Blackfalds & Area Historical Society
Linking Past & Present
Iron Ridge Secondary Campus Mural
To learn more about the various components of the mural, click the links below:
Blindman River Dam
Low flow at the dam on the Blindman River, showing the poplar tree layered
In 1904 Aruthur D. Gregson donated about 4 acres of land to the Blindman River Electric Light and Power Company, owned by brothers Fred E. and George S. Wilkins, to build a dam on the Blindman River, just upstream of where it runs into the Red Deer River, in the area now called Burbank. The Wilkins brothers built the dam with clay and poplar trees, completing it in early 1906. The water was directed to a deep canal dug across land, from the Blindman to the Red Deer River, running through a power plant that was run by its first operator, Ernest Bradbury. The company had a contract to provide power via a transmission line running north to Lacombe, but due to the varying flow of the Blindman River, service was not dependable.
Unfortunately, George Wilkins died in December of 1907, followed closely by his brother in March of 1908. The town of Lacombe took over the operations later in 1908, but by 1910 they had built a steam powered electrical plant as back-up. The Blindman River plant was abandoned in about 1912 and the dam washed away in a spring flood a few years later.
The diversion canal ran between the dammed Blindman River on the left, across to the Red Deer River on the right, in a deep channel. Along the canal was the power plant (dark building) and behind, the operators house (white building)
Looking west at the diversion canal being built from the Red Deer River side
Blindman River in spring high flow over the dam