| The place not to be the morning of April 29, 1903 was the
town of Frank, Alberta.
Frank was a burgeoning mining town of 600 nestled in the Crowsnest
Pass in the shadow of the massive Turtle Mountain which rises over 7,000
feet above town.
 At 4:10 AM that fateful morning the town and the mountain became one
as a 70-million ton wedge of overhanging limestone broke away, shattered
into large boulders, crashed 300 feet down the mountain across the
valley and 500 feet up the another mountain on the other side of the
valley.
In a brief 100 ear-shattering, bone-jarring seconds, 76 persons
lost their lives, 23 were injured and 17 miners were trapped inside a
mine shaft behind over 100 feet of rubble and stone.
In 1901, excavation began and a drift mine was sunk deep into the
bowels of Turtle Mountain in order to mine the massive deposits of coal
beneath the eastern slope of the mountain. The mine contained huge rooms
(called 'stopes') separated by gigantic 12-metre (40-foot) long pillars
which contained walk-ways and chutes. By October of the following year,
the stopes burrowed over 700 metres (2,300 feet) along the eastern vein
of coal. Tremors became a regular occurrence in the mines, especially in
the early-morning hours, and the miners became quite accustomed to the
shaking. Besides, the tremors made their work a whole lot easier. By
April of 1903, the mine was virtually 'self-operating' in that all the
miners had to do was to shovel up the coal as it fell from the ceiling.
 Just below
the mine entrance, the Old Man River ran along the base of the mountain.
Beyond and to the left lay the town of Frank, divided by Gold Creek
which flowed in from the east across the valley and joined the Old Man
River below the mine entrance. The Canadian Pacific Railroad ran
somewhat parallel to the River and passing Frank on the eastern side;
the mine spur line branched off from the CPR, running west of Frank,
across Gold Creek and the Old Man River and up to the mine entrance,
completing the triangle framing downtown Frank. A well-worn path ran
between the river and railroad, joining Frank to Pincher Creek to the
south and Blairmore to the north. Coming down from the valley far to the
east was the Frank Grassy Mountain Railroad. Soon, over 100 men would
arrive in Frank to complete the extension joining the Frank Grassy Mountain
Railway (FGMR) to the CPR.
The Indians of the area avoided Turtle Mountain. To them, it was the
"Mountain that Walked". Their legend would soon become all too
real.
Joe Chapman and his group of 16 miners went to work the midnight
shift that fateful night in April. The mine shaft, for some time,
had been experiencing mysterious crackling and rumbling. Not a
group to be overly concerned the miners ignored what turned out to be a
warning sign. When the mountain "walked" that night the
miners found themselves 100 feet from the mine mouth behind a wall of
rock. Luckily none of them were hurt. They calmly
weighed their options. Could they dig their way out to the
mouth? Seeping water suggested that they might be digging towards
water... no good. Could they crawl up an airshaft located 4000
feet further inside the mountain? The shaft was filled with
limestone boulders... no good. Could they dig a new shaft up
through the soft coal? They dug for over 12 hours and early in the
morning of April 30 they broke through into the dawn light and were
safe.
 But
what of their friends and neighbours in town?
During the tunneling,
one of the miners broke his leg. He was lifted from the shaft on a
stretcher. His first vision of the town showed that his home had
been destroyed. He was to find out soon that his wife and three
children had perished. Contrary to popular belief, the whole town was
not buried by the slide but 75% of it was affected in some way. Of
the 66-100 people unaccounted for and presumed dead (the official record
states 76), only 12 bodies were recovered. Among the known dead
were 21 children. There were some miraculous escapes that night.
One of the most spectacular was that of Marion Leitch, a baby at the
time. She was thrown from her crushed home onto another boulder
which, in turn, crushed a neighbour's home and came to rest. The
little girl was found sitting on top of the boulder in a pile of hay
which had been ripped out of a mine barn by the boulder. Marion
went on to live a full life away from Frank. The town of Frank has
rebuilt from the rubble. Some 6000 people now live within the
shadow of the "Mountain that Walks". Check
out this web site link for more information: |
