ODDS’N’SODS — Randle Vansickle:`Efficiency expert’ par excellence

The renowned Hollinger gold mine, in the Timmins camp of Ontario, burst upon the mining scene in 1911 and, within a few years, was milling 2,000 tons per day. But when production eventually exceeded 4,000 tons per day, it had mined-out areas so large that a backfill operation was started up in 1927.

There was an unlimited amount of sand and gravel several miles north of the mine and, after reviewing various methods of transporting fill material, management decided to install an aerial bucket line to transport the material.

Constructing the tram-line system was a major project which included the railway track, sand cars, power shovels at the sand claims, and a narrow-gauge railway line at the mine to distribute sand to the “sand pass” raises. Underground, the driving of raises to handle the sand continued for years.

Overall, the backfill systems worked reasonably well, but, unless each sand pass raise was sealed off, and absolutely dry, water would accumulate and dilute the fill material, resulting in massive spills flowing over the control chutes. This flooding caused several fatalities.

The narrow-gauge railway, which distributed the sand, malfunctioned in freezing weather and had to be corrected in later years.

The undulating buckets appearing out of the darkness gave people an eerie feeling, and, where the tram line crossed the highway, motorists would invariably duck their heads as they passed under the swaying buckets. To “ride the bucket line” was every teenage boy’s dream, but few ever accomplished the feat. It required guts and dexterity to swing up into a moving bucket, but young Lou Romualdi, the undisputed “king of the tram line,” managed it and walked tall amongst his schoolmates at Moneta school.

(Surprisingly, a pretty Finn girl from the town’s south end was occasionally seen riding the bucket out to the sand claims, with two pails tied to her waist, on her way to pick blueberries.)

The industrial engineer at the Hollinger (known as the “efficiency expert” in those days) developed a cost-saving method whereby dump truck haulage replaced the troublesome narrow-gauge railroad.

Randle Vansickle was a good-natured paraplegic who had his vehicle equipped with hand controls and started out driving his 1930 dump truck around Timmins.

As an infant in Havelock, Ont., he was crippled by polio. But he possessed fierce determination to triumph over his disability, and he did so by honing his mechanical skills. He had his truck fitted with “assist” brackets, as needed, and, relying largely on his well-developed torso, managed to compensate for his handicap.

By 1934, Vansickle had a few trucks on general hauling duty at the Hollinger. But when it was decided to cover the old tailings in Miller Lake, he purchased additional trucks, all with hand controls (in the event a driver did not show).

We at New Ontario Machine Works fabricated the hand controls and added the “grab” brackets for each new truck. We also built Vansickle an aluminum dolly so he would be able to manoeuvre around his office and garage area with greater ease.

People watching him scoot in and out of the bank and local restaurants would do a double take when they saw the way he would make his skateboard jump a curb, then throw it into his vehicle, and take off briskly.

After being awarded the contract to distribute the sand backfill at the Hollinger, Vansickle again added more trucks, and his fleet of Fords numbered in the 20s.

Later, after selling Vansickle Transport and Vansickle Moving & Storage, he returned to the farm at Havelock.

He became the local real estate and insurance broker, as he continued to operate the farm. All his machinery was equipped with hand controls and, as a neighbor remarked, “he certainly enjoyed life.”

He stayed busy until his death on Oct. 28, 1989, at 83.

— A frequent contributor, the author resides in Boyertown, Pa.