ODDS’N’SODS — The lure of Chicago

We hired many newly arrived immigrants during the early years of mine development and production at Elliot Lake, Ont., in the fast-developing world uranium centre during the 1950s. Numerous sturdy Italians made their way to the mines and formed a substantial part of the workforce as time went by.

The Italians were colorful, devoted and industrious. I remember that we hired two Italian immigrants, living in the St. Catharines, Ont., area, and they rapidly became key members of our development force. They soon reported that they had purchased several grape farms in the south and would have to earn more money in order to pay for the land. They kept this demand in front of us for some time, and when we did not respond, they approached us with another tactic: they had cousins and nephews in Italy who would make good employees, and could we sponsor them? We definitely could not, but if they happened to come to Canada and happened to land in Elliot Lake, we could do our utmost to offer work.

Needless to say, we were soon swamped with Italian nephews and cousins. Luigi was one such member of the group, and one day he came to me and requested a favor: “I have a special question to ask you — my wife has a fine young nephew in Calabria, the place where the hardest working Italians live. If we brought him over, could you put him to work, and he could live with us?” I asked George Robson, the mine captain, who replied: “If he is half the man that Luigi is, we’ll have a first-class employee.”

And so one fine day, a tall, strapping young man with an engaging smile came with Luigi to see us. He had just arrived from Italy. Luigi and his nephew, Enrico, sat down with George, who placed a proposal in front of Luigi. He was to take young Enrico in the drift crew with him, and introduce him to the arts and skills of the drift miner. George figured that the best man to secure the young man was his sponsor, who could teach him English at the same time. Luigi readily agreed, and the two set off for the time office and the “signing on.”

Time passed and one day George advised me: “You know that Enrico has come a long way, to the point where I’m willing to make him a crew leader in a new drift crew.”

I replied: “George, you can’t mean it. You mean to tell me that Enrico can use the AL 47 Jack-leg, muck with the Eimco ZI Loader, install the 60-lb. rail, set up air and water lines, scale and rockbolt, keep the drift on line and grade, maintain ventilation to the workforce and load and blast rounds — all in one year?”

George looked keenly at me and said: “He is one of the best young men we have on the payroll.”

I went along with the old and wise mine captain, but with some silent reservation.

Things unfolded as George planned and predicted. Enrico became a drift leader, and soon was setting performance records among the drift crews. This went on for a considerable time.

Then one day George came to see me and said: “We have a problem with Enrico — he is becoming an absentee employee. He has been missing shifts on Fridays and Mondays. I don’t know what to do. He had such a fine record and is such a fine person.”

I advised him that I would speak to Luigi to sort out the problem. I did not attend to the matter for several weeks. Then one Monday morning a huge car with an Illinois licence plate pulled up in front of the mine office. A well dressed young man, smoking a long black cigar, walked into our midst.

Here was Enrico, visibly bursting with pride and prosperity. He hugged us all affectionately, and told us his story. He had been visiting relatives in Chicago on weekends and in the course of his visits two things happened to him. He met a fine and lovely young Italian-American girl and fell in love, and he purchased a cigar store in Chicago. Furthermore, he wished to be released from his job so he could then go to live in Chicago in peace and in happiness with his store and his lady.

Release him we did, with many congratulations mixed with some sadness, as he was a real character and a fine performer.

— S. J. Hunter, a retired mining engineer and regular contributor, currently resides in Vancouver.