Interview with Johnny Sandland

Audio recording and transcript of Johnny Sandland's 1979 interview with Bernard McNicholl for the Coal Tyee History Project. Sandland opens the interview by talking about his family's arrival on Vancouver Island, where his father worked as a miner in first Cumberland and then Nanaimo. Sandland started working at the picking tables at the Number 1 Esplanade Mine when he was 14 years old, and he continued on in other jobs and at other mines. He talks about the conditions and equipment used at the different mines he worked at, as well as what his jobs and wages were. He reflects on how mules, horses, and ponies were used in the mines, and he also speaks about safety conditions. He describes how miners were trained on the job, and also what happened when they were injured. Throughout the interview, Sandland gives many details about living in Nanaimo, talking about education, entertainment and social activities, church life, transportation methods, politics, and sports. He also describes union activities, how miner's took their breaks in the mine, and how the Depression impacted miner's wages.