After a dealy landslide this week in Banff National Park, the Western Standard takes a look back at the deadliest slide in Canadian history.In 1903, on the valley of the Crowsnest River lay a small town known as Frank, composed of 600 inhabitants.Over 120 years ago, the town witnessed a collapse in the structure of Turtle Mountain — over 110 tons of limestone fell onto the valley.It ended up being the worst Canadian rockslide in history. .Coal mining was ruled as the cause of the accident, killing between 70 to over 90 people in the town, most of the bodies were never recovered. Scientists, however, later discovered the primary factor was Mother Nature. The mountain itself had been unstable, with a major thrust fault — the Turtle Mountain Thrust Fault — which ran through it. .A thrust fault is a fractured zone in a mountain, dividing the layers of rock within it.Over time, the erosion of sandstone and shale layers by water and ice, combined with the layers of limestone above, created an overhang on the upper half of the mountain that extended outwards. This was the primary driving factor, coal mining being secondary. .The slide lasted just over 100 seconds, a violent swoop accompanied by the sound of steam escaping.Newspaper clippings from the time, reported by the Calgary Herald, depict the severity and power of the slide, "The leg and hip of a man was found lying fifty yards from the Imperial Hotel."The speed was estimated to be up to 120 kph. .As a result, over three square kilometers of the valley top was buried within 14 metres — and some areas up to 45 metres — of rock. The last survivor of the slide was Gladys Ellis, who passed away at age 91 in 1993.After the disaster, people moved away from the original townsite, and a community of "New Frank" began to expand and was located just northwest of the original town. .Each spring, the mountain still sheds a small amount of rock.Scientists do believe a similar occurrence to be plausible in the future on the mountain.
