Monday, April 28, was the official start date for restoration of the wooden tipple at the Atlas Coal Mine.
Macdonald and Lawrence Timber Framing Ltd., a specialist carpentry company based on Vancouver Island, B.C., are undertaking the four week restoration.
The tipple restoration is phase 1 of the three-phase multi-year restoration project at the national historic site.
Jay Russell, Interim Manager of the Atlas Coal Mine, accepts a $1,300 donation from Barb Taillon and Jessica Sharpe of the Drumheller branch of Chinook Credit Union. The funds were raised during a branch bake sale held April 17, and during a month-long raffle of a bird house sculpture. Russell said the funds will go toward the wooden tipple restoration that started April 28 at the Atlas Coal Mine.
“In essence, what we’re doing this time is a couple of big pieces of timber, which is support timber. They’ll replace a couple of those,” explains the Atlas Coal Mine’s Interim Manager, Jay Russell.
“It is an historical structure, so we have to do it right, and do it smart.”
“It’s important. It’s exciting.”
He said there are historical artifacts that must be moved out of the way for restoration, and then returned, without any damage to them.
Russell notes the tipple will still be open during this restoration.
“It’s not going to impede our tour offering - the crew has been very gracious, and they’re going to let us access the tipple.”
The tipple was open for toonie tours during the May Day Miners’ Festival, May 2-4.
Phase 2 of the restoration could start as early as next year, depending on a variety of factors.
There were 139 mines in the valley, so there would have been 139 tipples, said Russell.
The Atlas Coal Mine wooden tipple is the last remaining wooden tipple standing in all of Canada.
Russell said the structure was built in 1937.
