Discover Crowsnest
Heritage
Crowsnest
The railway community that once straddled the
provincial border is almost completely gone now. It is
rumored that railway workers (1897 - 1898) who
succumbed to a cholera outbreak were buried near here,
but there is no official record of either a cemetery or a
cholera outbreak. The story persists in local folklore,
but all efforts to locate the cemetery have failed. If it
existed, it may have been located at the north end of
Summit Lake, and been obliterated during the
construction of Highway 3 or the natural gas pipeline.
Pamphlet produced by the
Crowsnest Heritage Initiative
Heritage
Cemetery
Guide
Crowsnest Pass
Doors Open & Heritage Festival
Cemeteries of The Pass
Within ten years of the arrival of the Canadian Pacific
Railway in 1898, a dozen coal-mining settlements were
underway. Most had their own cemeteries, and some
had more than one. With the dangers of mining and its
associated hard life, the cemeteries of the Pass began to
fill somewhat earlier than you might find in more
genteel communities.
Some of the cemeteries in this Guide are over a hundred
years old, although many of the older burials are no
longer marked. Catholics had their own cemeteries, or
sections within cemeteries, usually named after the local
Catholic church. Non-Catholic cemeteries are often
called Union cemeteries.
The cemeteries in this guide are ordered by community,
approximately east to west. A general location map can
be found in the centre of this pamphlet. Please control
your pets and use respect when visiting these historic
cemeteries.
1. B-15-9,10. Ukrainian immigrants Thomas (1889-1962)
and Lena (1898-1981) Gushul professionally
photographed scenes of everyday life throughout the
Crowsnest Pass for several decades. Their restored
Blairmore studio is a community landmark.
2. B-7-18. Andy Good (1873-1916) was a well-known
outfitter and outdoorsman who owned the Summit
Hotel on the Alberta/BC border between 1900 and 1915.
Only the base of his grave marker remains.
3. The oldest graves in this cemetery are located here, in
Section D. Many of the markers are now missing.
1. The oldest graves in the Catholic cemetery are near
the front (east end), though many of the original wood
markers are gone.
2. A-6-2. This ornate, fenced monument is for teenager
Tony Nicholas (1910–1929) who died at Lundbreck Falls.
Passburg
The settlement of Passburg was established next to the
Leitch Collieries, and began to fail when that facility
shut down in 1915. Although the town is gone, the
cemetery is still used. It is located about a kilometre
northwest of the Leitch Collieries Historic Site.
Drive to the Crowsnest Pass east portal municipal sign
on Highway 3, about two kilometres west of Leitch
Collieries, then turn north and follow the road back east
past the campground for 1.4 kilometres.
Hillcrest
This is the best-known cemetery in Crowsnest Pass, as it
includes the mass grave of the victims of the Hillcrest
Mine Disaster of 1914. Within the same cemetery are
Catholic and Masonic burial areas.
To find the Hillcrest Cemetery, take the Hillcrest west
access off Highway 3, cross the bridge, and turn right
immediately after the Y in the road. The cemetery
entrance is signposted, and is also part of the Crowsnest
Pass Heritage Driving Route.
3. A-1-1. Joseph Homenick (1872-1910) and Mike Yagos
(1882-1910) were both killed in a Coleman mining
accident.
4. B-7-5. An attractive monument to Joseph Kliz (18861918) incorporates glass circles.
At the cemetery parking lot one can find the Hillcrest
Mine Disaster Millennium Memorial, and within the
cemetery is a short interpretive walk. Hillcrest
Cemetery is a Provincial Historic Resource.
4. B-16-3. A union activist and member of Blairmore’s
‘communist’ town council in the 1930s, Joe Krkosy (19101944) was denied funeral services by the local Catholic
priest and was buried in the Union cemetery. Three
thousand people attended his funeral.
5. B-10-31. Annie Dunlop (1865-1945) lost all three sons
in World War One; only her husband, who was too old
for active service, returned. The Dunlop guns in Frank
are named after the family.
6. B-10-24. This row of Chinese markers includes the
names of their birth villages, written in sinograph
characters.
Coleman
Both cemeteries in Coleman are adjacent to each other,
and are located on the south side of 27th Avenue at
about 79th Street. You can access the area by turning
north off Highway 3 and following either 86th Street
(signposted Highway 40) or 81st Street, and winding
your way up to 27th Avenue.
1. Old Masonic section (1914 - 1948)
2. 1910 – 1920
3. Hillcrest Mine Disaster mass graves, 1914
4. 1915 – 1920
5. 1930s
6. 1940s
7. 1930 - 1950
The Union Cemetery is above the Catholic cemetery.
The Catholic cemetery was probably established in 1909
and was named after the Holy Ghost Catholic Church
(renamed the Holy Spirit Catholic Church). This was
the first Catholic church in the Pass (1905) and the
building, now a coffee house, is well worth visiting.
Bellevue
St. Cyril's (sometimes called Our Lady of Lourdes)
Catholic Cemetery is located just to the east of the Frank
Slide and is visible from Highway 3. Take the Bellevue
centre access road north from Highway 3 and turn left at
the first opportunity. The cemetery dates to 1929 and
was named after St. Cyril's Catholic Church which
served Bellevue from 1915, and is now privately owned.
The oldest marked grave is dated 1936.
1. B-1a-9 to 13. Reuben Steeves (1860-1908) was a
prominent Frank businessman who owned the Imperial
Hotel and the brick yard. Steeves drowned under
mysterious circumstances while on a duck-hunting trip.
To find the picturesque Bellevue Union Cemetery, drive
to 215th Street in Bellevue, then drive or walk up 27th
Avenue along an unimproved road under power lines for
500 metres. This cemetery was closed in part due to
spring flooding. Its oldest marked grave is dated 1918.
Frank
2. B-1-26 and 27. Joe Little (1853-1942) was one of
Blairmore’s first residents. Reclusive and enigmatic, he
had fingers in every pie, and once even owned the land
that the Blairmore cemeteries are on. His brother
Samuel (1848-1929) was a veteran of the Fenian Raids, an
Irish American invasion of eastern Canada in 1866-1867.
The cemetery at Frank was covered by the Frank Slide in
1903, only two years after the founding of the town. It
was located east of the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre
just past their parking lot, and is now underneath the
boulders and rubble of the northern edge of the slide.
3. B-7-26,27. After Dr. Malcolmson failed to save his
own daughter Beatrice (1902-1903) from diptheria, he
had to dig her grave himself because of a miners’ strike.
Malcolmson built a hospital in Frank in 1902 which had
one 0f Alberta’s first x-ray machines.
At least seven persons died in Frank between 1901 and
April 1903, but it is not known how many were buried
there. It is curious that the citizens of Frank did not
start another cemetery after the Slide, despite the town's
continued growth. After 1903, Frank’s residents were
buried in Blairmore.
The Frank Slide itself killed about ninety people, whose
bodies were never recovered. In 1922, a minor
realignment of the old graveled road through the Slide
uncovered unidentifiable human remains, which were
reburied at the side of the road. They were possibly the
remains of Mrs. Clark and her five children who were
asleep in the house closest to this site at the time of the
Slide (4:10 am, April 29, 1903). A memorial was placed
there on the fiftieth anniversary of the slide, to
commemorate the 1922 reburial and all other persons
killed in the slide whose bodies were not recovered.
Two survivors of the slide, Delbert and Gladys Ennis,
also chose to have their ashes scattered at this site.
To find this memorial, drive the graveled road that runs
through the Slide between the original Frank townsite
(now an industrial park) and the Hillcrest west access
road; the memorial is at the western edge of the slide.
This historic 1906 road is also part of the Crowsnest Pass
Heritage Driving Route. Information on the
approximately ninety people killed by the slide is
available at the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre.
Lille
The long-abandoned coal town of Lille is accessible by
hiking the 6.3km (one way) Lille Heritage Trail. All of
the buildings were removed, leaving only a few house
imprints and some commercial/industrial foundations.
Lille townsite is a Provincial Historic Resource, and no
artifacts should be disturbed.
4. B-9-1 and B-11-20. The Drain brothers, Duncan (18671942) and Daniel (1862-1918), gave up railroading to
become two of Blairmore’s early businessmen, operating
the Blairmore Hotel, a livery stable, and a construction
business. Drain Brothers Construction Ltd. is still based
in Blairmore but now provides oilfield services.
5. B-16-21. In 1911 Italian immigrant Charles Sartoris
(1886–1975) was the stable-boss for the mine in Frank,
but soon became a self-made success in lumber, horse
livery, automobile sales, construction, ranching and real
estate.
Blairmore
Blairmore’s cemeteries were also used by Frank after
1903 and include many locally-significant graves. All
three cemeteries are adjacent to each other, and can
clearly be seen above the north side of Highway 3.
Access is opposite (north) of the Blairmore centre access
road; immediately turn east and follow the road for a
few hundred metres to the two oldest cemeteries.
St. Anne's Catholic Cemetery is encountered first.
Follow the road further east up the hill to the Old Union
Cemetery. The New Union Cemetery is also nearby, and
was opened in 1975.
1. A-13-5. Henry Gibeau (1865-1951) was the Canadian
cousin of Samuel Gebo, the co-founder of the mine and
town of Frank. Henry and Samuel’s fathers were
brothers, and their mothers were twin sisters. Henry
gave up the wholesale liquor business when he became
disgusted with the widespread drunkenness in Frank.
2. A-9-28. French-born Jules Charbonnier (1877-1942)
came to Blairmore in 1913 as general manager of West
Canadian Collieries. He actively supported mine rescue
competitions and was a major patron for many Pass
sports teams.
3. B-8-39. George Bond (1864-1951) arrived in Frank
just one day before the Frank Slide, and was one of its
better-known chroniclers.
Lille's small overgrown cemetery is located in the woods
some 800 metres southeast of the townsite. It is not
marked, and cannot be seen from the trail, but the
cemetery is occasionally visited so a track may be
visible.
The Lille Cemetery was probably used for seven or eight
burials between 1905 and 1910. Only one grave marker
from this period is currently visible, a nice white stone
monument to Mrs. Alice Petiot who died in 1907. A
metal plaque affixed to a tree commemorates James
Vance Patera who died in 1982. Mr. Patera was born in
Czechoslovakia in 1903 but grew up on his family's
homestead near Lille between 1908 and 1918.