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CASTLEGAR NEWS, MAY 25, 1980

Spring cleaning
no easy feat for

CanCel pulp mills:

Almost six months of planning go into every mill
mainteriance shutdown. This Easter was no exception, as
hundreds of skilled tradesmen and helpers worked to repair
and re-assemble parts of Celgar Pulp within their deadline.

Spring cleaning took on special meaning
for employees at CanCel's two pulp mills
this Easter. It happens twice a year. in the
spring and again at Labor Day. when ali
the buttons and valves and motors are
shut off in sequence as the meticulous job
of shutting down for maintenance gets
underway.

In early April. both pulp mills ceased
production for almost a week while
hundreds of major — and minor —
Tepairs were made to mill machinery. The
fact that both mills were able to
accomplish what they set out to dois a
feat of modern-day organization.

“If we didn't spend months planning for
that week we'd be lost.” admits Jack
Dunn, maintenance superintendent at
Celgar Pulp. He and his supervisors, 2
crew of tradesmen. mill helpers and
contractors are responsible for making
the hundreds of repairs to mill equipment
that can only b2 done when the mill is
down,

The job of organizing and delegating
the maintenance work can be almost as
complex as the work itself. Meetings
among supervisors and foremen are held
throughout the year to compile a master
list of jobs that need immediate attention.
As the list grows. decisions have to be
made about what items can be fitted into
an extremely tight schedule.

“Obviously, when your mill is down.
you're losing production. The secret is to
cram as much work as you possibly can
into the shortest time span — and thei
get the mill back up to operating speed.”
Dunn adds.

In the case of Celgar Pulp, shutdowns.
are usually measured by how long it takes
to complete work on the mill's recovery
boiler. Since it usually requires the most
time, and is one of the most critical
operating areas of the mill. it usually
governs how many days the mill will be
out of commission.

Peter Johnson, who assumes the week-
long responsibility for the boiler work.
explains that because of the specialized
nature of the work, contractors are called
in to handle the complete job.

“This shutdown, ve decided to carry
Out a number of jobs on the boiler to keep
it in operating condition.” he says.
“Altogether. we've had about 100 outside
contractors come in to town to handle the
delicate and precise repairs needed on the
boiler.” In addition to the major job of
replacing tubes and casing and re-doing
the refractory wor on the bottom of the
boiler, other contractors are kept busy
y-raying the boiler tubes to ensure there
are no serious flaws or weak spots.

Housing and feeding this smali army of
outside specialists taxes Castlegar’s
capacity. During shutdown week. hotel
rooms are booked solid. dining rooms
crowded, and buses kept busy ferrying the
workers back and forth to the mill site.

Because of the extremely tight

Part of the mill's maintenance workforce
eating supper In the mill's cafeteria.
Because of the size of the crew, meals
were served in three shifts.

deadlines, not all work is left until the mill
is completely shut down, a process that
can take up to a full day. As Dunn explains
it, planning takes into account the fact that
some areas of the mill are shut down
before others.

“Often we can go into one of the areas
that shuts down early and begin tackling
jobs there before the rest of the mill staps -
running.” he says.

“We always use the first day of a
shutdown to fix all the steam leaks that
ywe've noticed in previous months. That
way. we can get some jobs completed and
out of the way.” Dunn adds.

Atthe same time, electrical crews begin
the time-consuming task of cleaning the
insulators that carry the main power
supply into the mill. These ceramic
insulators frequently become coated with
lime dust from the kiln and have to be
wiped clean as a safety precaution.

This spring's shutdown was a typical
one for Celgar Pulp. Included on the list of
maintenance jobs requiring attention were
215 separately identifiable tasks —
including about four or five major
undertakings.

The list, which is divided up into
different areas, ranks each item by
importance. Those which have high
priority are done first. followed by jobs
that may be less pressing. Smaller
maintenance tasks, such as packing pumps
or changing gaskets may take one or two
tradesmen only a short time to complete.
Others, like replacing the dryer coils on
the mill's Flakt dryer. can often stretch out
for three or four days.

Except for a few specialized jobs such as
boiler repairs and x-raying. all
maintenance work is carried out by the
mill's own employees.

“This Easter, we had close to 180 mill
employees working 12-hour shifts on the
shutdown work,” Dunn says. The majority
were regular mill tradesmen and
apprentices, assisted by other mill
employees who worked on site during the
week as helpers.

Their combined work this Easter will
determine to a large extent what projects
will be undertaken during the mill's next
shutdown at Labor Day.

“Often, inspections made during one
shutdown reveal work that will be
completed during the next shutdown,”
Dunn adds.

He admits that even though some jobs
can be handled “on the run” or while the
mill is operating, these are usually in the
minority.

It's a never-ending process, but one
that's essential to the mill's operation. As
one employee put it, “Every time we
replace a piece of machinery. the mill
becomes a little bit different. After a few
more years of this, we could have an
entirely new mill here at Castlegar — or

Reprinted
from
Canadian
Cellulose
News

overalls.

~

s
sor Dave McFarlane watches as crews prepare to tift cover onto the mill's #1 power boiler
induced draft fan, which had been removed so new re-bullt rotor could be Installed.

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Unsafe
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Think all the food ad-
ditives permitted in food sold
in Canada have been proven
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y.

Above: Dave ae ‘Out the oll sump on the #1 power boiler |.D.
fan turbine, just one of the mill maintenance Jobs that call for heavy-duty

aS

Favors lake route

: ' CUoice of the People / be

, Castlegar News:

Copy ofa letter to Mayor
Audrey Moore:

Re the news story in the
Castlegar News on the two
proposed highway routes to
Fauquier.

In the event that you are
not aware of the Passmore
proposition, I might say that
the only real purpose that
route would serve would be
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I only hope that your
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powerful lobby and have the
route up the lake. The lake
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gone by and have been the
herds of goats and the cari-
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mountain when you can have
a beautiful scenic lakeshore
drive?

R.A. Fowler
Robson, B.C.

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Bus Leaves:

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return Sunday approx. 11 p.m.
All inclusive fare oon

Reservations 352-6584

Castlegar 11.4.m., Trail 11:30 a.m.

Information

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June 7, 1980 —9a.m.-5 p.m.

EXPLORATION
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Learn how you can be an active and committed
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FEE: Pre-Registration $16.00
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“ite 1 |

tna inate i aa!

during. 11 ‘months

of the tugboats Elco | and T

In this second in-
stallment of _ the
history of Waldie’s
Mill, author Esther
Lang tells about the
tug boats that were an
important, part of
early-day logging,
about the various jobs
performed by sawmill
employees, and about
a Chinese cook who
took a bath in the
iarge pan in which he
usually made bread —
and then found him-
self bathing uncere-
moniously in’ the
Columbia River.

Some of Waldies’ main logging
operations were carried out on the hill-
sides around Whatshan Lake above
Needles. Here a flume four to five miles
long was built to transport the logs from
the bush to the lake. a

Trees were also cut along both sides
of the Arrow Lakes, from Nakusp down
to Castlegar. Very few of these logs
needed to be loaded. onto flatcars to be
taken to the mill. Extensive logging took
place around Arrow Park where the logs
were driven or floated down the creek.

Above Robson, trees were also cut
out by Waldies’ loggers, as well as on
the hillsides around Castlegar. The skid
marks on these hills were proof of a
large logging operation. Farmers
clearing land plac togs in the
water to sell them to Waldies’, and when
the tugboat came along the farmers’
logs were added to the boom behind it.

Logging for Waldies’ took place
of the. ‘year.

during mid-winter when the
snow was very deep and when the lakes
were frozen over, logs were too hard to
take out of the bush. Besides, frozen
logs could not be efficiently handled by
the mill because they tended to bind the
saws.

Many of the logs were piled near
large streams at Arrow Park or at Fire
Valley near Edgewood in the early win-
ter so that in ‘the spring, with the high
water, it would be easy to get the logs to
the lake without building additional
flumes or skids.

There were many Species of trees
logged. Among those, hemlock and lar-
ch were the most popular because they
were of good quality. Also cut were
spruce and fir which were hardy trees
and made good lumber. White pine was
considered the most valuable and there-
fore was the most wanted. Cedar was
sometimes cut for lumber, but mainly for
shingle production. :

During the Second World War, cot-
tonwood was cut to make wood for am-
munition boxes. A large amount of light
wood was-needed for war supplies and
so the loggers were instructed to cut
almost any kind of timber that, was
readily available. ‘

Cottonwood is not normally used for

Blacksmith shop in the Waldie Mill in the late 1920's or early 1930's. At

in 3 . = been : E
‘Building
g

History of the voyages and crew

The Elco Il at Deer Park during the annual picnic for the crew and their families

lumber because it tends to ‘bend too
easily and does not provide the strength
necessary for a building material.

Because coast fir had strength and
durability, the “Elco” was constructed of
this lumber. The first “Elco" was built at
the Castlegar millsite around 1910.
There was little or no current in the Jake
and so there was a need for a boat to
tow most of the logs down to the mill.
Also, where the current was strong, no
one wonted ‘a load of stray logs oc-
cupying the greater part of the river's
span. Therefore, the loga were grouped
together in the water and a chain of logs
bound together ot the ends was drawn
around those logs to moke a log boom.
These booms were pulled to the mill by
the “Elco.”

After nearly 15 years of good ser-
vice, the hull of the “Elco 1" began to rot
away. In the fall of 1924 plans for a new

“Elco” were drawn up and presented by
A.S. Blondin, of Halcyon, above Nakusp.
The new “Elco” was built from larch or
tamarac lumber because it was found to
be the most durable boat-building
material available.

The lumber was cut in the mill's
logging area around Whatshan Lake and
boat-building began late in the fall of
1924 on the Lower Arrow Lake near the
present Castlegar-Robson ferry.

No two pieces of lumber were
deliberately shaped alike. Each piece of
wood was cut individually on bevals and
angles, and in the shape that would best
suit the position it was to serve in the
structure of the boat. The curves for the
ribs were plotted on a wooden floor.

Mr. Blondin supervised the shaping
and fitting of each piece of lumber to en-
sure the quality of the structure, At last,
in 1925, the “Elco" was finished and

hed

Photographs courtesy of Corrie
Schafthuizen, author of the yet-to-be-
published The Life and Legends of the
Arrow Lakes Woodworkers.

right is Barney Trussler, who passed away earlier this year after con-

19 to live in C

upon his retirement.

+ Fuel on this tugboat was slabwoed,
trom the mill-tailings which was carried
on a barge beside it. Only enough slab-
wood was carried ‘or the trip up the
river because space was limited. For the
return trip, cord wood and drift wood

iad to be collected from along the
beaches. This wood, when burned,
created enough steam power to propel
the boat about half-a-mile an hour when
it was pulling a full boom of logs. The
average load of logs that it pulled con-
tained 12 million feet.

The crew of the “Elco” consisted of
six fo seven men, including a captain, or
a skipper as he was often called, an
engineer, a fireman, a cook, and two or
three deck hands. This crew lived on the
tugboat, and worked 10 hours a day,

though they were idered “on call”
for 24 hours a day. Wages of $60 a mon-
th were paid to an ordinary boat worker
in the 1930's. This pay exceeded that of
the lumber mill workers.

The skipper was the highest paid’
man on the boat, his income ranging
from $90 to $100 in the 1930's. His job
required @ great amount of skill. Piloting
the boat and giving orders to the crew
were his main duties,

The engineer kept the tools handy,

‘ready for use, and maintained the

engine of the tug. He also oversaw the
steam pressure to give the “Elco” the
greatest speed and efficiency, and
helped to splice a cable or to fix a weak
link in a cable chain.

The fireman's job was. to see thot
sufficient fuel was kept handy to be used
in the firebox to produce enough steam
power to move the “Eco.”

The deck honds were kept busy
watching to see that the boom did not
break loose or jam and couse difficulty
in towing. They also had to see that
enough stove wood was available for
the cook, as well os for the fireman.
Another of their responsibilities was to
collect the driftwood for the return trip.

No one seemed to want the job of
cook for very long, and so the “Elco” had
many such functionaries. The hours

. were long and meals’ were not always

eaten at the time they were prepared,

. because some crew member may be oc-

cupied at a job that could not readily be
left and returned to after the meal. This
meant that meals had to be kept hot,
and often the cook was inconvenienced.
Making bread was hing which

About the author: :
Esther Lang is the daughter of
Castl d - and

Mrs, T. Long.

An SHSS graduate of 1968, Miss
:Lang wrote this history of the Waldie
Sawmill as o History 216 term paper at
Selkirk College in 1970.

She now teaches a grade 6 class at
Ashcroft, in the South Cariboo Schoo!
District.

boat, 36 feet in length, and containing a
two-cycle motor, was the first diesel
boat on the Arrow Lake, and therefore
was called “Old Smoky’: by the residents
of the area.

Because “Old Smoky” had little
power, it was more of a launch than a
tugboat. The crew's job was to supervise
the booms of logs which were tied near
the ferry and to see that none of them
slipped under the boom sticks to fleat
down the river, Once one log got away,
it was easier for other logs to do the -
same, and if not supervised closely a
whole boom could be very easily lost.

When all the booms were gathered
they were taken to the breakwater and
whirled into the storage pool.

The logs were carried individually
from the water storage pool, up a
“jackladder slip’ and onto the
“bullchain,” which conveyed them to the
sawmill. The log was stopped at the
scaler’s station where the scaler
measured the log and determined the
number of board feet of lumber it would
produce.

if the log was excessively long, or
misshapen, it was cut to length at this
station and sent on its way to the
carriage where it was made secure. This
was done by a steam-operated “nigger”
which held the log securely in place
while a “hammer-dog,” operated by a
man called a “dogger,” was driven into
the log. Once the log was securely on
the carriage, the “sawyer” determined
at what width the log should be cut so

_ that maximum use could be made of

each log.

On his advice the man whose job
was termed the “setter,” set the log on
the carriage at the stipulated thickness
in relation to the position of the saw.
The “sawyer” then brought the log to the
saw to make the first cut. This cut took
off some of the bark, along with a slice
of wood from ‘the largest end (diameter)
of the log.

The log was then flipped over. by the .
“sawyer” so that the cut was opposite
the saw. Once again it was “dogged,”
and another similar cut was made on
this side. These slices of wood and bark,
called “slabs,” passed along on rollers to
the “edgerman” who would trim the
edges and send the boards to be either

had to be done regularly. Often male
cooks could not successfully make
bread. When the crew complained too
bitterly, the cook found somewhere that
he would rather be, and consequently
left the job. Sometimes the teasing was
meant in fun, but taken seriously.

This was not the case with the
friendly Chinese cook, Sam Wong Du,
who gave good service and kept his job
for quite a long time. He was deter-
mined to be clean, so much so thet the
captain and crew found him taking a
bath in the large pan in which he usually
mixed the bread! :

The crew at once taught him how to
take a bath in the lake, by throwing him
overboard. No one understood the flow
of words he uttered in Chinese as he hit
the water, but there were no more
leisure baths token in the bread pan by
this faithful Chinese cook.

Before the 1950's the only apparent
problem on the “Elco” was the lack of

_ communication between it and the
sawmill, If the crew was waylaid due to .

a storm or due to mechanical difficulties,
the men at the mill just had to wait for

the logs. When this happened the cap- ‘

tain was in trouble because sometimes
production was at a standstill and the
men were idly awaiting the arrival of

* logs, so they could begin to work again.

But in the 1950's, Waldies’ did install a
radio system in the “Elco” which solved
this problem,

With all the hardships and excite-
ment of a iugboat crew's life,. they
operated and maintained the “Elco” in a
very efficient manner.

In 1929 another boat, to be an
auxiliary to the “Elco”, was built. This

Correction

In error last week, the
Castlegar News reported that
Wm. Waldie Sr., founder ‘of
William Waldie & Sons Ltd., had
only three sons.

in fact, he and Mrs. Waldie
had four sons and three daugh-
ters.

Besider | ; Coch
residents John and Bob Waldie,
now deceased, and Bill Jr.
("W.T.") living at Robson, the
Waldies had another son, Fred,
who died at Kimberley in 1974,
daughters’ Mrs. Mary McGregor
and Mrs. Marion Elley, both
deceased, and Mrs. Jean Owen.

or recut.

Now the log could be sliced by the
saw into boards.

This process was carried on in the
same manner as the slabs were token
off, except that the log was left in one ~
position until all the boards were made.
The boards were then flipped over and
sent in rows, down revolving rollers, ac-
cording to the kind of lumber they would
be used for.

If the boards needed to be resawn,
it was done a little later in the overali

rocess by the “tail edgerman.” Scraps
rom this process were cut off and sent
onto a “slasher chain.” Here five sow
cut the slabs into pieces, edch four fee:
in length, which were carried to the lath
mill. Small pieces not suitable for the
making of laths were used for fuel on
the “Elco” tugboat, fuel for the steam
boilers at the mill, or even sold to the
public for firewood. i

By this time the good lumber was
pushed to the “tail edgerman” where
the bark had been trimmed off by saws
set usually anywhere from two to 12 in-
ches ropes whatever width was con-
sidered necessary. These saw blades
were set so that just enough wood wos
trimmed off to cut the board to size. This
width was determined by the
measurement of the boord at the
smallest end. The edgings were sent to
the slasher by the “tail-edgerman.” The
edged lumber then went on to an
automatic trimmer table where a saw
cut the ends squorely.

These semi-automatic sows were
set 24 inches apart, up to a 28-foot limit,
and no lumber was less than six feet in
length. The poor lumber was taken out
and placed onto the slasher chain, while
the good lumber was sent fo the green
chain where eight men piled it, accor-
ding to size, on wagons. These wagons
remained in the yard until it was
necessary to dry the lumber in drying
sheds.

The drying process was carried out
at a moderate temperature for the
duration of a day. If the lumber was
dried too much, it had a tendency to
crack, whereas if it was dried too little
the finished product would not have a
shiny finish.

Still another operation involved the
“roller drive” and the “slab resaw”
which cut the board horizontally in half.
in the case of a board two inches thick,
two boards of the same length and width
were produced, but each was only one
inch thick.

This sawmill process took place
every day for nine months out of the
year. Approximately 10 to 13 million

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