Speaker: And then up further where the lake is, what was suppos-- what was Kirkland-Lake at one time. In beyond there there's more slimes in there that came from the Wright-Hargreaves and the Lakeshore mine and-so-on-and-so-forth. But the- Interviewer: That's the stuff that comes out of the- after they've milled the- Speaker: It's like the sludge, yeah. Interviewer: The- the mineral out of everything.

I was very strong. Very- extremely healthy. I could work quickly, but I didn't slipsh-- slipshod work, I did a good job, but I could work fast. I did all my- everything I did in those days, I- I moved very quickly.

Speaker: ... about seven or eight when I joined little-league. Interviewer: Oh okay. Speaker: And I played that until I was thirteen or fourteen when they s-- stopped having the teams. Interviewer: Oh yeah? Speaker: I'm not sure why they stopped. So I had to wait 'til I was eighteen to join the women's slow-pitch league. Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: That was a big difference. Interviewer: Really? Speaker: Very big. Interviewer: In what way? Speaker: Ah you have a ball coming at you at seventy, eighty miles per hour to one that's going two. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: (Laughs) Interviewer: Yeah. (inc) slow-pitch? Speaker: (laughs) Yeah. Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: My first pitch of slow-pitch I struck out fifty-two times. Interviewer: Oh really? 'Cause it's just that different? Speaker: It's just that different, I couldn't get the timing.

Speaker: So I would- I would miss that, ah, camaraderie. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Until a couple years ago I still played slo-pitch ball. Um, my cottage is here. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Ah, close friends. Ah, so it would- it would be- it would be very difficult to leave. But we would keep the cottage and still have our cottage here and come back, probably spend most of the summer here, if we left.

... 'cause I didn't like my job, I was going through the paper, so I- I came back and um well I just played baseball. Like there's tons of- well not so much anymore, but there was a lot of slow pitch teams around here, it's very very big and um ah played that and then- well there ringette, and I was talking to someone and they're playing ringette and there was no hockey, nothing else.

Interviewer: There was lots of parties, eh? Speaker: Lots of- there was a lot of baseball tournaments too, eh? Like a big- I remember twenty-eighteens one time for a slow pitch. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: It was great. Interviewer: (Laughs) Speaker: Now, you're lucky if you got six or eight teams for a tournament.

... um, there was organized baseball, I-mean there was Little-League and I played Little-League, but it just seemed that there was baseball available all the time. You'd- you'd go by the Civic-Field, which now unless there's- there's slow-pitch on in the evening, there's nothing going on. Well you could walk by there any given day during the summer time and there'd be twelve, fifteen, sixteen kids playing baseball all the time. And baseball would just happen. You just go and there would be enough people around.

I still play hockey and ah, I kind of got out of the baseball I played for a few years after I finished my university days, but- Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: S-- slow-pitch didn't do it for me. Um, I had always played fast ball or baseball coming up through until I was sixteen and ah, I just found slow-pitch too slow, so I didn't- I didn't stick it out with the baseball.

... I think how pleased I am that Roger had some- some place to go Some- and to get a bit, somewhat education.

There was a lot going on in Kirkland-Lake at one time. Ah there was houses with madams. ... Five-Main, of course, you'll hear that someplace, I don't know where.

Oh I-don't-know, it's- it's just that I can't imagine- I've been to different places, not many, but some- I can't imagine living someplace else.

Interviewer: Wow, so that's where he grew up and-everything? Speaker: Well he grew up on a farm just north- ... North of Toronto. I think near Mertle, or-some-place or near- ... Where the Pickering airport is and- ... Just around that area. Forget- the name of the little- it was out in the country.

Like there's so many hockey players that came out of here, not so many anymore. ... Ah, some I taught, lot I played with. ... I think some place in one of my desk drawers, I have a letter from Chicago-Blackhawks inviting me to their camp. ... Um, but I- I- I knew I was never good enough for- didn't have the passion.

... we used to have pictures of when I was that high, spending time there. ... I think I have a picture someplace ah in an old ah- someplace in the house that ah that I was- at my grandparents' place, with my mother. ... And ah I had a toy gun and a helmet on of some sort. Saluting and-that-sort-of-stuff.

We still- quite active in the winter, ah we go away for a month. ... Generally- generally March, we go someplace. But ah, just to break it up. But ah, we're finding it a bit long.

... we just picked it up probably through osmosis from watching our parents that ah if there was a- a blast underground at one of the mines, that um, r-- ah, right away we would check our watches, or- or check a clock someplace to see what time it was. Because if the ah- if the, ah, blast occurred- and you could feel the blast, you could hear the blast ah the ground would- would roll, depending on whether it was deep underground or closer to the surface.

Oh yeah we got to some places like we go to Tim-Hortans for coffee, ah, we go shopping, we go to the bars every now and then.

You wouldn't believe that, but there was one there and we went there because everybody congregated some place where we could go, eh? So all the kids, it didn't matter if you were catholic or-whatever. Everybody went there and socialized and- ... sang songs and played games and-stuff-like-that.

... couldn't understand English, eh? So we would- we would be more compassionate to him, eh? To- to help- help him eh? And- and ah, so it was ah, it was a very good ah, thing like that. W-- nobody was really established in Kirkland-Lake. We all came from some place, eh? and so therefore, we got along much better, eh?

It's- works a lot better sta-- getting an apprenticeship close to town than it is getting one away from town and having to get an apartment or stuff-like-that, so it makes more sense to- than- for this one to be close than go with someplace ex-- excluded, right?