In 1897-98, settler-colonists flooded into the Crowsnest Pass and neighbouring Elk Valley, first to build a new branch line for the Canadian Pacific Railway and then to work in the booming coal mining industry that followed.1 The British Columbia entrance into the Crowsnest Pass has been a centre for coal production ever since, with early settlements at Michel and Natal (now demolished) and a later settlement at Sparwood.2
Today, coal destined for sale to AsiaPacific steelmakers is produced in a strip mine located on a mountain ridge directly above where Michel and Natal once teemed with houses, people and coal production. Coal workers have been continuously unionized at Sparwood/Natal/Michel since they organized their first union in 1902.3 In the mid-20th century, an internal union struggle pitted Michel Local 7292 of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) against an autocratic UMWA leadership. The issues at stake were democracy, autonomous decision making, and the legitimacy of
