'There was tragedy, but it’s also a story of survival': Marking 120 years since the Frank Slide

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. -

At 4:10 a.m. on April 29th, 1903, a giant and deadly rock slide covered parts of Frank, Alta. while most of the town's 600 residents slept.

In an instant, 110 million metric tonnes of limestone slid off Turtle Mountain that deadly morning in just 90 seconds.

Around 90 people were killed, with some bodies still buried beneath the rocks that remain in the Crowsnest Pass.

“There was tragedy, lives lost - almost 100 lives, but it’s also a story of survival,” said Fred Bradley, with the Crowsnest Heritage Initiative. “Twenty-three of the almost 100 people buried by the slide came out of it. Seventeen coal miners miraculously came out of the mine and many other stories of heroism took place that day.”

The slide wiped out a portion of the town, including a several houses, a shoe shop, livery stable, the mine buildings and a construction camp.

On Saturday, a group of about 40 people gathered at the base of the mountain surrounded by a natural gravesite that will forever serve as the victims’ final resting place.

In attendance was Krista Goosen. Her great grandfather survived the slide in 1903. During the service, Goosen laid a wreath on behalf of the families.

“You drive through here every day, there’s not a day you don’t think of it or remember it, so I feel very glad to be able to represent the families," Goosen said.

“My great great grandfather and his family, their home was actually destroyed in the Frank Slide,” Goosen told CTV News. “They were lucky enough to survive, even though their home did not.”

SITE UNTOUCHED

Now, 120 years later, the site of the disaster remains almost untouched.

“In 17 days they were able to get the passenger train rail line cleared and the rail line restored,” Bradley said. “During that period of time, people actually had to walk across the slide from one side to the other to continue the passenger service.”

“The road wasn’t re-established for at least another three years and the coal mine reopened in about three months.”

The town of Frank was moved after the slide, with nearly all of the buildings dismantled or relocated.

In 1985 the Frank Slide Interpretative Centre was opened as a way to share the stories and history of the tragic event.

“It makes me very happy that the stories are not forgotten, it’s still very much a part of this community, this town,” Goosen said. “Even new people that live here, they love to hear the history of it.”

The slide was approximately one km wide, half a km high and 150 metres thick. An area of three square km of the valley bottom was buried.

Turtle Mountain is closely monitored and experts say it will likely happen again.

“This was a weak mountain and it was going to fall eventually and it did fall on that day,” Bradley said.

Experts believe the rock slide occurred due to a combination of poor stability, weather conditions and mining operations.

Bradley says they continue to host memorial services every five years to mark the tragedy.