Frank Slide
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The Frank Slide is a natural landslide feature in the southern Rocky Mountains of Canada, and a significant historical event in western Canada.
Frank, Alberta is a coal mining town in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. On April 29, 1903, at 4:10 a.m., 82 million tonnes (30 million cubic meters) of limestone crashed from the summit of Turtle Mountain and covered approximately three square kilometers of the valley floor. The slide dammed the Crowsnest River and formed a small lake, covered 2km of the Canadian Pacific Railway, destroyed most of the coal mine's surface infrastructure, and buried seven houses on the outskirts of the sleeping town of Frank, as well as several rural buildings. Frank was home to approximately 600 people in 1903; of the roughly 100 individuals who lived in the path of the slide, more than 70 were killed.
The town was evacuated, but people were soon allowed to return and both the mine and the railway were back in operation within a month. The town of Frank continued to grow, until a report on the mountain’s stability resulted in the provincial government ordering the closure of the south part of the town in 1911. Studies and monitoring continue today.
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[edit] Geology
Turtle Mountain is an anticline of Paleozoic Rundle Group carbonates thrust over weaker Mesozoic clastics and coals. Summit fissures at the apex of the anticline likely allowed water to infiltrate and weaken the slightly-soluble carbonates within the mountain face, while the supporting underlying clastics were undermined by valley glaciation followed by erosion from the Crowsnest River.
The slide removed the top of Turtle Mountain, leaving a present elevation of 2,109 metres (6,920 feet) for the north peak and 2,200 metres (7,217 feet) for the south peak.
The primary cause of the slide was the mountain's unstable geological structure, although severe spring weather conditions, underground coal mining activity, and an earthquake on the Aleutian Islands in 1901 may have contributed. It is thought that the weather was the final trigger of the slide.
[edit] Historical notes
- Only twelve bodies were recovered from the debris at the time of the slide. In 1922, a road construction crew uncovered the remains of seven more people.
- Several people in the direct path of the slide survived, including three young girls. Fernie Watkins was found amongst the debris. Marion Leitch, 15 months old, was thrown from her house to safety on a pile of hay. Gladys Ennis, 27 months old, was found choking in a pile of mud by her mother, Lucy Ennis (Gladys died in 1995 at age 94, the last survivor of the slide).
- Warnings were telegraphed westward to Cranbrook, but the eastern lines were severed. Two railway brakemen set out across the rockslide to flag down the Spokane Flyer, but only Sid Choquette made it across in time to flag down the train.
- Seventeen men trapped in the Frank mine escaped by tunneling through virgin rock to the surface, which was easier than trying to clear the debris at the entrance.
- A mine horse named Charlie survived alone in the mine for a month, but succumbed to its rescuers' kindness from overeating, without ever seeing daylight.
[edit] Popular culture
The Frank Slide became an immediate sensation in 1903, capturing media attention and becoming a regional tourist attraction for several years. Many myths circulated (and persist to the present day) concerning the ‘destruction’ of the town of Frank, a 'sole survivor' of the slide, and even buried treasure. Highway improvements in the 1930s and 1970s, designation as a Provincial Historical Site in 1977, the completion of the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre in 1985 and a general increase in regional tourism have helped restore some of that interest. Numerous books on the Crowsnest Pass region feature the Frank Slide prominently, and several books have been written specifically on the Slide, notably those by Frank Anderson and James Kerr. The Frank Slide has also formed the backdrop for fictitious novels, from Megan (Messner, 1965) by Iris Noble to the award-winning Beneath the Faceless Mountain (Red Deer College, 1994) by Roberta Rees. The Frank Slide was the subject of a made-for-television documentary On the Edge of Destruction in 2003. Canadian band Tanglefoot's 2001 song Crashin' Down is a fictional tale set around the Frank Slide.
[edit] References
- Anderson, Frank W. The Frank Slide Story. Frontier Books, 1968.
- Kerr, J. W. Frank Slide. Barker, 1990.
- Crowsnest and its People. Crowsnest Pass Historical Society, 1979.
- On the Edge of Destruction National Film Board of Canada, ID 153C0103256, 2003.
[edit] External links
- Frank Slide Interpretive Centre
- Neil Simpson's Frank Slide website
- Turtle Mountain Monitoring Project
- Geotechnical Hazard Assessment, 2000
