Brand: Eastern

Eastern Collieries of Bienfait Ltd.
aka: The Eastern Mine`

Sec 13 and 24
2-7-W2

C on this map above- 
 49 deg, 08’, 09.31” N
 102 deg, 49’ 21.12”W

Dec 1933 Map
of the "Big 5" Coal Mines near Bienfait

Opened in 1922- 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.

President and Managing Director
Herbert (Herb) Wallace

Herbert Wallace's son Thomas Donald (Don) Wallace,
worked underground, and appears in a couple pictures below.
Don was an ECI alumni, died in 1961
In July 2009 I heard from Herb's granddaughter Donna Kranyak,
and she was kind enough to share photos and family info.
Herb's wife was Jessie Wallace.
Jessie moved to Ontario after leaving the west.
Herb's brother died in WWI.

Found a Herbert Wallace b-1873 in Minnesota
wife Jessie, son Clement in 1900
Can't find any more details for him or his brother.
Donna can you help me out here?

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
Obviously in 1931 at least, see below.

A Mr. R. D. Newsome is shown in a picture below,
in the Bienfait Museum, as Mine Manager,
He was a lawyer in Estevan starting in 1924.
He was also an Estevan town councillor in 1930
Practiced law in Estevan until at least 1980
He was also a lawyer in Weyburn.
Raymond Dawson Newsome
applied to PEI Bar in 1919
b- Sept 17, 1894 in Bedeque, PEI
d- Apr 5, 1996
father- Samuel Wesley Newsome
living at 109 Bughton St., Charlottetown, PEI, Nov 9, 1915
mother- Charlotte Jane Dawson
Raymond was in WWI, Rank GNR, Reg #522093
enlisting Nov 9, 1915 at Halifax NS

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.
They had one daughter Frances Newsome.
Frank managed the mines at Bienfait, and Crescent mines also.

My Dad Phil Gent worked underground at this mine in the 30's.
In his life history book he wrote:
"A Job was waiting for me at the Eastern, with or without horse.
On Nov 1, 1931,  I started to be a Coal Miner.
Ed Pierce was Manager,
and Herb Wallace was Assistant Manager.
A month had gone by since the strike
 and there was still lots of trouble in the air. 
Some miners got their jobs back, some were shut out.
James Anthony (Jim) Thompson
b- ca 1908
d- Sept 27, 1932
buried in Bienfait Cemetery
(Howard Day's wife's brother)
 was a hard working driver underground
spoke his mind to his bosses and fellow workers.
He went down the mine to take timbers etc. south of the mine.
The mine wasn't working that day but he was doing his job.
I happened to be above ground fixing a barn for my horse
 not far from the shaft, when I heard 3 gongs.
This meant a man is coming up on the cage.
Then I heard 3 more gongs.  This meant trouble!
I opened the 2 big doors.
Four men were carrying Jim's body on a grain door.
An inquest was held and it was called foul play.
Jim had been struck on the back of the neck.
Someone had to volunteer to go down into the mine from 6:00PM to 6AM.
Pete Wendel (cousin of the Gesell family) volunteered.
He went down with 2 revolvers and a flashlight to look for trouble.
All shafts and entries to the mine were shut off.
The area on top was guarded. 
Pete came up near 7 o'clock the next morning.
We went down to work and Pete's pigeon-toed marks were all over the workings
so he had been on the move.
He had found nothing, so Jim's death was considered an accident.
My next job was above ground.  I had to haul bugdust
with a horse and cart to the prairie.  I played out 2 horses each day.
Then I hauled nut slack to fill boxcars.
We worked with shovels 10 hours a day- 2 men, loading 30-40 ton.
Sometimes we went back after supper to finish loading the car.
The Company got that car loaded for less than 3 bucks.
I then went underground again. 
Conditions were such that the difference between being 6 feet under
 and 110 feet is you have a light at 110 feet.
The risk was there all day.
You had an entry 8 feet wide, with a 6 foot car on the rails.
You are between the horse and the Coal Car,
going like hell with sprags in the wheels to slow them up.
When we were extra busy and were pushed there were accidents."

He goes on to write-
"One of my worst nights underground. I was tanking water with a horse.
The horse knew it was unsafe, he was very jittery.
 Everything in that section was about to cave in.
Three men were trapped behind a 6 to 7 foot wall of clay, right beside us.
They finally all came out and we all ran when all 10 rooms caved in.
The horse sense of the horse saved us all."

Another close call-
"Was on the cutting machine with Herman Widdifield (future brother-in-law),
12 hours a day and work like hell.  Machine went berserk,
we were covered with slack, our lights had gone out
and the machine was still working. Got out of that one!"

And Sick time off work??
"Another time I knocked my head on the roof of the mine when my horse kicked.
 Had to go a mile for help and was all red with blood and black from coal. 
Taken to Dr. and had stitches in head.  Next morning, back to work."

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

This Picture is a brief description
 of the Coal Mine Tipple

Price of coal in 1932

In my Dad's history-
"In April (Dad wrote- date unknown, but after 1936)
(the magazine on page 3 says 1939)
 the Eastern Collieries had a fire.
It burnt 3 box cars and the tipple, and the fire went down the shaft
and started a fire in the deep seam.
That was the end of my work underground.
It took Herman (Herman Widdifield), Mike Novak, Jim (his brother Jim Gent)
and himself, to fill in the 100 foot shaft with dirt, by wheelbarrow!
Sixteen horses died in the underground fire."
My dad quit mining in 1942, and went farming full time.
 

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 Raymond Dawson 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 Lorain 75B Diesel powered shovel approx 1.25 yd bucket made by the Thew Shovel Company in Lorain Ohio.

 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.