Fernie & Elk Valley Culture Guide Issue 2 Fall 2016 | Page 5

Eric Viklund Photo

Colonel James Baker, a Cranbrook
landowner, and William Fernie, a former
gold commissioner, formed the Crow’s
Nest Coal Company to develop the
coal fields of the Elk Valley.  William
Van Horne, recognizing coal’s potential
to drive industrial development and fuel
a booming domestic market, lobbied
the Canadian government for a subsidy.
The Crowsnest line was built in 1898,
bringing railroad service to Fernie and
a way to bring coal to market for coal
companies all along the line.  
James J. Hill, the baron of the Great
Northern Railway brought his railway
from Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho, to the
Kootenay region in 1901. By 1903 the
line reached Fernie and service into
Fernie commenced December 15,
1904. From 1905 to 1920, the majority
of the Elk Valley’s coal was transported
over the G.N.R. route. The Crow’s
Nest Pass Coal Company’s leasing,
expansion, and subsequent purchase
of the Morrissey-Fernie-Michel line
in 1907, allowed almost unfettered
control of the region’s coal fields to the
coal company and the G.N.R. 
The G.N.R. line slowly became
unprofitable. By 1936 the line was
abandoned and the rails were lifted in
1938. The Great Northern station, built

where the Park Place Lodge is located
today, was abandoned. The Morrissey
Tunnel is one of the last remaining
reminders of the Great Northern’s
foray into the region. Passenger service
on the C.P.R route to Fernie stopped in
1964. The C.P.R. train station building
in Fernie, one of the last surviving on
the Crowsnest route, was repurposed in
1990 and now serves as the Fernie Arts
Station.
The Morrissey Tunnel, a landmark
between Morrissey and Elko, was
blasted through a band of tilted
limestone around 1903 for the Great
Northern Rail