Amber Valley, Alberta

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Amber Valley, Alberta (population ~103) is a town in Alberta. Its elevation is 1,995 ft.

A small community in the Province of Alberta that sits about 100 miles north of the capital Edmonton. Originally named Pine Creek, Amber Valley was among several Alberta communities settled by early black immigrants to the province. Location of Obadiah Place heritage site.

[edit] History

In 1911, a group of black settlers lead by Parson H. Sneed, a clergyman and mason, settled in an area by the Athabasca River, north of Edmonton. For the first few years it was difficult for them. They had to cut out an area for planting crops and building houses. The climate is not what they were use since they came from areas like Oklahoma which had milder winters. The settlers were tough as was their surrounding and three quarters of them stayed.

In 1913, they built a school house and a nondenominational church in 1914. They had a baseball team that has widely know in the north. This was the largest community of blacks in Alberta until the 1930's.