Hillcrest Collieries
Starting up the Mine
American-born Charles Plummer Hill staked several successful mineral claims on both sides of the international border in this region between 1888 and 1900. While Hill went on to become a director of several important Canadian corporations, his most successful venture was at Hillcrest.
The Hillcrest Coal and Coke Company began mining in 1905, including the construction of a surface plant atop and below the hill 400 metres behind this sign, and began laying out the town of Hillcrest Mines astride Hill Creek (later renamed Drum Creek). When Hill sold the mine in 1909, he became a director in the renamed Hillcrest Collieries. Everything was named after Hill.
The first mine buildings, including the tipple, office, and even the manager's house were constructed from logs. Coal cars were lowered directly down this steep hill on rail lines with a gear system. In 1911, a concrete powerhouse was built and the following year the tipple was replaced with a large steel structure and a covered conveyor belt. The town was growing too, and by 1914 Hillcrest had a population of around 1000 people, 377 of whom worked for the mine.
A Day in the Life, 1914
Two blasts of the mine steam whistle meant work the next day. In the morning the first shift would leave their homes and walk past the big tipple at the base of the hill, where coal was processed and loaded into rail cars. The mine's own locomotive would shunt these cars three kilometers to the CPR main line.
As the men walked up the hill, a few of them turned off above the slack coal pile and headed for the upper tipple. Here coal cars from the mine dumped their loads onto the covered conveyor belt which lowered the coal down to the lower tipple. Most of the men continued past the tipple to the wash house where they changed out of their regular clothes and into their pit clothes. The miners' next stop was the lamp house, where they picked up their lamps and checked in with the timekeeper. Each miner picked up two metal tags, or "checks': with their own number stamped onto it. A miner would put one check in his pocket or on a chain around his neck, allowing him to be identified in case of an accident. The other check was given to the timekeeper who put it on a check board in the lamp house, making it easy to see who was working underground at any time.
As the miners went underground, it must have been reassuring to know that the fully-modern Hillcrest mine had the reputation of being the safest in the Crowsnest Pass. All that would change on June 19, 1914.
Hillcrest Mine Disaster
Suddenly, around 9:30 in the morning on June 19, 1914, the routine work of the 235 miners underground was interrupted when, somewhere in the miles of dark tunnels, a spark flew and skipped to a pocket of methane gas hugging the roof. The methane gas caught fire and coal dust exploded, and death raced through the main tunnels. Those not caught directly in the blast were overcome by the oxygen-deprived `afterdamp. Of the 235 miners underground that morning, only 46 were still alive. The other 189 had perished in what was Canada's worst mine disaster.
Most of the victims were buried in mass graves at the Hillcrest Cemetery, where today you will find interpretive signs that thoroughly explain the causes and impact of the Hillcrest Mine Disaster.
Mining operations at Hillcrest Collieries resumed soon after the 1914 disaster and continued until the mine's closure in 1939. The old mine site is located on private property and is not accessible to the public.
Learn more about Crowsnest Heritage