Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 12, 2011

Tumbler Ridge is a small town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Peace River Regional District. The municipality, with its population of 2,454 people, incorporates a townsite and a large area of mostly Crown Land. The housing and municipal infrastructure were built simultaneously in 1981 by the provincial government to service the coal industry. In 1981, a consortium of Japanese steel mills agreed to purchase 100 million tonnes of coal from two mining companies that were to operate the Quintette mine and the Bullmoose mine. Declining global coal prices after 1981, and weakening Asian markets in the late 1990s, made the town's future uncertain. When price reductions were forced onto the mines, the Quintette mine was closed in 2000 and the town lost about half its population. Since 2000 rising coal prices have led to the opening of new mines. After dinosaur footprints, fossils, and bones were discovered in the municipality, the Peace Region Paleontology Research Centre opened in 2003. Economic diversification has also occurred with oil and gas exploration, forestry, and recreational tourism. Nearby recreational destinations include numerous trails, mountains, waterfalls, snowmobiling areas and provincial parks. (more...)

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