living history
1910, one of the lessons learned after the disaster was the
need for mine rescue teams in Alberta. For the Bellevue
disaster, the mine rescue equipment had to be brought
in from Hosmer, B.C., and some of the equipment was in
a poor state of repair. Lethbridge MLA William Buchanan
(later Senator Buchanan) argued for Alberta-based, well-
trained mine rescue teams, and the provincial government
agreed to create them. The cost of the teams was to be
shared equally between the province and the mine owners.
The first team was set up in Blairmore in 1911, while teams
two and three were in Hardieville (1912) and Coalhurst
(1913). Within a month of being created, the Hardieville
team pulled out two miners who were overcome by gas. A
doctor who attended the men after the rescue stated that
one of the men would absolutely have died without the
work of the team.
By December 1913, there were 70 men trained between
the Hardieville and Coalhurst mines, with 56 of them also
trained for the Mine Rescue Car No. 1, a specially equipped
train car ready to rush to the site of an emergency. As
soon as word came of the Hillcrest disaster, men from the
Lethbridge area rushed to Hillcrest. When they arrived,
there were no live victims to rescue; instead the team went
to work helping remove bodies.
George Rebar’s grandfather was in Hillcrest as part of
the Hardieville team and he shared with the Galt Archives
his father’s experiences at Hillcrest. According to the
Galt Museum & Archives’ online catalogue, “He (Mike
Rebar) went to the Hillcrest disaster and worked a week
recovering the bodies. They were not able to locate any
living. Unfortunately he was not paid by the mine nor by
the Worker’s Compensation Board which meant he lost a
week’s wages, doing extremely hazardous work. Upon
due reflection, he decided to tender his resignation with
regret.”
While Mike Rebar was frustrated with his time on the
mine rescue team, the idea of the teams grew across the
province, and by 1919, there were three mine rescue cars and
six mine rescue stations across the province. Many miners
went above and beyond normal duty, preparing themselves
for saving the lives of other miners. In Lethbridge, the mine
rescue teams had an influence beyond the mines. Many
early fire and police officers had their start as miners, and
some of them brought their First Aid knowledge to these
new positions, putting them to use with the Lethbridge
ambulance and in other ways.
In 1917, another disaster rocked Canada. On the morning
of December 6, 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax
harbour. One of the ships was a munitions ship carrying
explosives heading over to Europe. The crash led to a
horrific explosion that killed nearly 2,000 people, resulted
in 9,000 wounded, and 25,000 were left without adequate
shelter in the middle of winter.
At a meeting in Calgary attended by representatives
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of towns and cities across the south half of the province,
it was decided that southern Alberta would try to raise
$262,000 or the equivalent of $1 per capita. Donald
Duff, Lethbridge City Clerk, noted this meant Lethbridge
would have to raise about $10,000. A committee was
established and Mayor Hardie joined the following on
the executive: Mayor Cruikshank (Medicine Hat), Mayor
Fulton (Drumheller), Mayor Smith (Red Deer), Mayor Travis
(Bassano), Mayor Sharpe (Stettler), Mayor William (High
River), President Wood (Cardston), Mayor Grief (Macleod),
Dr. Brett (Banff), the Reeve of Blairmore, and the Mayor
of