The Rocky Mountains developed in a period of
mountain building in the Tertiary Age (66 million years ago) as
shifting plate tectonics thrust up sedimentary. The Crowsnest
Past, in particular, is rich in mineral and coal deposits
Thus, as early as the 1860s (1864 Gold Rush with deposits in
Mount Fisher), became an area of intense economic activity,
first with the establishment of British Columbia and, then, with
the establishment of the prairie provinces of Alberta and
Saskatchewan.
Besides the east/west linkages (Alberta/BC),
there were also important north/south trails connecting with the
US (for example, Montana) that allowed miners access from the
south. For example, American Robert C. Dore developed his first
claim at Wild Horse gold workings, exhausted the gold in three
years, and produced $521,700. Preceding the coming of the
railways, steamboats carried miners in the mining boom of
1893-98 connecting Jennings, Montana, and Fort Steele. By 1900,
their usefulness had ended as rail became the dominant means of
transport.
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Heritage
Trails No. 121—Crowsnest Towns (Part One), Sentry Siding, Coleman
One of the most important regions at the turn of the century was the coal branch through the Crowsnest pass. And once the railway cut through the Crowsnest Pass, the line thrived with industry and towns, all centered on coal mining. Today, a drive east along Highway 3 from
Crowsnest Pass to Pincher Creek is a journey back through time.
Click here to listen! |
According to historians Howard and Tamara
Palmer, this north/south linkage so concerned the CPR that they
decided to push for a railroad from Lethbridge to the Crow's
Nest Pass and obtained a subsidy from Sir Wilfred Laurier's
government in 1897 to do so1. The
railroad was completed in 1898 and signaled major economic
development and settlement in the region2. Calgary,
as the closest southern Alberta urban centre benefited from
these developments. With the building of the more northern rail
route in the early part of the 20th century, Edmonton developed
as the hub and became the destination for immigrants. The Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway saw its line as the means of opening up
the
agricultural land around Grande Prairie as well as a linkage
to Jasper Park as a draw for tourism.
Mining was instrumental in the development of
communities in both the BC and Alberta portions of the Rockies.
The railways needed fuel to run and coal mines were developed to
do this, as well as to meet industrial (for example, the
smelters in Trail, BC) and domestic needs. The largest deposits
are found in Alberta and BC and their exploitation paralleled
the settlement of the West. From the beginnings, these
developments were characterized by cycles of boom and bust,
particularly with the gold mines. Entrepreneurs and miners were
mobile, moving from California to Dawson City following gold
strikes. Diggings began and were later abandoned, and the
remnants of mine works and cemeteries can be seen by the visitor
to the area3.
According to the Palmers in Alberta: A New History, "Coal
production increased more than tenfold from 242,000 tons in 1897
to almost three million tons in 1910, and then to over four
million tons in 1913. By 1911 coal mining employed 6 per cent of
the non-agricultural workforce in Alberta."4 As well,
Western Canada, by 1911, was the largest coal producing area of
the country.
Roy Lazzarotto
Watch Roy Lazzarotto narrate through the illnesses and other
dangers that miners suffered, as well as the things they loved
about mining, in this video produced by CFCN Television.
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