Page 12 — May 19, 1945

A New Deal For The Kootenay:

xs By HARVEY MURPHY

iS

THE southeast corner of British Columbia, deep in
in the richest section of the productive Crows Nest.

mountains is a small town. Michel, the company town of

the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Co.
Michel rests in a long narrow
valley, rich in the lush forest
growth of the mountains, in the
grandeur of what is thought
of as the most beautiful scenic
section of the Rockies.

The beauties of the area are
not evident to the workers who
go down into the earth to drag
the black wealth of coal from
its seams. The town of Michel
is haunted by the red glow of
coke ovens, the black dust of
coal, and the unsightly slag
heaps of the mine town.

Here, in the midst of splen-
dor, the miners struggle against
the saualid filth of the mine,
and the housewives fight a los-
ing battle against the dingimess
that pervades the whole area.
The drabness of the town can
only be found in the precincts
of money-hungry industrial em-
pires.

Here the daily train of the
Kettle Valley line chuffs its
way through town dragging
freight-laden boxears and gon-
dolas, spewing black smoke into
the already dingy atmosphere.
Here the highway, which - is
Michel’s main street, arrows its
way past privies which are
placed in neat regular rows in
the front yards of workers’
homes. Here the miners live
under the threatening shadow
of the mine tipple, and the
whole structure of the Crow’s
Nest mining empire.

S . Internaticnal representa-
* tive of the International Un-
ion of Mine Mill and Smelter
Workers, and lLabor-Progres-
sive candidate for Kootenay
Hast, I have a personal interest
in this area. Here I have fought
with the workers to win the
rights of bargaining for better
conditions. My interest in the
well-being of the miners and
millworkers of the Kootenay
area are personal, arising from

long association with their
struggles.
The conditions that are per-

mitted to exist in the Michel
area are a blot®on the face of
British Columbia. Michel is
smoke and dust-ridden, poorly
planned, and is permeated with
the dust and dinginess of the
coke ovens. There is a crying
need for playgrounds, decent
plumbing facilities and sewage,
and planned housing in areas
out of the stench of the mines
and coke-ovens.

What is actually needed al-
most completely throughout the
mining areas of the Kootenays
is a sensible, government super-
vised housing administration,
that will make it possible for
the miners and millworkers to
build decent homes, in planned
areas, with lots of room and
fresh air for their children.
They need homes outside of the
area of the dirt and grime of
the mine so that their homes
may be kept clean with ease,
rather than with the back-
breakine hours of toil that the
average housewife in the pres-
ent company towns is confront-
ed with if she wishes to keep
the dinginess out of her home.

The companies will not bet-
ter housing c@nditions for the
miners of theizx own volition,
and will have to be compelled
to give up their st®anglehold
on the workers’ living quarters.
They must give way to some
form of administration for the
purpose of planning modern
housing’ for the workers.

N spite of the seeming squalor

of the area, the Kootenays
are one of the richest areas in
the Jand. The mountains are
rich in minerals and -coal, the
wooded sides of the hills con-
tain a wealth in lumber, the
dense forests are rich in game,
and the possibilities for de-
velopment of the area are lim-
itless. Here too is the geolo-
gical monstrosity, a solid moun-
tain of coal at Corbin, which
until its closing was operated
by the giant Consolidated Cor-
poration.

Back of these houses you can see the mine.
The fumes cannot be escaped. no matter which way the wind blows.

2

both behind and in front.

The rapacious exploitation by
the mining empire is very evi-
dent in the fact that at Kimber-
ly, the greatest lead and zinc
producing area in the world, 32
million tons of iron ore has
heen Jeft on the dumps.

Although limestone, coke and
potential. electric power abound
in the area, the lead and zinc
are removed from the ore and
the rest dumped, partly because
of a lack of blast furnace fa-
cilities, but also because the
margin of profit in the removal
of iron ore and the establish-
ment of blast furnace facilities
dees not satisfy the insatiate
hunger of the mining barons.
The industrial progress of the
whole area is retarded by the
various subsidiaries of the
giant CPR empire, whose pro-
fit-mad domination of the area
prevent all improvement out-
side .of that which will bring
the utmost im financial return
to their already swollen coffers.

It is a shameful paradox, that
in this area, in all probability
the most potentially prosper-

The main street of Michel is pictured above.
in front —— to give the miners more privacy.

The designers placed the outhouses

=

eus area in Canada, the days of_
depression saw the people pov-
~<rty stricken and in rags, and
Saw an abundance of relief
camps. The young men of the
Koctenays wasted their lives
for a meagre handout of 20
cents a day while the Tory
Boss, “Baron” Bennett bluster-
ed his way to knighthood.

(pUeNne the period in which

the miners were undergoing
their terrific struggles to or-
eenize and fight the boss min-
ers, whose domination of their
lives compared to the days of
serfdom, I saw much aetion in
their battles. I travelled the
area, working,to impress upon
the workers the need for organ-
ization, fighting for the estab-
lishment of bargaining rights,
and. through these struggles I
learned the need, as the miners
have, for a realistic develop-
ment plan for the Kootenays.
The operators, feeling perhaps
that organization was not the
best thing for the miners, had
me black-listed and I was pre-
vented from crossing the border
of the province at Crow’s Nest.
A number of times I was halted
and told to “keep out of the
mining and logging areas of
eastern B.C.”

This necessitated a long trip,
around the Kootenays to the
coast, and then another long
trip back into the area from
the B.C. side.

Each time> I was “bounced”
from the area, it strengthened
my determination to get back
among the ranks of the workers
who were fighting so deter-
minedly for progress, and to
break the hold of the mining
empire on their lives and des-
tinies.

Finally, the miners, defying
the anti-union will of the com-
panies, organized into locals,
a job in which I am proud to
say I played a part. The organ-
ization of the miners assisted in
the organization of the loggers,
and today the East Kootenays
are one of the best organized
areas in the country.

But not showing are the coke ave

- Kootenays will be enak

They are bj

Tes Kootenays have a fij-

ing political history. As
back as 1905, Charlie O'F
represented the area as
first Socialist MLA in the
vincial house. Tom Uphill, 4
was the secretary of the Ui
and one-time mayor of Fa
has represented the Ross};
Trail constituency in the
vineial house, and is the
true laber representative in
house.

Blairmore has a complet:
bor council. I know this

well, for it was here the
1987 I led a miner’s strike
is now history. The towi
Blairmore has elected anc
elected labor admiunistrat
and today has a municipal ~
tion plan that is unequalle
Canada for taxes on wor
homes.

The well-organized wo
ot the Kootenays have long
lized the importance and
nificance of “a labor pat
ship” in government, and —
elected labor representatiy
serve them in both prov
and federal houses, time 3}
time again. ;

HE domination of the
enays by the GPR has
weakened considerably by
workers being unionized. —
ple that now with a fight1 -

House of Commens to opt
the country further, and |
this area, inhabited by the
working miners, lumber

ers and farmers, fulfil its ~
isé aS A prosperous part (
land. Jt is time that soi
the wealth that is taken « 7
the mines and forests 0}
Kootenays, was retaine P
henefit the people of the =
enays, and not sent to ab
owners whose sole ob;
seems to be to spend th
days of their lives pul?
around in flower gardens
decent housing and plann
ing areas, the workers -

al
i

enjoy a few flower garc ~
their own. a