When the Canadian Pacific Railway completed the Crowsnest
Branchline in 1898, Elk Valley boomed in anticipation of
supplying coal for the railways. It was this potential that
brought the Crows Nest Pass Coal Company (CNP Coal) to
establish roots at the turn of the century. One of the first
mines the company established was in a beautiful area
intersecting the Morrissey Creek and Elk River. The town of
Morrissey grew around the first mine and prospered early on. It
grew so large that by the end of 1903, there was a sizeable
residential and business community, and could support a local
paper.
However, when the growth ended, problems began plaguing CNP
Coal. Worker safety became an issue in 1904, when a group of men
died at their No. 1 mine. Not an isolated event, a series of
deadly blasts eventually forced the company to close the mine
and relocate to Carbonado, 1.6 kilometres up the Valley.
Despite the new location, problems continue to plague CNP
Coal. A 1904 analysis at Morrissey revealed a potential fortune
in coal. This particular coal contained 79 percent fixed carbon
and was almost ash freetwo properties that made it ideal for
coking. With high demand for coke at the time, the
company assumed they had valuable deposits and ordered 240
beehive ovens. Time proved their assumptions were wrong. The
coal was too fine and inconsistent to use on locomotives, and
too high in carbon to produce coke. When the No.1 mine shut
down, CNP Coal hoped for better luck at Carbondo. Unfortunately,
the coal at the new location proved no better, and further
outbursts killed more men. Faced with a losing cause, the
company ceased coal production in the Morrissey Valley in 1904.
Five years later, the Elk Valley community resurrected
Morrissey. The First World War well underway by 1915, the
British Columbia government announced that it would intern
German and Austrian miners on Vancouver Island. Wartime
patriotism was high throughout the province, and particularly in
the Elk Valley, where many Canadian miners objected to working
with immigrants from enemy countries. Their fervour was joined
by miners of British, Belgian, Russian, and Italian descent, and
together, they demanded internment of all those who were from
enemy countries.
The government relented and established the Morrissey mine
site as a permanent internment camp. By 2 October 1915, the
preparations were completed and the prisoners were moved from
Ferniewhich had been the temporary internment locationto the
Morrissey camp.
It is questionable why the prisoners needed to be interned at
all. Fernie's local paper, the Free Press described the
prisoners of war (POWs) as a peaceful group, not to be
considered dangerous. Of the approximately 160 prisoners, many
came from countries subject to the Austrian-Hungarian empire.
Although Ukrainians, Slovenians, Slovaks, Czechs, Croats and
Poles may have held similar negative opinions of Austria-Hungary,
they were still branded as enemy aliens.
Life at the Morrissey camp became increasingly difficult as
the war continued. Not only were the men kept behind barbed
wire, but many complained of mistreatment by guards. The Hague
Convention of 1907, specifically outlines guidelines for
treatment of war prisoners, nonetheless, several of those
conventions are said to have been broken. Adding to the
already tense situation was the Coal Creek mine explosion of
April 1917, which many Elk Valley residents believed was the
work of previously released "enemy" miners.
The prisoner camp was finally closed in September 1918,
during the spectacular collapse of the German and Austrian war
effort in Europe. Once free, many former POWs chose not go back
to Elk Valley mines where they once held jobs, and left the area
permanently. Those who stayed, developed an understanding with
fellow residents not to publicly discuss the experience.
There is little left of the Morrissey site today. Most of the
buildings have been hauled away, the only visible remnants are
coke oven skeletons.
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