A thousand feet into a real coal mine, with a lamp, at four degrees
The Crowsnest is full of places where coal killed people and none of them let you in. This one does. The Bellevue mine worked from about 1905 to 1961 and it is the reason the town exists, and on 10 December 1910 an explosion in the West Canadian Collieries No. 1 killed 30 men and one of the rescuers who went in after them. It was a short shift; on a full one there would have been up to 200 underground, and the Crowsnest would have had a worse day than Hillcrest four years later. Today a guide takes you 1,000 feet into the entry, 150 feet below the surface, with a hard hat and a lamp, and it is 4 to 6 degrees in there in every season, which is the first thing your body tells you about the job. Tours run May to September and take about an hour. Bring a coat, and understand on the way in that this is a working mine that was left, not a set.
Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
