Blairmore, Alberta

Blairmore (population 4,695) is a town in the Crowsnest Pass of the Rocky Mountains of southern Alberta, Canada. Formerly an independent town, it is now the principal commercial centre of the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass (population: about 6500).

History

Originally a Canadian Pacific Railway stop called Tenth Siding or The Springs (for the cold sulphur spring to the east), the settlement was renamed Blairmore in November 1898. A ten-year dispute over land ownership between the CPR station agent and the section foreman stunted early development. ["Crowsnest and its People" Crowsnest Pass Historical Society, 1979] Blairmore’s principal industry was lumber and, after 1907, coal. Other industries followed and on September 29, 1911 Blairmore was incorporated as a town. With the declining fortunes of the nearby town of Frank, Blairmore soon became the region’s economic centre.

One of the town’s early characters was Emilio Picariello (1875 – 1923). “Emperor Pic” settled in Blairmore in 1918 and operated several businesses, but also illegally imported alcohol from nearby British Columbia during prohibition. Picariello and Florence Lossandra were hanged after the shooting death of Alberta Provincial Police constable Steve Lawson in 1921.

Like many Canadian industrial towns in the 1930s, Blairmore had some sympathies with Communism. Canada's first Communist town council and school board were elected in Blairmore in 1933, which reformed the tax system, and refused to observe Remembrance Day as an Imperialist holiday and honoured the Russian Revolution instead. A street was named after the leader of the Communist Party of Canada, Tim Buck, a decision that was reversed by the next town council. [ [http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/story.php?id=216399 Crownest Pass Promoter] - street name controversy]

Blairmore joined four other local towns in a legal amalgamation into the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass in 1979. [Cite web|url=http://www.municipalaffairs.gov.ab.ca/cfml/profiles/data/0508_1.htm|author=Alberta Municipal Affairs|title=Crowsnest Pass - Town Profile|accessdate=2008-06-24]

Geography

Volcanic rocks in the Blairmore area are related to the well-known Crowsnest Formation. As a geological unit, the volcanics improved some attention in the late 1980s when geologists stated they had found trace amounts of gold in certain units of the volcanics. [ [http://www.ags.gov.ab.ca/publications/ABSTRACTS/MIN_20060025.html Mineral Assessment Report 20060025] - A report for Assessment in reference to Metallic and Industrial Minerals Permit 9304091032]

References