Coal versus Water. Who wins?

 

Coal versus Water. Who wins?

I first heard about the Crowsnest Pass in University history lectures. The coal miners made the news by organizing some bitter strikes demanding human living conditions and there was a mention of the women of the Pass being very brave standing by their men. Archived Calgary Herald editions showed pictures. Much later, after coal mining stopped, I found myself seated next to an elderly woman in Chris’ Restaurant. She wanted to talk.

I expected her to be upset over the ending of coal mining, but the opposite was true. She lived her whole life in Coleman and she told me the horrors of coal mining. She lost the men of her family to something called black lung. The “Laurentian Elites” Canadian owners of the mines mistreated her. She cried, describing how she worked so hard to do the wash by hand and it would all turn black while they did some process in the tipple. Her life was centered around fluctuating coal prices that she was expected to absorb by not feeding the kids.

I was reminded of her story by letters to the last Pass Herald of 2021. There was a doctor who treated the victims of coal. Because he used handouts from rich coal mining companies to obtain hospital equipment, he was deemed an untrusted source. I remember him coming from home at night to save my life when I had double pneumonia.

There was a letter from a person who used to work on the tipple in Coleman. He blamed everything under the sun on the loss of coal mining. Car dealerships left. I remember when the big car manufacturers closed down little town dealerships all over, not just here. He talked about the closing of grocery stores. I asked the owner of the last grocery store why he was closing down. He said that people here were shopping in Walmart and Costco expecting him to be a convenience store with big store prices. “I am tired of playing this game,” he told me.

I asked around how come we don’t have wind power generation here in the mountains. I was told that whenever businesses expressed interest in opening in the Pass, our local councils chased them out. You tell me if it’s true.

Now the talk of the town is “we want coal back.” A foreign company moved the golf course and donated some money so everyone is fighting for coal. “I love Pass coal” signs are everywhere. If any of you want some I have a big pile here.

The West was opened up not because of coal but because of farming and a threat that the US will take it if it wasn’t populated quickly. Canadian agents went around the world looking for immigrant farmers “with strong backs.” South Alberta had land but was too dry for cultivation. Mormons from the US who knew how to build and use irrigation canals were recruited and did green up the land. It was later that coal became a commodity and was discovered in Lethbridge and the Crowsnest Pass. Oil and gas came later.

We have all of it. The actual fight now is not between coal lovers and a few ranchers situated above mediocre coal reserves, but about water versus strip mining. We love to accommodate those who romanticize the days of coal mining, but the most valuable resource we have here is the Crowsnest and adjacent mountains water. We will not see a government that’s lacking popularity take the side of 6000 people against one-third of the province.

I could be wrong, but I heard that there are people who own and sell water rights to the folks down river and that they are taxed by the government. I am not against or for coal, but a little bird told me that water is very important. Water wars are going on in the world and there will be more to come. I have been in wars and I didn’t like it. I also know that those who cause wars are most often not those who fight them.

In my opinion, the government should make sure that the guardians of the water, us,  receive proper benefits for doing so from those who enjoy it. We are here in the playground of southern Alberta. With some compensation, we could develop the place to be a world-class tourist destination that will outlast any temporary mining industry. We are fighting for our survival and we need help. That should be more than some philanthropic handouts.

Right now we have trails, lakes, and minor tourist attractions. With some imagination, the little historical towns can become the biggest historical landmark in Canada. All aspects of the place, restaurants, movie theatres, hotels, and places to shop could be made into a historical marvel better than Heritage Park and Calloway Park put together. It’s all here and we could add fireworks shows every last day of the month. We could buy and move Heritage acres to a location where people will see it. Above it all, the people who don’t want to change could be put on display and live out their dream of living in the past.

Businesses under the right leadership can import handmade goods from all over the world supporting poor, less advanced places and old-style craftspeople. What we need is seed money and political will. That can be done with a well-organized marketing plan.

Imagine a historical main street with horses and buggies, a windmill grinding flower for your stone oven bread, and young page boys selling old-looking Pass Heralds printed by a widow on an old press. People speaking foreign languages staying in a hotel by mineral springs and a steam locomotive pulling a pioneer train. A native cultural centre where you can learn how to smoke tan hides and smell the sweet aromas from pre-European days.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.