The Search For Work

Heroes Remember

The Search For Work

Transcript

We jumped off in Toronto, off this train 'cause I wanted to visit my brother Stanley, my half brother, and an older brother, Ernie, too, that lived in Toronto and he had a job with the Pat Burns Company and he thought, he tried to get us a job there. He even offered a man $50.00 for a job and you just could, there, it was just tight. This is September - October 1935. Anyway I stayed there with Stanley and he was really a, he wasn't married, we were single and I stayed there having lots of fun ‘til I blew, blew the eighty bucks and here I was, no job. So I said, "Well Stan," this is the 10th of December 1935, I said, "I'm leaving here." He said, "Where are you going?" I said, "I'm, they tell me at Sudbury you can get a job in the mines up at Sudbury at Copper Cliff." So he said, "Oh well." Anyway, he said, "How are you going there?" I said, "The freight, how do you think I got here?" But I went down to the yards in Toronto and I can remember this, in December, and I grabbed a freight train and I made it as far as Perry Sound. And by this time it was about eight o'clock at night and we were going north and west and it was cold. So I said, "Well, I'm not gonna do this. I can't ride on this thing all the day or I'll never get to Sudbury." So I jumped off in Perry Sound and I waited for a passenger at ten o'clock and I climbed up the back of the, of the tender, and I'm talking steam trains, not diesel. And I climbed up the back of that steam train, and there's a pipe that runs down into the water tank at the back and the steam goes through the boiler and then it comes back down there and it's nice and warm and there's a place there to put tools in there and it was just a little cubby hole. And I got in there and I rode that freight train to Sudbury, Ontario. And I got in there about midnight and it's slowing down and coming in and I see the CPR policeman on a platform watching for me, and as soon as I got slow enough I hit the deck on that platform and I ran and just jumped on the other side of the fence. Well once I was off CPR property he wasn't, and I'd ridden freight trains before that so I knew. So I got into Sudbury and I went to, moved right up to the jail. You went into the jail to sleep because it was warm and steam heat in there, and it's 25 below there outside. Stayed in the jail overnight, met another fella in there. He says, "Where ya going?" I said, "I'm looking for a job at Copper Cliff in the mine." He said, "Well, I'm going out there tomorrow too." So we went out there and he was about my size and I only weighed about 130 pounds. We get out there, the guy just looked at us, he says, "You've gotta be 150 pounds minimum to work in the mines." So that was that, no job in the mines.

Description

Mr. Keys describes what it was like looking for a job in October, 1935. He recounts going by train to Northern Ontario where he was refused work in the mines because of his weight.

Herman C. Keys

Mr. Keys was born on September 15, 1916. He grew up in Balcarres, Saskatchewan which is sixty miles east of Regina. Mr. Keys started school at the age of six and quit in grade ten, at which time he went to Ontario to find work. His father owned a hotel which he sold before Mr. Keys was born. He also owned two farms and later became a cattle buyer. He died when Mr. Keys was twelve. His mother came from England and was a housekeeper for his father. Mr. Keys had a brother, named Mel and a sister. Mel went into action with Mr. Keys in Dieppe. Mel was wounded but survived the war. Mr. Keys joined the South Saskatchewan Regiment as a rifleman and was a member of the merchant marine for three years prior to enlisting.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:04
Person Interviewed:: Herman C. Keys
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Canada
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: South Saskatchewan Regiment
Rank:: Lance-Corporal
Occupation:: Rifleman

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The Search For Work

Heroes Remember