Introduction

Explorers & Prospectors
   William Fernie
   Michael Phillipps
   Peter Fernie
   Colonel James Baker

Discovery of Coal &
the Crowsnest Pass

Formation of the Coal Company & Railroad

Coal Company Investors
   George Cox
   Robert Jaffray
   Henry Pellatt

Tom Uphill

Formation of the Coal Company & Railroad

Crow’s Nest Coal & Mineral Company
With the realization of the extent of the coalfields in the Elk Valley, the Fernie brothers joined together with several partners, including James Baker. On January 14th, 1887 they applied for a license from the British Columbia government to prospect for coal on 1920 acres of land starting west of Marten Creek.

At this time James Baker was a newly elected Member of the Legislative Assembly. With this position Baker would convince and help the Assembly to write and pass legislation that would grant them coal lands. The Crow’s Nest Coal and Mineral Company was then incorporated on March 25th, 1889 and was granted 10 209 acres by the BC government to prospect for coal. The principal owners of this company were James Baker, William Fernie, Peter Fernie, Joseph Pemberton and Edward Bray. Shortly after the incorporation of the Coal Company Peter Fernie sold his shares in it and retired to Victoria.

Importance of the Railway
The preferred system of transportation at this time was the railway. Both the federal and provincial governments wanted to open up Western Canada for settlement, and to accomplish this they needed to expand railway connections to the region. This would allow settlers travelling to the area to arrive there in days rather than months as well as provide transportation for the regions resources to markets in other parts of the nation. The government decided to offer large land grants and cash subsidies to capitalists as an enticement to put together large sums of money for such projects.

Having prospected for minerals throughout the Elk Valley, James Baker and the Fernie brothers were aware of the potential to develop the abundant coalfields. To accomplish this, they needed to build a railway through the region, which they knew would be vital to the distribution and consumption of the coal. In 1888 the partners applied to the British Columbia government for the right to build a railway through the Crowsnest Pass. One year later the government passed The Crow’s Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway Act on April 28th, 1890 granting the partners public lands for the railway, terminals and buildings.

By this time Peter Fernie had sold his shares in the company and left the Kootenays, and so William Fernie, James Baker, his son Valentine Baker, Fred Aylmer, Edward Humphreys, and Edward Bray were now owners of the Crow’s Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway Company. They were to be granted, by the government, 20 000 acres of land for every mile of railroad that they built. Without the money or resources to begin construction they had to try and find a company that did.

Lobbying
In 1891 the Crow’s Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway Act was amended to allow the company name to change to the British Columbia Southern Railway. Since both the Coal and Railway Companies owned by James Baker and William Fernie existed only on paper, they began to search for people who would put up the capital to allow these two companies to begin development.

As a member of the BC Legislative Assembly, James Baker was able to secure meetings with some of the more influential people in Canada. Baker met with George Stephen, a CPR director, to discuss the expansion of a CPR branch line to the Crowsnest Pass, hoping to interest him in the coal property. The outcome of their meeting is best described by what Stephen told the Prime Minister:

"I have seen Col. Baker and have convinced him that his coal mine is beyond the reach of the CPR. If the coal be all that he thinks it is he ought to be able to sell it to one of the great mining companies in Montana."

Baker took Stephen’s advice and approached two American lines: one owned by American railway entrepreneur D.C Corbin, and the other owned by James J. Hill who was busy building his Great Northern transcontinental railway across the northern United States. Unfortunately both businessmen eventually turned down Baker’s offer. Baker then decided to make another attempt to interest the head directors of CPR, and again, was refused.

CPR and Investors Show Interest

Map showing the coal land grants in the Elk Valley

It was now 1893 and William Fernie and James Baker were still holding onto their land and their mining

company, but the company’s development still depended on a rail line into the region. Eventually the CPR realized the potential profit it could make from the Kootenay mining boom by extending its railway network through the Kootenays. The federal government, favouring the development of the region by Canadian interests, was persuaded to subsidize the construction of the BC Southern by the CPR. In 1897 they were given a $11 000 per mile subsidy and in return for helping the CPR the government wanted to be given 50 000 acres of coal-bearing land.

Around this same time the Kootenay Coal Company was formed in Montreal by various businessmen with Capital Stock valued at $1.5 million, divided into 60 000 shares. On May 22nd, 1897, William Fernie and James Baker agreed to exchange the lands that they had staked to the Kootenay Coal Company for 40 000 of their shares, equal to $1 million in Capital Stock.

The Tripartite Agreement
After almost ten years of lobbying by Fernie and Baker, on July 30th, 1897 a tripartite agreement was settled between the Canadian Pacific Railway, the British Columbia Southern Railway and the Kootenay Coal Company in which Baker and Fernie owned two-thirds. CPR would build the main railway and branches to the coal mines and would charge only six tenths the ordinary rate for the coal company’s construction material and a reduced rate of transportation for the miners.

The BC Southern Railway would in return give the CPR 3840 acres of coal-bearing land in Hosmer and give the federal government the 50 000 acres of land that CPR owed them. To the Kootenay Coal Company they would give the 250 000 acres they received from the government from the original Railway Act in 1890 minus what they gave to CPR.

The Kootenay Coal Company agreed to develop the mines and supply coal at a reasonable price. The 239 034 acres that they received from the BC Southern Railway included land surveyed for the townsite of Morrissey and Fernie.

The name of the Kootenay Coal Company was changed on October 20th, 1897 to the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company Limited.

Discovery of Coal & the Crowsnest Pass		George Cox