Names released for upcoming Miner’s Memorial

Looking through the 207 names on the roll call intended for the upcoming Miner’s Memorial is a sombre reminder of what the Drumheller Valley owes the coal miners and their families who perished in the line of duty.

The Miner’s Memorial Committee has just released the names of the miners who will be immortalized on the new memorial being constructed. However, the committee is asking for help from residents.

“Residents are invited to send us corrections to spellings, missing names, or other information. There is not much time left before these names are carved in stone,” said Linda Digby, executive director of the Atlas Coal Mine.

The list can be found below.

Residents are encouraged to look over the list and send any corrections to the Atlas Coal Mine.

“We’ve been through the list over and over, cross-checked, and referenced to get the spelling right, which is a challenge. Some of the names have three or four records and each has a different spelling. In those cases we usually go with the cemetery spelling or the most official source,” said Digby.

Despite releasing the list of names, there is still more work to be done.

“We’re really not done, there are still more sources we would like to check. We’ve had volunteers and staff on this for two years. We’ve covered a lot of ground. I can’t say we’ve left no stone unturned, there are still a couple we’d like to turn over, but we are finding fewer names in every new source we go to, which is an indication we are getting close,” said Digby.

The volunteers have poured over newspaper and provincial archives, including The Drumheller Mail, in an effort to make the list as complete as possible, but, especially in the early days, there may be gaps.

“There may be some names that never made it on any record. We’ll never know about those unless their families bring it to us and share their story,” said Digby.

As research continues, it is expected more names will be discovered, even after the memorial is complete.

“We’ve asked the artist to arrange the names to leave a little space at the bottom, so we can do an addition in a few years if we need to. In a few years will probably be our only chance to add names, so we’re doing everything we can to get this list as complete as possible,” said Digby.

The memorial will be going in the park next to the Civic Centre on Centre Street. The park will be redone to pay tribute to our fallen miners. The mural in the park will also be getting a makeover.

“The whole park is being reconceived as the Miner’s Memorial Park. We’ve engaged Marcel Deschenes to do a new mural for the park as well. He’s done a concept drawing which we just love,” said Digby.

Digby also encourages residents who have stories or photos they wish to share of the fallen miners to contact the Atlas Coal Mine.

“We have few photos of men killed in the mines. If anyone has photos of miners on the list, we would like to talk to them. If a family wishes, they can allow us to take a digital copy of their photo, and they can hold onto the original,” said Digby. “Collecting and curating photos that depict life during the mining years is an important part of our mandate.”