Edwin Charles Bateman (Ted) was a Commando in WWII, and later enjoyed his hobbies of cycle racing, ballroom dancing, and photography. He lived in Toronto, LA, and finally Vancouver in the early 50s. After arriving in vancouver he was offered a job as an assistant surveyor in Kitimat. He was subsequently offered a job as a lineman with what became BC Tel.
Custodial History
Judith Saunders
Scope and Content
Photograph of metal tower (communication?) with man on it.
Slide showing transmission tower and arch building at smeltersite. Road and construction material visible in front of them, and other buildings behind to the left. Douglas channel visible in distance.
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 transmission tower and arch building at smeltersite. Road and construction material visible in front of them, and other buildings behind to the left. Douglas channel visible in distance.
Photo depicts a tent with flat-top house assembly on a production line in West Vancouver for Johnson-Crooks Construction Corporation.
Notes
Title based on content of photograph. -- Slide No. 40 -- The circus tent assembly line was erected at Vancouver Tug and Barge below the Lion's Gate Bridge. Temporary housing destined for Kitimat was assembled there 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. Bill Frahler Collection 2003.32
Photo depicts two barges moored in Douglas Channel and loaded with flat-top house sections for construction workers and their families.
Notes
Title based on content of photograph. -- 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. Pat Jimenez Collection
