Giant iron gears spinning around axles damped by huge coil springs were used to rotate the 4 heavy presses in the briquette processing building at the Brazeau Collieries coal mining operation. The massive machines stand still and silent today, coated in a combination of tar and coal dust, collecting rust under the grime. But in its day there would have been a steady flow of hot, loud work in this plant, where a small complement of workers oversaw the final steps of creating a once-key power source for homes and businesses of the expanding West.
Gearing Down From Some Hot Work, Nordegg
Royce Howland Photography 