File contains 3 strips of negatives depicting water control structures inluding pipes, culverts, and holding ponds. The strips were found in a photo lab pouch annotated "Sedimentation Pond Sept 1991" and addressed to "Cassiar Mining Corp. Attn; R. Tyne."
File contains images depicting the underground mine at Cassiar, showing structural damages, repaired damage ground support, and mining and repair processes.
The file contains a photo inventory entitled “Underground Mine Structural Inspection, Rock Mechanics Dept. Foto Documentation” with a complete file inventory linking the picture number to a location, title, and dated film. This photographic documentation was assembled for the purposes of liaising with a underground mining consultant located in South Africa.
- Images document structural ground support including steel cables, support arches, metal mesh, shotcrete, rockbolts, wooden beams.
- Images show ground support damaged through ground movement, but some depict newly installed or repaired support.
- Images depict ventilation ducting that was crushed or torn.
- Mining processes depicted include miners installing a rock breaker, miners paving the adit floor with concrete, miners inspecting a damaged section of mine, miner loading drill or blastholes with ANFO (ammonium nitrate / fuel oil mixture) explosives, and long hole drilling.
- Technical elements of the underground mine depicted include a mining device and ore in a chute (annotated ‘1290 crusher’), the conveyor, ‘LH drill’, ore processing machine annotated ‘1350 breaker’, and an electrical box titled ‘Weighometer’.
- Specific locations shown include ore draw points, ore passes, access drifts, a hatch and door titled “Fuel station 1415”, and a dead end drift with a stack of equipment and an orange cable annotated “1335 access electrical stations”.
File contains photographs featuring the tramline at Cassiar which ran from the crushing plant at the mountain mine to the plantsite in the valley (a drop of 427 meters). The first ore was originally transported by truck to the plant until the gravity chute was built in 1953. This chute was replaced with the first aerial tramline model in 1956, which was succeeded by the second model in 1975. This file also includes one photo of the original gravity chute, and one photo depicting a tramline worker.
Additionally there is a collection of eighteen photographs of tramline cars that were being surveyed for damage and condition, and another collection of six photographs of tramline study. The results of this study determined that there was variances in load sizes of the buckets caused by extra material falling off the panfeeder.
File contains 20 slides date stamped between July and August 1976 and annotated “TRAILER SERVICE SUMMER 1976", depicting the construction and renovation of a mobile home, excavations, and structures believed to be wells or water boxes. File also contains 9 additional slides with no annotations, depicting mobile home and houses in winter. These 9 images are associated with materials dated Nov. – Dec. 1976 and it is likely that these photographs were taken in the winter of 1975-1976.
The file contains photographs originally found in an unmarked and undated black binder depicting colour-coded mill equipment and machinery. Several of these images are annotated “Bell”, “Bell Asbestos”, and “National”. It is speculated that these images originate from the underground asbestos mine in Thetford Mines, Quebec operated by Bell Asbestos Mines Ltd. and the National Mine in Quebec. One image appears to be, or looks similar to the new mill at Cassiar, built in 1971.
File contains images of mine operations and construction, as well as a variety of other subjects.
- Elements of the underground mine are depicted, including miners working, the marked rock face, yellow ducting and ventilation fan, the portal, mesh rockbolted onto adit walls, shotcrete being applied, and stacked mining construction materials.
- Mining equipment depicted in this file includes underground ore haulage truck, Wabco ore haulage truck, jackleg drill, stoper drill, scoop tram, jumbo drill, conveyor, pickup trucks, unidentified mixing or grinding machine, a cable wagon and half constructed ore haulage truck in the shop, and a continuous miner (also known as alpine miner or roadheader).
- A set of images show a dozer and a lowbed truck transporting a temporary building down the pit mine access road.
- Several images depict drill core fragments, asbestos ore, and geological features of the mine.
- Mining related process are depicted, including a young man sluicing and panning, a mine building under construction, and an unidentified steel frame structure with a hydraulic device suspended on a rail.
- A set of images shows a railway or highway construction project, including stockpile of construction materials, rail cars, caboose, locomotive, front end loader, dump truck, concrete mixing trucks, semi-trucks, and a rail car with large steel drums which are speculated to be specialized for tunnel construction.
- Further images show what is speculated to be tunnel construction.
- A set of images at a high ceiling underground mine which is not Cassiar depicts a man in a suite by a underground ore haulage truck, and other mining vehicles including a crane.
- A set of images depict an ungulate herd, possibly bighorn sheep, on a mountain side.
- The file includes several images which depict personal life, presumably from a family vacation, and access to these images may be restricted. These images depict man with children on a fishing trip, adults and children around a pool, a woman on a motorcycle, and a house and kitchen. Several groups of images are contained in envelopes annotated with dates and “K. Minty”.
File contains photographs pertaining to the transportation of asbestos fibre.
- These include portraits of Clinton trailer trucks, trucks from the Cassiar Transport Division at Mile 860 on the Alaskan Highway, the assembly of large freight trucks, an unidentified bridge, and ships and buildings at the Cassiar Shipping Facilities at Pier 94 on the Asbestos Warf in North Vancouver, B.C.
- Twenty-three photographs dated 1982 depict asbestos fiber bales on pallets and inside shipping containers, with accompanying annotations commenting on the quality of the packing. Several images show fibre bales broken during shipment. An accompanying note reads: "SMD - please ensure this cannot reoccur.", and a photo caption reads: "pierced bags are resulting as an environmental problem as fibre is beginning to build up in certain containers." One of the photographs depicting the Cassiar Transport Division was used for promotional posters with the following commentary: "The Cassiar Transport Division operates out of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory and is responsible for delivering the asbestos to the White Pass and Yukon Route terminal in Whitehorse. Fuel oil and supplies are backhauled to the mines. By the end of 1967, the fleet will consist of 65 tractor-trailer units, each of which will carry 23 tons of asbestos. The distance from Whitehorse to Cassiar is 357 miles and Clinton is 403 miles. During the past year, the Division's trucks traveled 2,213,534 miles and handled 75,100 tons, and the mileage to 3.5 million miles. This is a year-round operation and convoys arrive at the mine daily in spite of the long difficult haul. The Division currently employs 43 drivers and 35 mechanics and operates its own maintenance and rebuild facilities in Whitehorse. Over the years these men have established and enviable record of safety, cost and performance."
- Additional photographs that have been integrated depict the Asbestos wharf and its condition, 31 slides of wharf, maps of shipping routes, storage, forklifts, shipping trucks, and packaged asbestos.
- Also included in this file are two copies of a "Photo Survey - Cassiar Ton Units - "Amstelveld & Trojoland" on arrival to Brisbane & Sidney - August 1967." This collection of photographs is a part of an assessment of the efficiency of shipping and transport to Australia from Cassiar. Pictures include: loading, forklifts, storage, ripped bags, broken straps, wharfs, trucks, slings. There are accompanied annotations with each of the photos explaining the safety hazards or inefficiency of the situation. This report was found inside a box linked to James Hardie Industries Ltd. This company is not mentioned in the photograph annotations, but could be related to the report since James Hardie Industries Ltd. was a key player in asbestos mining and manufacturing in Australia.
- Collection of photos of roadside spill of Asbestos, depicting a man with shovel cleaning up on 5 June 1985
- Photos from Eternit Societe Anonyme (a European company that Cassiar shipped to) of packaged Asbestos in storage in 1967
- Collection of photos of James Hardie Coy. Pty. Ltd. shipment of asbestos that was not stored or transported effectively. Many photos depict broken bags as a result of inadequate storage and forklift punctures.
- Collection of photos of Cassiar/Stewart Road Proposal. Photos depict tests of the various stages of shipping and transportation process including forklift tests, Marineo Sling tests, stacking tests, durability tests, container loading tests, problems with current units etc. Also included is a marketing drawing if proposed shipping plan - drawn by "Stewart 1977."
- Photos of shipping process of Turners Asbestos Fibres Lmt. Photos depict lowering asbestos pallets onto barge with swing, and storage on barge.
- Collection of photos of a shipment of asbestos, but the bags of fibre are not identified as a Cassiar shipment therefore the location is unknown.
This file contains operations at the plantsite:
Below is synopsis of the item level descriptions (see each item for further description)
- locations depicted at Plantsite: mill building, dry rock storage building, tailings pile, gravel pit, power house, and office.
- delivery and installation of a Caterpillar engine, welding repairs underway on a Rustin Diesel Engine in the power house, staff portrait taken by the main office building, and fibre testing
Not done to item level but integrated into subseries file: - Photographic negatives included depict milling and packaging machinery in the mill building.
- 93 slides depicting various activities and equipment at the plantsite including: dry rock storage, screens, collectors, loading trucks, bagging, pallets, tailing pile, lab work by engineers, lab equipment, fibre testing, and fibre samples.
- photographs of conveyor foundations, tailings equipment, Grizzly truck, containers from site mechanical inspection, and portable crushing plant in June 1991.
- photos of fibre samples from lab - on display
- collection of photos of 1970 Mill modification Program of April 1978
- collection of photos from 1961 and 1962 of plantsite lab and asbestos samples. file labeled "Suter - Webb VU Graph Analysis" and "Suter - Webb and Turner Comb Analysis"
- Pressure Packer modification photos done by Chapman Industries in 1986
- Powerhouse equipment from 1979
- additional 43 slides of inside the mill in June 1978. Slides were used at a board meeting.
- negatives of inside of mill
- A photo album of 162 photographs depicting various operations at the plantsite including: drill dust collector, outdoor surroundings, conveyors, and the mine site. (album was originally labelled "Cassiar Plantsite).
File contains photographs depicting four different tours that took place at the mine, plant, and towns owned by Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd. Tours include Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's visit to Clinton Creek in 1968 and Member of Parliament Iona Campagnolo's visit to Cassiar in 1978. Photographs also depict a party of ambassadors touring Cassiar in 1970, and the dedication of a building in the Cassiar plant in the late 1970s.
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 of miniature models for new mill.
- File contains photographs done to item level description, depicting miscellaneous people and locations at or around Cassiar, B.C. This includes a photograph of renowned prospector William (“Bill”) Storie, Bill Pratt with a fox, a community gathering in a someone's home, and a hockey game.
- Also included but not to item level is a photo of "David Madore" as part of his application to Cassiar, photo of "William Field" a local hire maintenance mechanic, and photos of a RNWMP Post sign (Royal North West Mounted Police) that depicts annotations "Indian grave" , "Miners Cabin" , "Road House" , "Customs House" , "St. James Church" , "Swansons Store" etc., and 15 negatives of various individuals at what appears to be someone's home.
- Also included is cabin at Boya Lake, which used to be named Chain lake, located off the Stewart-Cassiar highway. This land of this cabin may have been involved legal issues , which was related to people at Cassiar.
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.
This file contains photograph from early construction of Cassiar Mine and townsite. Photographs were stapled to inter-office correspondence paper and sent with pages of photo descriptions. Photographs have been removed and rehoused, maintaining original order.
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.
File contains images depicting room by room view of a house in Cassiar identified as house 288. Handwritten annotation on verso of photographs: "288 June-9-1992". Photographs originally found in file labeled "TOWN ADMINISTRATION Small Business 1981"; it is likely that these images form part of the process documentation for a small business license.
File contains photographs of a report completed in 1980 depicting the ambulance garage, as well as the interior and exterior of the hospital building in Cassiar, B.C. Each room is captured, as well as medical equipment such as the X-ray, audiometer, lung function apparatus, and autoclave. A doctor, two nurses, and several patients are shown. Accompanying report contains a description of the medical facilities in Cassiar including a detailed budget, description of staffing and utility requirements, and a floor plan of the facilities.
In addition there are two albums of Cassiar Hospital and Pharmacy Staff engaging in social functions. These photographs appear to be informal and depict staff parties, people at work and some of the patients, including their thank you notes to the Cassiar Hospital staff.
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 collection of early mill construction. Various annotations note retaining ribs, pouring ribs, pouring retaining walls, the west wall, steel work, transformer house, and furnace pad.
Images contain technical engineering drawings from the Asbestos Mining Corp. Drawings are primarily of plant buildings and mining and milling equipment, but also include drafts of town site and utilities, (extensive images of water and sewer pipes and septic systems). Microfiche slides are 4.6cm x 3.5cm mounted on 8.3 x 18.2 cm paper cards with systematic puncture marks, presumed to be an antiquated form of computer memory. Slides are numbered ranging from 1001 to 1549 and a drawing number ranging from 1006 to 8008, generally in the format “2017/02/02”. Microfiche are dated 1950- 1976, several are dated “OLD”, and several are undated. All microfilm reels are annotated “CASSIAR ENGINEERING DRAWINGS”.
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.
Collection of photographs of the construction of the crushing plant and related services at Cassiar in 1963. The work was contracted out to V.B. Humphrey Construction Ltd based out of North Vancouver. The photographs depict the foundation, installation of machinery, erection of steel frame building, and conveyor system. D.G Garret Foreman was in charge of the project.
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.
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.
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 contains images of a land dispute around Cassiar. The photographs depict a cabin on a lot, a destroyed cabin, and outhouses. The accompanied documents in the original file refer to the subjects of "Claims, Leases, and Land lots," and it is implied that there were issues of squatters, illegal occupation, and mineral claims.
Photographs depict aerial views of the Cassiar townsite, plantsite, tailings pile, mine road, bench and pit mine, mine buildings (tramline loading station, crusher, shop, and garage), and surrounding mountain range. Here "aerial" refers to photos depicting a large area and taken from the air or from a high point of elevation.
File contains photographs annotated Nordenham, presumably indicating that these images were taken in the Asbestos Corporation's plant in Nordenham Germany. The images depict bagging machinery in the mill, including a palletizer, automatic sewing machine, packer, shrinkwrap machine, glue applicator and cement bags. Some of the images include detailed annotations.