Bellevue Mine Blairmore, South and Greenhill Mines Coleman Mine Hillcrest Mine Leitch Collieries Lost Lemon Mine

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• Greenhill 560,914 tons; profits $422,903; tipple handled 538,119 tons including 93,000 tons from Adanac Mine, 89,000 from Adanac South Strip; 124,000 from Grassy Strip
   
• 1953: mine worked only 154 days out of 242
   
• 1957: Bellevue incorporated as a village; last community to gain village status; mayor Ernie Goulding, treasurer Clarence Woodward, councillors D. Hayden, Wm. MacDonald
   
• 1957: Bellevue Mine suspended operations; April 30; production 87,937; miners 58; total men 194; tons per miner per day 15.08; total accidents 65; serious 14; fatalities 0; rock dust 6 tons; days worked 93; loss $68,728.00; cost price $ 6.97; selling price $6.58; Greenhill 143,023; tons; profits $48,313
   
• 1959: Bellevue tipple continued to operate, processed coal from Grassy Mountain
   
• 1959: production 6,255 tons; miners 2; total men 36; total accidents 12; serious 6; fatalities 0; loss; $40,242.00; cost price $7.90; selling price $7.23; underground operations only in 61 District and suspended March 5; tipple continued processing 84,420 tons, 71,000 of that from Grassy Mountain Strip
   
• 1960: Bellevue and Greenhill reopen for short time; underground operations at McGillivray, International, Mohawk and Greenhill (1957) ended
   
• 1961: mine closes for good; production 8,359 tons; loss $64,267.00; cost price $7.21; selling price $5.96
   
• 1962: began dismantling tipple
   
• 1979: amalgamation of Pass towns into Crowsnest Pass, highway realigned to bypass Bellevue Main Street and built through former tipple site
   
• 1991: Bellevue Mine Tour began operating at Bellevue; project of Ecomuseum Trust to promote tourism and Pass history of mining; mine entrance refurbished and retimbered for guided tours; 1991 summer spent organizing and setting up operations, researching information about history and workings of mine, preparing programs for schools and the public; part of the tunnel prepared for tours covers only 1/10 of 1% of total underground workings; mine originally 240km. of tunnelling; mine temperature during summer is a constant 6 C; tourists experience the world of the miner, view working miner's room, coal chutes, timbering methods, timber supports on roof, Welsh notch, manway (entrance for miners from area above mine), leam the history of the mine and mining techniques, enjoy miners' anecdotes and view many mine and miners' artifacts; for the past several years tours have been organized and guides trained by the CNP Ecomuseum Trust Society.
   
• 2000: Bellevue Mine Tour brings tourists into main street; limited commercial establishments compared to former years; Bellecrest Days celebrated between Bellevue and Hillcrest each summer with a parade and events ongoing during the weekend in late June

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.

Bellevue Mines Website