The Bennett dam (Peace River dam) was so huge! The conveyor belt, some three miles was said to be the longest in the world.. Workers had to monitor it closely and get rid of any stuff caught in the rollers. That’s where the guy got his long hair caught. I worked underground for a large part of the time. Had to go and clear out the area in the spillway where the roof fell in on some poor guy. You were supposed to wear a safety strap whenever in a dangerous place. One worker, at the top of one of those penstocks tried switching his strap to move to another part, missed and fell down the opening, killed him. Gord was working at the bottom where the guy ended up. Not pretty.
My wife’s father was an executive engineer on the project and so… got me a job. The pay was great and the food was real good.
I was sitting down to dinner (by myself) when Gord Bateman came up to my table. We’d met for the first time in a favourite bar in Marpole. We became fast friends and eventually shared a room where he taught me how to play chess. Here’s where we lived.
A semi-practical use for my 10,000 historical photos
