Deadwood, Alberta


Deadwood is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within the County of Northern Lights. It is located on Highway 690, approximately east of the Mackenzie Highway, north of Peace River and southeast of Manning.

History

John Chauncey Eggenberger was the first postmaster and proprietor of the first general store. He was from Deadwood, South Dakota. It seems that he named the hamlet after his home town. The original store, post office and community hall were located a few miles west of the present day hamlet.
On Saturday, August 19, 2006 in the evening a single-engine Cessna 177 piloted by Manning businessman Nick Gudzinski, 49, crashed less than a kilometre south of the hamlet. The pilot and all three of the teenaged passengers were killed. All were residents of the Manning area some 21 kilometres northwest of Deadwood. One of the passengers was Mr. Gudzinski's son; another was his son's girlfriend, and the remaining was the girlfriend's brother.

Amenities

The hamlet consists of a community hall, baseball diamond, post office, small store, and several houses. The post office, store "School Daze" and pool room are all contained within the building that was the Deadwood School. The Deadwood United Church continues as an active preaching point of the Manning-Deadwood Shared Ministry. At one time there was a service station, blacksmith shop and at least one other church. Deadwood had a number of baseball teams in the 1950s and early 1960s and competed in the Mackenzie Highway Baseball League against a number of other teams in the area.

Events

Annual community events have included:
Deadwood is the hometown of country singer Carolyn Dawn Johnson.