Prior to the advent of the automobile, and high-quality roads, the railway was a life thread for the community, shipping and receiving supplies and forming a central focus of community life. The first train station was built in Okotoks in 1892. In 1908 it was custom to welcome newlyweds at the train station with the Okotoks Band.
This wooden station collapsed in a fire in 1928. The fire burned the second floor balcony off the General Store across the street. A new station rose from the ashes in 1929 at a cost of $19, 871, the only brick station on the CPR. Okotoks bid an era good-bye when the last passenger train stopped in Okotoks in 1971. After closing in 1972, "the Station" was purchased by the Town in 1980, and was re-opened in 1981 as the cultural and tourist information centre.
Established in 1891, for 25 years John Lineham's sawmill was a mainstay of the local economy. At one time it employed 135 people, producing an average of 30 000 feet of lumber per day, partly to satisfy the CPR's demand for railway ties. Sheep Creek - or Sheep River as we now know it - provided transportation for the Lineham mill logs. Although trees around the river were abundant, they were scarce in Town.
The Lineham legacy lives on in one of the oldest remaining buildings in Okotoks - the Lineham lumber mill barn on Riverside Drive. This stately red building was constructed in 1897 for use by the lumber mill, and was once an award winning (butter) dairy for 20 years from the 1920's to the 1940's. The John Lineham legacy also lives on in our street names - Lineham, Martin (father-in-law), Elizabeth (daughter), and Elma (daughter).
Lineham Lumber Company Interpretive Site
An interpretive site is located south of the library on the north side of the river which was the original location of the Lineham Lumber Company’s sawmill. Logs were floated down the Sheep River to this mill where they were cut into railway ties and lumber. The site features a vintage head saw as well as interpretive signage.