Although the mine only operated between 1905 and 1909, there are still parts of two abutments visible. The cache is located near one of these abutments. It is located on private property, with the owner’s permission. Turn north of Highway #3 on Range Road 16-2, and follow the service road west. This is the only route to the cache site, and it can be a bit messy if it has been raining so use your discretion. Also, be careful when walking the last few feet because there are gopher holes, uneven ground and some wire and stones.
The following history of the mine is taken from an article written by Karen Ingram, who works at the Taber Museum:
“Coal Mining was a huge and very important part of early Taber history but it appeared to be a hard boom and bust industry. The story of the Reliance Coal Mine is one example of this. According to the pages of the “Coal Mine Atlas” from the Energy Resources Conservation Board, the mine was short lived and operated for a mere four years from 1905 thru 1909 and was numbered as mine 0039.”
The mine “was established by a syndicate of western men who had discovered what promised to be a profitable seam of coal just 3 miles east of Taber. The mine started operations and the area boomed, a village, including a hotel, built up around it. All this came to an abrupt end when it was discovered that a seam of clay bisected the coal. The men did not have enough capital to continue and the mine closed. The closure meant that the hotel and homes were soon deserted and sitting empty.”
“In 1908 there was hope for the mine as a group of shareholders, many from Taber, were reorganizing and planned on reopening the mine, hoping to make it profitable again. This may have happened but there must have been more problems as the mine was officially listed in the “Coal Mine Atlas” as having closed in 1909. Our local papers of 1911 told of one more attempt at resurrecting the mine in 1911 with a syndicate of English capitalists, purchasing the mine, paying off its debts and planning on resuming operations. Once again news of the mine quickly disappeared from the papers and we have to assume that this attempt did not succeed.”
“”Tipple at Mine Fell” was the next news we found and was in June of 1913. The article told us the mine had been abandoned 3 years earlier, giving us more evidence that the grand plans of the English syndicate did not work out. By the time the tipple fell, its timbers had rotted and the hotel and homes were described as quickly falling into disrepair and in danger of collapsing.” [Tipple" is the term commonly used by the coal industry to describe the structure where the mine run of finished coal is processed and loaded into train cars or trucks.]
“An item in the July 30, 1916 paper told us that Regal Collieries had made a deal with the town to purchase the property for the $1,000 owed on back taxes. They also made a request for the town to agree that the subdivision be put back into acreages and charged tax accordingly. The motion passed unanimously and that was the final end of one more coal mine around Taber.”