A Frontier Guide To The Dynamic Crow's Nest

The Crow’s Nest region, spanning the southwestern corner of Alberta and the southeastern interior of British Columbia, has long been shaped by mineral wealth, settlement, and sudden catastrophe. Its history is marked by cycles of boom and disaster, from gold discoveries and coal extraction to dramatic events that left a lasting imprint on the borderlands community.

A Frontier Guide to the Dynamic Crow’s Nest, the fifth volume in Frank Anderson’s Frontier Book series, presents a sequence of concise historical sketches addressing gold mining at Wild Horse, the rise of the coal industry, notable disasters in Fernie, the Frank Slide and Hillcrest Mine tragedy, episodes of armed robbery, and a brief account of Emilio Picariello—better known as “Emperor Pic”—the region’s infamous rum-runner.