Fernie & Elk Valley Culture Guide Fernie & Elk Valley Cultural Guide - Winter 18-19 | Page 13

Michael Phillips
He sent a sample, along with a hand-
drawn map of the Elk Valley, to a Dr.
Dawson, and elicited the assistance of
then-MP R.L.T. Galbraith to secure
funds to cut a trail through the newly-
discovered Pass. Phillips was keen to
establish the trail and secure a cattle-
trading route to Fort MacLeod as the
“mines at White Horse had gone down
to a low ebb.” William Fernie dismissed
the idea, citing that “the Indians say
there is no pass, and there is no use
spending money to make a trail to
nowhere.” His brother, Peter Fernie,
was equally dismissive, saying of one
of the coal seams “If that’s your coal
I don’t think much of it.” Although
it took several more years, Michael
Phillips, along with William Ridgeway,
eventually did blaze the trail all the way
through to Fort MacLeod.
At some point in the next decade,
William Fernie had a change of heart
about the potential of the coal seams.
William Fernie
In 1886, he formed a syndicate with
his brother Peter, local MP Colonel
James Baker, and his son V. Hyde
Baker, and the Hon. W.F. Aylmer,
following a thorough study of the coal
outcroppings in the Pass. The following
year, he led a prospecting party and
staked out 10,000 acres of land around
the Michel, Coal & Morrissey Creeks,
each of which flow into the Elk River.
Applications for railway lines quickly
followed, and rail links to Cranbrook
were established by 1898. The MF&M
(Morrisey, Fernie and Michel) Railway
was added in 1900 and Fernie was
incorporated as a city in 1904.
William Fernie retired to Victoria
where he became well known as
a philanthropist. He died there, a
bachelor, on May 15, 1921. Michael
Phillips lived out his life with his family
on his ranch in Tobacco Plains. He
died on June 22, 1919 and is buried in
Roosville with his wife.
William Fernie and Peter Carosella at the cut block.
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