Interview with Albert Tickle

Audio recording and transcript of Albert Tickle's 1979 interview with Bernard McNicholl for the Coal Tyee History Project. Tickle opens the interview by talking about his family's immigration to Canada. Prior to their move to Nanaimo in 1918, the Tickle family lived on Cape Breton Island where Tickle's father worked in the mines there. Eventually, Tickle and his brother both joined him as mine workers, even though they were only 12 and 14 years old. Tickle talks about some of the different jobs he had in both Cape Breton Island and Nanaimo area mines, and he compares coal mining wages, methods, and union activities between the two places. He talks about how mules and horses were used in the Number 1 Esplanade Mine, and he reflects on their mistreatment. He explains how he left coal mining for a time to work at the Hamilton Powder Company's Departure Bay location, and he talks about some of the jobs he had there. Tickle details how he returned to working in coal mines, at both Morden and Granby, and he explains some of the conditions at these mines. He talks about the Granby townsite, and he also expresses his dislike for underground work. To conclude the interview, Tickle answers questions about transportation methods, medical care, social activities, and sports.