Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, french: link=no, col du Nid-de-Corbeau) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

–

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

border.

Geography

The pass is located in southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta, and is the southernmost rail and highway route through the Canadian Rockies. It is the lowest-elevation mountain pass in Canada south of the

Yellowhead Pass The Yellowhead Pass is a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Americas in the Canadian Rockies. It is located on the provincial boundary between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and lies within Jasper ...

(); the other major passes, which are higher, being

Kicking Horse Pass Kicking Horse Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Americas of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border, and lying within Yoho and Banff national parks. Divide Creek forks onto both s ...

(), Howse Pass () and

Vermilion Pass Vermilion Pass, elevation , is a high mountain pass in the Canadian Rockies, traversing the continental divide. It connects Kootenay National Park in the province of British Columbia with Banff National Park in Alberta. See also * List of Rocky ...

(). Crowsnest Pass comprises a valley running east–west through Crowsnest Ridge. On the Alberta side, the Crowsnest River flows east from Crowsnest Lake, eventually draining into the

Oldman River The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins the Bow River to form the South Saskatchew ...

and ultimately reaching Hudson Bay via the

Nelson River The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs before it ends in Hudson Bay. Its full length (including the Saskatchewan River and Bow River) is , i ...

. Summit Lake on the British Columbia side drains via three intermediary creeks into the Elk River, which feeds into the

Kootenay River The Kootenay or Kootenai river is a major river in the Northwest Plateau, in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributary, tributaries of the Columbia Ri ...

, and finally into the Columbia River to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

Transportation

Train heads west into the Crowsnest Pass

Before the arrival of Europeans, Indigenous people used this major breach through the Front Ranges for seasonal migrations, and also for trade between mountain and plains cultures. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built the Crowsnest Route line from Lethbridge, Alberta, to Kootenay Landing, British Columbia, through the Crowsnest Pass between 1897 and 1898. This line was built primarily to access mineral-rich southeastern BC via an all-Canadian rail route, and to assert Canadian (and CPR) sovereignty in an area that U.S. railroads were beginning to build into. It also opened up coal deposits in the Crowsnest and Elk River valleys, which were important to mineral smelting operations and assisted the CPR in its conversion of locomotives from wood to coal. The CPR sought and received construction funding from the federal government, partially in exchange for a freight subsidy on prairie farm exports and equipment imports which came to be called the "Crow's Nest Pass Agreement". "The Crow Rate", as the subsidy agreement came to be referred to, was eventually extended from CPR's Crowsnest Pass railway line to apply to all railway lines in western Canada, regardless of corporate ownership or geography, creating artificially low freight rates for grain shipments through the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

ports. The rate also correspondingly limited industrial growth in the western provinces as it was cheaper to produce items in eastern Canada and ship them west under the Crow Rate. This subsidy was finally abolished in 1995. The first motor vehicle to cross the Canadian Rockies did so via Phillipps Pass, about 1 km north of Crowsnest Pass, and in 1917 a road was blasted around the shores of Crowsnest Lake and across Crowsnest Pass, renamed Interprovincial Highway Three in 1932. It is also known as the

Crowsnest Highway The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection b ...

. On August 7, 1919, Captain Ernest Hoy flew a

Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for th ...

"Jenny" through Crowsnest Pass, the first flight across the Canadian Rockies.

Natural resources

The Crowsnest Pass area on both sides of the provincial boundary is rich in coal deposits, which were quickly developed after completion of the rail line. All the mines on the Alberta side were closed by the end of the 20th century as cheaper and safer open-pit mines opened on the British Columbia side of the pass. Some logging and oil and gas exploitation also occur in the area and a sulphur plant has been in operation there for several years. Tourism based on the natural and historical resources of the area remains underdeveloped but is slowly growing. The area hosts the world-class Sinister 7 Ultra Marathon, a 161-kilometre foot race that winds through the mountains around the community. Crowsnest Pass also has a local ski hill, Pass Powderkeg, and an outdoor pool.

History

*The Crowsnest Pass is the richest archaeological zone in the Canadian Rockies. The oldest relics are stone tools found on a rock ridge outside

Frank, Alberta Frank is an urban community in the Rocky Mountains within the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass in southwest Alberta, Canada. It was formerly incorporated as a village prior to 1979 when it amalgamated with four other municipalities to form Crowsne ...

, from the

Clovis culture The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 a ...

, 11,000 years before present. Other sites include chert quarries on the Livingstone ridge dating back to 1000 BC. *1800: Members of David Thompson expedition avoid entering the pass. *ca. 1850: Crow Indians dispersed from area by

Blackfoot Confederacy The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

. *1873: Michael Phillipps (

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

) traverses pass, reports coal deposits. Crowsnest Pass Point of Interest Sign

*1877: The

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

cede their title in the eastern portion of the pass with

Treaty 7 Treaty 7 is an agreement between the Crown and several, mainly Blackfoot, First Nation band governments in what is today the southern portion of Alberta. The idea of developing treaties for Blackfoot lands was brought to Blackfoot chief Cro ...

. The western portion in

is unceded. *1878: Government survey by George Dawson. *1881: first surveys by Canadian Pacific Railway. *1897: CPR enters into farm export subsidy agreement for freight rates in exchange for financing of the railway line between Lethbridge, Alberta, and Nelson, BC. Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company commences operations in British Columbia. *1898: CPR opens the railway line, 10th siding (later

Blairmore, Alberta Blairmore is a community in the Rocky Mountains within the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass in southwest Alberta, Canada. It was formerly incorporated as a town prior to 1979 when it amalgamated with four other municipalities to form Crowsnest Pas ...

) established. Settlement of

Fernie, British Columbia Fernie is a city in the Elk Valley area of the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located on BC Highway 3 on the western approaches to the Crowsnest Pass through the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1898 and incorpor ...

, established. *1900: the Frank Mine opens and the new town of

, is established. Other coal mines and towns spring up between 1900 and 1919. *1902: explosion at Coal Creek mine kills 128 men. *1903: the cataclysmic

Frank Slide The Frank Slide was a massive rockslide that buried part of the mining town of Frank in the District of Alberta of the North-West Territories,The province of Alberta was not created until September 1905, more than two years after the slide. ...

occurs on the north slope of Turtle Mountain; 82 million tonnes of limestone crash down and partially bury the town of Frank, killing approximately 90 of the town's 600 residents. *1904:

, incorporates. *1908: forest fire destroys Fernie (pop: 6000), which soon rebuilds. *1914: an explosion in the mine at Hillcrest kills 189 men, Canada's worst mine disaster. *1916–1923:

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

in Alberta; "rum-running" across the provincial boundary. *1920: Train robbery and shootout at

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

Cafe. *1923: 'Emperor Pic' (

Emilio Picariello Emilio Picariello (, ; also known as Emileo PicarielloGray 62 and Emil Picariello,Foster 83 1875Anderson 43 or 1879Brennan 51 – May 2, 1923) was an Italian-Canadian bootlegger and convicted murderer, who was hanged at Fort Saskatchewan in 1923 ...

) and

Florence Lassandro Florence Lassandro (; born Filumena Costanzo ; 1900 – May 2, 1923) was an Italian-Canadian bootlegger who was the only woman to be hanged in Alberta. Early life Lassandro was born in Cosenza, Italy, immigrating with her family to Canada in 1 ...

hanged for shooting a police constable; first woman hanged in Alberta. *1932: The portion of the Red Trail through the Frank Slide is realigned as a Great Depression project and renamed Interprovincial Highway 3. *1946: An RCAF DC-3 Dakota crashes into a mountain, killing all seven people on board. *1966: Communities of Michel, Natal, and Sparwood amalgamate into the District Municipality of

Sparwood, British Columbia Sparwood is a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the second-largest community on the Elk River. Located approximately 30 kilometres from Fernie, the District Municipality of Sparwood has approximately 4,20 ...

. *1979: Communities of Coleman, Blairmore,

, Hillcrest, and

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

amalgamate to form the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. *2017: The Ktunaxa Nation and the Crown move to Stage 5 negotiations of a treaty that affects the western portion of Crowsnest Pass

References

Bibliography

* ''Crowsnest and Its People'', Crowsnest Pass Historical Society, 1979. * ''Crowsnest and Its People Millennium Edition'', Crowsnest Pass Historical Society, 2000.

External links

Pass HistoryPass TimelineCrowsnest Railway Route
{{Authority control Crowsnest Pass, Alberta Mountain passes of British Columbia Mountain passes of Alberta Great Divide of North America Canadian Pacific Railway facilities Rail mountain passes of Alberta Rail mountain passes of British Columbia Regional District of East Kootenay Borders of British Columbia Borders of Alberta