Frank, AB (3:24)

Frank, Alberta is a coal mining town in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. On April 29, 1903, at 4:10 a.m., 74 million tonnes (30 million cubic metres) of limestone crashed from the east face of Turtle Mountain and covered approximately three square kilometres of the valley floor. The slab of rock that broke free was approximately 650 m high, 900 m wide and 150 m thick. The slide dammed the Crowsnest River and formed a small lake, covered 2km of the Canadian Pacific Railway, destroyed most of the coal mine’s surface infrastructure, and buried seven houses on the outskirts of the sleeping town of Frank, as well as several rural buildings.

Frank was home to approximately 600 people in 1903; of the roughly 100 individuals who lived in the path of the slide, 76 were killed. Only twelve bodies were recovered from the debris at the time of the slide. In 1922, a road construction crew uncovered the remains of seven more people