Item AAAB0620 - Sam Hardy interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sam Hardy : woods work, 1940-1974 PERIOD COVERED: 1925-1974 RECORDED: Beaver Cove (B.C.), 1974-07-29 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Hardy describes: early life in logging camps, 1925-40; Malahat Logging Company; starting as a boom man, 1940; description of boom and raft operations; anecdote about a Davis raft that got away; moving from camp to camp and job to job; working sequence in boom work; accident rate frequency, 1940-1974. Discusses: sequence of jobs on rigging crew, 1940s; job descriptions of chokerman, rigging slinger, hook tender, steel spar engineer, and chaser. Arrival in Nimpkish Valley, 1945; duties of second loader; problems with "foot draggers"; competition between crews; getting a job on the railway; move to Nimpkish, 1948; description of Woss camp construction. Anecdotes about smuggling alcohol into camps; joining the IWA and union activity; early union activity and organizing; worker attitudes toward the union; negotiations and strikes. TRACK 2: Mr. Hardy discusses: mornings on the Nimpkish Railway, 1940s; functioning of the railway network at Nimpkish; railway safety; differences between steam and diesel railway engines; maintenance on steam locomotives; pride in work; Russell Mills; Canfor as an employer; labour relations at Nimpkish. (End of interview)