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Archival description
Provincial Archives of British Columbia audio interviews, 1974-1992 Steam locomotives
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Alex Matkoski interview

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Alex Matkoski in 1974.
T0537:0001: Alex Matkoski describes the differences in the ride of steam and diesel locomotives. Gives an evaluation of Climax, Shay and Heisler locomotives. Maintenance procedure on a GM locomotive. Maintenance procedure on a steam engine. Interview was recorded on diesel engine #302 on the Canadian Forest Products Railway.

George Lutz and Jack Vetleson interview

The item is an audio recording of an interview with George Lutz and Jack Vetleson in 1974.
T0538:0001 track 1: Lutz and Vetleson came to Nimpkish Valley, 1943-44. Story of Lutz's arrival, 1943. Description of Englewood B.C. ca. 1943. Bunkhouse conditions, 1940s. Description of Immigrant labourers. Hiring practices and anecdotes about hiring practices. Holiday shut downs. Anecdotes about loggers and alcohol. Attitudes toward loggers. "Spending sprees". Loggers' salaries. Falling techniques and early chain saws. "Eight Day Wilson" and other legendary loggers. "Mancatchers" and other anecdotes.
T0538:0001 track 2: Anecdotes about drinking. "Mancatcher" story (cont'd). Vancouver "hangouts" of loggers. Black's (a loggers' agency). Working conditions in tough camps. Loggers' financial problems. Problems with coastal travel and transportation. Ship schedules to Englewood. Anecdotes about loggers' games and competitions. Description of railway logging. Bringing in a locomotive to the Englewood area and re-building the railway line, ca. 1946. More on railway logging (methods and techniques).

T0538:0002 track 1: Learning how to run different types of equipment (grapples, cat-sides). Duties of the Equalizer (foreman). Uses of the steam locomotives and laying track. Moving a skyline, by hand. Lack of concern for minor injuries. Anecdotes about card playing, movies and recreation. Laying track, runaways, accidents while working on the railway. Anecdotes about working on the railway. Replacing the steam locomotives. Anecdotes about the camp sanitation facilities. Rough-housing in the camp.
T0538:0002 track 2: Community life in Woss. Laying in and cutting wood supplies for the winter. Superintendent McEachern, C. Hunter and railway anecdotes. The process of building the railway. The track laying machine built at Englewood. The many uses of powder and blasting. The innovative nature of loggers. Sam Madill equipment manufacturer. Using old logging equipment. Superintendent Russell Mills. Making logger's punch. Safety concerns in the 1940s. Introduction of hardhats, 1952-53.

T0538:0003 track 1: Work safety, 1940s through 1970s. Establishment of first safety committee in the Nimpkish Valley, 1948-50. Problems enforcing safety regulations, 1970s. Safety rallies in 1950s-60s. Working in the winter, 1940s. Camp pets, anecdotes. First aid men, 1940s and 1970s. Single men and married men in camp. Choosing supervisory personnel, 1970s.
T0538:0003 track 2: Supervisors in 1949. Worker advancement in the 1940s. Management of loggers in 1940s and 1970s.

Also included are two photographs.

Horace Hinton interview

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Horace Hinton in 1975.
T0500:0001 track 1: Mr. Hinton discusses early logging experience: move to Nimpkish Valley from Washington State, 1919; description of English Logging Company Camp #1; railroad personnel; aspects of railway logging; problems of isolation; logging camp life; life in Englewood, ca. 1926.
T0500:0001 track 2: Mr. Hinton comments on Shay and Climax engines; Japanese mill workers at Englewood; life in the logging camps during the 1930s; railway logging in Nimpkish Valley, 1930-70; railway maintenance and accidents, 1930-70.

T0500:0002 track 1: Mr. Hinton discusses Japanese mill workers at Englewood, 1920-40; Chinese mill workers at Nimpkish Lake; floating camps (description and conditions); repairing logging equipment particularly steam locomotives. T0500:0002 track 2: Mr. Hinton discusses repairing locomotives (cont'd); working hours of locomotive engineers, 1920-40; the change from steam to diesel locomotives, 1951-52; registration of locomotives at Nimpkish; farms in the Nimpkish River area, 1920s; recreation and holidays from the camp, 1920s; travel on the union steamship line along the B.C. coast, 1930-40; description of company personnel, Frank Coleman and Russell Mills.

T0500:0003 track 1: Mr. Hinton discusses company personnel (cont'd); Eli Tibiff, 1920s; mechanical training of Hinton, 1930s; description of William "Bill" McMahon.

John Kloss interview

The item is an audio recording of an interview with John Kloss in 1974.
T0540:0001 track 1: Mr. Kloss discusses his experiences on logging railroads. First worked in the woods, 1927; various woods jobs; working on steam locomotives for various coastal logging companies; work and wages; unionism and strikes in the 1930s, including the formation of the I.W.A.; 1934 strike at Alberni-Pacific Logging Co.
T0540:0001 track 2: Mr. Kloss discusses the 1934 forest industry strike (cont'd); logging camp life on the coast, 1927-1946; Canadian Forest Products' Englewood camp. Mr. Kloss provides details about logging locomotive operation, including: the end of steam locomotives and the advent of diesel electric locomotives.

T0540:0002 track 1: Mr. Kloss describes the differences between steam locomotives and diesel electric locomotives. Movement of rail operation from Englewood to Beaver Cove and Woss run, 1957. Life in various Nimpkish Valley camps: Nimpkish and Woss. Minor railroad accidents described. Problems of union organization at Salmon River and other logging camps. Summary remarks.