot-continually welded track. It serves the communities of Alliance, Galahad, Forestburg, Heisler, Rosalind, Kelsey, p ...
, a co-operative railway established in 2009.
[http://www.battleriverrailway.ca/contacts.html]
History
The site was surveyed in 1919 after the
Canadian Northern Railway
The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...
arrived in 1916, and Forestburg was incorporated into a village.
File:Forestburg, Alberta (circa 1930s).jpg, Forestburg, 1930s
Geography
Climate
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by
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 ...
, the Village of Forestburg had a population of 807 living in 373 of its 417 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 880. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
In the
2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Village of Forestburg recorded a population of 875 living in 360 of its 404 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 831. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.
The population of the Village of Forestburg according to its
2014 municipal census is 880,
a change from its 2011 federal census population of 831.
Notable people
*
Evan Oberg, professional hockey player
See also
*
List of communities in Alberta
The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of Local government in Canada, local governments – urban municipalities (including List of cities in Alberta, cities, List of towns in Alberta, towns, List of villages in Alberta, vil ...
*
List of francophone communities in Alberta
This is a list of francophone communities in Alberta. Municipalities with a high percentage of French-speakers in the Canadian province of Alberta are listed.
Alberta’s Francophone population dates back to its early days as part of Rupert’s ...
*
List of villages in Alberta
A village is an urban municipality status type used in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta villages are created when communities with populations of at least 300 people, where a majority of their buildings are on parcels of land smaller t ...
References
External links
*
{{Subdivisions of Alberta, villages=yes
1919 establishments in Alberta
Flagstaff County
Villages in Alberta