EDITORIAL & OPINION — ODDS ‘N’ SODS — In record time

I recently had the privilege of renewing contact with George and Lois Jewett and the family of Merv Upham. I first met them in the 1950s, during the glory days of the development of ten uranium mines around Elliot Lake, Ont. During this period, these two gentlemen were involved in the development and operation of several of these mines.

I particularly recall Merv Upham in his role as head man at the Quirke mine and the early phase of the program involving Patty Harrison and his crew. Patrick contracted for the excavation of the shaft and related workings. Merv kept a close watch on Paddy and his workers. They completed a splendid shaft well ahead of schedule, but Paddy suffered almost daily meetings with Merv and followed rigorous schedules. Later, I joined Merv as underground superintendent and assisted in the completion of the mine.

In the meantime, George Jewett took over the management of the Panel mine, to which George and Wally Arnold transferred me to act as mine superintendent in seeing the underground mine into production.

When I arrived, the program was in full swing. The J.C. MacIssac Mining & Tunneling Company was involved in sinking the main shaft, excavation of the crusher room, a second internal decline shaft and, finally, the driving of a 5,000-ft. haulage tunnel. In the meantime, the mine workforce was being assembled to develop the mine to production. Jewett was “jumping,” to say the least, and he held on to his vision that the mine would be in production in one year.

He summoned John MacIssac and me to his office and went over the schedule in detail. He laid it on the line, telling us: “It’s your heads if you mess up. I want it to go within budget and time frame. I’ll be here every day to hound you and I want to be kept informed, in detail, of all problems and progress.” George was no absentee landlord, and he was true to his word.

John and I hit it off from day one. He told me he was moving Clarence Beaton to take charge of the crew, and suggested I get Jim McNulty to act on the company’s behalf to liaison with Clarence. Very quickly, we had a crew of Cape Breton miners involved in developing areas for the shaft, crusher, loading pockets and incline shaft. All went well, with George riding hard on us and the crew performing minor miracles.

One day, John came to me to say that he’d just had a meeting with George. In effect, George had informed him that it would be necessary to drive the long haulage crosscut in record time to meet the deadline for production. John sat down with me and outlined his plan: he would supply a team of key development miners to advance the tunnel on a three-shift-per-day basis, working seven days a week. The equipment would consist of jack-leg drills, track-mounted mucking machines, seven-ton mine cars, and the laying of 60-lb. rail.

Ventilation was a priority, since blasting would be conducted on a non-scheduled basis.

Soon, the long haulage tunnel was under way and manned by a crack team of miners. Clarence was the supervisor for MacIssac Tunneling.

In the end, the 5,000-ft. drive was completed in record time — a 9-by-9-ft. opening in solid rock. The Northern Miner even ran a photograph of George, Clarence and me to commemorate the occasion.

As I recall my days spent at Elliot Lake, I know I was privileged to have worked with two of the business’s giants. It couldn’t have worked out better.

— The author is a retired mining engineer residing in Vancouver, B.C.