Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada

🇨🇦 Whitecourt is a town in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Woodlands County. It is approximately 177 km (110 mi) north-west of Edmonton and 279 km (173 mi) south-east of Grande Prairie at the junction of Highway 43 and Highway 32. It has an elevation of 690 m (2,260 ft).

Whitecourt is also located at the confluence of four waterways – the Athabasca River, McLeod River, Sakwatamau River and Beaver Creek. A Canadian National rail line runs through the town.

The Town has branded itself as the Snowmobile Capital of Alberta and its motto is Let's Go… . The Whitecourt meteor impact crater is found on nearby Whitecourt Mountain.

History The community was formed in the place known by the Cree as Sagitawah (the place where the rivers meet). While the first Hudson's Bay Company trading post was established in 1897, the first permanent resident on the present day town site was John Goodwin, who settled there in 1905. In 1910, with the expansion of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, immigrants were encouraged by Premier Arthur Lewis Sifton to settle in the vast scarcely inhabited area between Edmonton and the Peace River Country. The name "Whitecourt" was chosen in 1910 by Walter White, the postmaster of the young community. White was the son-in-law of former Kansas governor John W. Leedy who also settled in the community.

Geography Whitecourt has three identifiable geographic components: • the Valley that includes the town centre, the Athabasca Flats residential area, Millar Western's sawmill and pulp mill, and three manufactured home parks; • the Hilltop that includes the Hilltop and Southlands Estates residential areas, the Hilltop industrial area, a 2.5 km highway commercial strip along Highway 43 and two manufactured home parks; and • West Whitecourt, between the McLeod and Athabasca Rivers, includes an industrial area, a 1.0 km highway commercial strip along Highway 43, and a manufactured home park.

Economy Whitecourt's economy is largely driven by three major industries – forestry, oil and gas industry and tourism. With some farm land to the south and east of Whitecourt, agriculture plays a minor role in the town's economy.

Whitecourt is the site of four forestry-related mills: • Blue Ridge Lumber Sawmill / Ranger Board MDF (owned by West Fraser) • Millar Western Pulp Mill (owned by Atlas Holdings LLC) • Canfor Sawmill • Alberta Newsprint Company Pulp & Paper Mill.

Due to Whitecourt and area's forestry heritage, the Canadian Forestry Association named Whitecourt and Woodlands County the "Forest Capital of Canada 2013".

Whitecourt is also home to many service companies in the oil and gas industry.

Attractions Attractions within Whitecourt include the Allan & Jean Millar Centre, Rotary Park, the Forest Interpretive Centre and Heritage Park, and a variety of other facilities and parks.

The Allan & Jean Millar Centre consists of both an aquatic facility, a fieldhouse, a fitness facility, a children's indoor playground area, and boardroom and classroom rental spaces. The aquatic facility comprises a main pool, a children's pool, a leisure pool, a lazy river, a water slide, a hot tub, and a steam room. The fieldhouse includes a configurable multi-sport area, a track, and racquetball and squash courts. The fitness centre provides cardio training equipment, weight training equipment, and a fitness studio. Overall, this recreation venue also provides a variety of programming including lessons, classes, and personal training.

Rotary Park, located in the river valley adjacent to downtown, is a multi-use outdoor park facility consisting of a pond stocked with fish that is cleared for skating in the winter, trails, sports fields, playgrounds, picnic areas, an off-leash dog park, and a river slide attraction featuring two flowing artificial creeks with drops for tubing. A splash park with 19 water features opened within Rotary Park in 2012.

The town also features several bike trails, as well as a professionally designed bike park.

The Forest Interpretive Centre includes a multi-media museum that presents the forestry industry's role in Whitecourt's history. It also features meeting rooms and hosts the local chamber of commerce, a tourist information centre, and town council meetings. The Forest Interpretive Centre's associated Heritage Park includes antique vehicles and farm equipment, a barn, and an interpretive trail among other features.

Health care Acute and non-acute medical care is provided at the Whitecourt Healthcare Centre.

Media: Press Whitecourt is served by two weekly papers, the Sun Media owned Whitecourt Star, the independent Whitecourt Press, and the monthly Community Advisor.

Media: Radio Two FM radio stations broadcast from Whitecourt. 'Boom 96.7 (FM 96.7, CFXW-FM) and XM 105 (FM 105.3, CIXM-FM) broadcast classic hits and contemporary country formats respectively.

Transport: Air The full air-service Whitecourt Airport is located west of Whitecourt on the north side of Highway 32, approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) from Highway 43. It is Alberta's ninth busiest airport with up to 32,000 aircraft using the airport annually. The airstrip is 5,800 ft (1,800 m) in length and 100 ft (30 m) wide and can accommodate 737 jets. Numerous carriers offer scheduled charter flights out of the airport.

Transport: Bus Red Arrow and Northern Express offer service to Edmonton and Grande Prairie.

Transport: Rail The CN Sangudo Subdivision provides rail service through Whitecourt from Edmonton to numerous gas plants south of Fox Creek. The Millar Western Sawmill / Pulp Mill and the Alberta Newsprint Company Pulp & Paper Mill are both served by rail.

Transport: Road The Town of Whitecourt is served by two highways. Highway 43, which is part of the CANAMEX Corridor, is a dualled highway that provides connection to Edmonton to the south-east and Grande Prairie to the northwest.

Highway 32 provides Whitecourt with a direct link to the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) to the south, which connects the town to Edson and Hinton to the southwest. Another segment of Highway 32 begins approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) north-west of the town, providing a link from Highway 43 to Swan Hills and Slave Lake.

Numerous local roads provide connections from Whitecourt to surrounding rural areas within Woodlands County. Within the McLeod River valley, Govenlock Road feeds two rural roads – West Mountain Road (Range Road 122) and Tower Road (Range Road 121A) – that provide access to numerous country residential subdivisions and some agricultural operations to the south.

Within the Athabasca River valley, Flats Road (Township Road 600), which exits the town following its northern boundary, serves numerous agricultural operations to the east.

On the Hilltop, 41 Avenue (Township Road 594A), which was the original highway alignment into Whitecourt, exits the town eastbound for the Hamlet of Blue Ridge. This road is commonly referred to as Blue Ridge Road.