Bankhead: A Ghost town in Banff

Bankhead, Alberta was a small coal mining town that existed in the early twentieth century, in Banff National Park. The mine was located at Cascade Mountain, which contains high grade anthracite coal deposits. The Bankhead coal mine was operated by the Pacific Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which needed the coal to fuel its steam engines. The mine began operations in 1903 and was the first anthracite mine in Canada. The area was totally abandoned in 1926.