Frank Pipe- Page one
(Q)

July 3re/85

Who and what was here when you arrived?

(F) ~ell, we came over in 1926, In April, and across the river on

the old ferry road, was probably six inches of ice still on the
road, was prpbabl' eix 'nches of ice still on the road. So
tha 's how cold the winters were.
Dr.'Vrinch was still in the ho pi tal, one of his son,'.was a
doctor in the hospital also, His second son was the druggist
downtown, with his o~n drugstore.
'T1heOmineca hotel was there, run b:- Bud Dawson. And ,~yros&
Smith had a grocery store in town. 'T'herewas a Watchmaker, he
had a the~ter there where Neil Sterrit lives now. Where Rasey
Larrison lives in the same lot, the school was there. ":ell the
~gsay office was down there where the library is now.
(Q)
(F)

~Vhatwas the E3say off'ice?
,
V 11 th'
\e
e Tfilnes. 1\"
"llnlng
was th
.ere.

Dr.Slay was the £ssayer.

Then across from the hotel, going down river, was Cunlifts,
they ha a store. Dic1<:Sargent ha.j a :..:tore
there, right where the
hotel is.
(Q)

(F)

That was just the store then? Fat the Inlander?
No, no, just t~e store. A big ware house.
i'lhereere we at?

Do you want rae to go around the town?

(Q) If you could.
Oh, okay.

(E')

Where the Beertemas old building is, was Teddy the blacksmith.
Pat Benson had a barbershop, in that building across from the hotel.
libere the Sunrise Cafe is.
Turning to the right, going up river, there was the Angl'can
Church manse. Still there.
ext to t~at, was the Tiudsom Bay lot,
and then the theater across the street of course. Where _Teil
Sterrit 's house is now, was the old rudson Bay house. Across
from there, was the old ~icture house. ~~d then, let's see,
the other side a+'ther~, by the river ••• I forget who used to live
there. Of course on the other side of that was the church.
Then they had a school next to there. And that's the end of that
block.
Then, crossing the road, :vou had all the old t i.mer a coming
down, and the Chinese laundry. Al those buildings wer-e ashed away
in the flood.
Com~ng clown ~urther, was the chinese laundry, J'm ~utter's
pool hal , Ne i I Sargent's town house, and right down at the end
of the street, Sterrits had a barn. And of course if you went
down further, you went to the ferry house. Across the river on
the ferry.

rank Pipe - page two
(Q)

that?

\fuat was the bit about the =erry?
When was it taken out?

Vfuat's the story behind

(F) ','ell,I can't remember years. I know my brother in-law
ran it for quite a ~ew year9, the only means of getting over to
those farms over there, unless you went lO\Vfl to ••• well there
was a ferry there, there was one at Kitwanga, another one at Usk
so you had to go to Terrace if you wanted to get across the river
outside on Beaumont bridge. A long way around.
So of course there were old bachelors' houses all around there.
By the old Police building. But that wasn't there all the time,
that was bachelors' cabins, all along there, right past +he
B8ertema's hall, :acing the street. They were all Sourdough's
along there.
~hen the ~ollce barracks, was right next to Sargent's store.
'T'herewas a open lot, right down to the library, where they kept
all the pack chor-ses .oor the »oti ce patrol. Thev used to go vvay UT)
the ispiox, and way up beyond there, they'd be gone 7-lJ days.
T

And, uh , of'course we had .he teleg::aph office, righ t across
from Beertema's there, that was the telegraph office. Lots of
people worked there. Perry York's people, his vvi:'espeople .J.tved
right next door there. And of course Pat Dawsons' hotel, and there
~as a barber shop in there as well, and a little gambling back
room, and all the rooms up above, I could tell vou quite a few
stories about them.
nywav, going along further, there was a restaurant where it
is now. And there's Cox's house, .~rs.Cox, she was art mative, and
she done all the interpreting in the police reports for the natives
when they got in trouble.
One thing that I want to point out, is that in the early days,
you didn't see any native c~ildren do~~town. They were all kept
up on the benches, on the reserve. rt'heold folks saw to that.
"Phen there was -Johanne s Re s t.aur-an t down there again. And
there wer-e two restaurants down there. Like I said, there, across
the street there, "'as a schoo'L with a play ground across the way.
If you went up to ~.lfyros
& Smith, there was one house between
there and the boarding house. It belonged to the head
operator at the telegra h of ice •
.~rs.:!uickran the boarding house, right on the corner, do vou
know where that is? Right across from there was Matt r,~vros!s
big
~ouse. There was noth'ng any rurther.
(Q)

at about the triangle?

.lasthere anything in the middle o~

it?
(F) In t.hetriangle, when Dr.Wrinch was there, there was nothing
but sunflowers. Then , 1 Benson's family, bought it .orom Dr.i'lrinch
and put up a garage and taxi service.

Frank Pipe - page three
(Q)

(F)

Vfuenwould that have been?
Well it was there when we came over in '26, so r-rior to that.

TOW that's just about all tue to'WTI,'
cause the road into t own
wasn't where it is now, it W3S behind Ben rlackensie, so they've
moved it over towards the school.

W'rlydid you come to ::azelton?
Uh', I had relatives here. And in Enland at that time, they
were having problems with drop-outs, they tried to set un trade
schools for them, but they just wrecked the schools. I went to
one of the schools,'cause I was taking up radio and television.
I was there fof three mo~ths, and I couldn't stand it no longer!
~hey just wrecked t.he+schoo.Ls and looted the teachers, so my dadi
saidn well I have sis~ers over in Canad.'3.,
so let's all go to
Canada".
So that's how we ended up here.
(Q)
(r:')

So you came here with your dad?
(F) Yeah, iIly dad and mother.

(Q)

And how old would you have been?
Seventeen, s i xt.eon or seventeen. And I was so amazed to see
t~e cows on the sidewalks. All wooden sidewalks, and there were
a lot more people around then, than there are now.
(Q)
(i<)

eally'?
(F) Yeah, well a lot more whites anyhow. Well you had all your
trc:de from "Iazelt.on out.
ike a wagon whce l ,
(Q)

That's been spoke of before as thc:t.
(r) Yea:l, well the riverboat came up, and dunped the freight,
then it was ta\en from there up to diDferent camns.
(Q)

What changes have you seen in Hazelton'?
'{ell, its been improved anyway. As a matter of fact. Well,
we have the big schools there, there's more police t~an what there
were, there's more loggi.ng, very little mining, but there used to
be very little, and the roads are better than whet they Nere.
And certainly more children around the country than there used to
(Q)

(T<')

be.
(Q)
Do you find much o~ a change in the overall attitude of the
people?
(F) That's a hard question. Li.ke, I don't know as many now, as
I did then. So it nas changed in that respect. Well I 1cnaw all
the old bachelors, and I td go around and talk to them. They woul d
try and interest me with their stories t.hat they told me. Of the
early days.

Scotty Beaucannon came down from the telegraph line, and vou
always knew he was coming , 'cause you' d he ar his high tenor coming
up over the hill above the gr-aveyar-d , :-Ie'
d be walking down into t own ,
he'd have a big et.ake, he'd wait until all his friends gatr-.ereo
around, and blow the whole wor+s , and back out again.
Another oldtimer t.he r-e i 9 Gold 'T'oothCharI i.e,and Sourdough
McKay of course, he'd come from the telegraph line, Jim vailin was
up the telegraph line, ~l8tt· McDougal was un the telegraph line.
All oldtimers /, \.,.I4.reall
good peo nl.e ,

rrank Pipe - page ~our
This is for the Overlander telegraph?
() vah, out the Kispiox.
(Q)

That ran ~rom 1936?
(F) vah.
(Q)

Do you 'know anything about that?
TO,
J was never up there, only the secor..dcabin. You know
Bernie ttindle, the old postmas t er-? HLn and I, ",vehiked f'r-omtown,
up to the first cabin to a dance.
(Q)

(

(Q)

A dance?

(F) To a dnace , ves. In these fellows cabin. '.vedanced all night,
and hiked beck at 7:00 in the morning.
~ow that wou'ld be ••• ~,~arty
Allen's is twenty-one miles, so the first cabin woula be thirty
miles. ;ie h i ked u", had a kick sleigh too.
(Q)
A k i ck sleigh? One of those 010 kick sleighs? 10m ana Dad
were talking about one of those the other aay, an~ there was one in
the basement o~ the highschool for the longest ti~e. It wps there
'till about ~ive vears af ~r Daa left thpre. Ana he doesn't know
what happened to it. It~s .just'not ar-oundanymore.
(F) : wonder whv he didn't ~a~e it?

(
Yeah,
wonaered that too.
()
I mean, they are a most wonder-rut.thing to get ar-ound i n the
wintertime with. You really nic~ed up speea ~ith those things.
They're 010 Sweaish skis, ana the runners might be seven...or
eight feet long. Very flexable. And there's little iron plates
right behina the chair, there's 'thechai in front, something to
sit on, but the plates, you could stand on those, and turn on a dime.
Y0u'd put one ~oot on, and then you'a kick.
(Q)
(1")

There was somebody who brought those in, wasn't there?
es, yah, wrs.Dawson was the first to have one at that time.

(Q)
What was the economic base?
(F) Otis \Jr~msoncame in here, he SBW his oppo r-h..l,.nd-''1 and applied
for the timber rights on all the ceaar between' rince George and
Terrace. He was an ~:'Pfor the government, he just took all the
trees. So there was logging and mining. That was all.
(Q)
-Tho would have run mills at t.ha t time?
(.) No mills. Strictly cut the ~oles, :or telephone poles,
bridge pil"ngs. People would ta.e out a contract for them,
they would skid t~em do\m out o~ the bush to the river banks, then
at high water, thev'd dum' Plem i.n, then they'd pic. them up in
'T'errace. '.:2!1ey'
d heve a crew on the river drive. I was on the
river drive one summer. I was also at the Lottom o~ the ~lume
at 3"ndle's creek, out by Forsyths. You know ~orsyth's out
itwanga road. Then vou turned left by the creek ••• you can see
it "rom the our-mile bric1ge down river. High bunk, haa a flume
runn"ng down jt. At the top was a big wire, which turnea them
aro~~d, then they'd shoot down the stream. I was on the bottom
on a little boom, a two log boom, ~nd I'd have to guide them as
they war-e coming down , 'cause thev .:erejust smo r i ng down. But
I

~r8nk ~ipe - page ~ive
(P) sometimes they wer-e too long, they wouLdn 't get of'.f'.They'd
hang on the end of' the {'lume. And you'd have to have ycur ,eavy,
and trv and shake them to trv to move t~em ~efore the next one
came a'own. So I think I end~d up in the s tr-eam three or f'ourtimes. So tnat's the extent of the economv at that time. But
there was traoning of course.
~fuen did the first mills start to come in?
(F) ',';e]
1 the first mill was here before I came, in Slenvowell.

(Q)

(Q)

~F)

Nho ran that?
Indians. ~hey utilized ~hat creek there.

(Q)
That's where they got their power?
(F) That's where they got it, yes. To build a shute on the floor,
four -'-'eAt
square, v.'hichwould drop down fifty or sixty !'eet on to
the turbines at the bottom that went to the saw. T ey tiadreal
good :'umber. Otherwise, these Lat.emills, I don't know who vas
the ;'irst.

lTow were the winters .ien you first came?
(F) VerY,very cold, very cold. I remember one time we froze up
~t t~e hospital between the power-ouse and the nurses residence in
the room, the o i pe Wf:?S 4"'rozensix -"'eetunder the road. I don't 'cnow
how long VIeworked there, but we put wood on there, put fuel on
there, an lit it. Blow it up a bit, then we'd chin tha out, and
that's the W8Y we hot down to the pipe, and we bypassed the pipe.
That's when it was 55 degrees below.
(Q)

or how long?
(F
JI!'ight
have been a week.
hen it came back up to normal.
about 30 degrees which is about normal.
(Q)

(Q) Yeah, so they were alot more severe then, th3n they are now?
(7) Dh, yeah, but the summers were better, much be t t.e r , really hot
summers.
(Q)
You kn e..w summer w:..:
scorning?
(F) Knew it was coming, yeah.
(Q)
How much snow did you get in the winter~
(F) Not a gre:t deal, no, not a great deal. OH, I can't hardly
tell you. Not like we do here, you wouldn't get four feet up where
we were, you see we had a farm up above Four-mile creek. ~~ere
Forsyth's is kind of.
(Q)
~ben did you live in this area, right here?
(F) We've been here 32 years. See, I Jived over at the hospital.
v"ent to work there in 1938, Dnd I worked there for 35 years. So they
asked me if I'd like to hove a piece of land, and ~uild my ovm
'"louseon it. I said sure, so that's what I did •.
(Q)
SO was it given to you?
(F) No, I paid for it. Two acres.

(Q)

What activities took place in the community hall?

Frank Pipe - page six
(I)
Oh , you mow how women are. They had the ;'.A. and all the
other organizations. Tea parties and dances. ;.fore'frequent than
what they do now. !.~avbeevery month the 'd have a dance or a
tea partv, and then t~e hospital would have a flower show, 'cause
the ho.sp i tal had their own garden. l' ey "ad big fi Elds of turnips
and nota toes beh i nd t.he shop. You know where t.he tennis court is
now? Well +ha'twas a tur-r i p -tield t.he r-e , =rid they iad their own
cows, and dairy there. viell, not a dai.r-v , but for their own use.
(Q)
(F)

What type of schoo'l i ng \'as eV8il8.b~.e?
Just public school that's all.

Did you go tc school here at all?
(~) Fo, but I was chaoerone one time, for a school dance,
never do it a?ain.
(Q)

(Q)
(F)

I'll

So ynu rec~ived most of your education in England.?
That's right.

How far would vou have gone in education?
Grade eight. See it's not like it is now, John, if you
were good, af'ter ,grade eight Vl)U went to a small college. But
if you wer-en ' t, and :"'ooleoaround, you were out, "'ad to go to
work. That was it , ~rou cou.l dn 't repeat.
(Q)
(F)

()
What eff'ect did churches have ~n the community?
(F) The church? Well that was ••• each Sunday was quite an event.
Because the Anglican church had their own group, and the United
church and the Ioap i t sL made the Uni ted chur-ch,
When Dr.T,~rinch
went to church, everybody else went or else. There was regular
SundaySchool, snd they had picnics, and too~ part in the community.
~here were no Lions or Kinsmens and all that sort of thing.
(Q)
When did that start up?
(F) un,
have no idea.
(Q)
Nhat ~ind of health services were aval~btE~
(F) 'Nell, the hosp i tal, that'saIl.
;le paida
dollar a month for
a room in the hospitel. ~hat was put on the Blue Cross ~edical
Services.
(Q)
Was the hospi tal's nurses school still in operation vhen you
arrived?
( ) Yes, yes it sure was. I was a patient there and I ~eard some
nurse getting bawled out.
(Q)

(F)

You were a patient i.nthe hospital.
Very good, very good, very strict.

What was it like in there?

Teat? Ti dv" Eve rvth i ng in it's place?
)es,
the authority was a lot stronger, like in the di.ni ng rooms,
~hen t~e Matron walked in the dining rooms, all the nurses stood up
until she sat down. And the same w it h the doctors. Even in the'
hos_ital prior to that, they done the same thing. Everybody stood
up when the .l~atroncame in. If the;vbroke any t.'vi.ng , they'd pay
:'or it. Doesn't matter who's to blame. Chinese cooks, their food
was really good • .Tot like it is now, plastic.
(Q)

(

<

Frank Fipe - page seven
What do you know about Sargent's
Store?

store?

~~~ Sargent's

(Q.)

There is a good history on
Sargent's store.
(F) There isn's too much. Old Dick Sargent worked for Matt Myres at one time, and
he branched off for himself and opened up a store in Telkwa. And he done it
on fur buying, and when-:the nati ves wanted to bank their money, they went to old
Dick Sargent and if they wanted some they would go to his office, and draw some
out. There was a bank here alright.
(Q) That was in NT though wasn't it?
(F) Well, that was before my time. Oh, there was another bank right by the hotel,
on the river that was the Royal Bank. Of course, Dick, done very good in his store.
Very trusting man. He would forget you there as a customer. And sombodya
traveller for instance came in, people would start to talk to him and you would
wait and wait and wait. Oh, you're still here, that oort of thing.
Nobodywas
in a hurry. The nati ve s ~ould come in and sit on a bench or a chair there and '
maybe sit all day before they got up and buy what they want. Everybody me-w
what everybody el.lIlewas doing. They'd pass the time of day, you'd roll into town
yoUr farm on a horse the would be tied up outside.
Sargent had a big lot there,
where the store is now. A big open lot.
And you'd go in and talk to old Burt
Iachapell he was the manager there or what's that other chaps name? He was
a big native man. Very easy going. Talk to him. And of course Dick had the
post office there in the store.
And the meat counter was right at the back
w e had an old fellow called Butch. He was the butcher there, and he would make.
these little
meat pies.
Some of the Marshalls would come in there you see and
one would get up to the counter and reach up for these meat pies.
By the time they.
caught on. they were gone.
~) Howdid police deal with cr~e like that?
tF) That wasn't crime, that was fun. He mew they were doing it.
would stand up and pay for it.

And then they ~

(QF) Was there much of a crime problem back then?
()
No. A few toxicated people, but mostly the police would throw them in there
cars and take them home. And sleep it off.
The only big crimes that went on in
NT in the bank over there was the shootout over there. 'l'hat was the only one.
What kink of entertainment was available?
all.
A show once a week.

Like a show hall?

~~~ Again that's

(Q) What
of show would you have?
(F) Comedyones, Abbot and Costello,
comedians.

Charlie Chaplin.

(Q) What about a newspaper?
(F) Yes, over in NewHazelton, Chuck Go \
time.

was the editor

All those other old time

and it ran for a very long

Was it a good newspaper?
~~~ Yes, a'-goodrnewspaper, I have one still

193? I think.

(~) Did -they have dancing girls?
(F) Not here. That was before we come. That was entertainment in two-mile.
Dancing girls.
That was auite a communityat 'one time, in the early, early days
before we come.
(Q) Howabout Sports?
(F) Yeah, a very good ball team, very good runners, verygood hockey team, lots
of good sports like that.
Horse racing in the summertime up and down--'Harry
Websters road. Government street.

Frank Pipe - page '.eight
(Q)
~~ere did they play :ockey?
( .) Well let me see. 'i/herewere the 'Iockey rink s?
air of course. UOght across ~rom the Library.

It was, open

(Q)

Only in the winter?
Neil Sterri t used to flood that lot for skating.

(Q)

Was there a lot of changes with the coming of the railroad?
I don't know that. That was before my time.

on
(F)

Vere there a~ot o~ vehicles aro~~d?
( ) No. The bank had one, the taxi had two I believe. George
Benson had a car. Louie Myro had an old car. One or two in
New Town.~here weren't many because of the dirt road along here.
Very dusty.
'
(Q)

(Q)
Did you get to New Town much?
(F) We'd go to dances over there.
summertin:e.

'T'herewasn't much dancing in the

What was faItiilylife Ijke~
(F) Very close. On Sundays we'd throw a picnic together. °re'd get
all the kids, t ake the buggy, put two in the buggy, carry one an
go downtown, across the ferry, and push the buggy up to Seeley Creek,
and spend all day there. rave our lunch and lots of families did
that. Down at ~'ission Point; Ksan "[:oint. They spend time down
there. It was a nice place.
(Q)

No radios or t.v.'s?
(~) Yo t.v.'s, we had a radio?
(Q)

(Q)

(~)

was you reception?
Good. Very, very good.

TOW

~ostlv Vancover stations.

What kind of music did they play?
(F) \ell, early forties. OLl Jack Benny, GUY0mbardo,
music.
(Q)

very good

(Q)
'\\hatkind of'food was available then but not eva'iLet-Le now?
(F) Well, all farm products. No packing houses here that you
could buy :"romOld Dick Sargent. Use to 2:et all t.hebeef -Prom
local farmers.
(Q)
.Thatkind. of packaged goods would come in?
(P) Tea, c of'f'e e was ground r i gh t in the store. Canned Jam,
canned milk, 0::' COllrse flour, sugar, all in big bags.
(Q)

(P)

Candy? Vhat did they ~ave for Candy?
I don't know, T didn't eat it. nard sweets as they called them.

(Q)
How much was your sBlary?
()
I worked -<'orthe highway department and I was paid $1.25 a
day.
ten hour day. And you rode around in an open truck to the
job sOte and then ho~e again at night.

Frank Pipe - pag8 nine
(Q)

CJ

Vlhat-ind of things would you do?
Shovel ana wheelbarrow. I ard work.

Pushing dirt 8round.
()
T~at's right.
hen T went 'or~ing in a logging camp. ~hat
was hard work too, you knov.,
Get up in the dar\:-in the wintertime.
Take a lantern out into the bus'1 and back home when it was dark •
.vorkedabout 12 hours.
(Q)

ow wes your salary divided up? Did you have to pay hydro, telephone?
Ko power at all. Taxes were only ~~ something. Jeans were
""1.7E,. Runners 1.25.
Jeans lasted a long, lonp: time. A good
pi~ce of mater"al and good piece or jean.
(Q)

()

(Q)

(F)

!'~owyou pay '30.00, and they only last half' the time.
~hat's right.

(Q)
\as there one experience in your li~e around here that you
find really ·nteresting?
(F)
,,~yself,or with other people?
(Q)

(F)

Yoursplf'.
Interesting, scary?

\~11atever.
I remember one time I was going ~ishing in the winter on
the Bulkley at Mud Creek. I lef'tmy rig at the top of'the hill on
the main road because the road below wasn't plowed. And I hikea
down, and one of the vn fl~n' bovs went f i sh i ng down below on the
ice, so J went down on the ice. Tt was pretty solid, I walked
right across. I had a pole with me, a ten foot pole under my arm
~ith me just in case. T got to the other side and all that I
could see was snow. What I thought was on top of'the ice. So I
et.e
ppe d down on the snow and I lent down in the water. A-:d
the ice hadn't )t to the rocks. One thing in mv mind vas I had
to save my -"ishlng rod. So I threw it. And it landed on the other
side and I had to hi~e all the way back through deep snow. Back
to the bridge and back to my rig.
(Q)
(7)

t

And when I hi"'<:eo
back, my clothes got pretty sti:f and when
I got home, I didn't want Lou to know, so I snuck in and put fJ.y
cl.othes in the laundry, but she found them. The IV••.. ' U0....r"\ boy ·.ho
.•.
was fishing down below said to me "Nhere did you disappear to?
Ie saw you walking across, and then YOU disappeared."
"I fell throug!l.to the water" So that really stuck in my mind
quite ~ long time. Outside of t!l.at,there hasn't been nothing
really evc i t i ng down t own , 1';0 murders or anything like that.
ow many peop e lived here apnroximately?
()
Oh, that would he a hard one to figure out because they
were spread out so Par.
(Q)

Alot of f'amilies or bachelors?
ram"lies were out on the =arm. mhere is Blot more natives
on the -"'arm.
now than there was before. I would say ar-ound t own ,
strictJy around town, about 300 people.
\Thenthe r-iver flooded,
I went down to the ..f'errvhou~e wher~ my b~other-i:l-~aw worked and
»e both waded out 1nto the r-i ver and put t nt o the r-i ver an uu t a
(Q)
(F)

Frank Pipe - page ten
cable [round the houses 6nd tied it to trees [md tight.ened it up
and that saved the houses.
How about education And schooling.
(F) Very rood, mind vou , -ou+r-e cut t i ng down the student pop. bv
one tent'1of wha t it is now. So the teachers pr-obabl.v would have
30 kids in one class. The two scheols, the junior and t.e high,
they d i dn t bus in, they "ileed in from wherever they lived.
(Q)

t

(Q)

()

.VhAtabout the amal~ ation of t.he achoo Ls?
','ell',
it just hanpened. .TOcelebration.

(Q)
Nhat can vou tell us about mining? The old mines? V,'hoand
what was m·ned.
() The Harry boys from Jew Town, they mi ned up here in fine r.~ile.
There is a couple of mines up here. I worked up there ~or a
short period. The Duke Line up in Two-mj 1 e. I don't know vho ran
that. Then there'was Red Bose and Nestern Ur-an/um up in ~10cnede
Boule. "ne r-e vasn ' t a great volume of business af't er- the trapners
left.
~Q)
(-r)

Did yOU do any wor~ ~or t'1eRailroad?
TO.

(Q)

Tell us about you work in the hospital.

(F) I went to wor~ .t the hospital in 1938. The way it happened
is you couldn't get '"\or~in town in the 19rJOIs and you'd go hungry.

And you tried to get wor~ f.orone meal a day and that would be
all rir:ht. fl..nd
so a friend of mine said to go to the Tnited Church
to a coo~ out, so I went and Al enson hired me to work at the
shop there +'or ~4:J a month plus board. Then I was really welL
off. I enjoy~d it very much from day to d~v. The ~ood was very
good. We ~ad picnics like one big hapDY family.
(Q)
(F)

Did you start at the 010
TO the second one.

ospital?

(Q)
It must have been brand new then?
(F) Just about. I was in the hospit.al as a patient theywere building
around the old wooden one. T got hurt in a forest. fire. I was
on Night patrol and ever thing v'DS d8r'l(and smoky and I c ouLdn ' t
see a thing until I sawall these ~ellows standing around me they
were trYing to put me on a stretcher. A line pole ':ledCOTe down
and hit me on the head 2nu cut me on the arm. The thing that
e tuck in my m i.ndwas there wes no first aid. They cut a c oup'l
e
little poles End wrapped a Jiece o~ canvas around them. And they
pic~ed the canvas up and started of~ anu I was still lying on the
ground.

Old Shepherd , and oldtimer was Oilt there ~ighting ~ires and
he o:f':'er(>o
to come in with me, S0 we came j n to Dr./rrinch here and
he said tc me, "VeIl, we don't have anesthetic. ~ell, we have
this 30 6. p. rum.'/

Frank Pipe - page eleven.
(F) "Well, I don't drink" I said •
., ell, okay" he said.
Old Shepherd said "T drink!"
"No , that's not for you" /ronch said.
'Ilrinchwent ahead and sewed me up. ft..ndwas in there for
three we e'cean came ort w i th one ear. T lost my e ar- when the tree
hit me on my head. It crushed it so they cleaned it right out.
There was no compensation.
(Q)
Vfuat do you remeober abou t doctor vr i.nch? \bat kind of men
was he?
(F) Very stern, very strict.
good doctor. Ie Jooked after his
patients well. If he was called, he would go. Very good.
(Q)
Tell us about the elevator in the old hospital?
(F) That old elevator was in there ~or years. Over t~e years
the cables stretc~. So the inspector was in there one day and told
us we had to get new cables. I sai where can we buy navcables?
Ie said he would send someone up to install SOQe. So time went by ,
&nc we found ~ big rolls of cable so we decided to cut the cable
ourselves the right size. 'Ie waited, no one came, so we installed
them ourselves. I'T'hree
;nonths later, the inspector came bac~. So
he said t'1eywere alright and he was on his wey. '~;edidn't tell
him who installed t"lemthough. At that time, t~ey were all R.N.'s
no nurses aids or prFctica1s or any hing Ii -e that.
(Q)
y'ihatabout the Y-ray mach i ne? Vias it there in 19331
(F)
eah. It was there, but it wasn't like jt is now, John. In
fact, I had part of it here. Mos .ly all of it was wood, Birdseye
.Iaple. That;s all they had. It was quite an event when they first
got the X-ray.

(Q) j'v'hen
eHd t hey get it1
( ,)
Well, be~ore I went to work there.
1 as there an
.-ray tecrillician?
(.) vihenwe.:used the X-ray, we would have to shut most of the
~ospital off. The elevator o~~ and Qny ot1er electrical appliance
of.
;"11the Dower went to the use of the X-rav. 'Ihe were only
two line circuits. All the ruses were 15 amp. T did all the
dr valling in the second hospital.

(Q)

One thing that st ood out in mv mind was an indian lady had
twins and \\eonly had one incubator, so they asked m..tto make
another one. I said sure, I'd make one, so I scrounged around,
got a box, I lined it, got a l5J watt bulb and put in a socket.
Put a ther~ostat on the side, a djsh of water ftorthe humidity.
r'f1bat
was controlled by a thermo"'eter. Three holes on the side
putting a sliding window in setting the ther:nostat on 72 degrees,
the bulb would come on, warm it up, and t~en turn of'fand come on
when it cooled off. We had t.hiAfor
great num er of years.
(Q)

(F)

Nhich lady woulr1 thst have been?
Oh, t.'1at
wes 60 ,vears ago. I don't know.

rank Pipe - page twelve.
(Q)

Do you have anything vou would like

0 mention?

(F) The only tfiing is: I have enjoye all the years
have been
here I wouldn't have wished Pooran 'here else. _ have no desire
to go beck to England. I have had a good li~e, but "t is too
bad Lou js on the Kidne machine. But I'm glad for all the years
that I have worken on the machines. I know ho~ to care for them,
and work them.