The
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was completed in 1898 and
operation of the railway through the
Crowsnest Pass began in
December of that year.
Blairmore was the first settlement in the
Pass, the first station was a log cabin on the south side of the
track. Mr. Murphy was the first station agent, being succeeded
after a short period by Harry E. Lyon, one of the prominent
founders of
Blairmore.
In 1899 Mr. Lyon built the first houses which were
constructed of logs. In 1900 he built a log store and opened the
first mercantile business in the Pass. By 1901 Blairmore had
several other businesses and three hotels. When Blairmore was incorporated as a village in 1901 it had a
population of 231 persons.
J. J. Fleutot and C. R. Remy, Canadian representatives of
Gold Fields Limited of B.C. heard of rich coal fields in the
Pass. They came and acquired coal property on Gold Creek and
Grassy Mountain. In 1901 French Camp which later became Lille
was established. Mr. Fleutot returned to France in 1902 and on April 2, 1903
the West Canadian Collieries, Limited, was formed, Gold Fields
Limited transferring its holdings to the new company.
In 1903 West Canadian Collieries acquired Byron Creek and
Bellevue coal properties. West Canadian Collieries acquired the Fishburn and Proctor
property at Blairmore, their holdings now being 20,000 acres of
coal land. In 1904 work was started on the Blairmore South Mine. This mine
was closed down in 1913 and Greenhill Mine north of the town
went into operation in 1913. From this time on Blairmore has
continued to grow and prosper. The census of 1911 showed Blairmore's population as 1137
persons.
Blairmore spreads out in a wide section of the valley bottom
where development was no problem. Its central position in the
area of rich coal fields made it the business centre of the
Crowsnest Pass.
Lumbering was the first industry in the Pass. Over the years
a number of successful lumber business concerns added to the
wealth of the area but coal from early years was the chief
source of income for Blairmore. By 1945 pressure from the CPR
for more tonnage and unable to secure sufficient labourers, West
Canadian Collieries developed two strip mines in the Grassy
Mountain area. One strip mine was started in mid-summer 1945 by
a private contractor employing 50 men. The other one, worked by
the Collieries, started in mid-summer 1946 and employed 30 men,
15 of whom were truck drivers. Each mine produced about 500 tons
of coal daily, same being trucked to the Greenhill processing
plant.
By 1947 Greenhill Mine employed between 500 and 600 men. It
produced more than 3,000 tons of coal a day its peak
production was in the year 1946, an output of some 758,000 tons.The Greenhill Mine closed down in 1958. Mine employees who
chose found work at mines close by, others found employment in
local industries. Blairmore continues to boom, each resident
proud of his home, his family and his town, and glad to play a
part in keeping Blairmore the "Hub" of the Crowsnest Pass.
This article is extracted from Crowsnest and its People:
Millennium Edition (Coleman, Alberta, Crowsnest Pass Historical
Society, 2000). The Heritage Community Foundation and
the Year of the Coal Miner Consortium would like to thank the
authors and the Crowsnest Pass Historical Society for permission
to reprint this material.
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