My brother helped look after the farm. We kept the farm going while he went and did that work. So that there was money for- then for to put a new kitchen on the house and to buy a vehicle.

But when we were kids um, we'd come down here to the swimming pool and there was a- a fenced in pool, like a full size pool. And then outside of that you had a- a one foot, a two foot, and another three foot pool. It was quite a nice spo-- spot down here. And ah, it was all- i-- w-- there was never a charge. Interviewer: Wow. Speaker: For to go and swim there because it was all built- Interviewer: Splash park. Speaker: By the people of the community. Um, the men of the community, the miners, the husbands, fathers, whatever donated all their time to build a pool.

We- we had a good vegetable garden. Oh yes. Ah, and ah, Mother'd put a lot of it away too, like she'd can the beans and can the tomatoes. Make tomato juice, make lots of pickles and- and-that that she ah, made good use of the vegetables. And we- we'd ah, have enough potatoes ah, like for to last a long time.

Well people worked in factories and they worked times, like we had ah- lots of factories here in Almonte, they went night and day pretty near. And you worked lo-- it was for to make a war effort, eh

I wrote "Lachlan-Moyles". And I- about as good as I could, eh? And I thought- told them, I said "See the- we had- our teachers- see that writing? It followed us right down all our life." You-know on the- for to write your name.

They come to Pinestone because they're- something else drew them there and they're staying there. But there's really not that much for to do around here.

And now they've got- they have to form some club, or have a bridge club or-something for to get the people together so that they can argue and fight over who's got the best hand instead of having a get-together like they used to have.

Speaker: Oh they were good times, they were long hours. We had twenty-four years of it so you know that ah- Interviewer: Now, you said it was very interesting, what are some of the interesting- Speaker: Oh well- Interviewer: Things you remember? Speaker: Just the people. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: You have to enjoy people for to ah run a place like that. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: And I enjoy people.

Yeah, it was a gas on and generator I believe it was, and it would put out enough for- not for to run- we didn't use li-- ah, refrigeration or anything like that but just for- basically for television and lights.

Ah they had a- I forget what they called them? Uh, there was ladles and ah a wooden thing there to- for to fit your pound of butter. Then you put your butter all in there with a plunger in the bottom of it.

Interviewer: Did you go to Beaverton high-school? Speaker: Yeah, mm-hm. Interviewer: Oh, in town. Speaker: Yeah, uh-huh. Interviewer: What was that like? It was a big change probably. Speaker: Oh yeah, yeah. We had to go there for to write our- We had to go there to write our grade-eight exam.

So mostly your- the- the nights were very short, because you weren't in the house, eh? And by the time you'd g-- do the dishes, it was time for to go to bed.

Interviewer: Yeah. So where did you go for high-school? Speaker: I didn't. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: Parents couldn't afford for to go to high-school.

Yes, well, what happened, Ellwood, is ah, for a couple years they had a thing about farm kids that needed a driver's license like I did for to take the milk to the factory. And ah, what happened is you just needed the signature of your parents and the police chief.

We know- we- we do now have the computers and we have everything for to keep track of things but I still am concerned.

And, you-know, there was a- there was an opportunity, you-know, to expand the Upper-Scotch-Line-Cemetery that I thought was a very reasonable deal by Joe-Mathers. Very, very reasonable. But it seemed to be too much paperwork, too much this, too much that for to go along with the deal.

So anyway, I get down and there was a great big, ferris wheel or a midway r-- ah, machine running there, banging and smashing, right beside us and you know your line, and (inc) had made a thing for the- with the machinery for to have the smash-up derby.

Quite often when they did though they didn't want to go back to their own bosses, they wanted to stay with the English boys they did! Seems though that ah that their own ah foremans used to be ah- ah- holler at them a lot and- and ah swear at them a lot and drive them you-know to get more work or-something-like-that and ah our men didn't do it that way. They ah- they worked sort of like ah like friends ...

Interviewer: And who would be the disciplinarian there? Speaker: Well there was- there was foremans, and real tough foremans, that's what they were.

And ah wrecked his leg. I guess he was able to get it repaired but it was a major repair because that was- that was just through foolishness. He wasn't listening. Then we had a- a foreman and I've had some very dangerous foremans. This foreman lost a lot of men under him. He was up at- he ah- in one case he was up at Timmins, taking down an overhead ah towers that ah- unloaded the- used to unload the trucks, they'd reached down th-- with big hoists and grabbed the load off ...