Interview with Nelson Dean

Audio recording and transcript of Nelson Dean's 1979 interview with Myrtle Bergren for the Coal Tyee History Project. Dean opens the interview by detailing his difficulties finding steady employment due to his participation in union organizing activities. He talks about his various jobs in the forestry, mining, and construction industries in locations throughout coastal B.C. He then focuses on his mining career, which spanned 15 years. He talks about various jobs he had in the mines, the types of equipment he used, and he gives information about navigating coal mines underground. He shares his memories about he Oscar explosion, about the cage accident in the Protection Island Mine, and about the Vancouver Island Coal Miners' Strike. He reflects on how the strike affected not only his own family, but also the larger community. He talks about the explosives industry in Nanaimo, and he shares his thoughts on the risk of entering abandoned coal mines. He concludes the interview by sharing a story about his uncle getting help from a mule to escape the Extension Mine after an explosion.