mining Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Patricia Sandberg

IPPY Award recognizes Sun Dogs!

IPPY award winners announced.

So much of the credit for this book goes to the many former Gunnar residents who spent hours on the phone and on email with me – and sometimes in person – sharing their personal stories about life in a small mining town in northern Canada in the 1950s and 60s. Without them, this story would not have happened. With them, a part of Canada’s history was brought to life. I am so very pleased to announce that with their efforts and support Sun Dogs and Yellowcake has won an IPPY award.

I am grateful to all. Names such as raconteur banker Bill Shurniak, favourite teacher Phyl Cameron, Joan Buck who related her love story and Gary Ciochetti who did the same, Terry Schorn who continues to be a big Sun Dogs’ booster and George Imeson who was lucky to make it to another movie. Kids like the Irwins, Laroques, Ian Cosgrove, Ken Hoddinott, the McFaddens and others who had the time of their life and proved kids were lucky to survive. Schleiffer, Bengts and Georgijevic – the names of post-war immigrants. The Majeaus, Raineys and O’Neills who still make me laugh when I read their stories. As always, my mother Barbara Sandberg whose stories and memory made this book possible. Continue reading “IPPY Award recognizes Sun Dogs!”

New Voices Reading, Vancouver Public Library

Join Patricia and other authors for a reading and discussion of their books at Vancouver Public Library.

Join Patricia and other authors -Jerome Baco, Carson Du, Patricia Donahue and Rena Graham – in the Vancouver Public Library for a fun evening of reading and discussion of the books they have written.

Patricia will talk about her book Sun Dogs and Yellowcake, a book that weaves personal stories of people in an isolated northern mining town into the history of Canada’s production of uranium for World War II and the Cold War.

Questions are welcome and attendees will have the opportunity to talk to the authors after the presentations. The address is 350 W. Georgia St. and the presentations will be in the Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Room on the Lower Level.

CFAX Victoria, Canada’s uranium history on radio

Listen to stories of life in one of Canada’s uranium mining towns during the Cold War.

Interview on iheartradio 1070 AM at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, December 1 with Adam Stirling.

You can listen live at http://www.iheartradio.ca/cfax-1070. As it is an open-line show, you can also phone 250 386-1161 with your questions and comments!

Sun Dogs and Yellowcake, Saskatoon launch

Bringing Canada’s early uranium history to life.

Please join me for the Saskatchewan launch of Sun Dogs and Yellowcake.
Bringing Canada’s early uranium history to life.

Sun Dogs and Yellowcake, Vancouver launch

Please join me for the launch of Sun Dogs and Yellowcake.
Bringing Canada’s early uranium history to life.

The event will be in the lovely Welch Room, 4th floor of the YWCA. Rental of this room helps the YWCA provide programs, services and opportunities for women, children, youth and their families across Metro Vancouver.

Republic of Mining features Sun Dogs and Yellowcake

Excerpt from Sun Dogs and Yellowcake

Shooting the Elephant

Re-enter Gilbert LaBine, some twenty years after his radium score and now sixty-two years old. LaBine, in his nominal positions as president and director of Eldorado, was well informed about Eldorado’s moves in the Beaverlodge area. He was also not averse to conducting a little business of his own.

His first foray was with a highly competent, experienced pilot named John “Johnny” Nesbitt, who had spent his life flying in Canada’s north country, including for Eldorado and its Great Bear Lake operations. When Eldorado switched its focus to Lake Athabasca, Nesbitt added the Beaverlodge operation to his flight path.

He had flown the two prospectors St. Louis and Larum to what would later be Eldorado’s Ace mine, and knew the area well. He too had been bitten by the uranium bug and, when not flying, combed the bush looking for his own lucky strike. In 1950, he found and staked a pitchblende prospect on claims that Eldorado had let lapse near Eagle Lake. This prospect would become the Nesbitt-Labine uranium mine.

Johnny Nesbitt wanted to sell the claims to his employer Eldorado; however, he had an unidentified partner who was more interested in a transaction with Gilbert LaBine. Perhaps for LaBine, it was a bit of a poke at the federal government for confiscating Eldorado, and at Eldorado’s president, Bill Bennett, with whom he did not get along.

Whatever the motivation, LaBine promptly resigned from Eldorado’s board of directors to become president of the new Nesbitt-Labine Uranium Mines Limited. Nesbitt did not have much choice but to switch to flying for the new entity. Construction started in 1952 and the small community of Nesbitt-Labine started to grow around the mine.

An interesting game to play….

Continued at the Republic of Mining website

Sun Dogs and Yellowcake press coverage

Alex Browne of the Peace Arch News has written a fabulous article about Sun Dogs and Yellowcake. Publication date and purchase information to come! Launch South Surrey Sept.14, details in article. Peace Arch News article

Reader Reviews

Sept 30 2018. This emailed message just made my day!

I'm happy to report (and also embarrassed about the delay) that I started reading and am well into your book now, and I have to say that I am very impressed.

I thought it was going to be just another memoir of a small town girl, but the addition of the Cold War context, and the amount of historical research that you have done is simply remarkable. I love and read a fair bit of history, but I'd forgotten or didn't know a lot about this era. Very informative.

The photos are great, and the anecdotal sidebars give it personality and bring it alive. And from a copy editor's standpoint (I used to be one) it is flawless as far as I can see. You might know otherwise. 🙂

Anyway, you have produced an important book, and it deserves a place in every library and bookstore in the country. I hope you're working on that.

Congrats on a job well done! -David Tycho, writer, editor and artist extraordinaire.

.....

It's an amazing true tale of the men and women who built and lived in a uranium mining town on the shores of Lake Athabasca, Sask during the 1950s - 1960s. Yes, uranium! The ore that was key to the manufacture of nuclear bombs during the height of the cold war. This is an elegantly told, respectful story ... It is also about fearless pioneers, risk-taking and commitment to building a community - all values worth remembering. — Simon Johnson, best-selling author of House of Wives

.....

.....My sincere thanks and congratulations for this great little book. One of my first tasks when I moved to Watson Lake, Yukon, was to go over to Cassiar BC and empty our church there prior to its being sold and moved out. All around me homes and two story apartments were being dismantled. Cassiar was a mining town. Its life was the asbestos mine. The town, like Gunnar, had every recreational facility and resource; every building in this neat, properly laid-out town, complete with sidewalks, was heated from the mine's steam plant. In winter, the doors would be open because it was still too hot inside.
When I held the Rite of Deconsecrating the church I invited any and all remaining members to attend. All declined. It was too emotional for them. So my congregation was just my son.
My father was a bush pilot flying out of Yellowknife after the war, but had left there before Gunnar opened. My daughter lives in Yellowknife and just recently the Giant head frame was knocked down. The town was divided between those who wanted it kept as an historic site and those who wanted to be rid of the memories it brought up.
Thanks Patricia for making Gunnar come alive with the residents' memories. John Tyrrell

.....

Sun Dogs and Yellowcake is more than a story of a mining town, it is a story of the Canadian experience and heritage whose parallels exist in small towns throughout the country. Ms. Sandberg unfolds the experiences of the Gunnar community in which the reader assumes a front-row, central seat as the story evolves. What sets this work apart is the superb story-telling and comprehensive research into the historical mining community of Gunnar. Crafted with readable script and supported with excellent graphics and images, it presents the community’s issues, voices, and personalities clearly. Ironically, the enduring significance of what the town represented outlives its eventual demise. A delightful addition to the Canadian library of historical mining communities, Ms. Sandberg has preserved the account of a story almost lost, and added a delightful addition to the Canadiana library! KH

.....

I’ve finished reading your book. Fascinating; brings back long ago memories for me! It must have been a huge amount of work to track down and contact the many ex-residents and obtain their input.

My interest in this story dates from a summer spent camped near the mine. In the summer of 1954, I joined a small crew from the Geological Survey of Canada as camp cook (sort of under false pretences!). It had two senior geologists and two juniors, working in pairs, doing general geology in the southern part of the Crackingstone Peninsula. We were camped along the shore about 2.5 kilometres west of the open pit site from early May to late September. Looking at the map on page 29 of Sun Dogs, it appears that the west townsite eventually extended to within 1/2 km our campsite. We had an arrangement with the mine for our fresh meat and veggies, for which we canoed over to the mine about twice a week.

The memories of a lot of it still remain vivid. An adventure, a summer job after first year of engineering studies at the U of A. Excitement mixed with loneliness amongst a tiny five-person world. This was somewhat relieved by brief trips to the mine for supplies; the excitement of the monthly canoe trips into Bushell and U-City for canned and dry food supplies; deep disappointment at missing out on one such trip. Precious mail, received via the mine. The strange call of the loons, the ravens and foxes, all this new to a prairie boy. Regards, Des Williams

.....

P.S. It was a pleasant surprise to find that my teenage grandson was interested and has begun reading some sections of the book. Maybe I should do some sort of a write-up of what I still remember!

.....

What I’ve read in your book so far is fantastic reading from both a personal and historical perspective. Mining history is a particular passion of mine as I was a brought up in a small coal-mining village in Scotland. Saskatchewan mining in general has been a large part of my business in my current position for more than 25 years and our youngest son will soon graduate from the University of Saskatchewan as a geologist.

I will most certainly pass along your website to my colleagues and friends and recommend they read your book.

.....

It is interesting that in the process of your childhood you 'rubbed up against' one of the most crucial components of the twentieth century—specifically, the mineral that fueled so much of the Cold War.... The book is a vivid, compelling read, and even things that might have become mundane details are interesting—for example, when you get into the parts of how the government became involved in the search for, and in the ownership of, uranium. Very, very interesting. Neil

.....

Beautiful format, pictures, and artwork. Just an amazing telling of the history of Gunnar. — Laurie

.....

Truly, the heart and soul and love and time you invested was well worth it.
I’m enjoying each and every story you collected and wrote. — Sheila J