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Retired miner, Charles 'Charlie' Bown
2001

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On the morning of the 17th of January 1938, I made my first trip down into No. 6 Mine. The previous week had been spent in going to the Main Office to get hired on. This process consisted of being given a number: a small brass disk about an 1 5/8" diameter with a number stamped on it. The Company's name was also stamped on it.

With this disk I became only a number, no longer a name. This number would allow me to go to the company's store to pick up a miner's helmet, a belt about 2" wide which went around the waist to hold the lamp for use in the mines, coveralls and safety boots. This number was also used to get your lamp (numbered) from the lamp cabin at the mines. Most important of all you could pick up your pay cheque. I was given the hours of work, ten hours per day, 60 hours per week at the rate of pay of 32 cents per hour or $19.20 per week. Also, a book on safety regulations was an extremely important addition.

About 6 a.m. on Monday morning I went to the dry-house, or change building, by No. 6 mine. In this building you were given a line on which to hang up your street clothes. Washing materials and showers were provided for when you came off shift.

Having dressed in my working clothes, a helmet, a belt and safety boots, I then proceeded to the lamp cabin where I passed in my number and was given a numbered electric lamp. I was held responsible for the care of this lamp while it was in my possession, it being an expensive item.

At 6:30 a.m. all the men left the dry-house and proceeded towards the opening of the mine, which was a short distance away. At the opening of the shaft, there was a line of flatcars known as trams. These consisted of about ten trams with a seating capacity of about 30 men to a tram. Each man sat legs-inward, as no one was allowed to let their legs hang over the side due to the closeness of the walls of the mine tunnel. Each man had his own seat on the trams which meant that I had to find my own seat.

At the front of the tram, going down in the mine, rode a man with a very bright light on his helmet. This man was known as a "trammer" or signalman, whose job it was to see that there were no obstructions on the tracks ahead, such as fallen timber or rock. (He did not have to worry about moose crossing in front of him!)

At the bottom of the Mine there extended east and west long tunnels. At the entrance of each tunnel there stood a row of ore cars pulled by an electric locomotive. The men, when they got off the tram, proceeded to get aboard these cars to be taken to their place of work.

The mining process in No. 6 mine was the "pillar and room" method. This meant a square opening was drilled into the solid ore and then proceeded inward. By so doing it left pillars on both sides for support. The wall of ore towards which you looked was known as the "face". The sides of the room were known as "ribs". The roof was called the "back". And the bottom on which you walked was known as the "footwall".

Two men using an air drill bored a 1 1/4" hole in diameter to a depth of ten feet. The centre of the room, about ten feet across was drilled in a wedge affair. This pattern would have been planned and drawn out by the foreman earlier that morning. The pattern consisted of 18 holes called a "square break". The men doing the blasting would load up the "wedge " piece first, which consisted of six holes drilled at an angle, then filled the straight holes on both sides. The remaining 12 holes were drilled in straight. The timing of the blast was calculated as such that the "wedge" piece would be detonated first, thus leaving the straight holes to be blown out more easily only seconds later.

The blasted ore would then be loaded aboard four-ton cars. The machinery used for loading purposes was the "drag". This consisted of a piece of machinery at the opening of the room and a bucket which went to the face of the room and hauled down the ore. Four men were usually employed on these machines. The other method of loading ore at that time was by hand. Two men, one on each side of the ore car, would load his complement of eight cars a day, or 32 tons. Horses were used to haul these cars to the face of the room. The loaded car would then be taken by locomotives to the main dumping area known as the "pocket". Another series of cars, six in number, would then haul the ore to the surface.

Around 10 a.m. it was "mug-up" time. This was done on the stagger system as the work had to continue. Lunch at 12 noon was done in the same way with, again, no stoppage of work. At 5 p.m. all work ceased and each man made his way to the main slope to board the trams for the 20-minute journey to the surface. (In winter months we saw no daylight!)

Wash and change clothes and head for home - my first day .... I had become a miner.