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168 Toronto-Vancouver
Edson Subdivision Edmonton to Jasper
Mile 19.9: Spruce Grove
For many early homesteaders, staying within an acceptable distance of a source
of supplies was a matter of survival. This led to settlements being established for strategic and logistical reasons rather than anything else. In 1891, Spruce Grove was established by French and Scottish settlers amid groves of spruce trees about 11 kilometres (9 mi) west of Edmonton.
It wasn’t until 1907 that Spruce Grove was incorporated as a village. A year later, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) built a train station south of Baseline, three quarters of a mile west of the original town centre. Not wanting to lose out on the commercial benefits of the railway, established businesses physically moved to the centre of the present- day City of Spruce Grove. Understandably, the railway brought prosperity and the town established itself as grain-trading centre. It’s now the 9th most populous city in Alberta with over 26,000 citizens.
Mile 44.3: Wabamun Lake
The Canadian bridges an arm of Wabamun Lake, which is so calm it was named after the Cree word for “mirror.” It is a popular summer fishing spot for large northern pike and whitefish. In winter, the lake is a solid sheet of snow-covered ice, which draws hundreds of people ice fishing on a mild weekend.
A terrible oil spill occurred along its banks in 2005 when a CN freight train derailed and dumped up to 1.3 million litres of heavy bunker fuel oil and wood preservative into the lake. As a result of the ecological damage, the entire lake is restricted to a catch and release policy only, until fish stocks recover.
Less ecologically pleasing to the eye are the coal-powered generating stations that can be seen at mile 45. Several companies associated with the TransAlta Utilities Corporation operate strip-mines in the vicinity, and the coal is burned in a number of power plants throughout the basin.
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