MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
My parents came to Canada from Bukovina, Austria around
My own recollections of coalhurst begin when Coalhurst
The "Red and White Store" was fascinating to me
Going to Lethbridge on Saturdays and catching the
Ican still see Mr. Hugh McLeod going to the train
Our children have had similar experiences as mine,
the year 1908. They were married on September 22, 1913
in St. Cyprian's Church in Lethbridge. The Church was
destroyed by fire years later and the records were
transferred to St. Augustine's Church. After living in
Lethbridge and Diamond City for a few years, they
moved to Coalhurst and lived there until their passing.
Our home was in 'Wigan, just west of the Nestoruk
property. Wigan was the 'lower' part of the town where
most of the mine laborers lived. My father worked in the
mine full time until coal orders slowed down and then
worked part time only. After the mine disaster in 1935,
he went to Priddis Mine to work, only to be severely
injured soon after. In 1945 my parents bought a small
farm adjacent to Wesselman's. My father passed away
on February 11, 1948 at the age of sixty-one. My mother
remained on the farm a few years but later sold it and
moved into Coalhurst where she lived until the time of
her stroke in December 1962. She was in a nursing home
until the time of her death on February 9, 1975.
There were eight children in the family with six
surviving.
slowly became a ghost town. I remember a lot of vacant
lots and their basement holes that I fell into taking short
cuts home on dark nights. Still vivid in my mind at the
age of five was the whistle blowing incessantly the day the
mine exploded, and being at the mine with my family later
in the evening. Because I am the second youngest in the
family, I probably don't remember the worst of the hard
times. My mother often told me we had no idea of hard
times and wished we would never experience what she did.
I recall the day the power company came to our house to
cut the power lines. It seemed natural to have the kerosene
lamp light as I was too young to compare it to the power.
I remember the relief parcels with material, shoes, jackets,
etc., and though there was a stigma to this we were happy
to receive them and wear the dresses sewn for us. The
styles then were similar to those of today. There was not
any fancy food on our table and not the variety, but I find
myself trying to equal the good flavor of the food my
mother prepared for us in those days, when we felt hard
done by or compared it to that of friends whose
financial position was much better than ours.
with its dry goods and groceries, Aunt Doty's for her
array of penny candies, and Bill Willis' store for his
ice cream. There were far more stores at one time
and I have only slight memories of Pavan's store, th
e drug store, hotel and Sabora's store. The Pavan
private property was a very beautiful place and it was
sad to see so many lovely homes torn down or moved
away. My sister Helen remembers the Chinese
Restaurant, Miner's Club, and the Chinese man
delivering vegetables in his yellow wagon which
resembles the Kraft wagon shown on T.V.
commercials. She also remembers a band of
Indians camping in Sabora's field and Mrs. Berlando
delivering milk with her black cutter. I recall
swimming in the irrigation ditch at Aben's
with a lot of kids, and hiding in the trees when
Mr. Black the ditch-rider would appear, then
joyfully resuming our swim when he left. Passing
the "slew" at Wigan brings fond memories of
winter skating with the accompanying aroma
of a rubber tire or old railroad tie being burned
on the side of the pond for warmth. There were
hockey games between Coalhurst and Wigan boys
and we recited a saying that went "Wigan guys get the
pies, Coalhurst bums get the crumbs". This was
reversed of course by the Coalhurst fans. The rink
was so crowded on Sundays it was hard for a
beginner to get much skating done.
1:30 passenger train for thirty-five cents return was
exciting for me, and frightening when we went over
the high level bridge. Sliding down the Coalhurst
slag pile in winter provided a lot of fun, hard work
climbing up, but worth the swift slide down, whether
on the end of a broken flat shovel or the fender of an
old Model A Ford retrieved from the dump. The
Christmas Concerts in those days can never be
compared to any so far that I have seen, perhaps
have never meant to be recaptured because they
were so special at that time.
tation to pick up the mail and deliver it to the Post
office, and still hear the coal furnace at the elemenary
school being stoked by Mr. Start, and Sports day
being quite an event. We'd climb the dump which
was quite high then on a spring day and view the
town below and I thought it was true that the
meadow Lark was really singing "Coalhurst is a
pretty little town" as my brother had told me once.
skating on that same pond, and jogging in as that
were familiar to me as a child, as well as going to
school here, and I know I may safely say if
sentiments would be as mine, Coalhurst was and
still is a nice little town.
Return Individual Histories