I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Historical Society ofAlberta Vol. 2 ALBERTA'S COAL INDUSTRY 1919 Edited and with Introduction by DAVID JAY BERCUSON Alberta Records Publication Board HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA 1978 Copyright 1978 by the Historical Society of Alberta, Calgary, Alberta All rights reserved Published with the assistance of grants from the Alberta Department of Culture, the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation, and the Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. Introduction lilt INTRODUCTION This volume is an edited transcript of the hearings of the Alberta Coal Mining Industry Commission of 1919. The government-appointed Commission was established in the late spring of 1919 to study all important aspects of the min­ ing, distribution, marketing and uses of Alberta's coal resources. It held hearings in each of the coal producing areas of Alberta and witnesses- mine owners and managers, miners, government officials and consumers­ were invited to give their opinion on the state of the in­ dustry. Their verbatim evidence was transcribed from stenographers' notes and was used by the Commission to ar­ rive at a series of recommendations to the provincial govern­ ment (see Appendix I). The Commission was formed because the post-World War One period was a time of labour unrest and business uncertainty; the government and the coal industry wanted to know the industry's state of health and what could be done to improve it. Because of this, the Commission's evidence presents a good picture of the Alberta coal industry in 1919 and the main concerns of the people connected with it. Coal mining in Alberta began in the 1880s when mines vm Introduction were opened in the Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Canmore areas. These were small operations designed to produce coal for the Canadian Pacific Railway or home heating fuel for the handful of newly-arrived white settlers. In the 1890s larger collieries were opened in the Crowsnest Pass while small mines, sometimes operated by two or three men, were dug in the vicinity of Edmonton. After 1909 the Coal Branch was opened in the foothills west of Edmonton. The last major coal region was opened two years later in Drumheller, northeast of Calgary. By the outbreak of World War One in August, 1914, coal mining was a major industry. Alberta collieries contributed more than 27 per­ cent of total Canadian production; more than 3.5 million tons in 1914. Over 8,000 persons were directly employed by the industry, the bulk working as underground miners. I Alberta coal was roughly divided into two categories. "Steam" coal was primarily mined in the Coal Branch and Crowsnest Pass areas. It was good bituminous with low ash and moisture content suitable for fuelling steam engines and providing power for the smelters of British Columbia. Steam coal collieries tended to be large operations with multiple shafts employing several hundred men in each. Until the end of World War One they generally sold all they could produce and had few marketing problems. "Domestic" coal was intended for heating buildings. It was poorer bituminous or lignite coal with a relatively high ash and moisture content. Most came from the smaller mines in the Edmonton, Drumheller and Lethbridge fields, though some collieries in these areas also produced steam coal. The market for domestic coal was always less secure than for steam coal. Producers had little trouble selling in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but beyond that their reach was limited. The west coast was serviced by mines on Vancouver Island while consumers in the American Pacific Northwest pur­ chased coal mined in the state of Washington. Alberta pro­ ducers could not compete against high quality Pennsylvania anthracite allowed into the central Canadian market by Canadian tariff policy designed to keep fuel costs as low as possible. They could usually not even compete in Winnipeg. Alberta coal went east by rail, an expensive operation, while Pennsylvania coal was shipped to the Canadian lakehead by lake steamer and unloaded at the huge coal dock facilities owned by the major Canadian railroads. By the time it ar­ rived in Winnipeg shipping costs had pushed the price Introduction zx higher than for Alberta coal, but the difference- rarely more than two dollars a ton, was not great enough to discourage consumers who preferred the cleaner burning, easier to handle American product. 2 Coal mining was a highly complex business. It started at the coal face where men, usually in pairs, worked rooms in the coal seam. This was the "room and pillar" method. '. Tunnels were driven into the coal seam and widened into rooms separated by pillars of coal. The pillars supported the roof while the coal was being removed from the rooms by picking, if it was a soft variety, or blasting. The men who dug coal, loaded it into mine cars, laid track to the coal face and shored and bucked the rooms, were contract miners. They were paid by the amount of coal dug, graded and weighed, or by the yard. If they drove tunnel, or set up timbers and did other preparatory jobs, they were paid a set rate for each job. The contract miners were the elite of the mine labour force. They had to be highly proficient to earn a decent living and to preserve life and limb. Once the coal was loaded into cars it was taken to the sur­ face. The men responsible for the general maintenance of the mine, driving the mules that pulled the mine cars (most collieries in Alberta were too small for electric mine engines) bringing the rail and timbers to the contract miners, or cleaning up the grounds, were "company" men (sometimes also "day" men). They earned a daily wage bas­ ed on the numer of hours worked. They were also responsi­ ble for inspecting, running and repairing the huge fans that ran constantly to pull dust and gas out of the mines and force clean air in, and the pumps that kept some shafts from flooding. At the surface the coal was weighed, watched over by a check weighmen elected and paid for by the men. The mine car was then dumped, the coal cleaned of bone (rock) at a large picking table and, at most mines, passed over a screen. The screening separated the coal into lump coal (usually pieces more than eight inches in diameter), nut coal (from one to eight inches), pea coal (usually smaller than two inches), and slack (powder and tiny pieces). Miners were docked for bone or slack. And if their cars con­ tained bone more than twice, they were fired. Once graded, the coal was loaded into railroad cars and shipped directly to wholesalers in the city. Alberta coal was soft and therefore perishable. Shipping in closed box cars or gon- x Introduction dolas and storage in closed sheds was necessary. If the coal was handled too often- by the miner, the pickers, the bar men or the railroad- it deteriorated. The railroad had to be very careful when handling cars. One problem that careful handling could not solve was over-production. There were simply too many coal mines in Alberta even though it was rare for any of these mines to work at full capacity. 3 The coal business was seasonal. De­ mand for home heating fuel was almost non-existent in the spring and summer. Since it was difficult to store Alberta coal for long periods, there was little hope consumers could be educated to buy coal in the off-season when it was cheaper. But steam coal mines were also tied to seasonal rhythms. Rail traffic was slack on the prairies in the spring and summer and only became heavy in the fall and early winter when tons of grain had to be shipped. There were thus hundreds of mines in the province, from small opera­ tions to major collieries, which served a market that almost disappeared for about six months of the year. Some operators opened mines on speculation, ran them for two or three seasons and then abandoned them. Coal fields were honeycombed with unworked shafts. There were too many under-utilized mines which tied up capital and ate into pro­ fit margins while standing idle. In the off-season these mines still had to be maintained, cleaned, pumped out and kept free of gasses. The miners too suffered under these con­ ditions, and rarely worked throughout the year. They were forced to hire on as farmhands, section hands or spare labourers in the country around the mines. World War One temporarily solved some of these pro­ blems and gave a great boost to the Alberta coal industry. Coal was in demand to fuel troop and freight trains carrying war materials and to power the smelters. Production almost doubled and thousands of men were added to the mine labour force." But the industry also had problems. A coal strike in 1917, launched by District 18, United Mine Workers of America, which represented almost all western Canadian coal miners, brought production to a halt. The strike was for higher wages to enable miners to keep up with the rapidly rising cost of living. But it was in violation of a contract with the Western Coal Operators Association which represented most coal operators in Alberta. It was also against the orders of the union's headquarters in the United States. The federal government intervened to end Introduction Xl the dispute and appointed W.H. Armstrong, a Vancouver contractor, coal commissioner with power to set coal prices, regulate production, determine wages, and settle disputes.