Y at Bickerdike Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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A roadside micro cache near the Y in the railroad
In 1912 the Grand Trunk Railroad chose this spot on their main line to build a branch line to the south. This branch line was built to access the large coal deposits that had been discovered. The first mine started operations in Lovett in 1910. Between 1910 and up to the 1950’s there were 10 large mines in operation plus a number of smaller ones. During this time period over 43 million tons of coal was shipped on this branch line. After the Diesel locomotive was introduced in the 1950’s the demand for coal dropped and the mines began to close. The last mine to close on the Coal Branch was at the town of Mercoal. There were no roads from Edson to the mining towns, so everything and everybody went by train. The road south from Hwy 16 into the mining area, which became known as the Coal Branch, was not completed until 1951. In 1977, Luscar Sterco Mines began strip mining operations at the old Coal Valley mine site and are still operating and shipping about 4 million tons of coal per year. There is a limestone quarry in Cadomin which also used this branch line to ship their product to a cement plant in Edmonton. Cheviot Mine at Mountain Park which is operated by Teck Mining ships about 3 million tones of coal per year. Bickerdike was named after the Liberal M.P. Robert Bickerdike.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
jvyybj
Treasures
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