Canadian Pacific Railroad History Still Visible near Casey's Cabin

Construction of a railroad between Edmonton and Calgary began in 1890 with stopping stations between the cities. The Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) set up a boxcar as a station on the site of what is now Lacombe and catalogued it as Siding No. 12, making it the third building at that location, the other two being log cabins. 

Siding No. 12 was eventually christened Lacombe in 1902 in honour of a Roman Catholic priest whose mission field was in the area. Father Albert Lacombe maintained peace between the Cree and Blackfoot Indians and negotiated construction of the CPR through Blackfoot territory.

Anne Tetz evaluates a section of the pipeline
that was dug up when a road crew extended
Woodland Drive in 2001.

A shortage of water for their steam engines was a concern to the railroad. In late 1905, the CPR buried a pipeline in a hand-dug ditch that ran in a southeasterly direction from Lake Barnett to Siding No. 12. The 7-inch diameter flume was made of 6-foot oak staves bound with 30-40 wraps of steel wire. A 7-inch collar held the lengths of pipe together.  An operator lived in the pump house built on the shore of the lake. He knew when to start the pump engine according to an indicator ball in the mast of the water tower at the station. At this time, there were no tall trees to obstruct his view. The pipeline was used for 30 years or more.

In the spring of 2001 when the town of Lacombe extended Woodland Drive along Cranna Lake, a portion of this old pipeline was dug up on Dr. Wilford Tetz’ property. He retrieved two sections of the pipe. In the spring these pipes will be moved to float in Lake Barnett to mark the location of the original pipeline.

If you follow Casey’s Cabin trail due west and continue on to the lake, you will find the cement slab on which the pump engine was anchored. On the shore of the lake you will see some vertical posts. Some of the pipeline is still buried in the water between these posts.

Dr. Wilford Tetz retrieves a section of the pipeline, hoping a museum might
like to preserve and display it.

Dr. Wilford Tetz drags a section of the pipeline home.

CUC Historian Edith Fitch, right, examines the hooks that anchored the pump engine to the cement slab
as Dr. Wilford Tetz looks on.