SHEERNESS

NAME: Sheerness COUNTY: N/A ROADS: 4WD GRID: 2 CLIMATE: Mild summer,cold winter BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer

COMMENTS: East Central Alberta REMAINS: Quite a bit.

Sheerness has been called “The town that refuses to die” although it has threatened to become a ghost town from time to time. Coal was accidentally discovered during the winter of 1905-06 while cattlemen were sinking a well for water. The town became a center for coal as fuel prior to the availability of natural gas. Sheerness grew to be a fair sized village during its best years with a population of 121 in 1956. Ten years later there was half that number. But, by 1975, the natural gas that had replaced coal as fuel in so many power plants was itself becoming in short supply and coal in turn began replacing it as fuel. Today, Sheerness once again hums with activity as miners commute from Hanna to produce coal.. H.B. Chenoweth

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