Interview with Mike Krall

Audio recording and transcript of Mike Krall's 1979 interview with Myrtle Bergren for the Coal Tyee History Project. His wife, Laura Krall, also contributes to the interview. Krall discusses both his and his father's experiences working as coal miners on Vancouver Island. Krall opens the interview by talking about his involvement in creating the coal mining exhibit at the Nanaimo Museum. He gives details about mining jobs, equipment, and methods, including how explosives were used in the mine. He talks about various mine accidents, including one where his co-worker Bill Wilson was serious injured in the #10 Mine in South Wellington, the flooding of the Beban Mine in 1937, and his own close call in the #10. Both of the Kralls reflect on the inherent risks of coal mining and how miners and their families were cared for by mine doctors. Krall also discusses horses in the mines and early attempts to organize a union.