by Wayne Norton and Tom Langford
Nearly
a hundred years have passed since the series of disasters for
which the Crowsnest region was so widely known in the early part
of this century. The years 1902-1914 certainly were not kind to
the residents of these narrow valleys. The
Frank slide, the
Fernie fire, and the terrible loss of life in the several mines
in the area are grimly recorded in local history. However, the
first of these disastersthe explosion at Coal Creekstill
awaits its public memorial.
On 22 May 1902, an explosion in Number 2 mine at Coal Creek
took the lives of at least 128 miners. The mines at Coal Creek
had been in operation for less than four yearslong enough,
however, to attract men from elsewhere in British Columbia, the
prairie provinces, eastern Canada, the British Isles, the United
States, and continental Europe. The list of the dead clearly
shows that the victims came from diverse backgrounds. It does
not so clearly indicate how many were new immigrants, how many
were related to each other, and how many were boys of twelve or
thirteen years of age. The funerals lasted for several days.
There was a shortage of wood for coffins. Most of the dead were
interred in rows seventeen and eighteen at Fernie's St.
Margaret's Cemetery, where few of their names are visible today.
For many years, miners and their families in Coal Creek and
Fernie marked the date of 22 May with ceremonies.1 A major
commemorative service was held in Fernie in 1952 to mark the
half-centenary. Taking the lead in organizing the service was
the Fernie chapter of the Slovak League of Canada since,
according to the editor of the Canadian Slovak who was the
featured speaker at the service, "a great percentage" of the
dead "was of Slovak origin." As this fiftieth anniversary
meeting occurred during the Korean War, it is not surprising
that two of the speakers used the occasion to speak on Cold War
themes. After Fernie mayor Tom Uphill welcomed visiting
officials from the Slovak League, the Reverend Father J. Cheevers, pastor of Holy Family Church, "pointed out to those
present that it was their duty to see to it that new immigrants
were kept away from Communistic influences. He urged his
listeners to encourage the newcomers to learn the English
language as quickly as possible and to attend church regularly."
These were much more than idle thoughts since Mayor Uphill's
leftist sympathies were well known, and more than a few of those
in the Crowsnest's Slovakian community had shared such
sympathies in the recent past. Later in the meeting, the editor
of the Canadian Slovak presented the victims of the disaster not
as working-class martyrs, but rather as martyrs for the cause of
Canada's development as a free nation of immigrants. He said:
"Upon the graves of these victims we humbly thank our new
fatherland for having accepted us and for giving us what we have
lostliberty and freedom." Following the service, the crowd of
approximately one hundred travelled to St. Margaret's Cemetery
where they placed wreaths on the graves of miners who had died
fifty years previous.
Another fifty years and the centenary of the disaster have
now passed. A century is a long time. Successive coal companies
have created no memorial. City, provincial and federal
governments have chosen not to act. Appropriately, the tenth
anniversary of the Westray disaster was recently marked with
ceremonies and a moment of silence in the House of Commons. Yet,
the boys and men who died at Coal Creek have no memorial. How
much more time is required? The names of the victims presented
here in these pages will be seen by few. A mention in a book is
not a substitute for a more permanent commemoration.
It will be to the very great credit of those who finally see
the need to correct this situation. Like the miners of 1902,
they, too, will deserve to be remembered.
It may well be impossible to arrive at a list of names that
is entirely accurate. The various lists compiled after the
disaster differ on the number killed (perhaps as many as 134),
and on the spelling of names of the known dead. The Fernie Free
Press (FFP) was campaigning at the beginning of the century to
encourage the displacement of non-British miners with "a better
class of wage earner." (FFP, 19 Oct 1901) The attitude that "a
Slav with an unspellable name" deserved little consideration was
widespread. (FFP, 28 Sept 1901) As a result, the accuracy of
names as spelled in contemporary newspapers and reports of the
Ministry of Mines is questionable. Though an attempt has been
made here to use proper spellings, the editors are the first to
admit that this list too is questionable. Thanks to Ella Verkerk
and Mike Pennock for essential advice and assistance in
compiling the list of those killed on 22 May 1902.
The article titled "In Memoriam: Coal Creek, 22 May 1902" is
reprinted from A World Apart (Kamloops, BC: Plateau
Press, 2002). The Heritage Community Foundation and the Year
of the Coal Miner Consortium would like to thank the authors Wayne Norton
and Tom Langford and the publisher for permission to
reprint this material.
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