Vol . 14, No. 4 . Decem'::>er, 1955 George M a inwaring Editor did not understand what it was all about, but when a crowd gathered he was always there. So now Twinkle tagged along. Christmas Story Their mission performed, the angels started back to Heaven. But Twinkle was a curious little fellow and he wanted to see what this was which the T WINKLE was a mischievous angels were so excited about. So he decided to find little angel who loved to out. Instead of returning with his friends, he fol- play in the streets of Heaven. lowed the shepherds who were going to investigate There w e r e m a n y happy the news the angels had brought. cherubs there, but Twinkle Twinkle saw the shepherds go into a near-by had a bubbling boyishness, town and then into a stable. A little frightened by whic'h made him popular with these dark and unfamiliar surroundings, .Twinkle his friends. There was a glint kept out of sight. of playfulness in his eyes Then very quietly Twinkle tiptoed over to the which won him his name. He door of the stable, gently pushed it open and was known occasionally to stepped inside without a sound. At first he was play tricks that disturbed puzzled. What was so wonderful about this? Just some of the older and more a woman holding something in her arms. She sedate angels. Sometimes at a looked up and saw this chubby little angel standing serious moment he would lift t•here. Partly through embarrassment and partly his eyes and wink at some because he was the kind of angel he was, Twinkle sober, elderly angel who, in winked at the woman. She smiled-a gracious, spite of himself, could not help gentle smile it was, that encouraged him; so he smiling back at the little came closer and then he saw the little baby in her fellow with his downy wings. arms-the most beautiful little babe that Twinkle Twinkle had a lovely little had ever seen, so helpless but so dear. The twinkle silver halo which he usually in the little angel's eyes brightened. He reached wore tilted a bit to one side- up to his silver halo-it was tilted on the side, as as no proper angel should. usual-and took it off and, reaching out, placed it on the head of the babe. Again the child's mother One day word went around smiled, in gratitude. She reached out her hand to Heaven that a great event was touch Twinkle, but he, startled by his daring, turned to occur on a distant star and fled into the night. called "the earth" and that a He was out of breath and his wings were worn company of angels was going when he finally reached the gates of Heaven. on a journQy to celebrate this important occasion. Twinkle Hearing his clamor for admission, St. Peter opened the portal and greeted him with a stern re- proof. "Twinkle, where have you been? And what have you done with your halo? Have you got into trouble again?" Twinkle slipped in without answer- Published quarterly at Flin Flon . ing. But the story soon spread and everyone Manitoba, by Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting Co., Limited. wondered how Twinkle had lost his lovely silver Printed by Tlte Wallingford Press Ltd., halo. Such misbehavior as this must be brought 303 Ken nedy St., W innipeg 2. to the attention of the good Father who ruled in Engraving by BTigden's Ltd., Winnipeg. Heaven. So when all the celestial company was Authorized as second class mail, Post (Continued on page 26) Office Dept., Ottawa. 1 Mine Bob Ash F OR every man on thte Underground pay- roll actually mining there are at least half-dozen doing other jobs. These men might be repairing, supervising, caretaking, Frank Hurta and Gil McCracken framing sprags. timbering, hoisting. On a morning's trip one would run into quite a few of these men, as we did on a recent trip, doing jobs like this. About fifteen men were rebuild- ing the Main North Main Shaft ore bin, which after 25 years of service had deteri- orated to such a point that it was on the verge of collapse. This bin is 30 feet in diameter, 45 feet high, fabricated from steel angles and %" boiler plate and lined with 8" x 8" timbers. To give you an idea of the size of this job, over 1,500 pounds of rivets were used to rivet the repair plates together. It took four weeks to com- Fred Zwarich, Wilt Trudeau, Morel Ram$tead and Martin B rolund standing on top of the N01·t1t Main Shaft ore bins. plete. The bin holds over 2,000 tons of ore when full. Some of the men we saw work- ing around were Martin Brolund, Morel Ramstead, Louis Tusz, Wilf Trudeau, Micky Genyk, Johnnie Pozniak, Howard Whitmore, Ralph Borchardt, Fred Swarich. Len Wiebe, Joe Tresnich and Mike Matko, plus Thor Grant and Ernie Mooney doing the supervising. Around 125,000 lineal feet of sprags are used in the Mine during a year. These are cut along the flux line and delivered as needed. Quite a few of these sprags are used in cribbing operations, which means that they have to be framed. Gil Mc- Cracken and Frank Hurta were the men Andy Tokar and Luka Obradovich making spacers. with axes and saws the day we were look- ing around. Another wood job is the mak- Gus W olden shining up the Mine sedcms. ing of spacers. These are about %" square, 12" long, and are used as fillers when load- ing a hole with powder. Around 2,000 are used every day. These are made out of scrap timbers and Andy Tokar is the man who does most of the sawing. Changing main hoist cables is a job you will not see every day as they usually last from a minimum of two years to a maxi- 2 mum of four years, but we did watch them change the North Main Shaft counter- balance wire rope on our trip around. This rope is the smallest of all our Main Mine hoist ropes, it being llh" in diameter, 2,700 feet long, and weighs 4.20 pounds per foot and has a breaking load of about 105 tons. The procedure for changing a rope is fairly simple. The counterbalance is bulkheaded Mike Matko and J oe T resnich cutting timbers. in the shaft at surface and the cage at the 1,690 level, clamps removed and used cable is coiled as it is released from hoist on a jacked-up reel. The method of putting the new rope on is to attach a light rope to end of new cable, pull it up the shaft, over the sheave wheel and into the hoist drum, where it is attached and coiled on drum. Men seen working on this job were Andy Jacobson, Wilf Camsell, Joe Cooper and Neil McKinnon. A few of our other men we saw on odd jobs were Bob Donald, Charlie Johnson and Bill Bazylewski working in the Steel Shop. Alf Highfield, Russ Eagle, Mike G eor ge Lyons, Paul R ozek and Charlie Boyko and Earl Garinger repairing drills. D unbar outside the oil shed. Bill Folwark and Max Yaroshewich were handing out supplies. Walter McAdoo, Vic McBride, "Doc" Peterson and Lloyd Clarkson are working as stationary engineers looking after the boilers and compressors at North Star. Oscar Branson, Gordon Grindle and Jim Gallant do the hoisting at Schist Lake. Angus Mullaney, mine timberman, Fred Robinson does electrical repair work feeds his grandson. at Birdh Lake, with dozens of other fellows on miscellaneous jobs related to but not direct mining. The Mine are again sponsoring a team in the Inter-Departmental Hockey League. ... Arnold Thompson is the coach. If you have . a spare evening come down to the rink and do a little cheering for your team. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Ted Siluko/J, one of Getting a man in his twenties is as easy our underground hoistmen, ready for as throwing a rope around a work horse: a day at the lake. In his thirties, it's like lassoing a bronco. 3 f .:..... : . .. ' . ' . Dear Comrades and Friends: . On behalf of the Executive of Branch No. 73 may . extend sincere greetings and best wishes for the . festive season . + To our Comrades confined in hospitals and homes, a special greeting .. may the true meaning of Christmas lift your heart with courage, and bring you and yours renewed spiritual strength for the new year. : We do not forget - we con not forget - those . whose sacrifice made it possible for the Spirit of Christmas to roam free throughout the world. With- . out that sacrifice there would be no "Merry Christ- . mas." "At the going down of the sun and in the morn- . ing"- and on Christmas Day- ''we will remember . them." LEN H. WIEBE, President Fl in Flon Branch No. 73 . .. .. ..: . .: : . ..: . C. C. Setterington WONDER WHY ... blazed a path to freedom over the British there is such a small attendance at th e Isles that is not forgotten today. Sunday, regular general monthly meetings? September 18, the R.C.A.F. commemorated At this time the Membership stands at the 15th anniversary of the Battle of 724 and at the October general meeting Britain, the fateful fray when airmen of there were 35 present, including one visi- the free world crossed aerial swords with tor.