Vancouver Coal Company
As part of the Chinese Historical Wrongs Legacy Initiative, we’ve digitized a small selection of inquests and inquiries from 1872 to 1934, found in series GR-0431. These were chosen to reflect the experiences of early Chinese immigrants to B.C. – their living and working conditions, and their unfortunate accidental or unusual deaths. They range from a woman working in a brothel in Barkerville who died of natural causes to three sawmill workers who died from malnutrition. Learn more.
*All transcriptions are provided by volunteers, and the accuracy of the transcriptions is not guaranteed. Please be sure to verify the information by viewing the image record, or visiting the BC Archives in person.
*Please note that archival source materials are original historical documents that have not been censored, reviewed or otherwise altered by the Royal BC Museum. Some materials may contain content that is racist, sexist or otherwise offensive. The Royal BC Museum is only the custodian of archival materials; the content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Royal BC Museum.
Current Page Transcription [edit] [history]
36
marked the places with chalk that contained or held gas and then entered it in the book. I made the usual chalk marks on the face. The diagonal slope was the most dry part of the mine. The number three North level was not very dry It was a kind of dampish. Number one North level was damp. The diagonal slope was very dry. I remember the watering of the slope. It was about nine days before the explosion. It was watered on Saturday night and it was very wet on Sunday night. I had to go to the sides on Sunday night to get in to some of the places. That was the only time that it was watered that I know of. It was ordered to be watered on the following Saturday night but I do not know whether it was watered or not. To Mr Drake [?2L] When I examined the mine I took a safety lamp and sometimes went down one way and sometimes another. I generally go down numbers one two, three, and four north and then to the main slope number five Smith then up the main slope to number three level and then to the diagonal slope. I examine the stalls of the diagonal slope and then go down to the face. That would be almost the end of the shift. It generally takes seven hours and a half. I do not always examine the parts which are not working. but I examine all the working portions and the airways and I always report the presence of gas even if small in quantity. I see the fireman of the previous including previous shift before I make my entry into the workings – on the third of May I saw James Price the fireman of the previous shift at the foot of the shaft. He made no report of gas but said everything was clear and found no signs of gas that day. I have been a fireman four years for the Vancouver Coal Company. and have been a miner for forty eight years. I was fireman at Wellington for eighteen months. The miners of the Vancouver Coal Company were careful as far as I