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Flank of Turtle Mountain plunged into valley and flowed uphill to opposite slope.
100 Seconds of Horror
Seventeen men were mining coal at the base of Turtle Mountain before dawn on April 29, 1903 when the entrance to their tunnel was blocked by a thunderous fall of rock. For 14 hours, the miners dug their way through the coal seam to the surface and discovered to their horror that they were just a small part of a catastrophic disaster.
The entire north face of the mountain had detached in a single slab and smashed against the valley floor. The broken rock fanned out across theCrowsnest River and up the opposite slope, killing 90 people. Most of them are still buried beneath the debris field.
Relocated CPR railway line still snakes its way through the slide debris field.
Why it Happened, and Why it Will Happen Again
Learn why the mountainside collapsed -- and why it is expected to do so again -- at the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre. Completely new multimedia exhibits tell the stories of the disaster and of coal mining communities more than a century ago.
After your tour of the exhibits, walk the trail through the debris field to appreciate the scale of the boulders that tumbled across the valle.
Frank Slide straddles Highway 3 at the eastern end of Crowsnest Pass. The access road to the interpretive centre is at the western end of the debris field (GPS N49 35.869 W114 24.092).
Web Links
Frank Slide Interpretive Centre
Government of Alberta page on Frank Slide Interpretive Centre
Alberta SouthWest
(PDF download)