Slide showing what appears to be a wooden drilling structure at the smeltersite construction area. Men working around with one with a crank? And others appear to be tightening a pole into place. Drilling? A tank the reads "gas" is visible on the left.
James McNay was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on January 31, 1907. Between 1951 and 1953, he worked in the payroll department for Alcan. He had to leave his wife Effie and his two young daughters, Margaret and Diane, aged 6 and 5 in 1951, at home in Surrey, B.C., during his 3-4 month stints in Kitimat. To fill some of his free time and show his family where he was and what Kitimat was like, he spent many hours walking in the area with a 35mm Kodak camera. He photographed the scenic beauty of the area and parts of the construction of both the smelters and the town. He died in Surrey on August 7, 1983.
Custodial History
Donated by Margaret McNay. Images were taken by her father and sent to their family in Surrey in the 1950s.
Scope and Content
Slide showing what appears to be a wooden drilling structure at the smeltersite construction area. Men working around with one with a crank? And others appear to be tightening a pole into place. Drilling? A tank the reads "gas" is visible on the left.
James McNay was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on January 31, 1907. Between 1951 and 1953, he worked in the payroll department for Alcan. He had to leave his wife Effie and his two young daughters, Margaret and Diane, aged 6 and 5 in 1951, at home in Surrey, B.C., during his 3-4 month stints in Kitimat. To fill some of his free time and show his family where he was and what Kitimat was like, he spent many hours walking in the area with a 35mm Kodak camera. He photographed the scenic beauty of the area and parts of the construction of both the smelters and the town. He died in Surrey on August 7, 1983.
Custodial History
Donated by Margaret McNay. Images were taken by her father and sent to their family in Surrey in the 1950s.
Scope and Content
Slide showing bolts on beams of some sort of structure. Base of beam is on concrete base. Side of metal near bolts reads 13.2.625.
Photo depicts flat-top temporary housing lining the hillside up to the Aluminum City Motel at the treeline. View is northwest. Grader on Kuldo Boulevard.
Photo depicts flat-top temporary housing lining the hillside up to the Aluminum City Motel at the treeline. View is northwest. Grader on Kuldo Boulevard.
Notes
Alcan Negative No. 29337. -- The circus tent assembly line was erected . Temporary housing destined for Kitimat was assembled at Vancouver Tug and Barge below the Lion's Gate Bridge in three sections, then barged to Kitimat - 10 houses or 30 sections on each barge. -- Electrician Bill Frahler wired approximately 2,000 houses in Kitimat camps and townsite between 1954 and 1958, working first for Johnson-Crooks then Straits Construction, both U.S. contractors.
