Touring an OLD MINE 👷🛑 + COWBOY Lunch! | Exploring Crowsnest Pass in Bellevue, ALBERTA, Canada 🇨🇦

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Today we are starting off our travels across Southern Alberta! As some of you may already know, my (Audrey's) parents recently decided to move to the Province of Alberta and retire in the Rockies, so we're going to be exploring their new backyard all summer long. We are kicking off our travels across Alberta with a road trip to Crowsnest Pass. This pass is the gateway to the Rockies in Southern Alberta and historically, the area was known for mining. Today, Crowsnest Pass is made up of 5 main towns and it's a great tourist destination.

Here is a list of the places we visited in Crowsnest Pass:
01:46 - Burmis Tree
04:48 - Leitch Collieries
13:21 - Bellevue Underground Mine Tour
21:00 - Lunch at Pure Country
24:02 - Frank Slide

#alberta #crowsnestpass #roadtrip

Touring an OLD MINE 👷🛑 + COWBOY Lunch! | Exploring Crowsnest Pass in Bellevue, ALBERTA, Canada 🇨🇦

Bellevue Mine Tour Check-In 🏤

We kick things off by checking in for the Bellevue Mine tour ( $25/adult, $20/senior ) and grabbing our souvenir hard-hat.

Introduction to the Frank Slide: a mountain collapse in 1903 that obliterated the town of Frank—nothing’s grown back since.

Team Roll-Call & Road Trip 🚗

Meet the crew: Daniel, Sam and Audrey—new residents of Southern Alberta after leaving Ontario.

Today’s mission: explore Crow’s Nest Pass mining heritage.

Stop at the Burmis Tree 🌲

Visited the famous 700-year-old limber pine that marked the eastern entrance to the Pass.

Learned how wind finally toppled it in the 1970s, and how it’s now propped upright with anchors.

Exploring the Collieries 🏚️

Wandered through abandoned coal-mining structures (“collieries”) in the provincial park—virtually deserted.

“Collieries” = all buildings and equipment related to coal extraction.

Immigrant Miner’s Oral History 🎧

Heard a miner recount lamp explosions, coal dust coughs and union organising in the early 1900s.

Tour of the Manager’s House Ruins 🏰

Visited the three-storey Hamilton family home: hardwood floors, indoor plumbing, three fireplaces—now four crumbling walls.

Inside the Wind Tunnel 💨

Battled gusts while learning the colliery’s backstory: first all-Canadian-owned mine, vital railway terminus, immigrant labour hub.

Railway Construction Hardships 🚂

Discussed the Canadian Pacific Railway build through the Pass: 600 deaths on that stretch, 4,000 overall, many Chinese labourers in dangerous conditions.

Bellevue Mine Underground Tour ⛏️

Final stop: one-hour guided tour (45 min underground).

Discovered 240 km of tunnels from Frank to Calgary, 17,000 tons of coal extracted (1903–1961), plus 70,000 tons still unmined.

Mine Conditions & Machinery 🐴

Inside temperature at 0–2 °C — dress warm!

Learned about crude safety lamps, simulation of total darkness, Clydesdale horses hauling coal carts, and crystal-clear stream in the drift.

Miner Memorial & Sculpture 🕯️

Admired the coal-miner sculpture with blackened patina, read the 1910 explosion plaque listing father-and-son tragedies.

Lunch & Local Brews 🍔🍺

Hit a nearby pub for ice-cold Rickard’s Red, pulled-pork burgers, the “Frank Slide” platter (ribs, sweet-potato fries, deep-fried jalapeños & more).

Frank Slide Lookout 🏔️

Arrived at the Slide site: 600 residents, ~100 lives lost, giant angular boulders strewn like a lunar landscape.

Debated causes: seam-destabilising coal mining vs. centuries of freeze-thaw erosion.

Trail Options & Interpretive Centre 🥾

Noted the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre movie, and multiple trails offering unique vantage points of the rock avalanche.

Only minutes from the B.C. border and Crow’s Nest Pass highway.

Wrap-Up & Take-Home Message 🎥

Highlight: adventure is in your own backyard—no need to fly overseas!

Teaser for more Southern Alberta local trips all summer long.

🔔 Enjoyed this mining heritage road trip?

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Drop a comment: which stop intrigued you most—Burmis Tree, Collieries or the Frank Slide?

#Crow’sNestPass #BurmisTree #Collieries #BellevueMineTour #FrankSlide #AlbertaTravel #MiningHistory #TravelVlog

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