The Basin Record Newsletter Vol.6 Issue 1

Published by the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History CBIRH Newsletter : Vol. 6 No.1 Seth Martin was born in Rossland, BC on May 4, 1933. He played minor hockey in Rossland and Trail. In 1950, He would move to Lethbridge to play goal for the Native Sons. After three years in Lethbridge, He returned to West Kootenay and began playing for the Western International Hockey League (WIHL) Smoke Eaters in 1953. He would spend close to a decade as a player with the club. In 1961, the Smoke Eaters would represent Cana- da at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships in Switzerland. The Smoke Eaters with a record of 6 wins and 1 tie won gold. Seth Martin was selected as the best goaltender in the tournament. In 1962, the Smoke Eaters would win the Allan Cup for supremacy of amateur senior Canadian men’s hockey. So again Seth was in the nets for the 1963 world championship in Sweden. The Canadians didn’t fare well finishing 4 th . Seth however was again selected as the best goalie. Seth played for Team Canada at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Aus- tria. The team finished controversially in 4 th place and Seth was again selected best goaltender in the tournament. Seth would back stop Team Canada at the world championships in 1966 and 1967 winning bronze both times. He would be selected as the top goaltender for the 1966 tournament. In 1967, Seth would join the NHL expansion St. Louis Blues to work in tandem with Glen Hall. Seth suited up for the Blues for 30 games. At the end of the season he elected to return to work as a fireman at the smelter in Trail. Seth Marth would win a second Allan cup with the WIHL Spokane Jets 1970. It was the first time a US based team won the cup. He would coach the Jets to another Allan cup in 1972. Other stops in the WIHL included stints with the Rossland Warriors as a player and a coach and with the Cranbrook Colts as head coach. In 1997, the I.I.H.F. opened its hall of fame. Seth Martin was inducted in the inaugural group of 30. He was recognized as the best amateur goalie of his era. Seth spent a life in the game as a player, a coach, and as an executive. Seth passed away on September 6, 2014 in Trail, BC. The Puck Stops Here: Seth Martin The Coal Creek Mining Disaster Shortly after 7:30 pm on May 22, 1902, an explosion ripped through the No. 2 and No. 3 mines at the Coal Creek mines near Fernie. The ground shook. A cloud of coal dust and flame blew 1,000 meters in the air at the mine’s shared portal. Just over 20 men escaped, the rest of the entire night shift perished either as a result of the explosion itself or from the afterdamp. At least 128 miners lost their lives that day. It is Canada’s third worst mining disaster surpassed only by the Hillcrest disaster in 1914, just across the Alberta border in the Crowsnest Pass, where 189 miners died; and the 1887 Nanaimo mine explosion which snuffed the lives of 150. Within 12 minutes rescue volunteers entered the mine looking for survivors. Many of the rescuers themselves needed assistance as they were overcome by carbon monoxide and other gases. Recovery of the bodies would take several days as the mine was ventilated and the ceiling shored. In Fernie, the first train of injured and dead arrived less than half an hour after the explosion. Church bells in town rang non- stop. The train would begin a trip every four hours as bodies were brought into Fernie with a tem- porary morgue set up in the Church of England. A lack of coffins had carpenters working day and night and the grim work of a grave digger became a 24 hour proposition. On May 24, Victoria Day, there were 17 public funerals, in one case there were 14 coffins in the procession. Fernie was a city in mourning for some time. A relief fund was set up for the victims’ families with the CPR donating $3000 and the government $5000. The coal company promised to pay the funeral ex- penses. As word got out about the disaster, Victoria Day celebrations were cancelled in many communities in BC and Alberta. It wouldn’t be the last explosion to rip through the coal creek mines. An explosion in No. 3 mine on April 5, 1917 killed 34 while another at No. 1 would kill 6 in 1928. Become a Member of CBIRH Name:_____________________________________________ Mailing Address:_____________________________________ Phone Number:______________________________________ Email Address:______________________________________ Please drop off or mail this form with payments in cash, cheque or money order to Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History. 926 Baker St #3, Cranbrook, BC V1C 1A5 | Telephone: 1-844-550-9150 | E-mail: info@basininstitute.org Annual Membership Fee : Individual $ 25.00 : Family $ 40.00 : Institutional $ 50.00 :Corporate $ 200.00