Along HWY 3, also known as Crowsnest Hwy, in southern Alberta near the site of Franks Slide, is a small community-Hillcrest Mines.
This area is home to all 3 of Alberta's worst disasters -
The Bellevue Mine Explosion
The Hillcrest Mine...
Along HWY 3, also known as Crowsnest Hwy, in southern Alberta near the site of Franks Slide, is a small community-Hillcrest Mines.
This area is home to all 3 of Alberta's worst disasters -
The Bellevue Mine Explosion
The Hillcrest Mine Disaster
Turtle Mountain & Franks Slide
This touching memorial location has a small walking loop, outside of the cemetery, with interpretive signs explaining the vast devastating history of the surrounding area here in the Crowsnest Pass.
A large portion of the cemetery itself has information regarding the Hillcrest Mine Disaster of 1914. Mainly around the mass grave site is where you will find these signs.
Near the entrance to the Hillcrest Cemetery stands a huge monument in memorial of the men from the Hillcrest Mine Disaster, as well as mentions for other mining disasters all across Canada.
Be aware, bears frequent the area and are known to pop out of the back bushes according to a local who was happy we were there for company.
While the cemetery has obviously been here a very long time, the 100 year mark saw this millennium memorial park come to be. 2014 marked the 100 years since the Hillcrest Mine Disaster of 1914. The monument has been here since 2000.
A large monument explaining the events of the Hillcrest Mine Disaster as well as a poem for the miners. The smaller surrounding stones are all lists of Canada's other underground disasters including 3 or more men.
This plaque mentions a few of the deadly events in western Canada. All of which were explosions in this case, and with each explosion, 3 men lost their lives each time.
As I walked around this monument, I quickly realized just how dangerous these jobs are. Something as unfortunate as a cage rope failure resulted in the death of 16 miners all at once in Nanaimo BC
Believe it or not, this is just a few of the stones surrounding the memorial. Tragic, but touching to see this park and all the history that comes along with a visit here.
Part of the Crowsnest history would be the Hillcrest Mine Disaster of 1914. In the Hillcrest cemetery is where majority of the men from June 19, 1914 lay resting.
At around 9:30am, about 2 hours into their shifts, a spark flew underground igniting some gases causing the explosion. Many were unfortunately trapped underground after surviving the initial blast but oxygen was quickly depleted due to the fire.
There were only 46 survivors that day. They mention a heartbreaking story of a father and his 3 sons who were all working the mine that day. Read the plaque for details.
As a mother waits for word on her 3 sons, she sees them being carried out and rescued. She worked the cafe across the road and never gave up hope. She was one of the few lucky families not completely devastated by the accident.