The Story of Italians in Fernie, 1881 - 1921 The Story of Italians in Fernie, 1881 - 1921 Fernie Museum
United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners Local 1220 in front of the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company office, Labour Day, Fernie on Labour Day May 1, 1909.
Single men and men whose wives were in the old country lived in such accommodation.
By 1904, the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company operated 1,188 coke ovens in the region. In the ovens, coal was heated resulting in an almost pure carbon used […]
Italians made up a significant portion of the workforce at Coal Creek. Twenty-eight Italians were killed in the 1902 disaster that had a total of 128 fatalities.
The railway station became the hub of the community and represented prosperity. Communities that were ignored by the railways became ghost towns. In 1990, the station was relocated […]
Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge Coal Creek Fernie, BC, erected by employees of the Hamilton Bridge Works Co., April 14, 1911 to replace the old bridge.
The mine was owned by the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company and the town comprised 45 houses with light and water, a church and a Trites Wood Company […]
Homes were wood frame with a kitchen/living room and one or two bedrooms. The outhouses were located in the backyards. Many Italians worked in the mines and lived […]
The town of Coal Creek near Fernie, BC, nd, grew up around the mine. The 1901 census listed 69 men of Italian origin working in the mines and, […]
The 1908 Great Fire destroyed 65 buildings in the business district. This was the heart of Fernie’s commercial district as it is today.
As a railway and mining hub, Fernie’s growth outstripped that of other Elk Valley communities.
Migale left Italy with brother Giuseppe in 1898 for North America. He arrived by train in Macleod, Alberta and walked to Fernie where he worked for the CPR […]
