“I was manager of Underground Mines at Smoky River Coal, formerly McIntyre Mines, near Grande Cache, Alberta and later becoming Director of Underground Mining. At one time there were five underground mines operating simultaneously.

“I moved to Campbell River in 1989, to start up an underground coal mine at Brinco Coal Corporation’s Quinsam Mine.

“After leaving Quinsam, I did consultancy work in Poland, Bulgaria, Russia and Columbia. After being a coal miner for over fifty years, I retired in 1997.

“When asked about the good old days, my answer is that the best thing about the good old days is that they are long gone.

Quinsam Start-up Memories

“In 1989, Quinsam was operating a small truck-and-shovel open pit. It was decided to start an underground test mine by driving portals in the coal seam from the high-wall of the open pit. Because of the nature of the deposit, the availability, and capital cost of equipment a mechanized room and pillar method of mining was chosen for the test.
         
“During the autumn of that year the necessary equipment to start up the mine was acquired from closed mines and dealer’s yards in BC, Alberta, Britain, and the USA..

“A contract mining company, Target Tunneling, was commissioned to drive the portals and to undergo the test mining. This company had a few experienced miners and they were able to recruit others who had worked in the coal industry at Grande Cache, Crow’s Nest Pass, Fernie, Wolf Mountain and Nova Scotia. These formed the nucleus of the crews who proceeded to drive the portals.

“By the summer of 1990, the portals were in place, the electrical system for the mine established, the conveyor system was installed and test mining was well under way.

“Great emphasis was placed on establishing safe mining practices and systems as well as establishing environmentally sound practices in, and around, the mine.

“At that time most of the coal from the mine was being sold to customers in Japan.Coal was trucked from the mine, loaded directly into barges at Middle Point. The barges were towed to be a bulk carrier freighter anchored in Deepwater Bay. Here the coal was lifted from the barges into the holds of the ship using the ship’s own crane grabs. My first memory observing this operation was watching bald eagles swooping over the ship and flying past with salmon held in their talons.

“Later on arrangements were made with the limestone mining company on Texada Island to use their ship-loading facility for loading the freighters. The barges of coal were unloaded at Texada, the coal stockpiled for subsequent transfer to a ship tied up at the berth. For this service were paid on a price per ton basis.

“The starting of the underground mine from planning, to equipping, to recruiting people, to driving the portals, to becoming an established enterprise, gives me a feeling of great satisfaction and sense of achievement. To make it happen I had some fine people around me to whom I am extremely grateful.