Entwistle, Alberta

It has an annual rodeo, the Pembina River Provincial Park, and calls itself the Diamond Capital of Canada.Seizing the opportunity, Entwistle staked a claim on a section of land very close to the Pembina River and the surveyed line for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1907.In 1908, as the railway construction camps drew closer to the Pembina River, Entwistle built a general store on his land, and left it in the care of his wife and children.The town was informally known as "Pembina", after the river, but that name was rejected by the federal government, citing duplication.In those early decades, Entwistle had a thriving agriculture industry, along with timber and the coal mines in neighbouring Evansburg.Entwistle has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with warm summers with cool nights and long, cold winters with moderate snowfall.Its tourism economy is seasonally supplemented by the nearby Pembina River Provincial Park and the annual Entwistle Rodeo every Canada Day weekend.Parkland County is building a new bypass route around the cemetery, which is expected to relieve some of the pressure.The diamond weighed 0.83 carats (166 mg), and was described as being "a perfect octahedron with eight faces; a clear, colorless stone.As there were no cranes big enough to carry steel, a massive false bridge and scaffolding were built out of wood.[11] As the steel structure was laid in place, the wooden scaffolding and false bridge were gradually dismantled.When he died in 1965, he left the bulk of his estate to the Village of Entwistle, with the instruction that it be used "to build something that will be used by the whole community.Read Memorial Building housed Entwistle's bank, post office, and public library.Despite the railway's efforts, the people of Entwistle opted to walk one mile to the train station, rather than move the town.