Loggers--British Columbia--Anecdotes

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Loggers--British Columbia--Anecdotes

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Canon Alan Greene interview, 1969

CALL NUMBER: T0944:0005 track 2
RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969-01
SUMMARY: TRACK 2: [Original tape #1, Box 30.]
Canon Alan Green discusses his personal background, including his birth in Orillia; Ontario; his father, who was the vicar at the parish there; and his siblings. He describes coming to BC in 1911 at the request of Christ Church Cathedral to work with John Antle as a student missionary on a steamship up to Van Anda. He gives his first impressions of BC; how he eased into boating; and details about the Van Anda Hospital. He then tells anecdotes about "gettin' in" with people at the logging camps and settlers on the coast. He outlines what he offered as a representative of the Anglican church, and how he would adapt his approach based on what worked in a specific community. Finally; he discusses John Antle's character.

CALL NUMBER: T0944:0006
RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969-01
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: [Original tape #2, Box 30.]
Reverend Greene continues by describing his career with the Columbia Coast Mission, and how he came to know John Antle through a man named Cecil Owen. He discusses Antle's belief that "the Church was not there to hold services, but to render service", and anecdotes that reveal Antle's character. Then he discusses hospitals; his hospital rescue ship the "Rendezvous"; and he compares loggers and fishermen. TRACK 2: [Original tape #3, Box 30.] Reverend Greene discusses lighthouses in Bute Inlet and their keepers, including a man named Smith; anecdotes about navigation in Bute Inlet; Skookumchuck Rapids; more on adventures on Bute Inlet; and stories about settlers, including some from the Orkney Islands.

CALL NUMBER: T0944:0007
RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969-01
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: [Original tape #4, Box 30.]
Reverend Green continues with his story about the settlers from the Orkney Islands before discussing floating logging camps in detail. The story of a rescue involving the "Columbia" hospital ship; how the "Columbia" had the first radiotelephone in the area; and more on Bute Inlet, including logging and settling attempts and various old timers. TRACK 2: [Original; tape #5, Box 30.] Reverend Greene tells about various adventures around Read Island and Surge Narrows; the burial of Father Lambert of the Seventh Day Adventists; weddings aboard the "Rendezvous"; a large women that he had carry on his back to get ashore for Christmas parties; details about old-fashioned Christmas parties; various ministers on the islands; earthquakes; various characters, including Bill Frost and John Jones.

CALL NUMBER: T0944:0008
RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969-01
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: [Original tape #6, Box 30.]
Reverend Greene continues with more on the characters of Read Island; Bob Tipton, a justice of the peace, who threatened a man with a shotgun for trespassing; and others, including George Stafford. Reverend Greene also discusses the community at Quathiaski Cove on Quadra Island; the Columbia Coast Mission; and the role of the church at Bute Inlet today. TRACK 2: [Original tape #7, Box 30.] Reverend Greene comments on the role of the church in 1969; details on the history of Quathiaski Cove, circa 1905; Reverend R.J. Walker and Chief Billy Assu. [end of interview]

Canon Alan Greene interview, 1961

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961-12-18 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: [Original tape "Canon Greene dub", Box 29, recorded December 18, 1961; recorder not identified.] This tape consists of reminiscences by Reverend Greene including: (1) his experiences as a student missionary in 1911 aboard the boat "Irene"; (2) an anecdote about an impromptu service he gave at a logging camp at Lund [similar to the story he recounts on T0944:0004; (3) his efforts to get ;a collection together from a group of poker-playing loggers; (4) a story about some men who knew how to "take life easy"; (5) an old-fashioned Christmas party at Refuge Cove involving a little girl of; a English family recently emigrated from India who was very excited about Christmas; her father, who froze to death in the water a month after arriving; and the wife, who re-married aboard Reverend Greene's boat; (6) an interesting interpretation of religion by a man named Harry; (7) Scandinavian setters, and specifically a man he calls Charlie, who ate his horse named Lindy [similar to the story; he tells on T0944:0004]; (8) the ability of people on the coast to face any challenge, including one man who had to build a graveyard; (9) the funeral of a man named Tompkins, who capsized and drowned at Campbell River; (10) a lunch he had with a man named Bill, whose broken flush toilet blew him out of the outhouse; and (11) another story about Bill who designed a mausoleum for himself.

Arthur Mayse interview

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Birth at Peguis Reserve, Manitoba; early memories of Swampy Cree people at Peguis Reserve; memories of father, Reverend A.W. [Amos William] Mayse; father's tales of the Boer War; fraternizing with the enemy; father emigrated to Canada; worked as a carpenter, became minister; father was in WWI; war wounds; was in Boer prison camp; earlier release by Jan Smuts; YMCA rep in WWI; back to Winnipeg; refused commission in Black and Tans; rural ministry in Manitoba; took salary partly in trade and had first pick of charity clothes; Mr. Mayse hated school; his father was self-taught and had a good library; read everything, including religious material; moved to British Columbia. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Living in [Port] Hammond BC; first work experience; father's church in Nanaimo; primitive conditions in the coal mines; clothing and equipment of miners; many beer parlours in Nanaimo; father's popularity; favorite fishing spots; anecdote of hazardous fishing trip; Turner rowboats prized; commercial fishing; early commercial fishing methods and boats; memories of Sointula fishermen; Sointula pukka fighting; Nanaimo miners fished for trout, not salmon; early trout fishing equipment; social consciousness; father never was a union miner; lied to get into army; South Africa; Reverend Mayse went underground in Nanaimo mine accidents; panic in town; miners invited Reverend Mayse underground, managers didn't argue; dynamite misadventure. TRACK 2: Continuation of dynamite misadventure with Rev. Mayse; vegetable garden; powder bosses; Reverend Mayse destroyed cars; pit ponies on islands; Italian miners; soccer important in Nanaimo; library; Millstream Park; rugby versus soccer; holidays with father; Chinese persecuted in Nanaimo; Chinese accused of taking jobs; few Chinese women or children; fight between Chinese and Haida boys; Chinese cooks; idyllic but racist town; Mr. Mayse and friends made a water cannon to frighten Chinese; backfire; collecting cascara bark for money; cruel pranks; fights with air guns and crossbows made from umbrellas; good shot with slingshot; gangs racially mixed; miners lived in southern Nanaimo; some of the cottages still there [as of 1984].

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Nanaimo childhood; Guy Fawkes day was celebrated as Bonfire night; Hallowe'en destructive; Nanaimo's tamale wagon; miners' children; fishing and writing at Cowichan Bay; Reverend Mayse sided with the workers; holidays at Cowichan Bay; acquiring a dugout canoe; shaman procured canoe by threats; Indian fishing methods; most gear was cedar; old style Cowichan sweaters described; Padre Cook of Cowichan; Queen Victoria medal; John Page and the medal; shaman had grape arbor and soul box; healing and hurting with soul box; rite of boys purification among Cowichans; Wolf Song was stolen from the Haida after the Battle of Sansum Narrows circa 1820 to 1840. Haida blamed for other raids; Haida slaughters and weapons used. Reverend Mayse left Mr. Mayse to his own way on holidays. TRACK 2: 38; pound salmon won prize; Bruce McKelvie; first sale of fiction; principal angry but kept on; Oyster River with Reverend Mayse; memories of old-timer James McIvor; washed ashore from sloop; McIvor ran cattle; threatened loggers; tea with McIvor; McIvor's customs; McIvor angry when offered help; McIvor's nephew visited briefly; tried to buy wife; McIvor fishing with haywire; hated cities; died in Comox in 1940's. Walter Woodiss, Oyster River old-timer, storyteller; tall tale of salmon; Woodiss's feud with a black bear and accidental killing of same; Woodiss's Inn; Percy Elsie "mayor of Oyster River"; fried chicken known as fried seagull; ghost at Comox; WWII airman at Comox rode his bicycle through "Dancing Annie".

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Indian rancherees; shaman Cultus Tommy; Chinook trade jargon terms; Padre Cook well loved; friend at Cumberland; stories of Ginger Goodwin; Cumberland memories of Ginger Goodwin and hostility to trial and government; Dominion police were hated, man hunters; no shame in evading the draft; met Cougar (Cecil) Smith; Mr. Mayse now lives in Cougar Smith's house; Cougar Smith's peculiarities; Roderick Haig-Brown, great Canadian writer; friendship with Haig-Brown; dam on the Campbell River broke his heart; last meeting with Haig-Brown; last impressions; better known outside Canada; Haig-Brown a fine and pioneering fisherman; fished steelhead. Mr. Mayse disliked high school; paid for clothing with poetry prize won at UBC three years in a row. TRACK 2: Mr. Mayse paid UBC tuition by logging in the summer under a false name; BC loggers and equipment; railroad logging; unions; woods accidents; logged Upper Vancouver Island; logging camp cooks; anecdote of 'foul feeder'; fight between logger and foul feeder; logging camp cook; flunkies, bed makers, logging camp pump tenders; eccentric and proud train men; high riggers; Harold Larson would post on a spar; woods near-misses; spark catchers jobs; bunkhouse moving accident; Paddy the straw boss; Paddy nearly caught in a blast; lemon extract mad man incident; bringing out man lost in the woods; gone mad, tried to escape his friends; wild Great Dane dogs abandoned in woods; harassed spark catchers; Mayse had to shoot one.

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0005 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Great Danes hunted in Pike's Peak area; shot one; partner Paddy Gorman; Paddy attacked by a cougar while snoozing; scraps of loggers songs; never wrote them down, always regretted it; logging; company owners were remote; unions starting camps; decision logging versus writing; went to the Vancouver Province; space writing for Province; offered staff job; clannish and proud reporters; story of ascent of Mount Waddington; two expeditions at once; Mr. Mayse carried homing pigeons in a basket to file the story; rough country; beauty and tragedy of the pigeons; walking out to tidewater hungry; a ghost story at Leefall Point, Mount Waddington, where a climber had fallen to his death. TRACK 2: Worked at the Vancouver Province as Torchy Anderson's junior man; they covered a huge forest fire that threatened Campbell River and Courtenay on Vancouver Island [Sayward fire, 1938]; Torchy was Mr. Mayse's mentor and friend; longshoremen riots; Torchy was fearless; Torchy squealed when angry; his grandfather saw a Sasquatch; the Rum Tum Club and the Sonofabitch Club; creating a story on injured trapper at Mission. Mr. Mayse wrote police constable's report while drunk; cop demoted; Torchy and his wife Marion; moved to Saltspring Island; memories of Province newspaper women in 1930's Vancouver; wild party on Grouse Mountain; Christmas cheer and story of upside down reindeer; camps for single unemployed men; joining the American Newspaper Guild; had BC union card number 3; union's failure; left holding the bag; not fired but put behind the eight ball; refused marrying raise.

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0006 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Mayse quit the Vancouver Province and joined the Vancouver Sun. The Sun was tougher and wilder; front page exclusives as revenge; union succeeded later; hostility to union. Mr. Mayse drafted and discharged for TB scars; army lost files; returned to the Sun as military writer; Mr. Gallagher, an alleged spy; moved to Toronto with no job, $100, a wife and a dog. Selective service twits said there were no jobs; walked into a job at Maclean's. Toronto run of luck; sold short stories to the Saturday Evening Post; break fiction editor of Maclean's; a few good Canadian writers; editor bought fiction; Calvinist, liked gloomy tales, had to trick him; Canadian writers were "cry-babies"; Americans were pros. TRACK 2: Canadian writers resented criticism; Mayse emulated American writers; today's market poor for short stories; in the 1940s and 1950s the stories were not literary but a good product; wrote serials for Saturday Evening Post; later published as novels; approached by an agent; returned to the coast; end of fiction markets; never seen as a serious writer; writing is lonely work; Jack Scott criticized Mr. Mayse's success in the U.S.; considered a move to the U.S.; writer's; work should speak for itself; but book tours are necessary; dislikes writer's grants except for poets; many writers are poseurs; major literary figures in Canada; dislikes commercial versus literary distinction; Mr. Mayse now writes a newspaper column; wrote for "The Beachcombers"; column is a good platform; a lucky and happy man; importance of luck.

Mim DeCrop interview

CALL NUMBER: T0389:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-10-25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Captain Mim DeCrop discusses how he began sailing in Flanders, Belgium, in 1947; a story about starting work as a cook at Coast Ferries in BC in 1956; getting a job as a deckhand; how he started on tugboats, including the names of many boats from that time; how they serviced the logging camps; how Union Steamships eventually disbanded in 1960 and the reasons why Tidewater's ships eventually lost out; how the government eventually squeezed Coast Ferries out of the Gulf Islands runs; how the "Petrel" was lost in a gale at Cape Mudge; details on the operation of the "Patscoe"; details on the shipping business, including how they did door to door service; how tow boats have to feel their way through bad weather; how the pattern on the coast is changing as small business are giving way to big ones; building the freight business; details on navigation; how information would be gained from loggers; how experience is key; and details about Bute Inlet. TRACK 2: Captain DeCrop describes using echoes for navigation; the inception of Coast Ferries; the boat "Troubadour"; how you find your way in inlets; Owen Bay and the rapids nearby.

CALL NUMBER: T0389:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-10-25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Captain DeCrop continues by discussing various characters along the coast; anecdotes about experiences along the coast; more on freighting; the kindness of loggers; how freighters helped each other; how freight was charged for; how the radio provided forecasts; communication with other tuggers and locals; Jervis Inlet; and various other inlets. [TRACK 2: blank.]

George L. McInnis interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Life of George L. McInnis (part 1) RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1975-07-02 SUMMARY: Logger and poet George L. McInnis discusses his background: born P.E.I.; went to Maine where he first worked in woods; in 1894 he headed west to Prairies to harvest crops; then moved on to Washington and Oregon; Aberdeen. Describes logging methods and horse team loggers; steam power. Coming to Vancouver 1904, worked as hook-tender. Accidents in the woods. Famous logging characters: "Eight-Day Wilson", "Rough House Pete". Spar tree logging methods. Hand fallers and first power saws. Last job as bull-bucker. Retired 1948. Home in Vancouver. Family life. Vancouver growing. Peter Trower, the "logger poet", was also present at the interview.

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)

George Lutz and Jack Vetleson interview

CALL NUMBER: T0538:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George Lutz and Jack Vetleson: a logger's life, 1930s-1970s PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1948 RECORDED: Beaver Cove (B.C.), 1974-07-25 SUMMARY: 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. 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). CALL NUMBER: T0538:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George Lutz and Jack Vetleson: a logger's life, 1930s-1970s PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1948 RECORDED: Beaver Cove (B.C.), 1974-07-25 SUMMARY: 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. 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. CALL NUMBER: T0538:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George Lutz and Jack Vetleson: a logger's life, 1930s-1970s PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1948 RECORDED: Beaver Cove (B.C.), 1974-07-25 SUMMARY: 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. TRACK 2: Supervisors in 1949. Worker advancement in the 1940s. Management of loggers in 1940s and 1970s. (End of interview)

10:15 talks : Canon Alan Greene : [talk no. 8]

SUMMARY: One of nine original tapes from a series of talks for the CBC Radio program "10:15 Talks". The programs, also known as "All That I Have Seen and Met", feature Canon Alan Greene recalling his experiences as a seafaring parson in the Strait of Georgia from 1911 to the 1940s. TRACK 1: Original tape #8. This talk consists of: (1) a story called "Will I Put Her Around Again, Old Sport", about how Greene; as a student missionary at Lund in 1911, managed to get a group of loggers to attend an impromptu service; and (2) a story called; "The Reincarnation of Colonel Lindbergh", about a Read Island ma;n, Charlie Rosen, who ended up eating his prize horse, Lindy.

10:15 talks : Canon Alan Greene : [talk no. 4]

SUMMARY: One of nine original tapes from a series of talks for the CBC Radio program "10:15 Talks". The programs, also known as "All That I Have Seen and Met", feature Canon Alan Greene recalling his experiences as a seafaring parson on the Strait of Georgia from 1911 to the 1940s. TRACK 2: Original tape #4. This fourth talk presents stories about: (1) eccentric postmaster John Jones of Read Island, and (2) Jack McNaughton, a retired logger, in a story entitled "Just Crack the Valve".;

People in landscape : Early days of a logger

SUMMARY: "People in Landscape" was a series about people and places in British Columbia history, based on oral history interviews by Imbert Orchard. The series aired from 1968 to 1972. This episode is from th;e first series (1968-69), which dealt with life on B.C.'s lower coast and the Strait of Georgia. Ben Ployart talks about some of his adventures as a young logger and rancher.;

People in landscape : Loggers and logging

SUMMARY: Stories and descriptions of the early days of logging among the islands and inlets of the northern Gulf of Georgia. Voices heard include: Allen Robertson, Duncan Robertson, Ben Ployart, and Albert Drinkwater.

10:15 talks : Canon Alan Greene : [talk no. 3]

SUMMARY: One of nine original tapes from a series of talks for the CBC Radio program "10:15 Talks". The programs, also known as "All That I Have Seen and Met", feature Canon Alan Greene recalling his experiences as a seafaring parson on the Strait of Georgia from 1911 to the 1940s. TRACK 1: Original tape #3. This third talk presents reminiscences about: (1) performing funeral rites for various families in various places, and (2) a story about a tough old time logger named Alan Palmer, entitled "They Make Them Tough Out Here".

Alfred Parkin interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Logging camp characters PERIOD COVERED: 1932-1940 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Anecdotes about some characters in the logging camps of British Columbia: "Caraway Seed Bill", "Bullshit Bill", "Johnny-On-The-Spot", and "Roughhouse Pete". [TRACK 2: blank.];