File contains photographs documenting the construction of Cassiar's new mill building. Photos depict early excavation, foundations, framework, construction of all seven stories, sheeting, siding, and roof tarring. Also included are photos depicting the large model of the mill, as well as construction work done on the tramline. Photos taken inside the mill depict flooring work, and milling machinery including feed chutes, screens, fans, wheelabrators, control panels, electrical panels, conveyor systems, vacuum systems, and the fan-driven air system that transported the fiber. Many photos depict construction workers, building supplies, worksites, and equipment including cranes, bulldozers, tractors, hauling trucks and trailer flatbeds. Some photos depict aerial views from the new mill and feature the plantsite, tramline, mine road, mountains, and valley.
Photograph depicts Joseph wearing safety gear while standing at testing equipment on raised sampling station. Sign below Joseph reads "DO NOT DISTURB / SAMPLING IN PROGRESS / PROPERTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL DEPT. / CASSIAR ASBESTOS LTD." Helen Joseph took air quality tests in the working areas and town (see item 2000.1.1.3.19.135). Power lines, unidentified building, and mountain base visible in background. Photo was taken during winter.
Photograph depicts two unidentified men wearing coveralls, hard hats, and headphones, while working at table in garage. Blasthole drill stands behind them in background.
File contains set of images taken in Faro, Y.T. Annotation on photo envelope reads: “Visit to / CYPRUS ANVIL / FARO Y.T. / SEPT 1975 / BY DALE CARIN / R. WILSON.” Images depict the pit mine operated by Cyprus Anvil Corporation, including a grader, ore hauling truck (likely a Wabco), an explosives transport truck, and unidentified equipment including an electrical utility box and some type of rotating wheel in the mill building.
Men working among lumber at crusher building site, various materials scattered throughout. Vertically protruding planks from framework of crusher building are in foreground. Tree-covered valley in background. Construction of a long structure near the edge of the excavation area can be seen in midground; this is speculated to be the section of the crusher building which housed conveyor "B".
Men standing behind saw horses on bottom level of crusher building site, lumber scattered throughout. View facing into mountainside.
View of crusher building from above, featuring the bottom level foundation. A dirt road and long building believed to be housing conveyor "B" cross the midground. Valley in background.
Photograph depicts man standing at bottom of crusher building. Portions of framework near top are covered with plastic. Snow on mountainside in background.
Handwritten caption beside this photo reads: "Lunchroom Damaged by Boulder". Large boulder stands to right of small building, walls of right corner partially destroyed. Lumber, upturned saw horse, and various other material lie on ground. Dirt road in foreground, mountainside in background.
Blue sky in background.
Handwritten caption beside this photo reads: "Elaborate barricades required due to amount of loose rock falling continuously". Three men work in area confined by barricades made of vertical metal rods and horizontal wood planks. Miscellaneous building material and supplies cover the ground. Rock pile in foreground on right.
Photograph depicts a construction worker carrying a plank of lumber across a higher level area of the construction site, semi-constructed walls below him. Barricades against loose rock are semi-visible in foreground (see item 2000.1.1.2.352).
Three men work in area confined by barricades made of vertical metal rods and horizontal wood planks (see item 2000.1.1.2.352). Two ladders in foreground, (one being used by construction worker). Lumber and semi-finished walls can be seen at higher level of elevation in background.
Stick, boom, and bucket of a "NORTHWEST" cable shovel excavator can be seen left of a steep wall of earth in lower level of construction area. Construction worker is partially visible in foreground on far right. Building materials in background.
Handwritten annotation on recto of photograph: "FORMING FOOTING RETAINING WALL JULY 4/64." Photograph depicts construction workers
standing in forms for cement laid against mountain wall on high elevation of construction site. A retaining structure made with wood planks and rebar separates mountainside dirt from cement forms. A front end loader can be seen in midground, near unidentified building. Mountain range in background.
Handwritten annotation on recto of photograph: "POURING FOOTING RETAINING WALL JULY 4/64." Photograph depicts construction workers manually pouring cement into forms laid against mountain wall on high elevation of construction site. Cement is being transported by wheelbarrow. A retaining structure made with wood planks and rebar separates mountainside dirt from cement forms. A bulldozer can be seen in background, as well as a front end loader and back hoe tractor. Building at crusher site also in background.
Handwritten annotation on recto of photograph: "FORMING FOOTING FOR TRANSFORMER HOUSE AUG 20/64." Photograph depicts construction workers standing in forms made of wood and rebar for cement footings. Lumber scattered throughout, mountain range in background.
Photo depicts workers at construction site of Cassiar's new mill building.
File contains portraits and sample photographs of exposed asbestos fibre: in veins of rock outcrops, and loose in talus on McDame Mountain (location of Cassiar mine). Some photographs were printed in Cassiar's Annual Reports, with labels and descriptions.
Photograph depicts a pick hammer hanging from outcrop. Annotations on note glued to recto of photograph: "ASBESTOS"; "Outcrop of fibre bearing serpentine about centre of deposit and vertically over 300 adit on western slope." Areas of image have been labeled "A" and "B". Photo caption under printed copy of image in 1952 Annual Report: "A - indicates asbestos talus. B - indicates asbestos veinlets."
Photograph depicts two unidentified men on road or mining bench at high elevation on mountain, valley in background.
Photograph depicts shovel loading Kenworth haul truck in mine. Unknown man stands on left, mountain range in background.
Photograph depicts cable-operated shovel loading two Kenworth haul trucks on road in mine area at high elevation. Three unidentified men are gathered around truck in foreground. Valley and mountain range in distance.
Photograph depicts unknown man driving bulldozer in foreground. Shop area in background, numerous haul trucks and dozers throughout. Old mine garage can be seen in center behind dozer, and the mine's West Peak rises on right behind shop buildings. Mountain range in background. Handwritten annotations on recto of photograph: "Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Limited. Cassiar B.C. Mining asbestos ore elevation approx 6000 ft. above sea level. McDame mountain, Northern British Columbia"; "Toronto Set"; "D - 336"; "-4 1/2 -". What appears to be framing measurements are annotated on verso.
Photograph depicts a man in work clothes and hard hat standing with hands placed on the first of many tram buckets hanging in a line. Steel beam framework of station building rises above him. Handwritten annotation on recto of photograph: "[F1?] LOADING STATION EL. 5800". Photograph was glued to cardboard backing with the annotation: "1962".
Photograph depicts red truck dumping waste at what is believed to be the tailings pile at the Cassiar plant. Small building and unidentified individual in bottom left foreground, valley and mountains in background. Photo caption next to printed copy of image in 1953 Annual Report: "Stockpile of 80,000 tons of Ore at Mill."
File includes six aggregations of photographs which have been assembled in this file in order to maintain the integrity of each group by keeping the photos arranged together, though each group features operations pertaining to multiple files in this subseries. Includes groups featuring photos from 1961, 1965 1971, a helicopter trip, a community album, and a workplace album. Photographs depict images pertaining to the following operations at Cassiar, B.C.: mining, milling, maintenance, labratory tests, and tramline and town operations. Images featuring operations of the company town include the grocery store, bank, churches, school, library, lounge, pool, theater, community center, outdoor recreation, hospital, dentist, cafeteria, bus route, residences, air strip, firehall, laundromat, park, police, and newspaper.
Photograph depicts a man wearing a hard hat preparing explosive material, mountains in background. Dog stands near edge in midground, large bags of Ammonium Nitrate in right foreground. Handwritten annotation on verso of photograph: "1961".
Photograph depicts a large shelter over building believed to be power house. Electricity lines cross midground and run to power house. A man can be seen crossing the foreground by steel frame supplies, and a second building is partially visible on right. Mountains stand in background and a crane can be seen operating in front of power house. Handwritten annotation on verso of photograph: "1961".
Photograph depicts unidentified woman using Bauer Mcnett machine to test length of fibre samples by using water. Woman stands facing wall, away from photographer, unidentified equipment on either side.
Photograph depicts unidentified man lifting package of asbestos bags with forklift in large building. Truck in background, ready for loading.
Photograph depicts two-story yellow and orange office building. Unidentified individual stands with garden hose in foreground near what appears to be a lawnmower. Warehouse semi-visible in left background; blue truck and new mill building visible in right background. Handwritten annotation on verso of photograph: "Cassiar Office June 15 71".
Photograph depicts two unidentified men in front of yellow and red helicopter at unknown location. Power lines and trees in background. It is possible that this photo may have been taken at Clinton Creek, Y.T. rather than Cassiar, B.C.
Photograph depicts woman wearing safety gear in second floor of mill building, holding unidentified instruments. Helen Joseph took air quality tests in the working areas and town (see item 2000.1.1.3.19.147).
Photographs depict construction of the new mill, each taken from approximately the same distance and featuring two different angles of the building. Construction work progresses from framework to sheeting and siding. Vehicles, piles of building supplies, and a construction trailer are often in foreground, mountains in background. It is believed that these photographs were taken during a labour dispute. Each photo has been annotated on recto with the date and time of day, and some document the number of workers on site. Annotations include: "2 days work", "work gets less & less", "not much for 4 men", "very little done - less than usual low performance", "0° - 20° weather must have thickened their blood".
Photographs depict different construction projects at separate locations in Cassiar. Photographs were originally housed in envelopes with the following annotations: "POLICE STATION. July 15, 1977."; "Aggregates and Concrete (PERMASTEEL)"; "Fibre Storage and Handling"; "Powerhouse Expansion"; "Sewage Collection Plant."; "Sewage Treatment Plant"; "Single Person Accommodations - Site Work."; "Outside Work - Camp Nos. 1,2,3." Photos generally feature the work sites, supplies, vehicles, machinery, and work in progress at each location.
Additional photographs integrated into file include maintenance project on lining of tubes, lining of aspiration hood, and lining of willow fiberizer. Also five photographs of maintenance in the townsite to fix in ground piping.
Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd opened a second mine in 1967 at what became the one-industry town of Clinton Creek, Y.T. File contains photographs depicting progressive construction of buildings at the Clinton Creek mine, plant, townsite and powerhouse. Mine photos depict the crusher site and tramline station. Plant photos depict the dryer, fibre storage, mill, service, vault, and office buildings, as well as the dry rock storage tunnel, reclaim tunnel, and loading dock. Construction living quarters are depicted as well as the construction of residences at the townsite. The power house was built south of the town and plant, on the shore of the 40 Mile River. Some annotations describe the type of material being used for construction.
This file includes two major photographic collections concerning the construction and development of the underground mine at Cassiar, title the McDame Project.
The first collection includes fifteen monthly progress reports documenting the development from July 1988 to December 1989. The progress reports are authored by G. Verret, and were distributed to the executives of Cassiar Asbestos in Vancouver as well officials of the B.C. Government and other creditors of the Corporation. Most images are annotated and dated. Many of the loose photographs are accompanied by an inventory sheet.
Subjects depicted include: the staging area prior to mine development, the initial development of the “Vent Portal”, a jumbo drill working on the mine face, the working face marked for drilling and wired with fuses, a Caterpillar dozer clearing snow after an avalanche, scene of a fire in winter time, complete conveyor sump decline, mining vehicle parked on the “Lay-Down Area” presumably near the portal, the working face of the mine at various stages of development, 1563 portal being slashed, the removal of the overburden for the tramline loading station site, the construction of the transfer tower(s), construction of the stockpile area, the construction of a sedimentation pond, a presumed cave in, construction of footings for the conveyor, construction of the tramline loading terminal station, construction of the crusher building, a slash titled “Breakthrough in Access Ramp”, storage of powder and fuses, a washout in conveyor decline, fog at the portal in -30 degrees Celsius, the 1290 junction flooded, a slab of shotcrete which fell on and injured a miner while shotcreting, shotcrete blasted off walls for repairs, images of the “Hilti-test”, shots showing grade of drift, and structural failures in the 1350 adit.
Locations and structure within the underground mine depicted include: yellow ventilation ducting, ground support including steel screen and shotcrete, steel cables bolted unto ground support, puddles in the adits, the access road to the lay-down area, the exhaust drift, “Fans and Heaters in the 1415 adit”, the 1350 sump, the access ramp to the 1320, the exhaust ramp safety bay, the conveyor decline, the ventilation adit, the 1563 portal, the temporary repair shop at the 1415 portal, junctions of various drifts, the ”Fresh Water Pump & Pumphouse on lower Creek”, the “Ventilation Raise/1563 Platform”, a “Diamond Drill Station” at 6066 North in the underground mine, the “Bridge to the Gravel Pit”, the “Crushing and Screening Plant” in the gravel pit, the ventilation bulkhead in the conveyor decline, and the “Powder Magazine”.
People depicted include Rose Gay and R. Tyne on a tour of the underground mine, a geologist with a rockhammer, a miner identified as A. Jacobs working, contract miners Bruno and Marbel from Canadian Mine Development, and unidentified miners rockbolting, shotcreting, and drilling using jackleg drills.
Vehicle and mining equipment depicted include jeeps, pickup trucks, a front end loader, an unidentified a small unmanned tracked machine with a long arm, scoop trams, a land cruiser, an ore truck with a flat tire, the cone crusher, a “scissor lift”, a mobile shotcrete machine, a new grout pump, a new Boart Jumbo Drill, and a detached bucket half of a 413 ore truck.
The second collection depicts the McDame Project construction in 1986 and 1987.
Content of these photographs includes: various machinery used for excavating and drilling, underground progress of tunneling, supports, wire meshing, rock formations in mine, and exposed asbestos. There are no annotations regarding this photographs.
Photograph depicts two unidentified men in coveralls and hard hats, working in garage. Blasthole drill stands behind them in midground, walls in background.
Photograph depicts two men wearing coveralls and hard hats in shop area. Wally Cameron stands on right.
Photograph depicts Chris Tates seated at table with paperwork in left foreground. David Pewsey stands behind on right, pointing to what appears to the Fibre Loading Schedule. Pewsey was supervisor of the Fibre Storage Shed. Both men wear hardhats. Tates believed to be wearing gold nugget Cassiar ring on left hand.
Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd opened a second mine in 1967 at what became the one-industry town of Clinton Creek, Y.T. File contains photographs depicting different areas of operations at Clinton Creek. Locations include the mine, plant, town, tailings pile, main office, the 40 Mile River, and surrounding area. Town photos depict the grocery store, cafeteria, medical clinic, school, auditorium residential area, Connell Street and power house. File also includes aerial photographs and images depicting forest fighting, photographers capturing the tailings pile, asbestos samples, mining machinery, staff offices, and operations in the mill, lab, and garage.
Additional photographs integrated into file depict Clinton Creek's surrounding area, and three slides of a tailing pile explosion believed to be Clinton Creek.