| Crowsnest Pass |
Article Index for Crowsnest |
Articles about Crowsnest Pass |
Website Links For Crowsnest Pass |
Information AboutCrowsnest Pass |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CROWSNEST PASS | |
| canadian pacific railway | |
| landforms of alberta | |
| landforms of british columbia | |
| mountain passes of canada | |
|
The Crowsnest Pass, sometimes referred to as '''Crow's Nest Pass''' or simply '''The Crow''', (elevation 1,358 m) is a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta / British Columbia border. GEOGRAPHY The pass is located in southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta, and is the southernmost rail and highway route through the Canadian Rockies and the lowest elevation mountain pass in Canada south of the Yellowhead Pass (1,130 m); the other major passes, which are higher, being Kicking Horse Pass (1,640 m), Howse Pass (1,530 m) and Vermillion Pass. Crowsnest Pass comprises a valley running east-west through Crowsnest Ridge. The Crowsnest River flows east from Crowsnest Lake, eventually draining into the Oldman River on the Alberta side. Summit Lake on the British Columbia side drains into the Elk River, which eventually feeds into the Kootenai and Kootenay Rivers, and finally into the Columbia River. TRANSPORTATION The Canadian Pacific Railway built a line from Lethbridge, Alberta to Nelson, British Columbia through the Crowsnest Pass, opening in 1897. This line was built to develop Coal deposits in the Elk River valley and help to assert Canadian (and CPR) sovereignty in an area that U.S. railroads were beginning to build into. CPR sought and received construction funding from the federal government, subject to a freight subsidy arrangement for prairie farm exports which came to be called the "Crow's Nest Pass Agreement". "The Crow Rate", as the subsidy agreement came to be referred to, was eventually extended from CPR's Crownest Pass railway line to apply to all railway lines in western Canada, regardless of corporate ownership or geography, creating artificially low freight rates for grain shipments through the Great Lakes ports. The rate also correspondingly limited industrial growth in the western provinces as it was cheaper to produce items in eastern Canada and ship them west under The Crow Rate. This subsidy was finally abolished in 1995. The Crowsnest Highway operates as Highway 3 in both provinces and runs through the pass parallel to the CPR line, as does an oil pipeline. NATURAL RESOURCES The Crowsnest Pass area on both sides of the provincial boundary is rich in coal deposits, which were quickly developed after completion of the rail line. All of the mines on the Alberta side were closed throughout the 20th century as cheaper and safer open-pit mines opened on the British Columbia side of the pass. Some logging and oil and gas exploitation also occurs in the area, and a sulphur plant has been in operation there for several years. Tourism based on the natural and historical resources of the area remains underdeveloped. HISTORY
REFERENCES ''Crowsnest and its People'' Crowsnest Pass Historical Society, 1979. EXTERNAL SOURCES |
|
|