Midland Provincial Park

Midland Provincial Park
Midland Provincial Park
	Location of Midland Provincial Park in Alberta
Location	Drumheller / Starland County, Alberta, Canada
Nearest city	Drumheller
Coordinates	51°28′41″N 112°46′20″W / 51.47806°N 112.77222°W
Area	6.3 km2
Established	5 Jun 1979
Governing body	Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation

Midland Provincial Park is a provincial park located in Alberta, Canada.

Once the site of the Midland Coal Mine, it was designated as a provincial park on June 5, 1979. It now hosts the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.

It is located 6 km west of Drumheller on Highway 838 (North Dinosaur Trail).

Activities in the park include canoeing, kayaking, fishing, wildlife viewing and hiking through willows and cottonwoods along the Red Deer River. Points of interest are fossil beds, a mine site and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.

1914 Mining Disaster

Following a two-day halt in operations due to overproduction, 237 miners resumed work at the Midland Provincial Park mine.

At around 9:40 a.m., three blasts from the mine whistle alerted nearby residents to an emergency. The explosions were likely triggered by a spark, which could have been caused by a rock fall, a lamp flare, a short in an electric cable, or a prohibited cigarette. This spark ignited methane gas, which stirred up coal dust, leading to further blasts throughout the mine's tunnels. Of the 237 miners that had entered the mine that morning, only 46 emerged.

In addition to the initial explosions, the resultant lack of oxygen and the rise in poisonous carbon dioxide gas, known as "blackdamp" or "afterdamp," posed significant threats. The force of the explosions also had above-ground impacts, including the destruction of a 20 cm (8 in.) thick concrete wall of the hoist house.^[1]

References

^ "Canada's Deadliest Mining Disaster - Coal - Alberta's Energy Heritage". history.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2024-07-31.

External links

Media related to Midland Provincial Park at Wikimedia Commons
Park page at Alberta Development
Virtual tour
Drumheller Mining History
The Dangers of Coal Mining in Drumheller

[1] "Canada's Deadliest Mining Disaster - Coal - Alberta's Energy Heritage". history.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2024-07-31.

[1]

v t e Protected areas in Alberta
World Heritage Sites	Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Dinosaur Provincial Park Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park Wood Buffalo National Park Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi
National parks	Banff Elk Island Jasper Waterton Lakes Wood Buffalo
Provincial parks, wildlands and wildernesses	Aspen Beach Antelope Hill Beauvais Lake Big Hill Springs Big Island Big Knife Bow Valley Bragg Creek Brown-Lowery Calling Lake Canmore Nordic Centre Caribou Mountains Carson-Pegasus Castle Castle Wildland Chain Lakes Cold Lake Crimson Lake Cross Lake Crow Lake Cypress Hills Dillberry Lake Dinosaur Dry Island Buffalo Jump Dunvegan Eagle Point Fish Creek Garner Lake Glenbow Ranch Gooseberry Lake Greene Valley Gregoire Lake Hilliard's Bay Hay-Zama Lakes Jarvis Bay Kinbrook Island Kananaskis Country Lakeland Lesser Slave Lake Little Bow Little Fish Lois Hole Centennial Long Lake Midland Miquelon Lake Moonshine Lake Moose Lake Notikewin Obed Lake O'Brien Park Lake Pembina River Peter Lougheed Provincial Park Pierre Grey's Lakes Pigeon Lake Police Outpost Queen Elizabeth Ram Falls Red Lodge Rochon Sands Rock Lake Saskatoon Island Sheep River Sir Winston Churchill Spray Valley Strathcona Science Sundance Sylvan Lake Thunder Lake Tillebrook Two Lakes Vermilion Wabamun Lake Whitney Lakes William A. Switzer Williamson Willmore Wilderness Willow Creek Winagami Lake Woolford Writing-on-Stone Wyndham-Carseland Young's Point
Urban parks	Calgary Zoo Devonian Gardens Edmonton Valley Zoo Edworthy Park Mill Woods Park Muttart Conservatory North Saskatchewan River Valley Nose Hill Oldman River Valley Pearce Estate Park University of Alberta Botanic Garden Sylvan Lake
Museums and historic sites	Alberta Central Railway Museum Atlas Coal Mine Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Centre Canadian Tractor Museum Cold Lake Air Force Ellis Bird Farm Fort Calgary Fort Edmonton Park Fort Victoria Fort Whoop-Up Frank Slide Galt Historic Railway Park Glenbow Museum Heritage Acres Farm Museum Heritage Park Krause Milling Co. Pioneer Acres Prairie Elevator Museum Remington Carriage Museum Reynolds Royal Alberta Royal Tyrrell Scandia Eastern Irrigation District Museum South Peace Centennial Museum Spruce Grove Grain Elevator Museum St. Albert Grain Elevator Park Ukrainian Village Warner elevator row Whyte National historic sites Provincial historic sites

1914 Mining Disaster

See also

References

External links