A drive this afternoon into Crowsnest Pass that links Alberta to British Columbia.
I didn't get very far. The first thing that caught my attention was this extraordinary dead tree, the Burris Tree, that marked the eastern end of the pass. This tree, that had stood alive for seven centuries, died in the 1970s. Such was its historical and geographical significance that the dead wood was preserved and ressurected as you see here.
A couple more bends in the road and I found myself in the midst of this extraordinary rock field. I pulled into a lay-by and read the historical marker. This was the Frank Slide, a massive and catastophic landslide that fell in 1903 onto the mining town of Frank. Where did it come from?
From here – Turtle Mountain.30 million cubic metres (82 million tonnes) of limestone fell away at 4:10 am on April 29, 1903, destroying a good part of the town, killing 70 people and burying a group of miners underground. Only by tunneling through a seam of coal were the miners able to dig themselves out, one to discover that his family had been crushed to death by the landslide.
Ironically, Turtle Mountain was called the Mountain That Moves by the local native Americans who would never camp near its base. As is often the case, such knowledge was dismissed by the European settlers, much to their cost.
I was planning to go further into Crowsnest Pass but somehow this mountain and those massive strewn rocks with those poor mining families still buried beneath them held me. As good a reminder as any of the impartial, monstrous, power of nature.
Dacotah said:
Great post Richard.Thank you for the links. 😦 76 out of the 100 that lived near the slide died. "Frank was home to approximately 600 people in 1903; of the roughly 100 individuals who lived in the path of the slide, 76 were killed." From the article.
Stardancer said:
Wow.
musickna said:
Thank you, Carol. 🙂 It was a sad place, for sure. Interestingly, the Interpretive Center only acknowledges 70 dead – I think the truth is that we'll never know how many are buried beneath those giant boulders. 😦
musickna said:
Wow indeed, Stardancer!
Dacotah said:
You are welcome Richard. Léazz and Loku have closed all their blogs. 😦
musickna said:
Oh my – well, they've done this before, and they'll probably open them again. 🙂
Dacotah said:
I hope so. 🙂
edwardpiercy said:
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think it looks anything like a turtle. :p
sanshan said:
Very cool to see this post. I grew up in this area.
musickna said:
Wow, San, glad I'm getting to know your old homeland. It is very beautiful here. :)I think it looked more like a turtle before a good chunk of it fell away, Edward. 😀