Yes, I’m talking about the Great Train Robbery of Nanton, Alberta — which took place a bitter prairie winter day (February 5, 1907). It’s a great story I heard about today on the CBC Radio show Sounds Like Canada.
So, I ask you — how Canadian is this story? Poor, freezing, small-town folk and farmers patiently wait (and wait!) for their ordered load of much-needed coal. It is a terrible winter and they desperately need it for heating. The CPR Rail passes through town, and they watch trainload after trainload of coal pass on through (probably destined for those damn rich Big City Folk!). The poor folks — without road access due to a terrible winter storm — finally had enough and took the law into their hands. They robbed a train that came through town on Feb. 5, while the local RCMP constable stood by and did nothing (what could he do — throw the whole town into a freezing jail cell?). I don’t know, maybe he even helped them shovel coal?
The best part is not that they robbed a train… No, the funny thing is that they did it in a truly Canadian way. First they had a meeting to figure out who would get what. Then they carefully kept records (1,000 pounds of coal for townsfolk, 2,000 for farmers, etc.) and oversaw the distribution to make sure no one took more than their share. Then — this is the best part — they paid for the coal they had “stolen”.
You can read a bit more about it here, or in the Winter 1997 edition of the Alberta History Journal, if you happen to have that lying around…