Page 28 - The Weekly Anchor Newspaper
P. 28
final trim
A Historical Perspective:
Small towns battle for supremacy
in the early Canadian West
by Stuart Taylor
A lot of the once-thriving towns of the Canadian West
are gone today. In our province, some of these include
Alderson, Amber Valley, and Battle Bend. In some cases,
there may be a lonely cemetery where these towns used
to be. In others, finding even an abandoned foundation
would be an undertaking.
Lucerne is one of these long lost, abandoned Alberta
towns. It was once located just inside the British
Columbia border about 22 miles from Jasper on the
south side of Yellowhead Lake, which was known back events. During the dances, mothers would put their babies
then as Buffalo Dung Lake. Named for Lucerne, up on the stage so they could keep an eye on them while
Switzerland, the town's birth coincided with the arrival swinging around the dance floor.
of the Canadian Northern Railway. It was the railroad that determined Lucerne's fate. In the
Today, two people with a connection to the old town early 1920s, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) took
are Harry Home of Jasper and his sister Jean. Their over all railroad operations in the region. As part of that
mother and father worked and lived in Lucerne when it change, the CNR's management had to decide between
was still a thriving community. Lucerne and Jasper as the divisional rail point. Both towns
According to Harry, there was a coal loading facility were well established. Both had choice locations and similar
and a railway marshalling yard at Lucerne. There was populations. But in the end, the railway chose Jasper.
also a railroad roundhouse with five stalls, a shed for a Almost immediately, Lucerne began to shrivel. Based on
rotary snow plow, a machine shop, a boiler room, and a historic voting records, there were once 300 people in the
75-foot turntable for rail cars. community, not counting the women and children. By 1924,
The town also had an icehouse where large blocks of most of the townsfolk had relocated to Jasper. By 1925,
ice, cut from the lake in winter, were stored. (The ice Lucerne's population was down to only twenty.
was covered with sawdust so it would keep through the The railway station, which had been every bit as big as the
summer. The railway used it on passenger trains and in Jasper station, was eventually dismantled. Even the rails at
refrigerator cars.) Lucerne's marshalling yard were pulled up and moved.
Lucerne also had a general store, a school, a town Effectively, the town ceased to exist, though it continued on
doctor, a police force, a restaurant, a poolroom, a as a railway whistle stop. Today, most of the once-bustling
barbershop, and a community hall known as “The town site has gone back to nature. All that remains is an old
Railroad Club,” which hosted dances and community house and the cemetery.
A Historical Perspective:
Small towns battle for supremacy
in the early Canadian West
by Stuart Taylor
A lot of the once-thriving towns of the Canadian West
are gone today. In our province, some of these include
Alderson, Amber Valley, and Battle Bend. In some cases,
there may be a lonely cemetery where these towns used
to be. In others, finding even an abandoned foundation
would be an undertaking.
Lucerne is one of these long lost, abandoned Alberta
towns. It was once located just inside the British
Columbia border about 22 miles from Jasper on the
south side of Yellowhead Lake, which was known back events. During the dances, mothers would put their babies
then as Buffalo Dung Lake. Named for Lucerne, up on the stage so they could keep an eye on them while
Switzerland, the town's birth coincided with the arrival swinging around the dance floor.
of the Canadian Northern Railway. It was the railroad that determined Lucerne's fate. In the
Today, two people with a connection to the old town early 1920s, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) took
are Harry Home of Jasper and his sister Jean. Their over all railroad operations in the region. As part of that
mother and father worked and lived in Lucerne when it change, the CNR's management had to decide between
was still a thriving community. Lucerne and Jasper as the divisional rail point. Both towns
According to Harry, there was a coal loading facility were well established. Both had choice locations and similar
and a railway marshalling yard at Lucerne. There was populations. But in the end, the railway chose Jasper.
also a railroad roundhouse with five stalls, a shed for a Almost immediately, Lucerne began to shrivel. Based on
rotary snow plow, a machine shop, a boiler room, and a historic voting records, there were once 300 people in the
75-foot turntable for rail cars. community, not counting the women and children. By 1924,
The town also had an icehouse where large blocks of most of the townsfolk had relocated to Jasper. By 1925,
ice, cut from the lake in winter, were stored. (The ice Lucerne's population was down to only twenty.
was covered with sawdust so it would keep through the The railway station, which had been every bit as big as the
summer. The railway used it on passenger trains and in Jasper station, was eventually dismantled. Even the rails at
refrigerator cars.) Lucerne's marshalling yard were pulled up and moved.
Lucerne also had a general store, a school, a town Effectively, the town ceased to exist, though it continued on
doctor, a police force, a restaurant, a poolroom, a as a railway whistle stop. Today, most of the once-bustling
barbershop, and a community hall known as “The town site has gone back to nature. All that remains is an old
Railroad Club,” which hosted dances and community house and the cemetery.
