Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 3

GALGARY HERALD Wednesday, June 6, 2001 A3 Top News -if Slide facts On April 29, 1903 at 4:10 a.m., 82 million tonnes of limestone crashed from the summit of Turtle Mountain and buried part of Frank. An estimated 70 to 80 people died. Underground coal mining, water action in summit cracks and severe weather may have contributed to the slide. The slide carried rock debris over three square kilometres in less than 100 seconds. Rock flowed down the side of the mountain and across the valley.

Sunday's rock slide occurred to the northwest of the 1903 slide. Residents living near the area reported hearing smaller slides Monday and Tuesday. Sunday's larger slide may have been caused by fi tezing temperatures followed by melting. Small rock slides are common in the area. -f Source: Alberta's Frank Slide Interpretive Centre I 4 ry-VL't "i-j ,.,1, i 1903 disaster haunts town Rockfall repeat a matter of time Close watch kept on mountain fro- FromAI Slide In Sunday's rock slide, sections of a limestone band near the top collapsed and large chunks of rock tumbled down the mountain, hitting other rocks along the way, causing them to join the slide.

A light grey V-shaped niche showed up against the otherwise dark grey limestone band where the rock had peeled off, he explains. What he thought might have been low-lying cloud turned out to be dust kicked up 70 to 80 metres by the falling rock. The limestone rumbled down the northwest edge of the 1903 slide path until it landed on a flat band of rock about 300 metres down. None of the debris reached the valley floor. Even if it had, it would have fallen into a small slough, part of the Crowsnest River.

The nearest human presence is a kilometre north in the industrial section of Frank. Every spring, the mountain sloughs off some of its rock, according to Monica Field, in charge of the Frank Slide centre. Sunday's activity was just a little bigger than normal. "It doesn't indicate the mountain is any less stable than it was Saturday," she said. Field said snow melted on the mountain earlier that weekend and she suspects freezing Saturday night set up the rock slide Sunday.

She said a big block separated from the mountain around 8 p.m. Sunday evening, and thunder pealed through the valley. She says the largest piece of rock to fall was a well-known rock that appeared to be precariously attached to the mountainside. People working on Frank's commercial strip along Highway 3 say they heard small rocks coming down the mountain Monday and Tuesday morning. Most shrugged off any sense of danger, but Melanie Yates, an employee of Frank Shell gas station, says she's looking hard at the mountain now and wondering whether she could outrun the danger if the sliding got serious.

Yates says she doesn't feel comfortable until she gets home to Coleman and well away from a potential slide path. Crowsnest Pass chief administrative officer Bevin Keith says there have been a few inquiries about what happened. He says there's nothing to be concerned about and the municipality doesn't plan any extra resources to deal with the issue. Frank, which had a population of about 6oo. Estimates of fatalities vary, but most accounts conclude 70 to 80 people were killed, including at least a dozen miners caught when the slide obliterated the mine entrance.

Of the 76 officially listed as killed in the slide, only 12 bodies were recovered. Of those townspeople caught in the path of the slide, 23 survived. In the coal mine, 17 surviving miners dug their way to the surface 13 hours after the slide. A locomotive shunting cars near the mine barely escaped being caught in the slide. When engineer Ben Murga-troyd saw boulders tumbling around him, he gave the engine full throttle and screamed at his brakemen to get aboard.

i As the rumbling stopped, the train crew realized a passenger train, the Spokane Flyer, was due and would slam into the mass of rocks unless stopped. Brakeman Sid Choquette scrambled over the huge boulders in the dust and darkness, and managed to flag down the train before it reached the slide area. The rail line reopened about three weeks after the slide. Road travellers used a rough trail that skirted the slide area to the north until a new road was completed in 1906. The present Highway 3 was built through the slide in the mid-i930s.

Rocks constantly fall from the face of Turtle Mountain, especially with fluctuations in temperature. In 1955, a series of rock slides shook nearby homes and attracted attention from all over the province, but no damage down, it would be on the south side," he said. "If it came down it would be a similar size to the Frank Slide. It's a very low possibility, but it's always hard to say. "It won't be this year, but it will happen.

It could be 10 years or it could be a million years." Langenberg said an Alberta Environment report completed 18 months ago highlighted the risk of a major slide as "low or medium" and recommended no development take place beneath the south peak. It also recommended seismic monitoring equipment be installed on Turtle Mountain. Several houses and a baseball diamond have since gone ahead in the area. "I don't think they are such a good idea," Langenberg said of the houses. He was unsure what would have caused the latest rockfalls.

No earthquake activity had been recorded in the area. A University of Alberta geology expert, who did not wish to be named, said recent rain may have seeped into cracks, triggering the falls. He expected rock will continue to fall in the area, and warned hikers to stay clear of the crest and remain east of the Crowsnest River. Disaster Services spokesman Ron Wolsey said an officer is investigating the latest falls, but reiterated that such falls are common in the Canadian Rockies. He said the area is monitored regularly and said any risk of a major slide is small.

KERRY WILLIAMSON Calgary Herald A repeat of the infamous Frank Slide is inevitable, however geologists say recent rockfalls are not signs that another disaster is imminent Several tonnes of rock have slid down the north face of Turtle Mountain, in the Crowsnest Pass, in the past three days, rekindling memories of the 1903 Frank Slide disaster which killed about 80 people. Edmonton-based Alberta Energy and Utilities Board geologist Willem Langenberg, who has studied the area, said Tuesday rockfalls in the Frank Slide area are common. While a fall on Sunday was "a bit bigger than usual," it is not a precursor to a major landslide, he said. "Mountains will come down, it is part of the erosion process and you see it happening everywhere," he said. "Rockfalls are a natural part of life in the Rockies." While the rockfalls have not threatened development, Langenberg said the area is unstable and will one day produce a slide of a similar size to the Frank Slide.

More than 80 million tonnes of limestone swept down Turtle Mountain on April 29, 1903, blocking the highway and burying a part of the small mining town of Frank. Langenberg said it is inevitable the south crest of the mountain will one day fall. It's not a case of if, but when. "The south is more unstable on a big scale, and our studies indicated that if part of the mountain did come DAVID BLY Calgary Herald 'hen a huge chunk of Turtle Mountain tore loose in the early hours of April 29, 1903, some residents of the nearby town of Frank thought there had been an explosion in the coal mine. Some thought cannons had been fired.

At least one blamed the noise and shaking ground on too much drink and went home to bed. Some never knew what hit them. Over the years, myths about the slide have spread: a town wiped out, hundreds dead, a bank holding a fortune in gold buried under the limestone, a surviving baby found sleeping and unharmed on a huge boulder. Myths aside, the tale needs no embellishing. The facts alone are spectacular.

In ioo seconds, more than 80 million tonnes of limestone thundered down the mountain, leaving a kilometre-wide swath of limestone 150 metres deep. The highway was covered, a section of the railroad was destroyed. The Crowsnest River was blocked, forming a lake at the base of the mountain. While some reports blamed the coal mine in the side of the mountain for the disaster, the mountain was long known to be unstable. Natives referred to Turtle Mountain as "the mountain that walked." To coal miners who had dug 700 metres into the mountain, tremors were almost a daily occurrence.

Geologists believe the slide was simply a result of the rock mass finally tearing loose. The slide hit the eastern edge of Selling on behalf of Nortel other Consignors. Office Furniture Computers Saturday June 9th, 2001 10 am 2020 Pegasus Rd N.E. Calgary Viewing: Friday June 8th PARTIAL LIST: Ig qty of Steelcase Furniture Ig qty of Global workstations Asstd. desks Filing cabinets Ig qty of Chairs reception stackingswivel titters Credenza's Bookcases Whiteboards 2 Uniden Portable radios, cw chargers, cases batteries Meeting tables Worktables Boardroom tables Reception desksfurniture Storage cabinets Much Much More.

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