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Western Dominion Collieries Ltd.
Taylorton Saskatchewan
Located at 4-2-6 W. 2nd
Deep Seam Shaft Type Mine
Shafts as deep as 90 feet down
were dug in the era
Located just NE of Taylorton Cemetery
The First Commercial Coal Mine in the District
started near this location, shortly after 1880
By George Pocock of Emerson MB.
& his brother, Sir Sydney Job Pocock, of London England
Hugh Sutherland from Winnipeg
was the first to mine the coal
with a 70 ft tunnel.
The first mine in this area was
at Roche Percee in 1891
The Hassard Mine was its name,
owned by Hugh Hassard
Later to become the Souris Valley
Coal Co. mine,
with a 8ft coal seam
This mine was sold to the John Taylor
family of Winnipeg
and renamed Western Dominion
Collieries Ltd. in 1905.
This was the location of Taylorton
First managed by Andrew Miller
then Sam Holley, then Ed Pierce Jr.
In 1918 at the start of the Lignite Utilization Board
trying to form the char plant
it was a subsidiary of the Trustees Corporation Ltd.,
London, England
Part of the big
Six, time of Sept 29,1931 riot
2nd largest Mine in 1931.
Managed by C.C. Morfit for a time in the early 30`s,
A. E. Turner took over in 1933,
as office manager and accountant in charge.
He was succeeded by Ken John, retired in 1965.
Archie Hawkes became mine manager
of Western Dominion Coal Ltd.
Chuck Doerr also got his start with this company.
Changed to
Western Dominion Coal Mines Ltd.
Owned or controlled by J. R. Brodie ca 1939.
Bought in 1964 by Mannix Corp out of Calgary
along with it's holding
company, Great West Coal of Brandon MB.,
that Mr Brodie would have owned or
controlled.
Became Battle River Coal Mine Co Ltd.
This Mine had it's own Electric Power
Station.
This in later years was acquired by the Dominion Electric Co.
which continued to supply power to the coal companies in the area.
In 1937 the tipple burnt down at this mine
View
these pictures
in better quality
at the Bienfait Museum
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