"I remember when the engineer started the fire in the powerhouse; I was the second guy in there with a fire extinguisher!"

For years known as the best Cummins Diesel man around, Angus worked at the Argonaut Mine; an iron ore mine back in the fifties located in the Upper Quinsam Lake area. Angus worked as a monkey wrencher on the equipment; at the mine if you broke it - chances are it was Angus who fixed it.

Angus’ Story

“I got into mining because it was the only job around at the time. I was right out of vocational school as a mechanics helper. I worked at the Spit from the summer of 1952 until Christmas and then moved to the mine. I was at the Argonaut mine for probably over a year. Harry Grey was the master mechanic for a long time. I worked for him while at the Spit; when he moved to the mine he asked me to come with him. I liked working for Harry. I was shovel mechanic on our shift; only because nobody else wanted the job and I was the youngest in the shop. Ernie Shillito was my helper, he was a good worker.

“At first the ore trucks that hauled from the mine to the beach, to the Argonaut Wharf, were Euclid belly-dumps that were never intended to be long-haul trucks. Around January 1952, the Mac Tractors pulled the belly-dump trailers. There were also some contract trucks running from the Argonaut to the wharf; they were just contracts with individual haulers.