Interview with George Mitchell

Audio recording and transcript of George Mitchell's 1979 interview with Myrtle Bergren for the Coal Tyee History Project. Mitchell shares memories from his 35-year career as a coal miner in the Nanaimo area. He talks about how his family lived in Ladysmith while his father worked at the Extension Mine, and how his father missed the 1909 explosion in the mine by being on a different shift. Mitchell reflects on his memories of the multiple funerals in Ladysmith for the miners that died in the explosion, the Vancouver Island Coal Miners' Strike, and he also talks about some of the other industries in Ladysmith. He describes how he was injured by a mule in the mine, and he also gives details about the flooding of the South Wellington Mine in 1915 due to a surveying error. He gives a detailed account of surviving a "blow out" in the #10 South Wellington Mine, and he also shares how his brother was killed in the Granby Mine. Throughout the interview Mitchell talks about mining equipment, conditions in the mine, and what it was like to work with mules.