Cape Breton's Magazine

called the spalls. 10 hours a day and twice a week • I think it was Tuesday and Thursday • they had two hours overtime. Oh, it was a very trying place. You're right up against the face of the quarry and the Sim beating down on you. But people were very glad to get the opportunity. Before they had steam shovels • you wanted a lot of people to get the stone out. You only had a certain season of the year to do it. Then the steam shovels came in. It would take 3 fellows to operate one • ac? cording to the kind of a shovel you had. See, one fellow • he was a fireman, keep steam up on that shovel all the time. It had a big long boom on it and you'd have a man out on the boom with a little steam engine to operate the dipper. He had a little seat like the seat on a mowing ma? chine. Then you had the engineer on the levers in front of the shovel. That was a big one. These steam shovels were like a train, rode on a track. There was also a smaller one, a traction type • it only had two people on it. Alex Fortune; When they were going to blast they blew the whistle. Lot of guys killed there too. Oh, yes. They'd get struck with a rock. They'd be too late getting away. See, when it was firing time, you'd have perhaps 10 of them to light. So you ran to them at firing time • ran first to the little fireplace and got a piece of red hot steel. You grabbed that piece of steel and ran to the fuse and you touched the fuse • ssssss • started, you had to go get 10 of them before you threw that thing down and you made for protection. Some guys got killed before they got in. People died other ways. They had incline cars running on cables. And a big drum like a big spool, 25 feet long and probab- THE eOTTAGB STUDIO GUILTS, HAND-WEAVING OIL PAINTINGS OF LOCAL SCENES located in Bras d'Or Off Highway 105 wliwe the view is magnificent DMVESOniY. thruway mufflemntre Your neighborhood thruway mufflercentre has expert ways to keep your car quiet. Visit your nearest thruway mufflercentre. You'll leave quietly. We promise. • No installation charge • Full guarantee for North American-made cars*? Free inspection • Quality parts and service • Independently operated by an exhaust systefn expert • Chargex/Master Charge accepted We're waiting to hear from you. THE MASTER MUFFLER 349 George St., Sydney 539-6691 ly 13 feet in diameter and on each side of it was a cable. And they conveyed the rock from the top quarry down these inclines. Full loaded cars • 5 ton of rock. Guys were killed there. Sometimes a car would get a- way on them, get over the knuckle before they got the cable on • take the fellow down • horrible. Every rock that was in the car flew out of it. You'd never have a chance. And if you had a horse there the horse'd be killed too. Aw, there was a lot of ways of getting killed. There was a fellow killed • young fellow too • only 21 • he was cleaning out where the rock was sliding down onto the crusher • and the conveyor belt was going all the time, you know • heavy heavy rub? ber. He was cleaning out under, getting the mud or something • and his shovel got caught some way in the conveyor belt and pulled him in there. That was terrible. Well, there was another young fellow, it was 5 minutes to 6 at night • there was a track there they called the Indian track. A bunch of Indians worked at that track. It was only one track between Danny Mac? Leod's quarry and Stewart MacDonald's quarry • each foreman had a quarry, you know, a section. And he came in this night with a fast horse, a white horse, called him Sydney • came in as hard as that horse could go with an empty car. And when he went to jump off clear of the car, his foot slipped, he went under that car. Tina MacFadyen; For a portion of the year there'd be lots of people at Marble Moun? tain • -there'd be men come from there, from Judique and MacKinnon's Harbour and all o- ver. They'd come after the planting season and they'd work till they'd have to go home to do their haymaking. (Would the whole family come?) No, but a lot of the TINA CONTINUES ON PAGE 29 Atomic Biergy of Canada Limited Chemical Company ' *Guaniitae applies on mufflers only. 5iace Bay Heavy Water Plant Public Information Centres Olace Bay and Port Hawkesbury South Street Shediac Plaza, Reeves St. An insight into the atomic age through MODELS FILMS EXHIBITS Visits By Groups From High Schools, Service Clubs, Church Organizations Can Be Arranged At Any Time Of The Year OPEN DAILY, JUNE TO SEPTEMBER