In East Coulee, there is one living relic. A coal mine.  Bob is the historian who protects the history of the coal mine.  He says that coal was discovered here before the Dinos were discovered.  Bob’s family was here, underground, in 1911.  “It’s the mine that brought the Dinos”, he says with pride.  “There were 35 mines in this valley before the Dinos showed up.”  Bob was born in the valley, third generation underground, left in ‘60 and came back in 93’.  I asked why he returned.  “The history!”  He came back with his friend Ray.  I asked Ray why he came.  “The stories!”

The mine sites displayed a red light in dangerous or unmanageable working conditions.  When the light was off there was work.  When the light was on there was no work.  Subsequently, (so I’m told) there was another industry that would occupy the men when the Red light was on.  Bob was the Uber of the day.  When the Red light was on, Bob was a transport company.

Working underground can be precarious. When the men checked in they passed through the lamp shack and were given a lamp and a copper badge.  The lamp shack was the lifeline.  At the end of day, it was always a priority to check that all copper badges were back in their designated spots.  If not, there was a life search.

There was always music.  Gramps played fiddle; Aunt – piano;  Uncle – drums;  and Bob - bag pipes and accordion.

There were three mining communities here - Drumheller, East Coulee and Wayne.

I asked Bob if he had any regrets.  He said, “I regret when they amalgamated the three school districts into one school because my girlfriends all got to know each other.”