- For the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass,
please see Crowsnest Pass, Alberta
Crowsnest Pass (sometimes
referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, in French
passe du Nid-de-Corbeau) (elevation 1,358 m) is a high
mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta
/British
Columbia
border.
Geography
The pass
is located in southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta, and
is the southernmost rail and highway route through the Canadian Rockies and the lowest-elevation
mountain pass in Canada south of the Yellowhead Pass
(1,130 m); the other major passes, which are
higher, being Kicking Horse
Pass
(1,640 m), Howse Pass
(1,530 m) and Vermilion Pass
(1,680 m).
Crowsnest Pass comprises a valley running east-west through
Crowsnest Ridge.
On the Alberta side, the Crowsnest River
flows east from Crowsnest Lake, eventually draining into the
Oldman River and ultimately reaching
Hudson
Bay
via the Nelson River
. Summit Lake on the
British Columbia side drains via three intermediary creeks into the
Elk River, which feeds into the Kootenay River, and finally into the Columbia River to the Pacific
.
Transportation
The
Canadian Pacific Railway
built a line from Lethbridge
, Alberta, to Nelson,
British Columbia
, through the Crowsnest Pass, opening in
1897. This line was built to develop
coal deposits in the Elk River valley and help to
assert Canadian (and CPR) sovereignty in an area that U.S.
railroads were beginning to build into. CPR sought and received
construction funding from the federal government, subject to a
freight subsidy arrangement for prairie farm exports which came to
be called the "Crow's Nest Pass Agreement".
"The Crow
Rate", as the subsidy agreement came to be referred to, was
eventually extended from CPR's Crowsnest Pass railway line to apply
to all railway lines in western Canada, regardless of corporate
ownership or geography, creating artificially low freight rates for
grain shipments through the Great Lakes
ports. The rate also correspondingly limited
industrial growth in the western provinces as it was cheaper to
produce items in eastern Canada and ship them west under the Crow
Rate. This subsidy was finally abolished in 1995.
The
Crowsnest Highway operates as
Highway 3 in both provinces and runs through the pass parallel to
the CPR line, as does an oil pipeline.
Natural resources
The Crowsnest Pass area on both sides of the provincial boundary is
rich in coal deposits, which were quickly developed after
completion of the rail line. All the mines on the Alberta side were
closed by the end of the 20th century as cheaper and safer open-pit
mines opened on the British Columbia side of the pass. Some logging
and oil and gas exploitation also occurs in the area, and a sulphur
plant has been in operation there for several years. Tourism based
on the natural and historical resources of the area remains
underdeveloped.
History
- Crowsnest Pass is the richest archaeological zone in the
Canadian Rockies. The oldest relics are stone tools found on a
rock ridge outside Frank,
Alberta
, from the Clovis
culture, 11,000 years bp. Other sites include chert
quarries on the Livingstone ridge dating back to 1000 BC.
- 1800: Members of David
Thompson expedition enter the pass.
- ca. 1850: Crow Indians dispersed
from area by Blackfoot
Confederacy.
- 1860, 1873: Michael Phillips (Hudson's Bay Company) traverses pass,
reports coal deposits.
- 1881: first surveys by Canadian Pacific Railway.
- 1897: CPR enters into farm export subsidy agreement for freight
rates in exchange for financing of railway line between Lethbridge,
Alberta, and Nelson, BC. Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company commences
operations in British Columbia.
- 1898:
CPR opens the railway line, 10th siding (later Blairmore,
Alberta
) established. Settlement of
Fernie,
British Columbia
, established.
- 1900:
the Frank Mine opens and the new town of Frank, Alberta, is established. Other coal mines and towns
spring up between 1900 and 1919.
- 1902: explosion at Coal Creek mine kills 128 men.
- 1903:
the cataclysmic Frank
Slide
occurs on the north slope of Turtle Mountain; 82
million tonnes of limestone crash down and partially bury the town
of Frank, killing approximately 70 of the town's 600
residents.
- 1904:
Fernie,
British Columbia, incorporates.
- 1908: forest fire destroys Fernie (pop: 6000), which soon
rebuilds.
- 1914:
an explosion in the mine at Hillcrest
kills 189 men, Canada's worst mine
disaster.
- 1916–1923: Prohibition in Alberta;
"rum-running" across the provincial boundary.
- 1920:
Train robbery and shootout at Bellevue
Cafe.
- 1923: 'Emperor Pic’ and Florence Lossandro hanged for shooting
a police constable; first woman hanged in Alberta.
- 1932: Highway 3 built as a Great
Depression project.
- 1966:
Communities of Michel, Natal, and Sparwood amalgamate into the
District Municipality of Sparwood, British Columbia
.
- 1979:
Communities of Coleman
, Blairmore, Bellevue, Hillcrest, and Frank amalgamate
to form the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.
References
Crowsnest and Its People, Crowsnest Pass Historical
Society, 1979.
Crowsnest and Its People Millennium Edition, Crowsnest
Pass Historical Society, 2000.
External links
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