George and all: Your family's experience brings to mind a question I have had for some time. Does anyone know whether people who worked as coal miners might also turn to working in copper mines or to other kinds of mining? I understand that each type of mining required different knowledge and skills, though perhaps a labourer's skills and experience were more readily transferable from one situation to another. Certainly this would be an advantage when the economic value of the mine changed, as it often did in Nanaimo's coal era. It is always said that Robert Dunsmuir, who became a mining baron and the richest man in British Columbia, was originally "a coal miner," as if he was a pick-and-shovel man, but the reality of his occupation was what we would call a technician, today. It required certification through study and examinations. Wouldn't it be more difficult to transfer this type of skill to extraction of completely different minerals? I have traced a few mining families that came from various parts of the world to British Columbia, and found coal miners stayed coal miners, but I am wondering whether others have found differently...found trained miners who moved from one type of mining to another. Knowing details of occupations of ancestors could certainly shorten the search, if you know or can find out where in the province certain occupations prevailed. Claudia Claudia Cole Independent Research Agent 304 - 1960 Lee Avenue Victoria BC V8R 4W8 Canada Tel: 250 598-7859 ----- Original Message ----- From: "george stephens" <gtstephens@home.com> To: <CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 9:01 AM Subject: Re: [CAN-BC] Mines in the Vancouver area > Re mines in the Van. area - 1910 - 1917. My father and grandfather were > miners, and they worked at various mines on Vancouver Island, at Brittania > Beach, at Coalmont outside of Princeton, B.C., and when my Dad was 5, in > 1911, the family moved to Kellog, Idaho, to work in the mines there for a > while. > George > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dennice Goudie" <dennice-goudie@home.com> > To: <CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 8:44 AM > Subject: Re: [CAN-BC] Mines in the Vancouver area > > > > Hi keisu > > > > Britannia Beach (copper mine) comes to mind right off the top. > > > > Try: > > http://www.google.com/ > > with the keywords: mining activity Vancouver 1910 > > (I got over 900 hits, if you change the keywords you will be able to > narrow > > down the search) > > > > For those who don't have a continuing connection is difficult to realize > > that persons who were working in British Columbia at any time during the > > first one-hundred years of European settlers it is difficult to wrap our > > minds around the distances one would travel to work and the vastness of > > British Columbia. In the history of one generation extended members of > > various branches of my family moved from Oregon, Washington, British > > Columbia and the Bering Straits throughout their working life (my > > g-grandfather lived and worked in all of the above between 19 and 76) > > > > http://www2.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/www2vsm change the last letter to > d > > for death; b for birth and you will be able to search for all sorts of > > information that fit the privacy criteria. > > > > > > > > > Hallo all! > > > > > > A realtive om mine Johan (or John) Bergstrom (born 1888) worked in a > mine > > in the Vancouver area ca 1910-1917. He married there before returning to > > Sweden. Anyone that might know which mines that existed in the Vancouver > > area at that time? Are there also any chance of finding the marriage > records > > for him and his wife ? > > > > > > greetings > > > Hakan Bergstrom > > > Brussels, Belgium > > > > > > > > > ==== CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA Mailing List ==== > > > Check the list's archives out at > > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/CAN/CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA.html > > > > > > > > > ==== CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA Mailing List ==== > > Every two months or so, please repost your interests, > > telling us what you know and where you've looked > > and what you still need to find out. > > > > > > > ==== CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA Mailing List ==== > To New Subscribers : The online indexes to British Columbia Vital Records are at > http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/textual/governmt/vstats/v_events.htm#indexes > These records are freely available and there are several possibilities for accessing them at a low cost. >

Claudia My step-dad (since I was about 3-years-old) worked in various types of mining. The one I have clearest memory of was west of Sooke, Vancouver, Island, British Columbia (Port Renfrew?) in a copper mine. From the soot clinging to everything (I recall him bathing and changing outside, as one would note in a movie regarding the coal miners of Wales) and the residual in the crevices of his hands for years after the mine closed I do not doubt that there were skills that carried from one type of mining to another. Most labourers in mining would still have to be able to either assist or drill for blasting and then lug the ore to the carts for removal. More than that, to have the ability to stand confined spaces, dim lighting, danger of gases, constant danger of cave-ins, etc. Which would be why he was able to go without his constant companion; a lit cigarette; for hours when circumstances demanded. As a woodsman he would go without smoking while he was in the woods or fishing so that the animals would have less to note that a human was present. > Your family's experience brings to mind a question I have had for some time. > > Does anyone know whether people who worked as coal miners might also turn to > working in copper mines or to other kinds of mining? I understand that each > type of mining required different knowledge and skills, though perhaps a > labourer's skills and experience were more readily transferable from one > situation to another. Certainly this would be an advantage when the economic > value of the mine changed, as it often did in Nanaimo's coal era. > > It is always said that Robert Dunsmuir, who became a mining baron and the > richest man in British Columbia, was originally "a coal miner," as if he was > a pick-and-shovel man, but the reality of his occupation was what we would > call a technician, today. It required certification through study and > examinations. Wouldn't it be more difficult to transfer this type of skill > to extraction of completely different minerals? > > I have traced a few mining families that came from various parts of the > world to British Columbia, and found coal miners stayed coal miners, but I > am wondering whether others have found differently...found trained miners > who moved from one type of mining to another. > > Knowing details of occupations of ancestors could certainly shorten the > search, if you know or can find out where in the province certain > occupations prevailed. > > Claudia