Interview with William Raines

Audio recording and transcript of William Raines's 1979 interview with Shirley Ramsay for the Coal Tyee History Project. Raines opens the interview by talking about growing up and living on his family's farm in the Cedar area. He explains how he started work at a young age because his father's back was broken in a coal mining accident. Raines worked mostly in the Reserve Mine and the Number 10 South Wellington Mine, but he also worked for a brief time at the Number 1 Esplanade Mine in downtown Nanaimo. He describes the working conditions, surface buildings, and equipment used at the different mines, and where the coal went once it reached the surface. He talks about several accidents that happened, including when he broke his leg, and he also talks about union activity and how conditions were improved after the union was formed. Throughout the interview, Raines reflects on what it was like to work with mules and horses in the Reserve Mine and he expresses his strong preference for horses.