Blairmore is a community in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

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 Pass. Blairmore is the principal commercial centre of Crowsnest Pass.

History

Originally a

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

stop called Tenth Siding or The Springs (for the cold sulphur spring to the east), the settlement was renamed Blairmore in November 1898 and it got a post office the following year. A ten-year dispute over land ownership between the CPR station agent and the section foreman stunted early development. The community was incorporated as the Village of Blairmore on September 3, 1901. Blairmore's principal industry was lumber and, after 1907, coal. Other industries soon followed. Blairmore incorporated as a town on September 29, 1911. With the declining fortunes of the nearby community of Frank, Blairmore soon became the region's economic centre. The Greenhill mine, located just north of Blairmore, became the mainstay of the community until its closure in 1957. One of the town's early residents was Emilio Picariello (1875 – 1923). "Emperor Pic" settled in Blairmore in 1918 and operated several businesses, but also illegally imported alcohol from nearby

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

during

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 alcoholic b ...

. Picariello and Florence Lassandro were hanged in 1923 after the shooting death of

Alberta Provincial Police The Alberta Provincial Police (APP) was the state police, provincial police service for the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Alberta, Canada, from 1917 to 1932. The APP was formed as a result of the Royal North-West Mounted Police ...

constable Steve Lawson in 1922. Like many Canadian industrial towns in the 1930s, Blairmore had some sympathies with

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. Canada's first Communist town council and school board were elected in Blairmore in 1933, which reformed the tax system, and refused to observe

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...

as an Imperialist holiday and honoured the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

instead. A street was named after the leader of the

Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada. Founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality, it is the second oldest active political party in Canada, after the Liberal Party of Canada. Although it does not currentl ...

Tim Buck Timothy Buck (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (known as the Labor-Progressive Party from 1943 to 1959) from 1929 until 1962. Together with Ernst Thälmann of Germany, Maurice ...

, and a park was renamed after

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

; both decisions were reversed by the next town council. On November 3, 1978, the

Government of Alberta The Government of Alberta () is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. In modern Canadian use, the term ''Government of Alberta'' refers specifically to the executive� ...

passed the ''Crowsnest Pass Municipal Unification Act'', which led to the formal

amalgamation Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

of the Town of Blairmore with the Village of

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

, the Town of

Coleman Coleman may refer to: Places Antarctica * Coleman Glacier (Antarctica) * Coleman Peak, Ross Island Canada * Coleman, Alberta * Coleman, Ontario * Coleman, Prince Edward Island United Kingdom * Coleman, Leicester, England United States * C ...

, the Village of Frank, and Improvement District (ID) No. 5 on January 1, 1979.

Canadian Militia

From 1946 to 1965, Blairmore was home to Canadian Militia units associated with the Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers. From 1946 to 1950, No. 22 Armoured Workshop existed prior to being renamed as a Troop of 39 Technical Squadron (1950–1954) and eventually the 31st Technical Squadron (1954–1965). During this time, the Squadron had a band which regularly paraded within the town as well as
535 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps
which existed until 1971.

Geography

Blairmore is located in southwest Alberta in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

. It is approximately west of

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

on Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) and approximately east of the

border. Fellow Crowsnest Pass communities Frank and Coleman are to the east and to the west respectively.

Geology

Volcanic rock Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...

s in the Blairmore area are related to the

Crowsnest Formation The Crowsnest Formation, also called the Crowsnest Volcanics, is a geological formation in southwestern Alberta, Canada, on the southwestern margin of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It was named for the Cr ...

. As a geological unit, the volcanics received some attention in the late 1980s when geologists stated they had found trace amounts of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in certain units of the volcanics.Mineral Assessment Report 20060025 - A report for Assessment in reference to Metallic and Industrial Minerals Permit 9304091032 Blairmorite, a rare volcanic rock of the Crowsnest Formation, is named after Blairmore.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

, the urban

population centre In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...

of Blairmore, as delineated by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, recorded a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As a population centre in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by

, Blairmore recorded a population of 1,545 living in 731 of its 886 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 1,521. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

References