300 tonnes of coal each day. By the time production peaked during World War I, 10 mines employed 2,000 miners and produced 1 million tonnes of coal annually. At the time, Lethbridge area collieries were the largest coal producers in the Northwest Territories. After the war, an increase in oil and natural gas production caused a decline in coal production, and the last mine in Lethbridge closed in 1957. Some of this mine, Galt No. 8, still stands today, and a local society is attempting to renovate it as a museum or interpretive centre. Rail The first rail line was built in Lethbridge, being completed 28 August 1885 by the Alberta Railway and Coal Company. The line was further extended 595 kilometres beyond Lethbridge and was instrumental in feeding the main CPR lines at the time the ARCC sold it to the CPR in 1912. Because of the rail industry's dependence of coal and the CPR's efforts to settle immigrants in southern Alberta, the railway centre of Lethbridge was instrumental in the economic success of the region. In the mid-1980s, the railyards in downtown Lethbridge were moved to nearby Kipp and Lethbridge ceased operating as a hub for rail traffic. Riot of 1907 On 25 December 1907, an altercation occurred at the Dallas Hotel (now the Coalbanks Inn) on 5 Street South in downtown Lethbridge. Reportedly, the altercation was between a Chinese employee working the hotel's restaurant and a Caucasian customer. Word of the altercation spread and somehow escalated into rumours the employee had killed the customer. As a result, a large crowd gathered at the hotel and ransacked the restaurant. Shortly after, they moved to nearby Chinatown to wreak havoc there. At this point, the local police gathered to control the situation and mayor W. S. Galbraith read the Riot Act to those gathered. As a result, everything was brought under control and the crowd soon dispersed. Development After the CPR moved the divisional point of its Crowsnest Line from Fort Macleod to Lethbridge in 1905, the city became a regional centre for Southern Alberta; something the region did not have previously. Between 1907 and 1913, a development boom occurred in Lethbridge, making it the main marketing, distribution and service centre in southern Alberta. Several municipal projects, a construction boom, and rising real estate prices transformed the mining town into a significant city. Part of the impetus behind the