Brazeau Collieries

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Brazeau Collieries Industrial Museum

Nordegg's Brazeau Collieries, which was a joint venture of Mackenzie and Mann, of the Canadian Northern Railway, and of the German Development Company, represented by Martin Nordegg, was created in August, 1909. Coal holdings were amalgamated in order to create a coal mining empire to funnel coal onto the Canadian prairies. This 'empire' had 60 square miles (155 square kilometers) of coal claims along the eastern slopes of the Rockies, stretching from present day Grand Cache, to Mount Allan in Kananaskis Country. Most of the coal was located near the Brazeau Rivers, for which the Company was named. The town of Nordegg was to be headquarters for this coal empire. However, only Nordegg and Kananaskis (Mount Allan) were developed.

With World War I (1914-1918), German assets were frozen, and Martin Nordegg was asked to leave Canada. However, some German Development Company investors were Canadian, and the Canadian Northern Railway was an equal partner in Brazeau Collieries, so mining operations continued. In 1923, Brazeau had the highest coal production of all Alberta coal mines. In 1937, Brazeau Collieries began making coal briquettes, to be used for domestic and railway fuel. By the late 1940s, Brazeau Collieries was Canada's largest briquetting source, and North America's second largest.

The briquette processing plant was destroyed by fire in June 1950, and a new, state-of-the-art, all-metal processing plant was constructed, with the most modern technology of the time.

However, oil became the fuel of choice and, by June, 1955, the Brazeau Collieries had ceased operation.
The Brazeau Collieries minesite, with the majority of the processing plant buildings still standing and machinery still in place, became an Alberta Historic Resource in 1993. On February 21, 2002, it also was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.This impressive industrial museum is well appreciated by the numerous visitors who take the Nordegg Historical Society's Minesite Museum tours.
 

Briquetting Buildings

  These Briquetting Building are part of the Brazeau Collieries Industrial Museum at the Nordegg National Historic Site.

This industrial expansion of Canada's resources inthe early 20th Century has left us the Nordegg legacy.  This is Canada's most complete industrial museum to honour develoment of the nation's coal resources.

Tours of this site begin fron the Nordegg Heritage Center and run every day the Center is open.  Check the Tours Page for details on Tours.

The Brazeau Collieries site at Nordegg was once Canada's largest briquette producer, and the second largest briquestting output source on the North American Continent.

Photos

 

Painting by Johnny Janigo

Photo by Anne (Mac) McMullen 

Photo by Geno Poscente