A TRAGIC STORY TO REMIND US OF THE POWER OF NATURE.

      The following saga is a true story. The characters' names are changed and the dates approximate due to the passage of time and to protect the identity of the remaining family. The facts are true, as I was a bystander to the event.
      I worked for Kaiser Resources, a subsidiary of Kaiser Steel, and the Company was operating an open pit Coal mine in Canada that, at the time, was the largest open pit Coal mine in North America.
      The year was 1974.
      The workers there lived in the various little cluster of Towns on both sides of the Rocky mountains, located through an area called The Elk Valley. The Highway running through that area was called The Crows Nest Pass highway.
     That area's name is attributed to the Crow's Nest Indian group associated with the Blackfeet Tribe that lives in the general area of Western Alberta, British Columbia, Northern Wa., Idaho and Montana.
     Since the top of the Range is the dividing line between B.C. and Alberta, the highway gave a secondary access to Calgary, Alberta from Cranbrook, B.C., as an alternate route to the #1 Trans Canada Highway, but is windy with sheer cliffs and mountains rising from both sides.
     Because of the locations of the towns along that route, the winter weather was unpredictable along a 40 mile stretch through and over the pass. So much so, you could start from one end with a road report of calm weather, and before you would get to the other end, be in the middle of a blistering severe windstorm up to 70 miles per hour in a matter of minutes, and temperatures plunging down below zero.
     A family with two boys lived in Coleman, Alberta and around Valentine's day, the weather at their home was pleasant and warm. so much so, that the parents allowed the two boys 10 and 8 years of age, to accompany some other kids on a hike in the mountainous, local area.
     Nature, as beautiful as it can be, had a mean streak on it's mind that day.
     On the North side of the Highway, a series of three to four hundred foot high cliffs are common. But on the top and the back are gradual, sloping declines down the other side to the valley below that.
     The weather change phenomena I previously described, took place while the boys had climbed down the face of the cliffs overlooking the Highway. They were trapped on a narrow ledge and couldn't climb back up.
     I was on shift at the mine the day a call came over the truck communications radio, that two boys were trapped on the ledge. (The other boys had ran back down the gentler slopes and reported to the family who notified the police, before hurrying down the highway to the scene.)
     At that instant, the weather changed violently for the worst. Within minutes, with the temperature dropping to around zero degrees fahrenheit. (32 degrees under the freezing point)
     I shall call the older boy Davie and the other boy, Chris.
     The boys were both dressed in light clothing because the boys and the parents had not anticipated such a change in the weather. It turned into a deadly mistake!
     With dozens of employees of the company in touch with each other by radio including the writer, and some leaving their shift and some coming to work, a small crowd of people, including the parents, had already gathered on the side of the highway to helplessly take it in. A survey crew from the mine was there, and set up their transits and such to hone in on the boys.
     A mountain climbing crew was summoned by the closest Fire Dept. in Coleman and they arrived shortly after to begin their rescue. In the meantime, the boys were huddling next to each other, trying to stay warm on the ledge.. The parents and others were hollering to them with words of calm, and people, including the parents, were weeping in disbelief at the horrible situation.
     After a fast assessment, the professional climbing crew determined they had to drop lines down from the top but, for fear of loose rocks coming down on top of the boys, would start up the ropes from the bottom. it was 300 ft. to where the boys were. The children were beginning to hallucinate and started ignoring shouts of encouragement from the crowd.
     It was terribly frantic to us supervisors at the mine, because despite constant radio contact with some of the witnesses, we were helpless.
     Because of the winds, a helicopter standing by would have been far too dangerous with the blizzard-like winds.
    Sometimes in the process of freezing near death, the body plays cruel tricks on the mind and fools it into thinking it's warm. Except that it's not! This started happening to the boys, and slowly they began taking off their clothes, an article at a time, with the cruel wind ripping them from their hands.
    Suddenly, as the climbers were approaching the ledge, the smallest boy, Chris could bear it no more, and plunged down past the helpless climbers to the rocks below.
    Someone said over the radio, "Oh my dear God! One of them just fell!!" seconds later, again the voice said, "So did Davie, the older one." in a voice loaded with disappointment and sorrow.
    I pulled my truck over to the side of the road and said a prayer to God. "Please Lord, make them warm." I whispered.
    An eerie silence fell over the airway. At the time, I had children that age, and I wept to myself. (It was an experience I would suffer again later in life, when I had to face it with my own two boys, one at a time, under different circumstances.)
    Then as a finale to it all, the voice said again, "The mother and father are carrying them to the ambulance that's standing by." It was one of my foremen. He then said, "George, if you don't mind I'm Going back home!" I answered in the affirmative, saying, "I'm sorry you had to see it!!" I was at the end of my shift and without a word to anyone, I drove home too.
    It was a sad, sad day in the Crows Nest Pass!
    To this day, I often think of the terrible scene and experience those parents had to suffer through. I share their deepest sorrow after suffering my losses as well. Just sayin'.