Resilience hallmark of Crowsnest Pass
On a windswept patch of hardscrabble ground, under the looming gaze of mountains, 189 young men eternally rest. It’s a beautiful spot, stark and weather-beaten, but a fitting memorial to the hardworking men who once toiled here and lost their lives in what was then Canada’s worst mining disaster.
The mass grave in Hillcrest Cemetery is filled with the remains of 20- and 30-year-olds who died June 19, 1914, when a gas explosion ripped through the mine. It was a tragedy of epic proportions when you consider the victims accounted for 20 per cent of the town’s population. Half of the mine’s workforce and half of the soccer team was gone; the Anglican Church closed because the congregation was lost.
The devastation was hard to comprehend, considering the area had just suffered another major tragedy 11 years earlier when half of Turtle Mountain crashed down on nearby Frank. Close to 100 people in the town of 600 died when 82 million tonnes of limestone rock broke free and crushed everything in its path — the town, the rail line and the mine. It took only 100 seconds to bury more than 7.7 square kilometres of the valley floor between 14 and 45 metres deep.
These two natural disasters brought people together from very different ethnic backgrounds, as many immigrant groups worked in the mines. They all had different support systems but, in the end, they were all the same when tragedy struck, says Judith Kulig, a University of Lethbridge professor in health sciences. An expert in community resiliency, Kulig’s family has called Crowsnest Pass home for more than 100 years.
“These groups provided a sense of cohesion to the area. You had networks, social support, a sense of toughness and a history of tragedy. This has always been a way that people see themselves in the Pass.”
The disasters kept coming. The Oldman River flooded Blairmore in 1923, causing property damage and lost coal sales totalling a quartermillion dollars. In 1926, a mine explosion killed 10 in Coleman. Bellevue lost 30 men in a 1910 mine explosion, and most of its business district to a raging fire in 1917.
These early tragedies seem to have set the tone for the Crowsnest Pass, which has seen its share of calamity in the past 100 years. Accidents, crimes, natural disasters — the five towns and hamlets that form the municipality have faced much personal loss and adversity.
A COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER
And they were tested again this month.
On Sept. 9, a senior was found dead in her home. Less than a week later, on Sept. 14, a 27-yearold man was killed in his Blairmore home and his two-year-old daughter was taken. A national Amber Alert was activated and a day later the toddler’s body was found in a rural area outside the town. Police charged a local man, Derek Saretzky, 22, with two counts of first-degree murder. Both the accused and the victims come from longtime, well-known families, and the violence has shaken residents.
“Three violent murders within a week would rock any community, and are perhaps even more challenging in a small-town setting where everyone knows their neighbours,” said RCMP Supt. Tony Hamori, assistant district commander for southern Alberta.
The Crowsnest Pass mayor agreed the events have been devastating.
“We’re a small community, as you know, and we all look after our neighbours. This is just heartwrenching,” Blair Painter said. “Our community is totally heartbroken, and we’ll stand behind the families 100 per cent.”
Resilience is a cornerstone of this part of the province, which also faced down a massive forest fire in 2003 that burned 21,165 hectares in 26 days. The Lost Creek wildfire threatened both Hillcrest and Blairmore, which had to be evacuated twice. It cost the province $35 million to fight and resulted in millions in lost revenues for local businesses.
THE CPR OPENED IT UP
A railway was the genesis of the Crowsnest Pass. When the CPR completed its southern line in 1898, linking Lethbridge to Kootenay Plains, B.C., astute businessmen took note. In the 13 years following, at least 12 companies began mining the coal embedded deep in the hills. Townsites and related businesses sprang up, attracting some of Canada’s new immigrants, including Polish, Ukrainian, Italian and those from the British Isles.
One of those was Emilio Picariello, who made and sold cigars and ice cream before settling in Blairmore in 1918. He bought the Alberta Hotel, which he used as a front for his real focus — rum-running. Prohibition wasn’t popular in the Crowsnest Pass and a few entrepreneurs like Picariello, who became known as the ‘Emperor Pic’, saw opportunity in bootlegging alcohol from British Columbia and the U.S. But the profitable venture ended for Picariello and his compatriot Filumena Lossandra when they killed a policeman in Coleman and were hanged for the crime.
By the 1920s, the economy slowed and mines closed or reduced their hours. After the First World War, jobs in the Pass were even more scarce and high unemployment led to union rallies and strikes.
“In my mind, part of having an independent spirit came from unions, mining and the conditions of the time. They had the feeling of being isolated and seeing themselves as separate from the government. They felt isolated and invisible,” said Kulig.
A working-class mentality also fed into the area’s politics. In a startling streak of independence, Blairmore elected Canada’s first Communist town council and school board in 1933. It reformed its tax system and refused to mark Remembrance Day, instead honouring the Russian Revolution. It even named a street for the then leader of the Communist Party of Canada.
A SYMBOL OF TOUGHNESS
With a lack of major development and resulting slow growth, the towns in the Crowsnest Pass have maintained a small-town atmosphere over the past century. The people are still proudly independent and remarkably resilient.
“I’ve always seen the Burmis Tree as an emblem of the people of the Pass. At one time it was green and young, it could move in the wind and was beautiful,” said Monica Field, area manager for Alberta Culture and Tourism, referencing a well-known landmark in the area.
“But the harsh climate has shaped the tree, pared it down to its very core and hardened it. It’s still beautiful, just in a different way. Through all the disaster here, like the Burmis Tree, the people hardened, too.”
The Crowsnest Pass is celebrating Alberta Culture days this weekend. Events Saturday include a banquet and dance fundraiser for the Crowsnest Museum. On Sunday, there’s a free afternoon concert at the Crowsnest Pass Art Gallery. Throughout the weekend, there will be presentations at the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre.