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Cemetery offers glimpse of Canmore's past

Rob Alexander CANMORE On a spring evening in 1898, one of Canmore’s early hotels, the Pulman, burst into flames. While the cause of the fire and even the location of the Pulman Hotel are unknown, the outcome was not.
Denis Roy inspects a typical wood-fenced grave site at the Canmore Cemetery.
Denis Roy inspects a typical wood-fenced grave site at the Canmore Cemetery.

Rob Alexander CANMORE

On a spring evening in 1898, one of Canmore’s early hotels, the Pulman, burst into flames.

While the cause of the fire and even the location of the Pulman Hotel are unknown, the outcome was not. As a crowd of onlookers and hotel guests gathered to watch the Pulman burn, someone realized 10-year-old Clara Christensen was missing.

Frank Johnson ran into the burning building. Fighting through smoke and flames, Johnson made his way up to the second floor where he found Clara. He dragged her out a window and then down a ladder. Sadly, just a few hours after Johnson rescued her, Clara died; it is believed as a result of smoke inhalation.

Clara was buried shortly after the fire in what is now known as Canmore’s historic cemetery, located at the base of the hoodoos a short distance from the current, well-maintained section of the cemetery.

And Clara is not the only child who was laid to rest in the historic cemetery. Of 199 graves, 19 of 33 marked graves belong to children such as Vonescul Thachuk, son of Canmore miners’ union secretary Nicholas Thachuk and his wife, Annie, who died in December 1920 at the age of four years, eight months.

Gertrude E. Noble, six months and 17 days, old was buried on Oct. 6, 1909 and like Vonescul, her headstone is decorated with a resting lamb; Ella Gustason was three years old; Clarence Thom, six months and 20 days, was buried in early February 1914; siblings or perhaps cousins Walter Paavola was two and Taunom Paavola was four, and Butti Rosa Genitori, 18, was born in Roma, Italy on Nov. 10, 1900. She died in Canmore on Aug. 18, 1918.

Children died from any number of reasons, including diseases related to poor sanitary conditions such as typhoid fever caused by the Salmonella bacterium. Canmore experienced a typhoid epidemic in the early 1900s, a result of contaminated drinking water drawn from shallow wells and the Bow River. Conditions improved on Mineside when mine officials built a water system with above ground pipes and a small reservoir on Canmore Creek.

Even though the majority of the marked graves belong to children, they are obviously not the only ones buried in the historic cemetery. Among the marked graves are adults whose surnames point to Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, English and Swedish heritage – only a fraction of nationalities that made up Canmore’s population at the time the cemetery was in use.

Among these adults are Sarah Towers, who died on April 13, 1909 at the age of 40, whose son, John Robert, born on Aug. 21, 1888, is believed to have been the first white baby born in Canmore. Members of the Grainger family, including Albert Edward Grainger who founded the Grainger Collieries and mined coal along Wind Ridge, are buried there as well.

And while the Grainger family plot continues to be well maintained, much of the historic cemetery was not. After the focus shifted to the current cemetery, most of the graves in the historic section vanished under a thick blanket of bear berry, juniper, pine, spruce and aspen, interspersed with native wildflowers.

While the dense undergrowth lent itself to a feeling of discovery, it also made it difficult, if not impossible, to experience the historic cemetery. That, however, has changed.

A small group of volunteers, Dave Webster, Scott Wing, Bruce McTrowe, Les Horbay and Denis Roy, working with the Town of Canmore spent over 120 hours this summer clearing the dense vegetation, pruning tree branches and marking trails with yellow flags.

“From our point of view, there’s treasure in these places, and that is what we are trying to expose,” Roy said, adding they see the treasure, not as gems or gold, but history and allowing people to experience and enjoy the site.

“If we don’t prune this tree how are you going to know there’s a grave there?” Roy said, pointing to a large tree that had low overhanging branches that hid graves at its base.

The clearing was completed earlier this month, but the project itself has been in the works since 1997, when the Town of Canmore requested Calgary-based Golder Associates prepare guidelines to undertake a rehabilitation project.

Following the guidelines set out in the Canmore Cemetery Inventory and Rehabilitation, the Town set up a work plan that included a detailed map prepared in the fall of 2010 by Canmore-based Alpine Land Surveys that shows the 199 known graves.

The surveyors were guided by the results of a ground-penetrating radar survey and an early map prepared by C.M. Walker. Like the Alpine Land Surveys map, each grave on Walker’s map is numbered, but, according to Terry Riva, senior engineering technician with the Town, the matching list that identified the person in each grave is believed to have been lost in a fire. Riva, who once headed up the Parks department but is now with the Town’s engineering department, added that he is hopeful that one day a copy of the list will be discovered in someone’s belongings.

As part of the survey and mapping work, each grave was marked with a metal disk featuring a number.

The easternmost section of the historic cemetery was not surveyed as, according to Lisa Guest, Town of Canmore parks supervisor, the emphasis was put on sections of the cemetery that had obvious graves.

The historic cemetery was sited early in Canmore’s history at the base of the hoodoos on land first owned by the Northwest Land Co. and then transferred to the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Dominion Parks Branch bought five acres of land, which included the cemetery, from the CPR in 1922 for $70 after parks officials stepped in to improve conditions at the cemetery after deciding it was in “deplorable condition”. In some cases rain, wind and settling had exposed coffins. A fence was built around the perimeter to keep cattle and horses out, while sunken and exposed graves were repaired.

While officials with the Dominion Parks Branch were primarily interested in beautifying and formalizing the site – an attitude that extended to Canmore itself – the Town, its staff and the volunteers are following a different tact than simply beautification.

“Because of its nature and its significance and there are human remains there, it is a sacred place,” said Andreas Comeau, Manager of Public Works for the Town of Canmore. “We’re aware of the historical and spiritual significance and we’re required to do it properly.”

Given that, he added the project has to be done respectfully and with compassion and according to the guidelines, which include two phases, provided by Golder and accepted by council.

As part of Phase One, the Town has already undertaken background research and established and recorded the number of graves and their location, along with headstones, fences, markers and other physical remains.

A landscaping plan, which Guest said will be done with native plants and with an eye to preventing the spread of weeds and community consultation, are the next steps the Town plans to undertake.

“This spring, crocuses and columbines were everywhere. They grow nowhere else in the cemetery,” she said.

The Town will develop a conceptual plan following community consultation.

At this point, Guest said some of the elements envisioned for the conceptual plan include a formal gravel path to protect both vegetation and the graves and interpretive signs to help visitors understand the cemetery and its history.

The desired result, she said, is to create an interpretive site that is, “true to the era, true to the history”.

Comeau pointed out the project is not a restoration project as that would mean large trees would have to be cut down, more vegetation cleared, fences around graves and headstones repaired.

Repairs will only be made, however, if community consultation overwhelmingly points in that direction, as one of the overall project goals is minimal disturbance both to the site and the graves.

Ultimately, both Guest and Comeau agreed the community needs to decide how far the project goes and where it stops.

“The site is under the control of the Town of Canmore and as the landowner we are very aware of the cultural, spiritual and historical background and we want to ensure that it is rehabilitated in the most respectful way,” Comeau said.

The project, however, is not without its detractors as some feel it would be more respectful to have left the cemetery alone and allow it to slowly disappear into the undergrowth – ashes to ashes, dust to dust, so to speak.

Roy said he has talked with only one person who felt the project is inappropriate.

“Overall people have been very positive,” Roy said. “People are so happy to see that somebody is doing this. So many people know there’s a cemetery in town, but have never walked through it.”

As the Town still has work to do with community consultation and designing the plan, Guest said the entire project would likely take three to five years to complete.

Also, the Town is asking anyone who can identify individuals buried in the historic cemetery to contact either the Parks Dept. at 403-678-1955 or the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre at 403-678-2462.

And for now, one challenge remains. Where are the graves of Chinese workers and other individuals deemed unworthy (at the time) of burial in the cemetery?

Riva, who was in charge of Parks when this project first began, said he had been warned by the Golder archaeologist that in the late 1800s and early 1900s anyone considered an indigent, a criminal, non-religious or other, and Chinese workers, were usually buried outside formal cemetery boundaries.

But without knowing exactly who is buried in the remaining 166 unmarked graves, it is difficult to say exactly where Chinese workers, who played a large role in the development of Canmore, may be buried.

But for now, the project has opened the historic cemetery, allowing the light and the curious in to discover this site and pay their respects. It is impossible to move through the historic Canmore cemetery and not feel moved and at peace. It is a place of beauty and sadness, but also education and a direct connection to the town’s history.

To wander about in Canmore’s historic buildings and mine sites is one thing, but spending time in the historic cemetery is another. As the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre likes to point out in its slogan ‘history never sleeps’, the historic cemetery is now much more awake and ready to share its stories, stories like that of young Clara Christensen, that have much to tell us.


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