The Frank Slide, 1903
In the early hours of April 29, 1903, a giant rockslide tumbled down Turtle Mountain and struck the town of Frank, burying a mine and killing more than 70 people.
Frank, British Columbia, in far western Canada, was one of a string of coal
mining towns that emerged in the Crowsnest Pass region of what was then the
Northwest Territories in the early 1900s (the Crowsnest Pass region now
straddles the B.C./Alberta provincial border). Frank became a town in September
of 1901, less than 2 years before the slide, one whose prosperity was dependent
on the coal mines that honeycombed through the massive Turtle Mountain just to
the south of the town.
On April 29, 1903 at 4:10 am, Turtle Mountain came crashing down on the
unsuspecting mining town. 30 million cubic metres of rock -- some boulders
larger than houses -- roared down the mountain in 90 seconds and killed more
than 70 people in its wake.
In the moments after the slide, few had any idea what had happened. Most
residents believed there had been an accident at the mine, due to the loud sound
and history of mine explosions in the area. Rescues started immediately, and
twenty-four survivors were pulled from the rubble. Among them was a two-year-old
girl that was thrown through her bedroom window by the massive cushion of air
that preceded the slide. The house was destroyed moments later, but she landed,
safe and relatively unharmed, on a hay bale that managed, by some miracle, to
escape the boulders (She died in 1997 and was the oldest survivor of the
disaster).
The path of the slide only barely missed the town of Frank itself but buried the
mine entrance and mine surface buildings and destroyed a row of miner's houses.
There was also an undetermined number of people, possibly as many as 100
itinerant miners, camped at the base of the mountain and at the town's livery
stables. All these areas were destroyed in the slide.
The Canadian Pacific railway was also buried, along with communication lines to
the east. Realizing there was a train due in less than 30 minutes, two brave
brakemen raced the width of the slide, fighting the settling dust and almost
complete darkness to stop the arriving train from slamming into a wall of rocks.
One of the men tired and had to rest among the boulders, but the other man made
it to the edge of the slide and managed to flag down the train, saving countless
lives.
From inside the mine, the 17 men who had been on shift realized the severity of
the situation quickly. The main mine entrance was blocked by the slide and water
from the Old Man River (dammed by the slide) was pouring into the mine. The
trapped miners initially began digging their way out toward the main mine
entrance but were discouraged by the slow progress. Eventually they chose to dig
directly up through the coal face in the hope they could reach the surface. With
scant few hours of air left, the strategy worked. After 14 hours of hard work,
the miners poked their heads through, several metres above the mine entrance
where rescue teams were working. Only then did the miners get a look at what had
happened to Frank and their homes.
The cause for the slide has long been debated. Many believe the coal mining
operation lead to the slide, while others pin the cause on the unstable
structure of the mountain itself -- lighter and softer sandstone and shale
underneath heavier limestone. Still others point to the weather and cracked
limestone near the top of the mountain. The weather that April had been
unseasonably warm until the night of the slide when temperatures dropped
quickly. This temperature drop would have caused melting water to re-freeze in
the cracks near the top of Turtle Mountain, causing the crevices to expand. All
three are now accepted as combined causes for the slide.
Like
any disaster, there are countless myths and legends about the slide and its
aftermath. In one, supposedly buried under the rubble is the town bank, whose
safe holds over $50,000 in gold. Another story tells of the only draw horse to
survive in the mines; left for dead, it lived off rain water and what it could
gnaw off the wooden mine cars until it was discovered when the mine temporarily
re-opened a month later. The overjoyed miners fed it barley and bourbon, and the
animal ate so much, its system collapsed, and it died in the mines.
Over a hundred years later the scar of the slide remains in the valley, covering
3 square kilometres. The Pan Canadian Highway's route takes you right through
the middle of the slide, a chilling kilometer and a half that allows you to see
the results of the slide closer than comfort might permit. The Frank Slide
Interpretive Centre was built in 1986 and remains open year-round offering Frank
Slide facts, area history, coal mining history, multimedia presentations and
more. There is a short interpretive hike through the rubble as well.
The town of Frank continues to flourish, though not in its original location. In
1911, a study declared Turtle Mountain was still unstable and ordered the town
moved to a new location. Frank now sits safely northwest of the original site,
still in the shadow of the slide.