kimberley chronicle volume 26! life in the mining camp - part 2
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Doug Johnson's memories from McDougall Hall.TRANSCRIPT
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Volume 26 Monday April 1, 2013 [email protected]
Your Biweekly Source for Kimberley’s Past, Present & Future
Welcome to our 26th issue of Kimberley Chronicle! A year has already passed since our inaugural issue and we look forward to the many more years yet to come. There seems to be no end in sight for inter-esting stories from our area. We are excited to share with everyone Doug Johnson’s second installment of “Life in The Mining Camp”; he has some great memories to share. We love hearing, reading and printing these stories so please keep them coming. We can be contacted at 427-5430 or via email at [email protected]. We also have a facebook page with links to all of our past issues. Feel free to contact us and let us know what you think.
Life in The Mining Camp - Part 2Growing up in the mining camp did not require making any life altering or other agonizing contemplative de-cisions. Even when you neared the end of high school you only had to consider two options – “get on with the company” or go away to universi-ty and “make something of yourself ”. Both paths were equally appealing. And in the years before that - say 5 to 15 years old and in the summer time – Mom would make your decisions for you. After breakfast you were kicked out of the house. . Really! Families of 3 – 4 kids were the norm and Mom didn’t need you underfoot and hang-ing around the house. Her days were too busy – even the weekly laundry required work all day with a wringer washer and hanging the clothes on an outside line to dry. My Mom would make me a picnic lunch and usher me out the door to McDougall Hall with the understanding that I wasn’t to darken her doorstep ‘til supper time. In the early 1950s the Baby Boom in the world was in full swing. In Cana-da, history shows there were now at least 2 million new kids between the ages of 1 to 8 years old; and I swear every summer they all converged on McDougall swimming pool.
McDougall Hall, the grounds and pool in 1935. Photo coutesy of Kimberley Heritage Museum and Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History. High quality prints available at www.basinintitute.org.
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We were in and out of that pool at least 10 times during the day inter-rupted by frantic games of towel tag, sock tag, building tents with our blankets and towels, filching comic books from the supervised play-ground, and keeping an eye out for empty pop bottles. These bottles went to the canteen and for 1 coke bottle and 1 orange crush bottle you could load up with penny candy that lasted all afternoon (jaw breakers, sugar strawberries, black babies, mint leaves, etc.). We had no concept of time. It seemed like those days at Mc-Dougall Hall were going to go on forever. When the hottest part of the day was upon us then we noticed some of the older kids, adults and even the life guard start to cast glances north towards what was known as Sullivan Hill. That was our first clue that “the happening” was about to commence. Minutes later all action stopped. Games of tag, races, swimming came to an end with silence as the barely audible wail of a siren began to fill the air. In a few seconds it was at full pitch and hundreds of people and all of Town Site would be standing transfixed staring up at Sullivan Hill. It seemed like forever we stood there, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. And then it happened. KABOOM! Sixty years later, words don’t do those moments justice. If you were standing beside older single pane windows, they rattled. On a cloudy day, the sound rolled down like thunder. The explosion was immediately followed by a thick brown dust cloud that was gargantuan and seemed to block out a good part of the sky above Sullivan Hill. In all honesty, for the first two summers of “the happening” us younger kids really didn’t know what was going on. The older kids understood this was just open pit blasting at the Sullivan Mine done at precisely the same time every day. My age group leader and best buddy Robert Pratt, who seemed to know everything, told us that it was the Chinese getting closer and closer to Kimberley with their bombs. Of course at this time the Korean War was ramping up with the entry of Red China and Rob-ert had been eavesdropping on the adults talking at the table and it was his Dad and his Uncle Bill (Pratt), the Veteran of WWII, who told his brother Jim, that the Korean War was getting bigger and he hoped they wouldn’t be sending him to that one too! At any rate we liked Robert’s explanation, we ran with that one, and it didn’t make any difference no how, because we knew the next day was going to be another beautiful, fun, exciting day at McDougall Swimming Pool and life in the mining camp was still good. And I also knew that after the huge explosion my Dad would soon be home from work and a great supper would be wait-ing for me at home. Next issue – Life in the Mining Camp Part 3 - The Best Play Grounds in the World! By Doug Johnosn
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The Kimberley Branch of the Order of the Eastern Star is collecting postage stamps, Campbell Soup Labels and Pop Can Tabs for various charities. These items can be dropped off at Curves or at 960 Rotary.
Puzzles & Trivia1) 2) 3)
4) 5) 6)
7) Easter is a movable holiday. It occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon that happens on or after what?
8) On April Fools’ Day of 2009, travel site Expedia offered exclusive flights to this highly desired space destination. a) The International Space Station b) The Moon c) Pluto d) Mars
9) On April 1, 1946, a powerful tsunami killed scores of un-suspecting people (who thought the warning was an April Fools hoax) at this pacific island. a) Hawaii b) Guam c) American Samoa d) New Guinea e) Fiji
10) What happens to female ferrets if they don’t mate while they are in heat?
McWhinnie DaySunday April 28th
11am-4pmKimberley Skate Park
Freestyle JamsHot Dogs & Bake SaleLive Music featuring
“Hardwater” &“McKim DJ Club”
All Proceeds are going towards the completion of the bath-
rooms and generally making the park more awesome.
How do you make a tissue dance? You put a little boogie in it.
What did the little fish say when he swam into a wall? DAM!
The past, present and future walk into a bar. It was tense.
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Upcoming EventsSaturday April 6: Spring Splash at KAR. Enjoy live music featuring the Good Ol Goats, Shred Kelly & Heather Gem-mel and the Peaks. Ski splashing, snow volleyball & family slalom races.Sunday April 7: Dummy Downhill at KAR, register your team now and start builiding your dummy. See skikimberley.com for more info.Wednesday April 10: Little Jazz Orchestra, Live in Con-cert at Centre 64, show starts at 7:30pm. Tickets are $15 for members, $18 for non-members and $12 for students.Saturday April 13: Homegrown Coffee House at Centre 64. Show starts at 8pm, tickets are $7.Saturday April 13: Kimberley Business Excellence Awards, Celebrating the best of Kimberley & District Businesses. Tichets are $50 and available at the Chamber of Commerce..Sunday April 28: McWhinne Day, 11am-4pm at the Skate Park. Live music & hot dogs. Good wholesome fun for the whole family to enjoy.The Pool will be closed from April 2 til April 21 formaintenance.
Puzzle & Trivia Answers1) Do without. 6) Working overtime.2) Eiffel Tower. 7) March 21, the spring equinox.3) Long Island. 8) D- Mars.4) Shot in the dark. 9) A - Hawaii.5) Teddy bear. 10) They die.
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