Bankhead Ghost Town

Bankhead, Alberta

This mining town was established by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, in the mountains of Banff National Park. Built in 1903, the town supplied coal to CPR locomotives and to the Banff Springs Hotel, and was removing close to 200,000 tons of coal per year.

It was, however, a tough job and labour relations between the miners and the railroad soured and after a series of strikes, CPR just closed the mine, and since Bankhead was a company town, the economy dried up with the closure. Since 1922, it’s been abandoned to nature and hikers.