Bellevue Underground Mine

The Crowsnest Pass region of Alberta and British Columbia has a long, and sometimes tragic, coal mining history. The coal mining continues to this day but you can get a glimpse into its past at the Bellevue Underground Mine.

The town of Bellevue lies on the northeast side of Crowsnest Highway just 2.5 km southeast of the infamous Frank Slide. Bellevue and neighbouring towns Hillcrest and Blairmore all have proud coal mining histories as well as unimaginable tragedies. The worst mining disaster in Canadian history happened in Hillcrest where an explosion cost the lives of 189 miners. Frank Slide buried the town of Frank, killing more than 70 individuals and leaving a massive scar on the land which remains clearly visible to this day.

Bellevue Underground Mine is a volunteer run mine tour than gives visitors an opportunity to experience life as an underground miner a century ago. The tour takes guests 300 m (1000 ft) into the mine. That is as far as it is safe to venture, but the W.C.C. Bellevue Mine had over 240 km of workings when fully operational!

There is free parking and a gift shop, along with artifacts at surface you can view. It’s a modest site focused on preserving the history and memory of early coal mining primarly via the tours it offers. The Frank Slide Interpretive Centre is close by making the two sites an ideal pair for any visit to the Crowsnest area.