- AAAB0622
- Item
- 1974-07-30 [date recorded]
Part of Provincial Archives of British Columbia audio interviews, 1974-1992
CALL NUMBER: T0543:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Tom McPherson: CanFor Railway, repair shop charge hand, woods life, 1938-74 PERIOD COVERED: 1938-1974 RECORDED: Beaver Cove (B.C.), 1974-07-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Tom McPherson discusses: the functioning of a railway repair shop; railway repair shop construction at Nimpkish camp, 1955; repair procedure before 1950; changes in the construction of railway rolling stock at Nimpkish, 1950-1974; end of wooden rolling stock, 1960; working life of a wooden flatcar; care and maintenance of equipment; early life in the logging industry; tugs and logging barges on the coast, 1938. Starting to work in Repair shops, 1938. Acts as a 'boomer' following the war, 1946-48. Limitations of the seniority system and unions. Arrival and work at Englewood, 1948. Supervisors at Englewood, 1948. Changes in working conditions at Nimpkish, 1948-74. Membership in the IWA and belief in unions. Management and union positions during a strike. TRACK 2: Greatest change in IWA since 1938. Company attitudes toward union membership, 1938-50. Basis of union recruitment. Description of early union men and organizers, 1940s. Place of Scandinavians in early union organizing, 1940s. Organizing of union locals, 1935-45. Importance of unions in improving safety conditions. Canfor's concern for safety conditions at Nimpkish. Living conditions at Englewood camp, 1938. Good and bad accommodation, 1938. Social relations at Nimpkish camp, 1938-1974. Mobility in and out of camps, 1938-1974. CALL NUMBER: T0543:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Tom McPherson: CanFor Railway, repair shop charge hand, woods life, 1938-74 PERIOD COVERED: 1938-1974 RECORDED: Beaver Cove (B.C.), 1974-07-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Changes in Englewood since construction of the highway. Organizations and social activities in the camps. Anecdotes about memorable people in the Nimpkish Valley. Thoughts on being a Canadian; and the importance of aural history. The Lumber Jack Club and Women's Institute. [TRACK 2: blank; End of interview]