‘There was tragedy, but it’s also a story of survival’: Marking 120 years since the Frank Slide
CTV
At 4:10 a.m. on April 29th, 1903, a giant and deadly rock slide covered parts of Frank, Alta. while most residents slept.
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.
