SPARWOOD, B.C. -- The coal mining that first brought people to the area around this small community more than a century ago has come with its share of loss and hardship, leaving a legacy that has made the avalanche deaths of eight Sparwood men all the more difficult to cope with.

The area's first mine started operating in 1897, and others would open in the decades after that, mostly in and around the communities of Michel and Natal, which have since been mostly abandoned and their residents relocated to Sparwood.

There are families who've been living here since the beginning, says Mayor David Wilks -- generations of connections that make the town of 4,000 feel more like a collection of close relatives.

"A lot of the families came over from Europe originally, there's a lot of relations from the families that came over and that has moved forward over the years," Wilks said in an interview Tuesday.

"We have a lot of family history, and that's what keeps us close."

The coal industry that is the town's lifeblood is carved out of the mountains kilometres outside Sparwood's boundary, but evidence of it can be seen everywhere here.

On the drive into town, visitors are greeted by the Titan, a massive dump truck billed as the largest in the world.

Beside that, a large sign hangs above the road: "Modern mining benefits all of us."

There is the miners memorial in Centennial Square, Coal Miner Days every summer, and of course the hundreds of people who work at the mines or whose jobs are directly linked to the industry.

There have been layoffs and mine closures, particularly in the mid-'80s and early '90s.

And there have been deaths and disasters, a story told by the dozens of names on the coal miners memorial, stretching back to 1903.

The area's largest disaster was at the Balmer North mine in 1963, when 15 miners were killed and 10 more were injured in a coal-dust explosion ignited by the sparks of falling rocks.

There have been others, especially in the days of underground mining when explosive methane gas was a constant hazard, but workers have also been lost in recent years in an industry that still carries risk.

"There were underground mining disasters in the past, some of the people in town will have remembered them, some people were directly affected by them," said Wilks, adding that the necessary camaraderie of the coal mines echoes back into town.

"People watch out for one another."

That was in evidence on Monday night, when hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil hours after seven of the bodies were pulled out of the snow south of town. Two church services planned for Tuesday evening were expected to bring grieving residents together once again.

"We're like a family here, we try to work together -- that's what our community's about," said Rick Cardozo, 55, who runs a local pizza restaurant where the men killed were regular fixtures.

Cardozo said he heard from one of the victims, 33-year-old Warren Rothel, the day before he died. Rothel called wondering when the pizza shop was reopening after the holidays, and said he planned to stop by on Monday.

Cardozo helped another victim, 28-year-old Daniel Bjarnason, organize a mud bog race a few years ago.

"It's a big disappointment seeing a lot of these guys grow up and have families and kids, and now -- it's a devastating moment."

The other men killed have been identified as: Kurt Kabel, 28; Kane Rusnak, 30; Thomas Talarico, 32; Blayne Wilson, 26; Michael Stier, 20; and Michael's father, Leonard Stier, 45. Jeff Adams, James Drake and Jeremy Rusnak survived after the risk of more avalanches forced them to leave their friends behind.

Nearly everyone else roaming Sparwood's streets seems to know the men or their families.

Many residents politely decline to talk about what happened, saying it's still too soon. Those who do tend to speak in generalities about the men, not wanting the fresh pain that might be stirred up by reliving old memories.

"It's hard, because you know these people, you grow up with them and watch them grow up and have their own families," said Rose Dodman, who has lived in Sparwood for two decades and knew most of the men killed.

"It's going to be a long time to heal, a really long time."

Randy Roberts, whose daughter lived with Bjarnason for the past dozen years, said the town "is just awesome.

"With our mayor doing what he did last night, with the candlelights out there with the big truck, I know we'll all pull together," he said. "Sparwood, we're a close community."

His comments about the victims showed how close the group was.

"These group of gentlemen that had this incident happen were all best of friends," Roberts said. "All the way through school and everything. They're just like a big group of kids that want to play, and that's what they do.

"They were just an absolutely great group of kids."