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HUMAN HISTORY - Setting the Stage
It wasn’t until the
1860’s goldrush at Wild Horse Creek northeast of present
day Cranbrook that the Crowsnest again attracted
attention. In 1873
Michael Phillipps
an ex Hudson’s Bay
factor,
while prospecting the Elk River Valley for gold, was
disappointed to find only coal.
The summer of 1884 brought Geological Survey of Canada
geologist
George Mercer Dawson
to southeast British Columbia. While Michael Phillipps had
indicated the presence of coal, it was Dawson's report
that brought it to national attention when his work was
released in 1886.
In 1887,
Colonel James
Baker
a Cranbrook
landowner, formed a syndicate with former Gold Commissioner
William
Fernie
and others to develop the coalfields of the Crowsnest. By 1896
they had acquired 250 000 acres of coal lands and a provincial
railway charter allowing construction of a line from the Elk
Valley to the developing mines and smelters of the West
Kootenays. There was only one problem – the railway had not
been built and the markets were in danger of being lost to the
Americans.
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