Eastern Collieries of Bienfait Ltd.
or the Eastern Mine``

Opened in 1920- closed late 40`s

Deep Seam Type Mine originally
Later switched to Strip Mining like the newer mines
Only instead of draglines,
 they used cats and scrapers to clear the overburden.

Owned by Herbert (Herb) Wallace, and his brother, of Estevan.
Herbert Wallace's son Don Wallace, worked underground
and appears in a couple pictures below.

5th largest mine in 1931
Part of the Big Six, time of Sept 29,1931 Strike

Edward Pierce Jr. was manager at one point. 
Born 1896, died July 30, 1973
buried in Estevan City Cemetery

A Mr. R. D. Newsome is shown in a picture below,
in the Bienfait Museum, as Mine Manager,
but I think he was a lawyer in Estevan in the 30's.

I know a Francis (Frank) Edward Newsome
 was mine manager at one point here.
He was born in Registration district of Lambeth,
 near London England, Aug 1878, died July 5, 1945,
buried in Estevan City Cemetery
He also managed mines at Bienfait, and Crescent Collieries.
He married Mary Elizabeth Densley,
 in the Registration district of Bristol, in England, between Jan.-Mar. in 1904
They lived in Bienfait for many years, later moving to Estevan.

My Dad Phil Gent worked underground at this mine in the 30's.
Just west of Bienfait, north of Hwy 39
We lived on the Sherman / Gent farm,
just south of this mine,
on the south side of Highway 39 at that time.
This company owned the mineral rights under our farm in 1940.
Note- Highway 18 to Bienfait, goes on a NE angle just North of this site,
and the new Highway 39, now turns south before this area.
The part of Hwy 39, shown in the 2004 picture below,
is a long abandoned portion of this Highway.
Highway 39, south from the corner of our farm, 1 mi S. of Bienfait,
is now closed for strip mining (2007-2008).
The mining company got approval to close the highway
to Roche Percee, from this old corner, to the new Highway 39.

Tipple Located SE 1/4
  Section 24- Township 2- Range 7- West of the 2nd Meridian
They owned the mineral rights for Section 13 and 24

Shown as the large Orange C on this map above
Click to enlarge thumbnails


Eastern Mine site, ca 2004

My Mom and Dad's first House at Eastern Collieries

Mom & Dad's house at the Eastern Mine

Known as the Deepest Shaft Coal Mine in Saskatchewan

Most Photos below at the Bienfait Museum

The "Old" Eastern Mine Tipple 1920-21 This tipple Burnt down in 1925 Rebuilt between 1938 and 1940	Picture of the remains of the 1925 fire,  taken in 1938
The "New" Eastern Mine Tipple 1940	Same picture as below with a new caption now
Parting for gathering of Coal for delivery to Shaft Bottom R. D. Newsome, Mine Manager  shown in center of picture	Eastern Mine Showing Under Cut Machine in shearing position Workers L/R- Jim Duncan, Jim Gent, Don Wallace. Jim Gent was my Uncle
Eastern Mine, Stripping with Cat and Scraper ca late 40's Stripping the dirt off the Coal "new" Eastern tipple in the left background.	Eastern Mine, Stripping with Cat and Scraper ca late 40's Stripping the dirt off the Coal "new" Eastern tipple in the left background.
Using a small Cat to move a loaded CPR Box Car loaded with Coal.	Eastern Mine, shovel loading coal into a truck for delivery to the Tipple. Using Strip Mining methods here. Caption says 12ft Seam. ca late 40's

 View the pictures above
in better quality
at the Bienfait Museum

My Dad, Phil Gent's Pay slip
Dec 1938 from this mine
He earned $31.95 for the MONTH of December.
.30 cents/hour
From that they deducted $14.50
His take home for the month= $17.45
plus the $3.75 worth of coal he probably bought
for use at home.
Dr Fairbairn's fee was $2.00 a month.
Tough to make a living at those prices.