The Inclined Railway

One of the most important pieces of coal mining technology to be used in the Lethbridge area was the inclined railway. Built in 1885, the inclined railway transported coal from the river bottom drift mines up to the prairie level tipples, where the coal was sorted and then shipped away by rail. There were several types of inclined railways. Some inclines were powered by a steam engine with a circular cable spun on two tracks while other smaller inclines used horse power or stationary steam engines on single tracks. A news reporter for the Manitoba Daily Free Press once described how the incline operated: "After the coal is drawn out it is taken to the foot of the incline preparatory to being drawn up. When the man in charge of that part has a load ready, a wire cable is coupled on and he gives a signal to the engineer by means of an electric bell. Then the five trucks which comprise a load begins the ascent of the incline, the length of which was 2 100 feet [640m]. I rode up on one of the trucks and enjoyed very much the novelty of riding at such a speed up the hill. About half way, five empty trucks passed going down, so that when the five full ones arrived at the top, the five empty ones reached the bottom. The full trucks are pulled onto a high trestle and then, when there are men ready, they run them forward to the dump, and by means of a spring the truck is dumped onto a screen. Thus the dust is separated from the good coal, then passed into a hopper and is weighed. From that the coal is dumped into the car ready for shipment to Dunmore. Each train car holds ten tons and each train consists of 15 cars, thus each train pulls out with 150 tons of coal.

P19640112000-GM Miners catch a ride to the top of the river valley on the incline railway.