Albert Canyon, British Columbia, Canada...Ghost Town... Relived by the Schut family 1956

Brief History of Albert Canyon

Approximately half way between Rogers Pass and Revelstoke, was situated the town of Albert Canyon. Little is left of the town it once was. The remains of Albert Canyon are a ghost town situated a short distance south of the present day hot springs pool site.

The village of Albert Canyon, the gorge and the hot springs were all named after Albert Rogers, who undertook many exploration trips in the area, including the discovery of Rogers Pass. Throughout the years of steam locomotives, Albert Canyon was a “pusher station”, with a small roundhouse built in 1916. They built a railway station providing housing for operators, a section gang, and living quarters for the CPR agent upstairs in the station.

The mineral waters of Albert Canyon were allegedly discovered by CPR workmen at the turn of the century. The railway employees dug a pit at the hot springs and lined it with heavy timbers.

The open air "hot tub" was used by visitors and residents for many, many years. Today the Canyon Hot Springs are some distance away, with the water from the hot springs being piped to their pools.

In addition, Albert Canyon had a very active sawmill and logging operation, we can still remember the old WWII truck that used to haul logs to the mill. Nothing remains of the mill now, except our wonderful memories of the times we had there.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

CPR Railing Station

Some photographs of the CPR Railing Station and the train tracks... the past and the present...

Albert Canyon CPR Railway station, around 1950 or earlier

Hank, Mum and Will standing besides the Albert Canyon train sign, located just before Albert Canyon... coming from the West.

Opa Schut, Oma Schut and Opa Elbertsen arriving at Halifax, leaving to go to Albert Canyon

Oma Schut, Opa Schut, Mum and her Dad Opa Elbertsen standing in front of the Albert Canyon
train station, and just to the right... the new school under construction

To the left and below, you have the drawings of the Wye track layout.

plus below you have the pictures showing this layout.

East Leg Wye - looking at pusher sheds

Our photo taken in 1956, of the CPR railing station, note that the water tower
is still standing. This tower was used to fill up the steam engines.

Will, Mum and Hank, in front of the Albert Canyon CPR Railing station...
waiting for the train going to Revelstoke, photo taken in November 1956.
My memories of railway station...creosote and musty, hard waiting benches, telegraph operator,
We would walk on the train tracks, to see how far we would get, before we fall off.
On occasion, we would find a used railway tie nail, special rock, or some other treasure...
I really miss those times we had.

My brother found a picture showing the pusher engine / repair buildings

Another photo found on the internet: in front of CRP railway station

A photo found on the internet: looking towards the river, note bunk house, train station and the water tower.

Picture showing the underpass that was right next to our log home.
The trains would park for many hours at the railway station,
blocking off the access to both sides of Albert Canyon. Needless to
say, this underpass was used a lot. I assume due to Albert Canyon
becoming a "ghost town", the underpass has now been filled in.