The Coal Creek Tragedy
 
 

In the Crowsnest Pass where coal mountains grow
many a miner has relinquished his soul.
It happened in May of 1902,
near the town of Fernie, on the B.C. side.
 
The mine at Coal Creek would write history
on the evening of the twenty-second day.
A rumble was heard and the mountains shook
as exploding coal dust thundered through the shafts.

A column of dust and fire rose up 
one thousand feet high, darkening the sky, 
as rocks and debris, shot from the mine’s mouth,
came down on the town, blanketing the mountain.

One Hundred and twenty-eight workmen died,
as their lives were snuffed out like a candle.
Survivors were few in this tragedy--
the mine gave back only twenty men alive.

When the cloud of dust had settled at last 
Coal Creek would be known in the mining world
as the worst disaster in mining lore
in the history of British Columbia.






                  june 2003