Frequently Asked Questions

General photo club help

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Sentinel of the Frozen Prairie

Perched on frost-coated posts, a snowy owl surveys the frozen prairie during a rare rime ice event in southern Alberta. These extreme winter conditions transform familiar landscapes into quiet, fragile worlds — briefly shared by wildlife and humans alike.

Wood Duck in Flight

The female wood duck shows off the variety of pattern and colouring on her undersides as she descends to the snow-covered January ground.

Flight of the Female Wood Duck

One freezing morning, a group of mallards flew from the stream to gobble up some wild bird seed. They were joined by this female wood duck who came late to the party but was in time to partake of the snacks, showing off her beautiful feathers as she descended onto the snow.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

Photo contests and competitions

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Short eared owl hunting for mice

In the winter months we get visited by these short eared owls and get the perfect opportunities to take pictures

Sentinel of the Frozen Prairie

Perched on frost-coated posts, a snowy owl surveys the frozen prairie during a rare rime ice event in southern Alberta. These extreme winter conditions transform familiar landscapes into quiet, fragile worlds — briefly shared by wildlife and humans alike.

Wood Duck in Flight

The female wood duck shows off the variety of pattern and colouring on her undersides as she descends to the snow-covered January ground.

Flight of the Female Wood Duck

One freezing morning, a group of mallards flew from the stream to gobble up some wild bird seed. They were joined by this female wood duck who came late to the party but was in time to partake of the snacks, showing off her beautiful feathers as she descended onto the snow.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.

The Ghost Town of Bankhead, Alberta

In August of 2025, I took my daughter on a week-long trip to Alberta to see the usual sights, and a few not-so-usual ones. One of those stops was the ghost town of Bankhead, Alberta, just a 20-minute drive up the mountain from our hotel in Banff. Bankhead was a Canadian Pacific Railway coal town built in 1903 at the base of Cascade Mountain. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people lived here, and the town had electricity and sewers before Banff did. Coal from Bankhead fueled CPR locomotives and helped heat the Banff Springs Hotel. It was a modern, well-funded industrial town that looked like it was built to last. It didn’t. By the early 1920s, a combination of difficult mining conditions, brittle anthracite coal that crumbled into dust, and repeated labour strikes pushed the operation to the breaking point. After a major strike in April 1922, the mine was sealed and never reopened. Instead of being left to decay, Bankhead was dismantled. Houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. Even the church was cut in half and hauled away. What remains today is mostly concrete foundations, industrial remnants, and the Lamphouse. Walking the site with historic photos on my phone completely changed how it felt. On its own, it barely looks like a ghost town. With context, it becomes a place that was deliberately erased.