The Corbin Coke and Coal Company began operations in 1908 after
a sizable coal seam was discovered in the Elk Valley. The “Big
Showing” contained nearly a million tons of coal
Corbin miners endured low pay, isolation, harsh winters and
unsteady work. The 1908 – 1909 winter was especially difficult
because heavy snowfalls further isolated the community, causing
dangerously low food supplies.
In 1935, after many years of labour unrest, disagreements
between the miners and the company resulted in a bitter strike. The
strike could not have happened at a worse time. Like many coal
suppliers, Corbin Coal lost its contract with the CPR when the
trains switched from coal to diesel in the 1930s. An underground
fire was blazing at the onset of the strike and there was little
manpower to fight it. In desperation, the company called in the
provincial police to seal off the single access road and cut off
power to miners’ homes.
After three months of failed arbitration attempts and an
announcement by Corbin Coal to bring in non-union workers, on April
17, 1935 miners took their “last stand”.
That morning, a heavy snowfall blanketed the road to No. 3 mine.
Unwilling to remain idle while union breakers took their jobs,
miners organized a mass protest, forming a human barricade and
armed themselves with rocks and tools.
It quickly became clear that neither side would back down. As
the gap between union members and police narrowed, one of the
protesters hurled a rock at the caterpillar operator hired to clear
snow along the route, knocking him unconscious. Chaos broke out
with police charging ahead to meet the crowd. Officers beat miners
with clubs and batons; the miners fought back with hammers, and the
women stayed on the line. The caterpillar was still running with no
one at its helm and it drove into the crowd crushing and scattering
people out of its way. The strike ended only when police
reinforcements arrived and arrested 14 strikers.
By early May 1935, with prospects looking bleak, Corbin Coke and
Coal operations were shut down completely.
Ref:
http://www.coalking.ca/people/geographical/elk_corbin.html.
To reach the cache:
From Cranbrook, follow Hwy 3 past Sparwood and turn right at the
Coal Creek Collieries sign: 49 40.276 N 114 46.732 W.
Follow this paved road for approx. 25 km. When you see the first
house on right, turn right onto the dirt road (Barnes Road) and
park. You are now very close to the cache.
Cache contents: logbook, pencil and misc. sundry items.