Irene Howard

This is a personal history, a memoir, of the story of one family in the Canadian mines during the first half of the 20th Century told by the only daughter of a Swedish immigrant father and a Norwegian immigrant mother. It is passionate in telling the story of the family, their friends, and neighbors--the hardships and the good times. Howard also uses her personal history to discuss not only mining history, but the history of Canada (and, to some degree, the U.S.) in dealing with topics such as unions, mediation, birth control, company towns, etc. The personal history is familiar to me in that I, too, was part of a large family that followed my father from company town to company town, or from country to country, for many years. Despite the hard times, there is lots of laughter in remembrance, and there is a good amount of love shown in this story. However, it is interspersed with some hard history lessons, and the book is more suited for history buffs than the casual reader.… (mere)

Gold Dust on His Shirt: The True Story of a Pioneer Mining Family is a well-researched biography. In 1905 a Swede immigrant named Nils Alfred Nilsson arrived in Eastern Canada. In a few years he wound up in British Columbia working in the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. He then met and married a young widow from Norway, Ingeborg Aarvik Viggen. This is the story of the Nilsson family. The father's work moved the family from drilling and blasting rock of the railway to doing similar hard-rock work in mines. Dangerous work with low wages and frequent relocation, but the family story tells of meeting hardships and overcoming adversity. The Nilsson's story also touches on the working conditions and labor movement in Canadian mines. This well-researched biography contains historical photographs. (lj)… (mere)