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Tom Monto

Nordegg, Alberta founded by Martin Nordegg and German money

The fortunes of German-Canadian Martin Nordegg suffered due to public and government sentiment during WWI, but he suffered the final blow after the war, delivered by his former business allies. He was founder and "boss" of the Nordegg coal mine. And the town there still carries his famly name.


He had arrived in Canada in 1906 laden with German investment money. He found good seam of coal in the foothills of the Rockiesm and within six years had built up a thriving coal mine, with its own railway and a town -- named after him. The mine operated in conjunction with the railway magnates Mackenzie and Mann, in a complicated consortium arrangement.


In 1912 he brought his 14-year-old daughter, Marcelle, to western Canada. The experience is chronicled in his book To the Town that Bears Your Name A Young Woman's Journey to Nordegg in 1912.


Nordegg was liable to internment in Canada during WWI so left to take up residence in neutral U.S.A. (U.S. did not join the conflict until 1918.)


During his time in the U.S., he had to pay the entire government bill for the coal lease for the mine operation. Mackenzie and Mann refused to pay their portion, hoping the bill would not be paid and the lease cancelled and the coal made available for them to snap it up themselves.


Nordegg also used his pull with Canadian big-wigs to preserve the name of his town. The name of Berlin, Ontario was changed about that time to Kitchener. The name Nordegg was not as contentious, as it was named after a German family name and not a German place. But still an official in the Mackenzie and Mann office worked to eradicate the Nordegg name. A plebiscite was held in Nordegg on the change of the name. All but three voted to retain the name. So no name-change took place.


Mackenzie and Mann then took steps to collapse Nordegg's financial structure. Somewhat ironically Calgary lawyer R.B. Bennett, king-pin of the oft-xenophobic Conservative party, came to Nordegg's aid. Under the theory that an enemy of your enemy is your friend, Bennett saw that Martin Nordegg's feud was with Mackenzie and Mann who were themselves enemies of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Conservative Party's pet project and Calgary's mainstay. Bennett thus did what he could to back Nordegg's cause. Speaking out in the House of Commons, he helped ensure that Mackenzie and Mann "could not enrich themselves at the expense of a defenceless alien". (This is described in Martin Nordegg's memoir, published under the title "The Possibilities of Canada are Truly Great," p. 225)


Finally the war over, Nordegg felt bad for the situation in Germany where many were trying to subsist on turnips through a bleak winter. (The poor state of health in Germany and among its armies had helped end the war. The 1918 flu epidemic took a more serious toll among the German people and soldiers than it did on other peoples. (Wood, King's Royal Rifle Corps))


After the war, despite support of government officials overseeing property of Aliens, Mackenzie and Mann and the Canadian Bank of Commerce worked to deprive Nordegg of even partial control of the coal mine. As a personal attack, the new Canadian National Railway (made up of Mackenzie and Mann's railway and other bankrupt railways) changed the name of the Nordegg train station to Brazeau.


Nordegg still felt responsible for his German backer's investments and worked to increase the mine's sale of coal, in order to sell their shares at the best possible price. This done, he felt free to pursue his twin goals - "to roam the world at his will and to assist mankind."


He is the subject of the biography Martin Nordegg An uncommon Immigrant by W. John Koch (Brightest Pebble Publishing, 1998).


Anne Belliveau's book When Coal was King The Brazeau Collieries Operation at Nordegg, Alberta (published by Nordegg Historical Society, Rocky Mountain House (2001) has much information on the coal mine.


(The Noble Cause published by the United Mine Workers of America has some info on union activities in Nordegg.)


Martin Nordegg -- one of the founders of modern Alberta


Thanks for reading.

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