When ghosts hovered: Community and crisis in a company town, Britannia Beach, British Columbia, 1957-1965

Urban History Review

Volumn 35, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 25-36

  Rollwagen, Katharine ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COPPER; DEINDUSTRIALIZATION; HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY; INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE; INDUSTRIAL RESTRUCTURING; INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE; MINING INDUSTRY; SOCIAL MOVEMENT;

BRITANNIA BEACH; BRITISH COLUMBIA; CANADA; NORTH AMERICA;

EID: 33947139669     PISSN: 07030428     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.7202/1015919ar     Document Type: Article

References (171)

1. Steven High, Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969-1984 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 9.
2. John C. Walsh and Steven High, "Rethinking the Concept of Community," Histoire Sociale/Social History 32, no. 64 (1999): 255.
3. Thomas Bender similarly criticized American historians for their stilted approach to community, in Community and Social Change in America (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1978).
4. Bender, Community and Social Change in America, 6.
5. Imagined communities does not imply that community does not exist; the interesting question asks not about a community's authenticity, but how and why it was imagined in a certain way. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso Editions, 1983), 15.
6. The exact number employed at Britannia varied continuously, but averaged 600 to 800 workers during the 1950s. In the 1960s, the workforce was much reduced, averaging closer to 350 employees at the mine.
7. Politicians sympathetic to labour repeatedly called for company towns to be "opened up" and claimed company authority violated workers' rights. For examples see "Company Towns Are Discussed," Victoria Daily Times, 11 March 1919, 4;
8. "Company Towns," Vancouver Sun, 13 February 1934, 16;
9. "Company Town Bill Stirs Row," Province, 11 February 1942, 6;
10. "Opening of Company Towns Aim of C.C.F," Province, 25 February, 1944;
11. "Alleged Dictatorship in Company Towns," Victoria Daily Times, 29 February 1944, 8;
12. "House May Debate B.C. Company Towns," Victoria Daily Times, 26 February 1944, 5.
13. "Shutdown Threatens Britannia," Vancouver Sun, 11 July 1957, 1;
14. "$15,000 Homes to Make B.C.'s New Ghost Town," Vancouver Sun, 22 July 1957, 3.
15. Doug Ward, "Ghost Towns Dot the B.C. Landscape," Vancouver Sun, 18 October 1997, C4.
16. See, for example, Patricia Marchak. Green Gold: The Forest Industry in British Columbia (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1983).
17. John H. Bradbury and Isabelle St-Martin, "Winding Down in a Quebec Mining Town," Canadian Geographer 27, no. 2 (1983): 133.
18. Rex A. Lucas, Minetown, Milltown, Railtown: Life in Canadian Communities of Single Industry (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971).
19. Many local histories of company towns adopt a similar approach. See, for example, Bruce Ramsey's history of Britannia, Britannia: The Story of a Mine (Britannia Beach: Britannia Beach Community Club, 1967);
20. and Charlie Angus's "King of the Shield," Beaver (April/May 1999): 30-36.
21. Jefferson Cowie and Joseph Heathcott, "The Meanings of De-industrialization," in Beyond the Ruins: The Meanings of De-industrialization, ed. Jefferson Cowie and Joseph Heathcott (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003), 5-6.
22. High, Industrial Sunset
23. David Harvey describes this as the change from a Fordist regime of accumulation to a post-Fordist regime of flexible accumulation, characterized by high levels of structural unemployment, rapid destruction and reconstruction of skills, and modest gains in real wages. David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity. An Enquiry into the Causes of Cultural Change (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989), 147.
24. According to Bryan Palmer, the 1950s and 1960s are often erroneously portrayed as an "end of ideology," a time of unprecedented co-operation between unions and employers. Bryan Palmer, Working-class Experience: Rethinking the History of Canadian Labour, 1800-1991 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1992), 298.
25. "Progress Report - November 1st to 15th, Inclusive," Howe Sound Company (Britannia Division) Records, box 83b, file 24, UBC Special Collections (hereafter UBC SpColl), Vancouver, BC.
26. Palmer, Working-class Experience, 338;
27. Ferdinand E. Banks, The World Copper Market: An Economic Analysis (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1974), 10.
28. "Shutdown Threatens Britannia," Vancouver Sun, 11 July 1957, 1.
29. Given that the average weekly metal mining wage in 1957 was $81.68, this amounted to a net loss of approximately $12.25 per week. "Averages of Weekly Wages of Hourly Rated Wage Earners, Select Industry Groups, Canada, 1945-1970," Historical Statistics of Canada, ed. H. Leacy, E78-85, http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/11-516-XIE/sectione/ sectione.htm#Employ%20Earn (accessed 21 April 2006).
30. This is approximately $485,000 in 2006 dollars, By November 1957, the price of copper had dropped further, and the company stated it was losing $80,000 per month ($595,000 in 2006 dollars). "Inflation Calculator," http://banqueducanada.ca/en/rates/ inflation_calc.html (accessed 21 April 2006).
31. International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Western District), "Submission to Select Standing Committee on Labour of the B.C. Government, Re: Closing of Britannia Mine," 11 March 1958, 4-5, IUMMSW Fonds, box 115, file 11, UBC SpColl, Vancouver BC.
32. E. C. Roper to G. C. Lipsey, 16 October 1957, Howe Sounds Company (Britannia Division) Records, box 54, file 34, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
33. The total workforce was reduced by 32 per cent. "Analysis of Labor at November 20, 1957," and "Summary of Labor at December 31, 1957," Howe Sound Company (Britannia Division) Records, box 63, file 14, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
34. Royal Bank of Canada to J. E. Nelson, 31 January 1958, Britannia Mining and Smelting Company, Limited, MS1221, box 57, file 55, British Columbia Archives (hereafter BCARS), Victoria, BC.
35. E. C. Roper to J. S. Roper, 27 February 1958, MS1221, box 74, file 1, BCARS, Victoria, BC.
36. Minister of Mines, Province of British Columbia, Annual Report 1958 (Victoria: Don McDiarmid, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, 1959), 56.
37. Al McNair, in discussion with the author, 22 September 2004, Britannia Beach, BC.
38. Kay Pickard, in discussion with the author, 24 September 2004, Squamish, BC.
39. "Bargaining Demands," Mine-Mill Herald, February/March 1964, Greenlee Papers (hereafter GP), UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
40. "Britannia Miners Spurn Wage Report," Vancouver Sun, 24 July 1964;
41. "Britannia Faces 'Indefinite Shutdown,'" Squamish Times, 13 August 1964, GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
42. "Britannia Wage Talks to Start Again Today," Province, 11 September 1964, GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
43. "Britannia Strikers Lose Jobs as Mine Company Pulls Out," Sunday Sun, 26 September 1964, GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
44. Ibid.
45. "Women Join Line at Britannia Gate," Vancouver Sun, 29 September 1964, 1;
46. "200 Autos Join Miners' Motorcade," Vancouver Sun, 31 October 1964, 29.
47. "Union Men Stay in 'Padlocked' Hall," Vancouver Sun, 3 November 1964, 23.
48. "'Border' Maps Ready for Britannia Pickets," Province, 3 October 1964, 29;
49. "Ghost Mine Spectre Looms at Britannia," Province, 26 November 1964, 20.
50. "Talks Bring New Hope in Britannia Mine Strike," Province, 2 March 1965, 9.
51. "Long Strike Ends," Vancouver Sun, 5 March 1965, 1.
52. "Britannia Bustles Again," Vancouver Sun, 9 March 1965, 13.
53. Katharine Rollwagen, "Bunkhouse and Home: Company, Community, and Crisis in Britannia Beach, British Columbia" (MA thesis, University of Victoria 2005), 58-60.
54. These men were not necessarily all unmarried; a housing shortage in the 1950s made it necessary for some married men to live in the bunkhouses and house their families in Vancouver. Ibid., 39-42.
55. Approximately 75 per cent of those named in the Reporter were married employees or family members. Townsite Reporter 1:1-9:8.
56. LS856-536 and LS856-474, BCARS, Victoria, BC. After one social club meeting in 1951, the Beach newspaper, Beachcomber, mentioned that even though the bunkhouse-dwellers comprised 65 per cent of the club membership, only 25 single men had attended the meeting, and only one had run for an executive position. Beachcomber 1, no. 9 (October 9151), n.p., Archie Smith Papers (hereafter ASP), 2687, British Columbia Mining Museum (hereafter BCMM), Britannia Beach, BC.
57. The company did not keep exact population statistics, however, in 1957 Coast-Capilano MP James Sinclair told the House of Commons the mine employed approximately 800 people, and the town housed 312 families. Since all families contained at least one employee (only employees and their families could live in Britannia), we can estimate there were no more than 325 married employees, and the remainder were bunkhouse inhabitants. Canada, House of Commons Debates (14 November 1957), p. 1114.
58. "For Mr. Gaglardi - A Message: You Still Can Save Britannia's Life," Province 3 March 1958, 17;
59. "Britannia Folk Wait and Wonder," Vancouver Sun, 3 March 1958, 2.
60. Al McNair, in discussion with John Pennant, 1 February 1987, Britannia Mines Oral History Project (hereafter BMOHP), 1878-29, University of British Columbia Archives (hereafter UBCAR), Vancouver, BC.
61. Jean Howarth, "Britannia Very Unhappy Town," Province, 7 January 1958.
62. Unemployment levels varied between 2.5 and 5 per cent in the early 1950s, but rose as high as 10 per cent between 1956 and 1959. Between 500,000 and 750,000 people were unemployed across the country at this time. Palmer, Working-class Experience, 271.
63. Howarth, "Britannia Very Unhappy Town."
64. Jim Walton in discussion with Mike Ewert, 15 February, 1987, BMOHP, 1878-42, UBCAR, Vancouver, BC.
65. Jean Howarth, "Britannia a Divided Town," Province, 9 January 1958, 20.
66. Ibid.
67. "For Mr. Gaglardi - A Message," 17.
68. Jean Howarth, "It Is Hard: Pulling up Roots," Province, 8 January 1958.
69. Ian MacPherson, Co-operation, Conflict and Consensus (Vancouver: BC Central Credit Union, 1995), 121.
70. Letter from George Hurley, 24 March 1958, file 34, Credit Union Inspector's Records, B262, BCARS.
71. MacPherson, Co-operation, Conflict and Consensus, 122.
72. Ibid., 121.
73. The exact number is unknown; however in 1964, only 5 per cent of the then-striking employees had been working at Britannia prior to the 1958 shutdown, suggesting that few remained or returned when the mine reopened.
74. BM&S employed approximately 800 people before the layoffs of December 1957 and the 1958 shutdown. Anaconda employed 350 people at the time of the 1964 strike. See Canada, House of Commons Debates (14 November 1957), p. 1117;
75. "Miners Strike at Britannia," Vancouver Sun, 11 August 1964, 7.
76. Employee addresses noted on strike registration forms. See Strike Registration Forms, IUMMSW Fonds, box 120, file 14, UBC SpColl, Vancouver BC.
77. Muriel Green, in discussion with Lisa MacIntosh, BMOHP, 1878-20, UBCAR, Vancouver, BC.
78. Kay Pickard, 24 September 2004; interview with Mary Smith, in discussion with Karen Lessey, BMOHP, 1878-40, UBCAR, Vancouver, BC.
79. Andrea Peter, "A Life Like No Other: A War Bride Remembers Her Years at Minaty Bay, Britannia, 1942-1962," unpublished paper based on discussions with Betty Manson, BMOHP, box 3, file 11, UBCAR Vancouver, BC.
80. Betty McNair, "Britannia a Troubled Town," Squamish Times, 8 October 1964.
81. "Many Britannia Miners Dig In: Ready to Live in Jobless Town," Vancouver Times, 7 October 1964;
82. "Britannia Faces 'Indefinite Shutdown.'" Squamish Times, 13 August 1964.
83. In 1958, the shutdown was seen as permanent; workers were laid off according to union seniority, but did not receive any ongoing financial aid or compensation during the shutdown.
84. "Local 663 - Strike Bulletin," 1, no. 5 (2 September 1964), GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
85. "Britannia People Hope Mine Will Re-open Soon," Squamish Times, 26 November 1964.
86. Ibid.
87. Betty McNair, "Strikes and Pickets," Squamish Times, 8 October 1964.
88. The American Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 limited unions' right to strike and required union officials to sign anti-Communist affidavits. Although it was American law, it was also applied to the leadership of international unions active in Canada. For more on Taft-Hartley, see Robert H. Z. Zieger and Gilbert J. Gall, American Workers, American Unions (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 152-153.
89. Ken Smith, Britannia employee and union delegate, was turned back at the border in 1948 and arrested in Seattle during a later attempt. See Mike Solski and John Smaller, Mine Mill: The History of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers in Canada since 1895 (Ottawa: Steel Rail, 1984), 52-53. Quote is from Palmer, Working-class Experience, 293.
90. Solski and Smaller, Mine Mill, 130.
91. Ormond Turner, "Around Town," Province, 2 November 1964, 25.
92. "Britannia: Fertile Field for Reds," Province, 4 November 1964, 4.
93. Residents' varied reactions to company paternalism are detailed in Rollwagen, "Bunkhouse and Home" 49-53.
94. Ibid., 46.
95. Lucille Gillingham, in discussion with Beverly Petrenko, 18 February 1987, BMOHP, 1878-18, UBCAR, Vancouver, BC.
96. Philip Scranton, Proprietary Capitallsm: The Textile Manufacturer at Philadelphia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 418, quoted in High, Industrial Sunset, 89.
97. Elsie Anderson, in discussion with author, 23 September 2004;
98. Doug Rogers, report on interview with Reg Eades, Jr., BMOHP, box 2, file 15;
99. and Peter, "A Life Like No Other."
100. The company's actual financial situation is of little relevance here; the residents' belief that they were being cheated affected their actions, regardless of whether these beliefs can be substantiated. In dollars, the price of copper increased from $580 to $680 per ton. "The Truth about Britannia Mine," Vancouver Sun, 9 September 1964, 9.
101. Doug Collins, "Bob's Ghost," Vancouver Times, 3 October 1964.
102. "Mine Will Close," Province, 26 September 1964,
103. "Britannia to Shut but Vote Goes On," Province, 28 September 1964.
104. Labour unrest in Rhodesia and Congo during the same period was contributing to a worldwide drop in the copper supply and raising the metal's price, fuelling the miners' suspicions about the company's intentions. "Uneasy Calm at Britannia," Province, 29 September 1964;
105. "Many Britannia Miners Dig In."
106. Collins, "Bob's Ghost";
107. "Mine Will Close," Province, 26 September 1964.
108. "Britannia Faces 'Indefinite Shutdown.'"
109. Collins, "Bob's Ghost."
110. The term social contract is used to describe a relationship between employees and employers in which employers recognize the way their business affects individual workers, their families, and communities. See Steve May and Laura Morrison, "Making Sense of Restructuring," in Beyond the Ruins, ed. Cowie and Heathcott, 260.
111. High, Industrial Sunset, 89.
112. From 1922 until its bankruptcy, BM&S employed three general managers. One, C. P. Browning, held the position for twenty-five years. Each had worked for the company in various capacities before becoming general manager.
113. Norman Girvan, Copper in Chile: A Study in Conflict between Corporate and National Economy (Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies, 1972), 37;
114. Laurie Mercier, Anaconda: Labour, Community, and Culture in Montana's Smelter City (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2001), 20.
115. Olive Baxter, in discussion with Sue Hall, 15 February, 1987, BMOHP, 1878-3, UBCAR, Vancouver, BC.
116. "$15,000 Homes to Make B.C.'s New Ghost Town," 3.
117. Ibid.
118. "Britannia Mine, Union Plan Economies to Keep Running," Vancouver Sun, 23 August 1957, 16.
119. Canada, House of Commons Debates (14 November 1957), p. 1115.
120. "For Mr. Gaglardi - A Message," 17.
121. Doug Collins, "My MP," Vancouver Times, 7 November 1964.
122. Will Trythall, in discussion with author, 23 September 2004.
123. Elsie Hamelin John Dickinson, in discussion with Janice Clark, February 1987, BMOHP, 1878-14, UBCAR, Vancouver, BC.
124. Lucas, Minetown, Milltown, Railtown, 334-339.
125. "Who Pays the Shot?" Victoria Times, 4 September 1957.
126. Katherine Decker, "Life at Britannia," unpublished paper based on discussions with Elsie Hamelin, BMOHP, box 3, file 4, UBCAR, Vancouver, BC;
127. "$15,000 Homes to Make B.C.'s New Ghost Town," 3.
128. "Death of a Whole Town at Least Deserves an Inquest," Vancouver Sun, 11 March 1958, 4;
129. "For Mr. Gaglardi," 17.
130. Jack Scott, "Our Town: Man with Ghost," Vancouver Sun, 26 May 1958, 21.
131. "We Can't Allow Town's Murder," Victoria Colonist, 18 November 1964, 27.
132. "Local 663 Strike Bulletin" No. 5, Vol. 1, 2 September 1964, GP, UBC SpColl. Vancouver, B.C.
133. The term is often used to explore how rural settler communities oppose intrusion by urban governments and/or expanding resource industries. Elizabeth Furniss, The Burden of History: Colonialism and the Frontier Myth in a Rural Canadian Community (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1999), 88-89.
134. Ibid., 88.
135. Local 663 - Strike Bulletin 2, no. 1 (12 February 1965), IUMMSW Fonds, box 120, file 12, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC;
136. Ken Smith to "All Trade Unionists," 17 September 1964, GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
137. "Save Britannia: Cavalcade Sunday," Pacific Tribune, 30 October 1964;
138. "Historic Victory of Mine Miller's at Britannia," bulletin 11 March 1965, GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
139. Local 663 - Strike Bulletin 2, no. 1.
140. "Britannia," Western Miner (October 1964);
141. "Save Britannia: Cavalcade Sunday," Pacific Tribune, 30 October 1964, GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
142. Although 97.3 per cent of the unionized employees voted in favour of the strike, only 268 out of the approximately 350 workers (77 per cent) completed Strike Registration Forms, which allowed them to volunteer for picket duty and receive strike pay. Of the remaining employees, it is possible they did not want to participate in the strike, or left Britannia for jobs elsewhere. See Strike Registration Forms, UMMSW Fonds.
143. International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Western District), "Submission to Select Standing Committee on Labour of the B.C. Government, Re. Closing of Britannia Mine," 11 March 1958, 1, IUMMSW Fonds, box 115, file 11, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
144. Ibid., 2.
145. "Death of a Whole Town at Least Deserves an Inquest," Vancouver Sun, 11 March 1958, 4.
146. High, Industrial Sunset, 168.
147. Herb Gray, Foreign Direct Investment in Canada (Ottawa: Information Canada, 1972), 15.
148. High, Industrial Sunset, 168.
149. Ibid., 169.
150. Ibid., 250n7.
151. Jennifer Ann Howard, "The Impact of Foreign Investment on the Canadian Economy" (MA thesis, University of Victoria, 1979), 21.
152. Smith to "All Trade Unionists."
153. W.A. Booth, president of Local 651 (Kimberley), letter 11 August 1964, IUMMSW Fonds, box 118, file 3, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
154. Local 663 Strike Bulletin 1, no. 4, n.d., GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
155. "Britannia Miners Stage Big Rally on Sunday," Squamish Times, 5 November 1964.
156. "Union Takes Exception to Britannia Editorial," Northern Miner, 5 November 1964.
157. Petition from rally, IUMMSW Fonds, box 118, file 3, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
158. Paper presented to the members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, 26 January 1965, 3, IUMMSW Fonds, box 118, file 3, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
159. Ibid., 4.
160. Ibid.
161. "Save Britannia: Cavalcade Sunday," Pacific Tribune, 30 October 1964;
162. "Historic Victory of Mine Miller's at Britannia," 11 March 1965, IUMMSW Fonds, box 120, file 11, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
163. Leslie Farkas to local union staff, 12 November 1964, IUMMSW Fonds, box 120, file 12, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
164. "Don't Let Foreigners Destroy B.C. Mine," Vancouver Times, 17 October 1964.
165. Charles Caron to J. Davis, MP (Coast-Capilano), 30 September 1964, GP, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
166. R. M. Strachan to Harvey Murphy, 10 December 1964, IUMMSW Fonds, box 62, file 19, UBC SpColl, Vancouver, BC.
167. "Take Over Mine," Province, 17 November 1964.
168. Premier W.A.C. Bennett's 1961 "provincialization" of the BC Electric Company set a precedent for government expropriation of private companies that had not existed in 1958, perhaps making it a more "obvious solution" for Britannia in some British Columbians' minds. Jean Barman, The West beyond the West: A History of British Columbia, rev. ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 285.
169. High, Industrial Sunset, 9.
170. Cowie and Heathcott, "The Meanings of De-industrialization," 14.
171. Ibid., 14.