Embarras is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

Yellowhead County Yellowhead County is a municipal district in west central Alberta, Canada. It is the only municipal district within Alberta census division No. 14. History *1994: Established as a ''Municipal District of Yellowhead No. 94'' on January 1. ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. It takes its name from the Embarras River. 'Embarrass' is French for 'barrier', probably in reference to the piles of

driftwood __NOTOC__ Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides or waves. In some waterfront areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides shelter and fo ...

that often clog the shallow, winding river.

History

Embarras was founded in 1913 by the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...

(GTP) when that company built the

Alberta Coal Branch The Alberta Coal Branch is the name given to a segment of the Canadian National Railway (originally the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway) and the region through which it passes. It is located within Yellowhead County in west-central Alberta, Canada. ...

line south from Edson on the

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

mainline. The Coal Branch line was constructed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Branch Lines Company (GTPRBL) from the mainline at Bickerdike south to Coalspur and Lovett. Coal mines were opened by GTP subsidiaries at Mercoal,

Cadomin Cadomin is a hamlet in the west-central Alberta, Canada within Yellowhead County. It is located along the McLeod River in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, approximately south of Hinton near the Bighorn Highway. It is served by a spur of th ...

and Mountain Park. Embarras, along with other sidings on the Coal Branch Line such as

McLeod River The McLeod River is a river in west-central Alberta, Canada. It forms in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, and is a major tributary of the Athabasca River. __TOC__ Course The river begins just outside the eastern border of Jasper Nation ...

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

, and

Oke Oke or OKE may refer to: * Ōke, branches of the Japanese Imperial Family * Oka (mass), an Ottoman measure of mass * OKE (mixtape), ''OKE'' (mixtape), a 2013 mixtape by rapper Game * Oke (name) * Oke, Alberta, a locality in Yellowhead County, Alber ...

were all ghost towns by the 1960s with the decline in coal mining as railways converted to diesel locomotives. The Embarras siding housed a GTP type "E" station house on the north side of the tracks that was common on the Coal Branch Line. The station house was removed in 1968 and the railbed regraded, removing all traces of the station. Prest Creek flows into the Embarras River near the station. E. B. Johnson and Son operated a sawmill on the site between 1940 and 1963. Remnants of several buildings can still be found on site today. There are no permanent residents but the site is still popular with users who can access the multitude of recreational activities in the area.

References

{{coord, 53, 18, 18, N, 116, 53, 52, W, display=title, region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Ghost towns in Alberta Localities in Yellowhead County

History

See also

References