Prospector Peter Robb, also known as “Baldy” Robb, discovered the Minehead and Bryan Coal Mines near present day Robb Alberta over a century ago. Commercial production began at Minehead in 1918 and the first settlement was close to and named after the mine.

The townsite was moved a short distance away in the mid-1920s and given the name Robb in his honour. This roughly corresponds with the sale of the Minehead underground operations to commercial interests.

“I’m honoured that you chose us and came in.” – Kevin (thanking the Beer Parlour Project).

“Yeah, it was busy (in the early days). A lot of oil patch, a lot of exploration, seismic pipelines…a rockin’ Saturday night kind of thing…trouble until 3 in the morning and the whole bit.” – Audrey.

A second underground coal mine, to the northwest was called the Bryan Mine, and it opened in 1924. With this, the town became more permanent in nature, although it remained small in population. It hovered around 100 for long periods. For the next couple of decades, both mines had sporadic production.

In 1950, the new Bryan Mountain Mine opened and as a result Robb’s population more than doubled. This was a pit mine and for this time it was something different. Underground mines were the norm back then.

The Bryan Mountain Mine was an extension of the older Bryan underground mine. The old pits from the surface diggings are still visible just to the northwest of town.

The Bryan Hotel was built in anticipation of the the Bryan Mountain Mine opening. The operation had been in the planning stages for some time and the firm behind it all had big aspirations.

“My parents actually bought the hotel in 1972 and ran it till ’79 when my brother I bought the hotel. So I bought the hotel with my brother when I was 24 years old.“ – Audrey.

“Yeah, there’s a kitchen ghost and the housekeeping staff have seen the white dressed lady floating around the halls lately.” – Kevin (every hotel has a resident spirit).

“When the stubby bottles were still in production, we’d get almost 4,000 dozen beer in that cooler. We would sell 30, 40 dozen beer on the floor and probably another 100 dozen or so a day in off sales.” – Audrey.

The exact date the hotel was built is somewhat in question. Both 1943 and 1948 were mentioned in research documents. The general consensuses is sometimes in the 1940s, however.

We find old telephone directories are reliable sources for business timelines, but there were no phones in Robb until the 1950s. So that was no help.

Robb does not follow the pattern of many small towns, that is, with the hotel situated on the main street or avenue, across the tracks from the train station. It’s just below Centre Street and off 49^th Avenue, away from the main part of town and somewhat on it’s own.

“In 82 when the big recession hit, everything slowed down from there.” – Rob, Audrey & Barry.

“Oh no, it’s terrible and hard to heat. Well, it’s this part of Alberta. We’ve got eight months of winter and four months of bad sledding. There was three weeks of minus 35 or better and wind. But yeah, those kind of days extended are hard on this old girl.” – Kevin (speaking of big fuel bills in winter).

“There’s Hemsley, Aldrich, my parents were the Nelsons and then ourselves.” – Audrey (sharing an owner timeline).

The rail line is even further down the hill below the hotel, but by the time it came on the scene, the railways were of less importance (for the movement of people) than before.

While a hotel, the building also functioned as a boarding house for mine employees. It also hosted representatives of firms the Bryan Mountain Coal company was wooing.

This included a planned pulp and paper mill in the Hinton area, who they hoped would fuel their operation with coal from the Bryan Mountain Mine. It seems nothing came of this and we are unable to confirm if the present day pulp mill in Hinton is the one referred to in historical records.

“There was a gas station and grocery store and various other retail businesses here…and now just this, this hotel is the last business in Robb.” – Rob & Audrey.

“People are spending their money differently and it’s hard. In order to keep things going I’m contracting, running, doing road maintenance. It wasn’t my idea of a perfect retirement. But I mean, we have too much invested now that I’m not the kind of guy that’s going to lay down and die.” – Kevin (speaking of having to take on a second job to help pay the bills).

Coal mining at the Bryan Mountain pit ceased about 1954, although some sampling and exploratory work continued for a number of years after. During the operation of the pit mine , the company also extracted additional material from the old underground diggings of the 1924 Bryan mine.

This sporadic activity continued well into the late 1950’s.

It’s not clear exactly when the mine company sold the hotel, but it would appear it was shortly after the pit mine closed. That operation employed a lot of people and old photos show power shovels and many dump trucks working the pit. Once Bryan Mountain Mine closed, they lost most of their workers.

“If you weren’t in our bar by seven o’clock with a chair under you didn’t get one.” – Audrey (speaking of busier times).

“So we got a lot of people who actually come and stay here and then they go over to Jasper. It’s a lot more economical. What’s the hotel in Jasper? Probably 300, minimum. If you’re lucky.” – Kevin (on fixing up the old hotel rooms for use as an Air BnBs).

“We owned (the hotel) from September 1st, 1979 to December 13th 2018, so 39 years.” – Rob, Audrey & Barry.

Curiously, in the late 1950s and early 1960s the hotel was referred to as the Bryon Hotel, with an “o”, in telephone directories . It does not appear to be a typographical error and was listed this way for a number of years. A store with the same “Bryon” spelling operated nearby for a time. Curious.

Later in the 1960s the hotel reverted back to the Bryan name.

The population of Robb really didn’t decline that greatly with the closing of the Bryan Mountain Coal Company. It remained fairly steady into the 1980’s but has since dropped a little and today stands at about 150.

Some locals work in resource industries such as timber and gas, but there is also a significant retired population. A number of houses in Robb seem to be used seasonally.

“The hotel was a big part of socializing…it’s still a great meeting place for a coffee crowd.” – Lucille (with help from family) and she’s been coming here since the early 1960s.

“I moved to Edson in 2004…I was doing my welding work, contracting in the area…after work, we were coming here to get, like, bottled water to drive home with. The hotel was for sale for… for forever. Every year, it dropped 100 grand. And then I made a stupid little offer and told my kids we’re going to do this.” – Kevin (describing how they came to own the hotel).

When the current owners of the hotel, Kevin and his wife Sandy, took over the operation, they changed the name to the Coal Branch Hotel. This made sense as the general area is well known by this name, where as the Bryan name had fallen from use. With the closing of the local grocery store, they also offer a small selection of packaged foods.

Team Beer Parlour Project had a chance to visit with the previous owners and they shared photos and stories. They also provided us with a postcard, circa 1970. It reads… “Bryan Hotel, Robb Alberta. 40 miles SW of Edson and 32 miles SE of Hinton, at the junction of Highway #47 and the Forestry Trunk Road #14. Comfortable rooms. Beverage Room and Coffee Shop.”

Robb, Alberta: Population about 150 and it’s located in Yellowhead County, 65km SW of Edson, or 50km SE of Hinton.

---