Interview with Mary Ann Troke – Donald Morrison Assisting with the interview April 9/19- re the Stirling Mine.
Mar Ann: Our family grew up in Donkin. It was called Dominion #6 at the time we were there. My father was from out there (Framboise).
Jeanette: But you knew a lot of the people out in Framboise and you worked at the (Stirling) mine.
Mary Ann: Yes I did, in the 50’s.
Jeanette: And do you remember anything about the mine when it ran in the 30’s.
Mary Ann: No not in the 30’s. I wouldn’t remember.
Jeanette: Do you remember when the mine started and when it stopped (in the 50’s).
Mary Ann: (Shows a picture of the 1930’s mine with info re the various times the mine opened. She points to it and says,” It tells you there”.
Jeanette: John G had a brother Norman. He was a photographer. That picture there (of the 1930’s mine) was his picture. It’s a copy of it. They were black and white pictures at that time and his wife did all the coloring.
Mary Ann: That picture has a lot of information on it. The mine worked 3 times. The last time was Mindamar.
Jeanette: Would you agree with that- that it ended in 1956? Because some people said something different.
Mary Ann: Oh, certainly, yes
Donald: I remember there was a place on our road where you could see the big head frame. I was probably six or seven then. And then, all of a sudden, the head frame was gone. They were dismantling it.
Jeanette: What year was that?
Donald: I’d say 57 or 58.
Mary Ann's Work at the Assay office
Jeanette: In the 50’s, I believe you worked at the Assayer’s office.
Mary Ann: Yes at the Assayer’s office.
Jeanette: Was that attached to the mill?
Mary Ann: No it wasn’t. It was a separate building.
Donald: How much money would you have been making?
Mary Ann: I should remember that (laughter).
Jeanette: What did you do there in the (Assayer’s) office?
Mary Ann: I was sampling the cores that they would take in from the mine. They would crush them up to a powder and we used to take them to the office there. And my job was to take a certain amount of that powder when they were crushed up like that and put it in a beaker and put that on a hot plate and boil it to a certain extent and then they would take it from me and do more analyzing on it.
Jeanette: So you did the initial part and you didn’t do any more after that?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette: Did you ever find out the results of the testing?
Mary Ann: No, we didn’t get too many reports on what they found.
Jeanette: So the core, was that something that they drilled to get?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: It would be the miners taking this core samples?
Mary Ann: The samples - yes.
Jeanette: Did you know anybody that did that? Who brought in the core samples?
Mary Ann: Jimmy MacNeil, was one.
Jeanette: Where was he from?
Mary Ann: And his brother Martin MacNeil. They were from Soldier’s Cove.
Jeanette: So, they would do that. They would go to the mill and they would bring back the core samples after they were crushed?
Mary Ann: They would just bring the core samples into us where we were working in the office.
Jeanette: Did they do that every day?
Mary Ann: Oh, yes samples everyday.
Jeanette: So they were testing the ore for the percentage of whatever mineral was in it, copper, lead
Mary Anne: copper, Zinc
Jeanette: Silver and Gold?
Mary Ann: Silver and Gold.
Jeanette: So, who else was working there with you?
Mary Ann: Our boss was a MacLeod from Ontario.
Jeanette: Would he live in one of those houses up on the hill behind John G’s (MacLeod’s)?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette: I remember when I was a kid, we’d go up there and there were rows of foundations. Would you remember them?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Bessie had mentioned him, MacLeod. He was your boss, and do you remember what his title would be?
Mary Ann: I don’t know what you would call him?
Jeanette: Did you remember what his first name was?
Mary Ann: They called him Max.
Jeanette: Did Chrissie (MacLeod MacMillan) work there too?
Mary Ann: Oh yes, there was Chrissie, and Dolena MacLeod (McLean). She was Kenny William’s daughter, and Mamie Morrison.
Jeanette: Did they do anything different from you or did you all do the same thing.
Mary Ann: No. We were all doing the same thing.
Jeanette: With the beaker on the hotplate?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette; Was there anyone else there?
Mary Ann: No that was all the women.
Jeanette: Were there any men beside the boss MacLeod?
Mary Ann: Oh yes, the two MacNeil boys (previously mentioned).
Jeanette: And they did kind of the same thing as you.
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: When you worked in the Assay office, did you work weekends?
Mary Ann: : No
Donald: But the miners worked (everyday)?
Mary Ann: Yes, of course
Jeanette: And they worked 24 hours, ongoing shifts.
Donald: I guess the office workers would be Monday to Friday.
Mary Ann: yes.
Jeanette: And did you find that was a nice experience for you (working at the mine)?
Mary Ann: For me, yes, it was.
Buildings in the mine
Jeanette: Where was the main office.
Mary Ann: The main office was on the main road going down (to the mine).
Jeanette: The gate would be probably be back a bit, I assume.
Mary Ann: Yes it would be.
Jeanette: Did they have a little house for the gatekeepers.
Mary Ann: I don’t remember that. I had no reason to go into the (mine through the gate).
Jeanette: So how did you get to work? Did you go behind John G’s down the road where the houses were?
Mary Ann: Yes, you’d follow that road right down to the mine, behind John G’s property.
Jeanette: These are the bunkhouses (Photo #2)
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: So, there are two big bunkhouses (on the hill on the left . They are kind of perpendicular to each other. Now that building there (3rd building down on left), do you know what that was?
Mary Ann: Yes, the cookhouse.
Jeanette: Do you remember how many (company owned) houses there were back behind John G’s?
Mary Ann: I don’t know how many rows. We never went near those places
Donald: I remember going up that (road on the right) heading toward the mine. There were a lot of houses. There was one main road but there were houses on both sides. There were a lot. Then there were some on the other side too.
Jeanette: There were three on the left side (of the mine road) but most of the houses were here (behind John G’s.
Mary Ann: At the end of it, there were about 500 people working there.
Donald: Would they have toilets and plumbing in them?
Mary Ann: oh yes
Donald: Were there any outhouses?
Mary Ann: Some had outhouses. Some had inside plumbing.
Donald: I would say that any of the houses were built on the last opening of the mine (1950’s).
Jeanette: Yes, everything was torn down (or moved) when the mine closed in the 30’s.
Mary Ann: Yes that’s right.
Jeanette: The mine ran in the late 20's. They maintained it when it closed in 1930 until it opened in the mid 30’s. Then when it closed again they dismantled everything.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Everything was brand new (in the 50’s). The water came in from Stirling lake. I think there was a stream that went down around the glory hole and my brother said they diverted the water so it wouldn’t go into the shafts
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Do you know where some of the houses and other buildings went?
Mary Ann: When the mine closed we left because Malcolm had a job in Sydney to build a house, him and Alex MacLeod from Fourchu, so I don’t know what happened after that. I know Angus Alex MacLeod bought one of those houses and that was moved by Dan Alex MacLeod. Note: See Angus A. MacLeod’s interview for details.
Donald: And Duncan’s Murdock Dan's (MacLeod) house came from Stirling.
Jeanette: And Dan Norman’s (and Chris) house and Lily’s (and Angus) house and Mr. and Mrs. Claussen’s house
Mary Ann's work at the cookhouse
Jeanette: Do you remember the cookhouse?
Mary Ann: Yes, I worked in it. I didn’t like it. Laughter
Jeanette: You worked there too!
Mary Ann: They had two big pots you know for water and stuff. There would be one just behind me. I was doing something else. I was getting ready for the meal. And I backed up and landed in the pot.
Jeanette: Laughter. It didn’t have anything in it, did it? It was just on the floor, was it?
Mary Ann: It was just on the floor behind me and I went (into it.)
Jeanette: What size would you say they were?
Mary Ann: Oh they were huge, huge.
Jeanette: Like two feet diameter?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: What would they use them on? Would they have big stoves with big burners?
Mary Ann: There were burners, yes, for cooking a meal.
Jeanette: Like a gas burner?
Mary Ann: Yes. Lizzie Payne was the cook. She was a Newfoundland lady.
Jeanette: I believe there were other cooks, from up in Sampsonville.
Mary Ann: Oh yes, there were other cooks, but I remember her especially.
Jeanette: Why?
Mary Ann: She was a nice person to work for and she had a way of talking that made you laugh. I used to see her after the mine closed. She was working for a family in Baddeck.
Jeanette: So you were cutting up meat and vegetables. Where would they store meat? Would they have freezers?
Mary Ann: Oh yes, oh my goodness, yes. They would have freezers, yes.
Donald: The meals- would they be just for the Miners?
Mary Ann: The Miners and anyone who worked at the mine.
Donald: Did you have to pay for it.
Mary Ann: Oh yes, you’d have to pay for it.
Jeanette: And they would do shifts too, I think. Would they come in around 7 am?
Mary Ann: Yes and noon and supper - three meals.
Jeanette: And what about the guys who were working night shift. Would you make a lunch up for them?
Mary Ann: I don’t really remember them making lunches (for the men to take with them at night) unless the supper would do them, for the night, I don’t know.
Jeanette: Do you remember the dishes? Did you have to wash dishes or put them in the dishwashers? There were two dishwashers, right?
Mary Ann: Yes, yes. They would be huge,
Janette: About 2 ½ feet (wide)?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette: Did you remember what type of plates they used?
Mary Ann: They were regular dishes. They were plain white.
The Power
Donald - When did you get power in Stirling?
Mary Ann It was there when I moved out there.
Jeanette: Bessie was saying it wasn’t there initially when the mine restarted.
Mary Ann: We lived in a little place at John G’s. We rented that place. The power was there when we went there.
Donald: What year would you have gone there?
Mary Ann: Around the 50’s.
Donald: In the early 50’s.
Mary Ann: Yes
Mary Ann's husband -Malcolm Dan MacIntosh-Carpenter
Jeanette: So your husband, Malcolm Dan...
Mary Ann: Yes, MacIntosh
Jeanette: MacIntosh. What did he do?
Mary Ann: He was a carpenter. He was working there as a Carpenter.
Jeanette: There was a building there for the Carpenters?
Mary Ann: oh yes. There would be a building.
Jeanette: Do you know where that would have been?
Mary Ann: They’d be all on this side of everything (right side of the main frame see picture #2).
Jeanette: Still inside the gate, right?
Mary Ann: Yes, inside the gate.
Jeanette: My father (Soutter Strachan) was a carpenter at the mine.
Mary Ann: Yes, I know.
Jeanette: Do you know what they did (the carpenters)? I have to say I never asked my father, what he and the other carpenters did there.
Mary Ann: Well it was the buildings they put up, like, you know, for dwellings. So, all those buildings they did that. They cut the lumber up for it and the lumber that would go down into the mine for whatever they were using it for, in the mine itself.
Jeanette: So they would put together a staging or whatever (for the miners to use underground)?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: So these big buildings like the bunkhouses would the carpenters build them.
Mary Ann: I think so, yes.
Jeanette: Bessie was saying that - Stephens building supplies -they ordered all the material for the Houses from them, but I don’t think they were contracted to build them. I don’t think they (Stephen’s) came in and built the buildings.
Mary Ann: Oh no.
The Mill
Jeanette: Do you know what these two round things were. J shows picture of the two big discs.
Mary Ann: That was in the mill. I think. Yes, that was in the mill. And there was one young fellow from Gabarus. They had to do some kind of work there. There was just slime ore like, just a muddy thing and they would have a rig in there that keeps it moving around. He was one of the ones that looked after that and one evening or night, whatever happened to him, he got in there into one of those.
Jeanette: Burns, right?
Mary Ann: Yes that’s the fellow.
Jeanette: I think his name was Howard. That was a sad story. Bessie was telling me a little bit about it. That was one of the questions I was going to ask you about the deaths in the mine.
Jeanette: There was another fellow, from Quebec, who was killed in the mine that time.
Mary Ann: I remember that
Jeanette: He was killed in the mine, underground. I think maybe a rock had fallen on him.
Other people who worked at the mine
Mary Ann: My brother Philip MacLeod worked in the mine (underground).
Jeanette: Do you remember the Parkers (on the other side of MacDermid’s hill on the Barren Rd)?
Mary Ann: No
Donald: Yes
Jeanette: Were they on the lake?
Donald: They weren’t on the lake. They were inland a bit.
Jeanette: Was that Annie (and Neil) MacIntosh’s house that they lived in?
Donald: Yes.
Jeanette: Do you know if Parker was one of the people that worked at the mine
Donald: I’m not sure.
Jeanette: We used to always call it Parker’s when we were younger.
Jeanette: What did Chrissie’s husband do, do you remember?
Donald: Chrissie (MacLeod) MacMillan?
Jeanette: Yes
Donald: He was a diamond driller. He operated the drill. Going around searching for the ore. Getting the cores.
Mary Ann: I would say that Dolena McLean would have a lot of information for you. She worked in the main office. Her and Bessie Morrison. I believe Dolena boarded at John G’s. That’s where she met the Rev MacLean.
The stores/restaurant/movie theatre
Jeanette: Do you remember the stores that were there?
Mary Ann: Yes, Hooper’s. I remember Hooper’s store. He came from Fourchu. He had a store in Fourchu (too).
Jeanette: Showing a draft diagram of the stores. This is where Morrison’s store was.
Mary Ann: Hooper’s store was a little further down.
Jeanette: On the other side of the mine road?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: And what would they provide there?
Mary Ann: Oh you could get mostly anything there, groceries of all kinds.
Jeanette: So were they in competition with Morrison’s?
Mary Ann: Well, Morrison’s was different. I think because they used to have stuff for animals
Jeanette: Like feed?
Mary AnnA: Like feed but Charlie Hooper didn’t go into that. Morrison’s was more like a general store.
Jeanette: So if you needed fencing for a chicken coop then they might have it (at Morrison’s)
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: They’d have bolts, and screws and everything.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: And after Charlie Hooper’s what was the next store.
Mary Ann: The next one was a little Chinese restaurant. I remember we used to stop there for snacks.
Jeanette: They called that Tom’s Tea Room right?
Mary Ann: Yes. It was a Tea Room yes.
Jeanette: And it was Tom Chan who ran it?
Mary Ann: Yes, you’re right.
Jeanette: He had a bunch of kids who went to school who are in the picture I got a copy of from (Irene Sampson Carter).
Jeanette: Did you like the food there?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: What would be the next little place down there (on the mine road on the right).
Mary Ann: Let me think now, Danny Shaw had a store there.
Jeanette: So he’d be next to the Chinese Restaurant.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Do you remember any other stores. There was Spinner’s over here (pointing on the diagram) where John G’s was.
Donald: There’s a picture in “The Story of Framboise” of John G’s store with the gas pump and two men standing there. It looks like it’s right at the entrance to the mine.
Donald: There’s a guy at the mall who has a good picture of that (restored for sale).
Jeanette: I have that picture. I bought a copy from him.
Jeanette: He(John G) ran that store when the mine was open in the 30’s and then Spinners rented it out in the 50’s.
Mary Ann: Yes. He (John G) had quite a store there. Even before the mine started. John G had a few groceries at first and then he let that go and then Spinner’s took it over. And he had the clothing.
Donald: It looked like a fair size building.
Jeanette: He(Spinner's) had a little post office in it for a little while.
Mary Ann: Yes he did.
Jeanette: And then he stopped doing that and somebody else took that over. That was down here somewhere (pointing at the diagram) (Hughie and May MacDonald’s – which once was Babcock’s).
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: And the movie theatre, do you remember that?
Mary Ann: I don’t believe I ever went to one of them.
Where people lived
Jeanette: Do you remember anyone who lived around the lake?
Mary Ann: Some of your relatives
Donald: George Angus and Mary (Strachan)
Mary Ann: Yes. They lived there and Morrisons. They were on that road going down (around the lake).
Donald: -Angus (Morrison). That’s where Mamie (Melvin, Duncan, and Dan) lived.
Jeanette: It was on the left-hand side of the road going down.
Donald: Yes, the left side.
Mary Ann: Yes it was, after you pass John G’s there was a road (on the right) going down-
Donald: The five island Lake Rd
Mary Ann: Yes
Mary Ann: George Angus Strachan. He was there for quite a few years.
Donald: Yes he left in 56 or 57. When the mine closed they went to Hamilton.
Donald: The Patterson’s would be further down the road. There was a place on that road about a quarter of a mile before you got to where George Angus’s was. It was on a sharp curve and a road went in straight and there was a bunch of places, bungalows and that. I’d say there were three or four. And then there was Murdock Dan’s a way out and the Patterson’s were in the hollow.
Mary Ann: Before you get to Murdock Dan’s.
Jeanette: and Bella Sandy (MacDonald) and them they were out further.
Mary Ann: Yes, they were on the left.
Donald: Yes on the left, going down. They were right across from the Patterson’s actually. The Patterson’s were in the hollow. They were just up a way.
Jeanette: They were up after you pass the lake and go up. Editor's Not: See Irene Sampson Carter’s interview for other homes on the Five Island Lake Rd)
Jeanette: Irene said that her father built a log cabin there. And when the mine closed and Morrison’s left, her family moved in (to Morrison’s). She thinks they likely moved over to a company house as he was probably looking after things when the mine closed. And then when the houses were sold, they moved into the Morrison’s store and they had a little convenience store.
Donald: Yes, they did.
Jeanette: What was the story on the little house you lived in at John G’s. Where did that come from and who lived there before you did?.
Mary Ann: There wasn’t anyone who lived there before I did. It was just a building he had for storage and stuff like that.
Jeanette: There were a lot of houses along the Stirling road too.
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: Do you remember where Dan Alex had his first mill?
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: Do you remember Johnny MacAskill and Flo?
Mary Ann: Yes, honest to goodness.
Jeanette: He would have worked in the mine I suppose.
Donald: Johnny MacAskill? I think yes.
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: And Jean Taylor -do you remember the Taylors. They lived on that stretch past John G’s heading toward (the lake). They were almost across from where the (old) mill was. She may have come later because she was a school teacher.
Donald: And there was a lady. She was a MacDonald and they had the house on Crooked lake road. They were renting the house before Chris and Dan Norman’s toward Framboise Cove. On the sharp turn on the road there was a big house there. And this Jimmy MacDonald was telling me that they lived there for a few years. They were renting the house and she (his mother) taught in Stirling. She was a MacDonald originally from Big Pond. Margaret May and Roddy, they owned the house.
Donald: I remember my grandmother’s house, next door to the house I have in Framboise. Well Hector and Rhoda had owned it. Anyway, there was a family from Inverness. They were Walkers. They moved in there. I think they had six kids. And he worked at the mine and I remember one of their son’s name was Duncan. Duncan and I were the same age. And they had a fluffy cat. And my dad had a building over there. That’s where he painted his buoys and he always painted his buoys orange so one day Duncan and I, we stumbled onto the paint and we got the cat and we dipped the cat right in the paint can and when he came out, he was orange, other than his head. We had got into a lot of trouble.
Donald: The grandmother used to live with them. So, they had a television, so I used to go over there after school and watch TV. And before they would have supper, the Walkers, they were Catholic, they had to say the Rosary. So, I used to come home, and I’d be (saying) Holy Father, Holy Mother of Grace and my mother she’d be losing it (being Presbyterian). I could do the Rosary better than they (the Walker kids) could. Laughter. They were nice people. We used to go over -my mother and dad -would go over and watch TV, in the evenings. That was in 55 and the mine was still operating then. There was four or five of them who went to school.
The King's Bus Line - Stirling Bus
Jeanette: Do you remember the King’s bus line. Do you remember the bus coming into Stirling from Sydney?
Mary Ann: Nods
Jeanette: So at night he (the bus driver) would come to Stirling and in the morning he’d go pick up everybody and take them to Sydney and then bring them back that night and stay in Stirling?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Was that the bus that Hughie MacDonald drove?
Mary Ann: Yes. He lived in Stirling. He and his wife May.
Jeanette: Did he work in the mine or do anything besides (drive) the bus?
Mary Ann: No, he was from Gabarus, but they moved up there (Stirling).
Jeanette: Where did they live?
Mary Ann: It was a house on John G’s property (on the right- hand corner going down to the mine).
Jeanette: Why did they stay in Stirling? Was that because he was running the bus.
Donald: Yyes.
The Catholic Church
Donald: When my brother George was going to school in Stirling, there was a Christmas play and it was at the Catholic Church. It was kind of like a rec hall that’s where they had the play. I assume, I don’t know if the church was built as a church or a recreation hall and they used it as a church. Maybe on Sunday. I don’t know. (Editor's Note: See Pearl MacLeod MacDonald’s and Father Norman MacPhee's interviews where they note this building was built/used as a church).
The school
Donald: Philip MacLeod was telling me the other night that when his grand father, Dan Alex MacLeod, took over the school to operate a mill there, they found a roll call register there and one year there were 200 student names on it. 200!!
Jeanette: Holly Molly.
Jeanette: Here’s a copy of the picture Irene had of the school kids. Donald, your brother George is in it. See photos and names of school kids.
Donald: So help me God there’s someone with a Toronto Maple Leaf shirt on.
Mary Ann: What year would that have been?
Jeanette: I’m not sure. I forgot to ask Irene. But I’d say about 54.
Donald: I’d say, yes
The water System
Jeanette: And there would be a pipe that would come into the mine. Some of the water came in from there (Stirling Lake).
Mary Ann: Yes, yes
Jeanette: I remember as kids there (was a foundation) for the pumphouse down by the (Stirling) lake and there was a little dam behind there.
Mary Ann: oh yes
The Mine Muck
Donald: I wonder was it when the mine first opened up that that mine muck killed all that (vegetation).
Mary Ann: That brook and down in Fourchu where they dumped the stuff
Donald: yes, yes
Mary Ann: There’s a graveyard there. You couldn’t plant anything there after that. It’s funny that was allowed. And at a burial ground!!!
Jeanette: Elmer was saying that occurred when the mine was running in the 30’s.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: They were taking the ore by boat
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: Yes
Jeanette: and (he said) there was a wharf there and I guess some of that stuff got slopped on the ground there. They were probably hauling it down and dumping it there waiting for the boats to come and load it on.
Jeanette: They stopped that. When the mine operated in the 50’s. They took the ore up to St Peter’s by truck.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: But the tailings, I’m not sure what happened with them when the mine ran in the 50’s.
Donald: They built that dam all the way around (the pond) when they started the mine up again in the 50’s.
Mary Ann: It made an awful mess in the brooks and all that.
Donald: It’s starting to grow now (the trees and the grass). When you go over the barren road it’s pretty hard now to tell where the muck was.
Jeanette: Yes, when we were kids (in the 70’s it was just sand). Apparently they must keep that under control because I came across something on the internet. About 20 years ago they did something there. There was a pipe coming out of there and they wanted to make sure the sediment wouldn’t come out to the river.
The Ore - St Peter's and beyond
Jeanette: Nobody seems to know what happened to the ore after it left (St Peter’s by train).
Mary Ann: That’s right.
Jeanette: Or who they sold it to. Editor's Note: See Murdock Morrison's interview and Bailey McCrea's note to Don Strachan which will give some light on this subject.
Donald: I was asking Duncan – he went to high school in St Peter’s in 51, 52, 53, I think for three years. I asked him how he got back and forth to school and he said on Monday mornings, he’d get on the ore trucks going to St Peter’s and he’d come back with Kenny Dan (MacLeod) with the mail on Friday afternoons. He said that when he got to St Peter’s, my uncle Murdock (Morrison) was working there where they dumped the load. They would weigh them (the trucks). He (Murdock) was like a checker up there.
Jeanette: Someone said he worked at the mine too.
Donald: I don’t know if he did or not. (Editor's note: As per Murdock's interview he confirmed that he did work at the mine site before he went to St Peter's to work at the railway station in St peter's as a mine employee.)
Jeanette: What were they checking for? Was he giving slips to the drivers to indicate that they received the load?
Donald: They must have had a scale there. So, he was making sure – I guess they were getting paid by the ton- and they’d weigh it to see how much was on the truck. That’s how they were getting paid.
Jeanette: And there was a gate there (at the mine). Two guys would be taking shifts tending the gate. And anyone who came in there would have to go through them. It was closed at night but during the day they’d have it open.
Donald: They must have had a little house there (to protect against the weather).
Jeanette: They must have. During the day they’d stay there too but the gate would be open. (Editor's note: This has been confirmed.)
Mary Ann: Yes
J: They’d be checking there too I guess
D: They were probably making sure nobody was taking anything out of the mine that wasn’t supposed to be taken.
J: Maybe there were some private companies that were getting paid (to haul the ore)
MA No doubt
J: So, they would have to have some proof, a chit, that they picked up the load?
D: it’s pretty interesting. It would have been nice to see it in its hay day - and the operation.
Socialization
J: As far as socializing in the evenings, would you get together with other people or would you just go home and get your supper and get ready for bed. Like we all do these days.
MA Just about. We’d go over to John G’s and listen to John G and Florence. And John G always liked to play scrabble. It was his main game.
Mar Ann: Our family grew up in Donkin. It was called Dominion #6 at the time we were there. My father was from out there (Framboise).
Jeanette: But you knew a lot of the people out in Framboise and you worked at the (Stirling) mine.
Mary Ann: Yes I did, in the 50’s.
Jeanette: And do you remember anything about the mine when it ran in the 30’s.
Mary Ann: No not in the 30’s. I wouldn’t remember.
Jeanette: Do you remember when the mine started and when it stopped (in the 50’s).
Mary Ann: (Shows a picture of the 1930’s mine with info re the various times the mine opened. She points to it and says,” It tells you there”.
Jeanette: John G had a brother Norman. He was a photographer. That picture there (of the 1930’s mine) was his picture. It’s a copy of it. They were black and white pictures at that time and his wife did all the coloring.
Mary Ann: That picture has a lot of information on it. The mine worked 3 times. The last time was Mindamar.
Jeanette: Would you agree with that- that it ended in 1956? Because some people said something different.
Mary Ann: Oh, certainly, yes
Donald: I remember there was a place on our road where you could see the big head frame. I was probably six or seven then. And then, all of a sudden, the head frame was gone. They were dismantling it.
Jeanette: What year was that?
Donald: I’d say 57 or 58.
Mary Ann's Work at the Assay office
Jeanette: In the 50’s, I believe you worked at the Assayer’s office.
Mary Ann: Yes at the Assayer’s office.
Jeanette: Was that attached to the mill?
Mary Ann: No it wasn’t. It was a separate building.
Donald: How much money would you have been making?
Mary Ann: I should remember that (laughter).
Jeanette: What did you do there in the (Assayer’s) office?
Mary Ann: I was sampling the cores that they would take in from the mine. They would crush them up to a powder and we used to take them to the office there. And my job was to take a certain amount of that powder when they were crushed up like that and put it in a beaker and put that on a hot plate and boil it to a certain extent and then they would take it from me and do more analyzing on it.
Jeanette: So you did the initial part and you didn’t do any more after that?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette: Did you ever find out the results of the testing?
Mary Ann: No, we didn’t get too many reports on what they found.
Jeanette: So the core, was that something that they drilled to get?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: It would be the miners taking this core samples?
Mary Ann: The samples - yes.
Jeanette: Did you know anybody that did that? Who brought in the core samples?
Mary Ann: Jimmy MacNeil, was one.
Jeanette: Where was he from?
Mary Ann: And his brother Martin MacNeil. They were from Soldier’s Cove.
Jeanette: So, they would do that. They would go to the mill and they would bring back the core samples after they were crushed?
Mary Ann: They would just bring the core samples into us where we were working in the office.
Jeanette: Did they do that every day?
Mary Ann: Oh, yes samples everyday.
Jeanette: So they were testing the ore for the percentage of whatever mineral was in it, copper, lead
Mary Anne: copper, Zinc
Jeanette: Silver and Gold?
Mary Ann: Silver and Gold.
Jeanette: So, who else was working there with you?
Mary Ann: Our boss was a MacLeod from Ontario.
Jeanette: Would he live in one of those houses up on the hill behind John G’s (MacLeod’s)?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette: I remember when I was a kid, we’d go up there and there were rows of foundations. Would you remember them?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Bessie had mentioned him, MacLeod. He was your boss, and do you remember what his title would be?
Mary Ann: I don’t know what you would call him?
Jeanette: Did you remember what his first name was?
Mary Ann: They called him Max.
Jeanette: Did Chrissie (MacLeod MacMillan) work there too?
Mary Ann: Oh yes, there was Chrissie, and Dolena MacLeod (McLean). She was Kenny William’s daughter, and Mamie Morrison.
Jeanette: Did they do anything different from you or did you all do the same thing.
Mary Ann: No. We were all doing the same thing.
Jeanette: With the beaker on the hotplate?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette; Was there anyone else there?
Mary Ann: No that was all the women.
Jeanette: Were there any men beside the boss MacLeod?
Mary Ann: Oh yes, the two MacNeil boys (previously mentioned).
Jeanette: And they did kind of the same thing as you.
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: When you worked in the Assay office, did you work weekends?
Mary Ann: : No
Donald: But the miners worked (everyday)?
Mary Ann: Yes, of course
Jeanette: And they worked 24 hours, ongoing shifts.
Donald: I guess the office workers would be Monday to Friday.
Mary Ann: yes.
Jeanette: And did you find that was a nice experience for you (working at the mine)?
Mary Ann: For me, yes, it was.
Buildings in the mine
Jeanette: Where was the main office.
Mary Ann: The main office was on the main road going down (to the mine).
Jeanette: The gate would be probably be back a bit, I assume.
Mary Ann: Yes it would be.
Jeanette: Did they have a little house for the gatekeepers.
Mary Ann: I don’t remember that. I had no reason to go into the (mine through the gate).
Jeanette: So how did you get to work? Did you go behind John G’s down the road where the houses were?
Mary Ann: Yes, you’d follow that road right down to the mine, behind John G’s property.
Jeanette: These are the bunkhouses (Photo #2)
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: So, there are two big bunkhouses (on the hill on the left . They are kind of perpendicular to each other. Now that building there (3rd building down on left), do you know what that was?
Mary Ann: Yes, the cookhouse.
Jeanette: Do you remember how many (company owned) houses there were back behind John G’s?
Mary Ann: I don’t know how many rows. We never went near those places
Donald: I remember going up that (road on the right) heading toward the mine. There were a lot of houses. There was one main road but there were houses on both sides. There were a lot. Then there were some on the other side too.
Jeanette: There were three on the left side (of the mine road) but most of the houses were here (behind John G’s.
Mary Ann: At the end of it, there were about 500 people working there.
Donald: Would they have toilets and plumbing in them?
Mary Ann: oh yes
Donald: Were there any outhouses?
Mary Ann: Some had outhouses. Some had inside plumbing.
Donald: I would say that any of the houses were built on the last opening of the mine (1950’s).
Jeanette: Yes, everything was torn down (or moved) when the mine closed in the 30’s.
Mary Ann: Yes that’s right.
Jeanette: The mine ran in the late 20's. They maintained it when it closed in 1930 until it opened in the mid 30’s. Then when it closed again they dismantled everything.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Everything was brand new (in the 50’s). The water came in from Stirling lake. I think there was a stream that went down around the glory hole and my brother said they diverted the water so it wouldn’t go into the shafts
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Do you know where some of the houses and other buildings went?
Mary Ann: When the mine closed we left because Malcolm had a job in Sydney to build a house, him and Alex MacLeod from Fourchu, so I don’t know what happened after that. I know Angus Alex MacLeod bought one of those houses and that was moved by Dan Alex MacLeod. Note: See Angus A. MacLeod’s interview for details.
Donald: And Duncan’s Murdock Dan's (MacLeod) house came from Stirling.
Jeanette: And Dan Norman’s (and Chris) house and Lily’s (and Angus) house and Mr. and Mrs. Claussen’s house
Mary Ann's work at the cookhouse
Jeanette: Do you remember the cookhouse?
Mary Ann: Yes, I worked in it. I didn’t like it. Laughter
Jeanette: You worked there too!
Mary Ann: They had two big pots you know for water and stuff. There would be one just behind me. I was doing something else. I was getting ready for the meal. And I backed up and landed in the pot.
Jeanette: Laughter. It didn’t have anything in it, did it? It was just on the floor, was it?
Mary Ann: It was just on the floor behind me and I went (into it.)
Jeanette: What size would you say they were?
Mary Ann: Oh they were huge, huge.
Jeanette: Like two feet diameter?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: What would they use them on? Would they have big stoves with big burners?
Mary Ann: There were burners, yes, for cooking a meal.
Jeanette: Like a gas burner?
Mary Ann: Yes. Lizzie Payne was the cook. She was a Newfoundland lady.
Jeanette: I believe there were other cooks, from up in Sampsonville.
Mary Ann: Oh yes, there were other cooks, but I remember her especially.
Jeanette: Why?
Mary Ann: She was a nice person to work for and she had a way of talking that made you laugh. I used to see her after the mine closed. She was working for a family in Baddeck.
Jeanette: So you were cutting up meat and vegetables. Where would they store meat? Would they have freezers?
Mary Ann: Oh yes, oh my goodness, yes. They would have freezers, yes.
Donald: The meals- would they be just for the Miners?
Mary Ann: The Miners and anyone who worked at the mine.
Donald: Did you have to pay for it.
Mary Ann: Oh yes, you’d have to pay for it.
Jeanette: And they would do shifts too, I think. Would they come in around 7 am?
Mary Ann: Yes and noon and supper - three meals.
Jeanette: And what about the guys who were working night shift. Would you make a lunch up for them?
Mary Ann: I don’t really remember them making lunches (for the men to take with them at night) unless the supper would do them, for the night, I don’t know.
Jeanette: Do you remember the dishes? Did you have to wash dishes or put them in the dishwashers? There were two dishwashers, right?
Mary Ann: Yes, yes. They would be huge,
Janette: About 2 ½ feet (wide)?
Mary Ann: Yes.
Jeanette: Did you remember what type of plates they used?
Mary Ann: They were regular dishes. They were plain white.
The Power
Donald - When did you get power in Stirling?
Mary Ann It was there when I moved out there.
Jeanette: Bessie was saying it wasn’t there initially when the mine restarted.
Mary Ann: We lived in a little place at John G’s. We rented that place. The power was there when we went there.
Donald: What year would you have gone there?
Mary Ann: Around the 50’s.
Donald: In the early 50’s.
Mary Ann: Yes
Mary Ann's husband -Malcolm Dan MacIntosh-Carpenter
Jeanette: So your husband, Malcolm Dan...
Mary Ann: Yes, MacIntosh
Jeanette: MacIntosh. What did he do?
Mary Ann: He was a carpenter. He was working there as a Carpenter.
Jeanette: There was a building there for the Carpenters?
Mary Ann: oh yes. There would be a building.
Jeanette: Do you know where that would have been?
Mary Ann: They’d be all on this side of everything (right side of the main frame see picture #2).
Jeanette: Still inside the gate, right?
Mary Ann: Yes, inside the gate.
Jeanette: My father (Soutter Strachan) was a carpenter at the mine.
Mary Ann: Yes, I know.
Jeanette: Do you know what they did (the carpenters)? I have to say I never asked my father, what he and the other carpenters did there.
Mary Ann: Well it was the buildings they put up, like, you know, for dwellings. So, all those buildings they did that. They cut the lumber up for it and the lumber that would go down into the mine for whatever they were using it for, in the mine itself.
Jeanette: So they would put together a staging or whatever (for the miners to use underground)?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: So these big buildings like the bunkhouses would the carpenters build them.
Mary Ann: I think so, yes.
Jeanette: Bessie was saying that - Stephens building supplies -they ordered all the material for the Houses from them, but I don’t think they were contracted to build them. I don’t think they (Stephen’s) came in and built the buildings.
Mary Ann: Oh no.
The Mill
Jeanette: Do you know what these two round things were. J shows picture of the two big discs.
Mary Ann: That was in the mill. I think. Yes, that was in the mill. And there was one young fellow from Gabarus. They had to do some kind of work there. There was just slime ore like, just a muddy thing and they would have a rig in there that keeps it moving around. He was one of the ones that looked after that and one evening or night, whatever happened to him, he got in there into one of those.
Jeanette: Burns, right?
Mary Ann: Yes that’s the fellow.
Jeanette: I think his name was Howard. That was a sad story. Bessie was telling me a little bit about it. That was one of the questions I was going to ask you about the deaths in the mine.
Jeanette: There was another fellow, from Quebec, who was killed in the mine that time.
Mary Ann: I remember that
Jeanette: He was killed in the mine, underground. I think maybe a rock had fallen on him.
Other people who worked at the mine
Mary Ann: My brother Philip MacLeod worked in the mine (underground).
Jeanette: Do you remember the Parkers (on the other side of MacDermid’s hill on the Barren Rd)?
Mary Ann: No
Donald: Yes
Jeanette: Were they on the lake?
Donald: They weren’t on the lake. They were inland a bit.
Jeanette: Was that Annie (and Neil) MacIntosh’s house that they lived in?
Donald: Yes.
Jeanette: Do you know if Parker was one of the people that worked at the mine
Donald: I’m not sure.
Jeanette: We used to always call it Parker’s when we were younger.
Jeanette: What did Chrissie’s husband do, do you remember?
Donald: Chrissie (MacLeod) MacMillan?
Jeanette: Yes
Donald: He was a diamond driller. He operated the drill. Going around searching for the ore. Getting the cores.
Mary Ann: I would say that Dolena McLean would have a lot of information for you. She worked in the main office. Her and Bessie Morrison. I believe Dolena boarded at John G’s. That’s where she met the Rev MacLean.
The stores/restaurant/movie theatre
Jeanette: Do you remember the stores that were there?
Mary Ann: Yes, Hooper’s. I remember Hooper’s store. He came from Fourchu. He had a store in Fourchu (too).
Jeanette: Showing a draft diagram of the stores. This is where Morrison’s store was.
Mary Ann: Hooper’s store was a little further down.
Jeanette: On the other side of the mine road?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: And what would they provide there?
Mary Ann: Oh you could get mostly anything there, groceries of all kinds.
Jeanette: So were they in competition with Morrison’s?
Mary Ann: Well, Morrison’s was different. I think because they used to have stuff for animals
Jeanette: Like feed?
Mary AnnA: Like feed but Charlie Hooper didn’t go into that. Morrison’s was more like a general store.
Jeanette: So if you needed fencing for a chicken coop then they might have it (at Morrison’s)
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: They’d have bolts, and screws and everything.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: And after Charlie Hooper’s what was the next store.
Mary Ann: The next one was a little Chinese restaurant. I remember we used to stop there for snacks.
Jeanette: They called that Tom’s Tea Room right?
Mary Ann: Yes. It was a Tea Room yes.
Jeanette: And it was Tom Chan who ran it?
Mary Ann: Yes, you’re right.
Jeanette: He had a bunch of kids who went to school who are in the picture I got a copy of from (Irene Sampson Carter).
Jeanette: Did you like the food there?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: What would be the next little place down there (on the mine road on the right).
Mary Ann: Let me think now, Danny Shaw had a store there.
Jeanette: So he’d be next to the Chinese Restaurant.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Do you remember any other stores. There was Spinner’s over here (pointing on the diagram) where John G’s was.
Donald: There’s a picture in “The Story of Framboise” of John G’s store with the gas pump and two men standing there. It looks like it’s right at the entrance to the mine.
Donald: There’s a guy at the mall who has a good picture of that (restored for sale).
Jeanette: I have that picture. I bought a copy from him.
Jeanette: He(John G) ran that store when the mine was open in the 30’s and then Spinners rented it out in the 50’s.
Mary Ann: Yes. He (John G) had quite a store there. Even before the mine started. John G had a few groceries at first and then he let that go and then Spinner’s took it over. And he had the clothing.
Donald: It looked like a fair size building.
Jeanette: He(Spinner's) had a little post office in it for a little while.
Mary Ann: Yes he did.
Jeanette: And then he stopped doing that and somebody else took that over. That was down here somewhere (pointing at the diagram) (Hughie and May MacDonald’s – which once was Babcock’s).
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: And the movie theatre, do you remember that?
Mary Ann: I don’t believe I ever went to one of them.
Where people lived
Jeanette: Do you remember anyone who lived around the lake?
Mary Ann: Some of your relatives
Donald: George Angus and Mary (Strachan)
Mary Ann: Yes. They lived there and Morrisons. They were on that road going down (around the lake).
Donald: -Angus (Morrison). That’s where Mamie (Melvin, Duncan, and Dan) lived.
Jeanette: It was on the left-hand side of the road going down.
Donald: Yes, the left side.
Mary Ann: Yes it was, after you pass John G’s there was a road (on the right) going down-
Donald: The five island Lake Rd
Mary Ann: Yes
Mary Ann: George Angus Strachan. He was there for quite a few years.
Donald: Yes he left in 56 or 57. When the mine closed they went to Hamilton.
Donald: The Patterson’s would be further down the road. There was a place on that road about a quarter of a mile before you got to where George Angus’s was. It was on a sharp curve and a road went in straight and there was a bunch of places, bungalows and that. I’d say there were three or four. And then there was Murdock Dan’s a way out and the Patterson’s were in the hollow.
Mary Ann: Before you get to Murdock Dan’s.
Jeanette: and Bella Sandy (MacDonald) and them they were out further.
Mary Ann: Yes, they were on the left.
Donald: Yes on the left, going down. They were right across from the Patterson’s actually. The Patterson’s were in the hollow. They were just up a way.
Jeanette: They were up after you pass the lake and go up. Editor's Not: See Irene Sampson Carter’s interview for other homes on the Five Island Lake Rd)
Jeanette: Irene said that her father built a log cabin there. And when the mine closed and Morrison’s left, her family moved in (to Morrison’s). She thinks they likely moved over to a company house as he was probably looking after things when the mine closed. And then when the houses were sold, they moved into the Morrison’s store and they had a little convenience store.
Donald: Yes, they did.
Jeanette: What was the story on the little house you lived in at John G’s. Where did that come from and who lived there before you did?.
Mary Ann: There wasn’t anyone who lived there before I did. It was just a building he had for storage and stuff like that.
Jeanette: There were a lot of houses along the Stirling road too.
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: Do you remember where Dan Alex had his first mill?
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: Do you remember Johnny MacAskill and Flo?
Mary Ann: Yes, honest to goodness.
Jeanette: He would have worked in the mine I suppose.
Donald: Johnny MacAskill? I think yes.
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: And Jean Taylor -do you remember the Taylors. They lived on that stretch past John G’s heading toward (the lake). They were almost across from where the (old) mill was. She may have come later because she was a school teacher.
Donald: And there was a lady. She was a MacDonald and they had the house on Crooked lake road. They were renting the house before Chris and Dan Norman’s toward Framboise Cove. On the sharp turn on the road there was a big house there. And this Jimmy MacDonald was telling me that they lived there for a few years. They were renting the house and she (his mother) taught in Stirling. She was a MacDonald originally from Big Pond. Margaret May and Roddy, they owned the house.
Donald: I remember my grandmother’s house, next door to the house I have in Framboise. Well Hector and Rhoda had owned it. Anyway, there was a family from Inverness. They were Walkers. They moved in there. I think they had six kids. And he worked at the mine and I remember one of their son’s name was Duncan. Duncan and I were the same age. And they had a fluffy cat. And my dad had a building over there. That’s where he painted his buoys and he always painted his buoys orange so one day Duncan and I, we stumbled onto the paint and we got the cat and we dipped the cat right in the paint can and when he came out, he was orange, other than his head. We had got into a lot of trouble.
Donald: The grandmother used to live with them. So, they had a television, so I used to go over there after school and watch TV. And before they would have supper, the Walkers, they were Catholic, they had to say the Rosary. So, I used to come home, and I’d be (saying) Holy Father, Holy Mother of Grace and my mother she’d be losing it (being Presbyterian). I could do the Rosary better than they (the Walker kids) could. Laughter. They were nice people. We used to go over -my mother and dad -would go over and watch TV, in the evenings. That was in 55 and the mine was still operating then. There was four or five of them who went to school.
The King's Bus Line - Stirling Bus
Jeanette: Do you remember the King’s bus line. Do you remember the bus coming into Stirling from Sydney?
Mary Ann: Nods
Jeanette: So at night he (the bus driver) would come to Stirling and in the morning he’d go pick up everybody and take them to Sydney and then bring them back that night and stay in Stirling?
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: Was that the bus that Hughie MacDonald drove?
Mary Ann: Yes. He lived in Stirling. He and his wife May.
Jeanette: Did he work in the mine or do anything besides (drive) the bus?
Mary Ann: No, he was from Gabarus, but they moved up there (Stirling).
Jeanette: Where did they live?
Mary Ann: It was a house on John G’s property (on the right- hand corner going down to the mine).
Jeanette: Why did they stay in Stirling? Was that because he was running the bus.
Donald: Yyes.
The Catholic Church
Donald: When my brother George was going to school in Stirling, there was a Christmas play and it was at the Catholic Church. It was kind of like a rec hall that’s where they had the play. I assume, I don’t know if the church was built as a church or a recreation hall and they used it as a church. Maybe on Sunday. I don’t know. (Editor's Note: See Pearl MacLeod MacDonald’s and Father Norman MacPhee's interviews where they note this building was built/used as a church).
The school
Donald: Philip MacLeod was telling me the other night that when his grand father, Dan Alex MacLeod, took over the school to operate a mill there, they found a roll call register there and one year there were 200 student names on it. 200!!
Jeanette: Holly Molly.
Jeanette: Here’s a copy of the picture Irene had of the school kids. Donald, your brother George is in it. See photos and names of school kids.
Donald: So help me God there’s someone with a Toronto Maple Leaf shirt on.
Mary Ann: What year would that have been?
Jeanette: I’m not sure. I forgot to ask Irene. But I’d say about 54.
Donald: I’d say, yes
The water System
Jeanette: And there would be a pipe that would come into the mine. Some of the water came in from there (Stirling Lake).
Mary Ann: Yes, yes
Jeanette: I remember as kids there (was a foundation) for the pumphouse down by the (Stirling) lake and there was a little dam behind there.
Mary Ann: oh yes
The Mine Muck
Donald: I wonder was it when the mine first opened up that that mine muck killed all that (vegetation).
Mary Ann: That brook and down in Fourchu where they dumped the stuff
Donald: yes, yes
Mary Ann: There’s a graveyard there. You couldn’t plant anything there after that. It’s funny that was allowed. And at a burial ground!!!
Jeanette: Elmer was saying that occurred when the mine was running in the 30’s.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: They were taking the ore by boat
Mary Ann: Yes
Donald: Yes
Jeanette: and (he said) there was a wharf there and I guess some of that stuff got slopped on the ground there. They were probably hauling it down and dumping it there waiting for the boats to come and load it on.
Jeanette: They stopped that. When the mine operated in the 50’s. They took the ore up to St Peter’s by truck.
Mary Ann: Yes
Jeanette: But the tailings, I’m not sure what happened with them when the mine ran in the 50’s.
Donald: They built that dam all the way around (the pond) when they started the mine up again in the 50’s.
Mary Ann: It made an awful mess in the brooks and all that.
Donald: It’s starting to grow now (the trees and the grass). When you go over the barren road it’s pretty hard now to tell where the muck was.
Jeanette: Yes, when we were kids (in the 70’s it was just sand). Apparently they must keep that under control because I came across something on the internet. About 20 years ago they did something there. There was a pipe coming out of there and they wanted to make sure the sediment wouldn’t come out to the river.
The Ore - St Peter's and beyond
Jeanette: Nobody seems to know what happened to the ore after it left (St Peter’s by train).
Mary Ann: That’s right.
Jeanette: Or who they sold it to. Editor's Note: See Murdock Morrison's interview and Bailey McCrea's note to Don Strachan which will give some light on this subject.
Donald: I was asking Duncan – he went to high school in St Peter’s in 51, 52, 53, I think for three years. I asked him how he got back and forth to school and he said on Monday mornings, he’d get on the ore trucks going to St Peter’s and he’d come back with Kenny Dan (MacLeod) with the mail on Friday afternoons. He said that when he got to St Peter’s, my uncle Murdock (Morrison) was working there where they dumped the load. They would weigh them (the trucks). He (Murdock) was like a checker up there.
Jeanette: Someone said he worked at the mine too.
Donald: I don’t know if he did or not. (Editor's note: As per Murdock's interview he confirmed that he did work at the mine site before he went to St Peter's to work at the railway station in St peter's as a mine employee.)
Jeanette: What were they checking for? Was he giving slips to the drivers to indicate that they received the load?
Donald: They must have had a scale there. So, he was making sure – I guess they were getting paid by the ton- and they’d weigh it to see how much was on the truck. That’s how they were getting paid.
Jeanette: And there was a gate there (at the mine). Two guys would be taking shifts tending the gate. And anyone who came in there would have to go through them. It was closed at night but during the day they’d have it open.
Donald: They must have had a little house there (to protect against the weather).
Jeanette: They must have. During the day they’d stay there too but the gate would be open. (Editor's note: This has been confirmed.)
Mary Ann: Yes
J: They’d be checking there too I guess
D: They were probably making sure nobody was taking anything out of the mine that wasn’t supposed to be taken.
J: Maybe there were some private companies that were getting paid (to haul the ore)
MA No doubt
J: So, they would have to have some proof, a chit, that they picked up the load?
D: it’s pretty interesting. It would have been nice to see it in its hay day - and the operation.
Socialization
J: As far as socializing in the evenings, would you get together with other people or would you just go home and get your supper and get ready for bed. Like we all do these days.
MA Just about. We’d go over to John G’s and listen to John G and Florence. And John G always liked to play scrabble. It was his main game.