History of Kananaskis, Alberta

Ozada: Ribbon Crick's coal processing community is now home to black-dusted phantoms
by Johnnie Bachusky
for the Outlook

The decision in 1909 not to develop the Kananaskis coal field before Nordegg meant the company had to improvise its mining operations when strip mining began at Ribbon Creek in 1947. The biggest obstacles for production were processing and transportation; there was no spur line built to haul the coal 35 kilometres north for processing on a site along the main CPR track. "To haul the coal out, it was a 22 mile truck ride on a gravel road with lots of steep climbs, especially at Barrier Hill," says Zupido D'Amico, the mine's manager who made the treacherous trip regularly. "The cost was prohibitive."

And so was time lost, especially in winter when coal trucks, stalled on sheer ice alongside a steep rock face, were frequently winched up Barrier Hill, which had a much steeper grade before road construction began before the 1988 Winter Olympics.

The coal's destination was Ozada, a Canadian Pacific Rail station on the Stoney Indian Reserve at Morley Flats, along a gravel service road extending north past the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and what is known today as Highway 40.

In 1947, Rocky Mountain Collieries, a subsidiary of the parent company Brazeau Collieries, leased and fenced in a one-square mile area for the Ozada processing operation and a small settlement for workers and their families. The tipple was built by the railway tracks, about a hundred metres west of the station. A few homes were built at the base along the north side of a hill, which now divides the Trans-Canada Highway and the former site. As in Ribbon Creek, living conditions were pioneer; no indoor plumbing, only outhouses and outdoor pumps for drinking water. Wood stoves provided heating.

A bunkhouse was also constructed for up to 50 single men as well as a dining room. There was no school at Ozada for half dozen children living at the site and they were driven to Seebe a few kilometres west.

For the most part, life was simple for residents at Ozada. There was of course the work at the tipple or breaks to fish in the nearby Bow River. There was also the leisurely choices of Saskatoon berry picking, horseback riding and hiking. Most of the families, especially the children, often opted to mingle with nearby natives, who were friendly and mostly happy to live alongside their neighbors at the plant. In fact, the company employed a few natives to work at the tipple.

When the Kananaskis coal fields ceased operation in February, 1952, it was also the end of work at Ozada's tipple. Very quickly, the workers and their families scattered to find work and re-establish themselves elsewhere across the province, including nearby Canmore and even Nordegg.

Today, there are few signs of any life at Ozada. There are some concrete ruins where the tipple once stood and the odd foundation. South, across the access road towards the hill, a few abandoned houses still remind visitors there was once activity on the mostly barren flats. Nearby, a long coal slag is evidence of past coal processing activity. However, the only sounds now in the area are the odd vehicle speeding through the reserve, and the periodic wind that sweeps through the valley, howling like mournful ghosts.

This article was first published in the October 25, 2001 edition of the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

Johnnie Bachusky is a freelance Canmore writer and photographer who for the past two years has travelled throughout western Canada exploring and documenting ghost towns. He is committed to heritage preservation and has launched Ghost Towns of Western Canada and co-launched the Ghost Towns of Alberta web site with Ontario web designer Susan Foster. He is currently co-constructing Saskatchewan and B.C. sites. He has written several magazine articles, and contributed and exhibited scores of photographs depicting Western Canada's pioneer history.

B&W photos courtesy and copyright © Ruth Oltmann private collection.
Colour photos courtesy and copyright © Ghost Towns of Western Canada