Page 30 cial’ s stomach and pulled the trigger . The hammer clicked on the shell but there was no explosion. Soon a squad of 30 provincial po - lice (formed three years earli er) was sent to restore order . Some work continued at the mines but not until the strike pete red out in the spring of 1913 was capacity production re - sumed.” From the Porcupine Mines Manu - al published in February 1939 by the Northern Directory Company (owned by Roy Thomson and edited by the mining editor of the T immins Daily Press) : “From a municipal and social view - point, the Porcupine has been sin - gularly free from labour troubles or lawlessness of any kind.” From Mining in Ontario, by Thomas H. Gibson, consultant, Ontario De - partment of Mines, published 1937 (Gibson was then hired by the de - partment)” “Labour is all important. The mines of Ontario are well supplied with skilled miners and artisans. There is a considerable foreign ele - ment, mostly Finns, Jugo-Slavians and other eastern Europeans, but there is little chronic trouble, either with those who speak English, or those who do not. There has not been a strike for many years. This is mainly due to the hu - manitarian spirit displayed by the mining companies, and the high rate of wages paid. Recently wages have been volun - tarily increased, and a six-day week introduced.” From “The Hollinger Mine” by Bruce Ross, the last manag er of the mine when it closed in 1968 but never published: Near the end of the year (1912), man - agement faced another crisis which curtailed operations. On Nov . 15, the W estern Federation of Miners declared a strike and by intimidatio n forced about one-half of the work force to ab - sent themselves from work. In the words of general manager Mr . Robbins ‘there had been no dispute be - tween the company and its men, and the strike was entirely unexpected.’ The strike was general throughout the camp. The strike became violent and there was much interference with employees who wished to work. Hollinger aban - doned the boarding house in town and erected temporary living quarters on the mine property . (It already had three bunkhouses there). Special police were hired to protect the men and property . The strike gradually dwindled until by March 19, Hollinger had increased its strength to 500 employees again. For some time after this, however , a small group of agitators continued to interfere with the employees.” From The Big Dome, the offcial his - tory of the mine published in 1983 and written by Charles Girdwood,. Lawrence F . Jones and Geor ge Lonn (Girdwood was a former mine general manager): “Aside from the troubles caused by the 191 1 fre, the frst real problem to hit the mining cam p came from an unex - pected quarter . In the fall of 1912, with Some news r eports plain lies Cont’d from pg. 26 the backing of the powerful ‘One Big Union,’ a thousand men went on strike, protesti ng the decisi on of a conciliation board which upheld the companies’ right to cut wages in order to reduce rising costs. Under revolutionary banners, men of Hollinger , McIntyre, V ipond, McEnaney , Jupitor and Plenaurum mines paraded through the streets of the new town of T immins.” (It now relates other events already in this story) “Incidents of arson were also report - ed, one particu larly ugly example in - volving the home of a Hollinger shift boss. Some mines set up their own police forces, which were reportedly armed. Despite the seething tension in the camp, Dome workers were among the last to go on strike, joining their col - leagues in November . Although temp ers ran high for a few months, peace soon returned to the mines as dif ference were resolved. The ef fect of the strike on Dome could not have been great, for (company president Andrew) Monell’ s report at the end of 1912 stated that ‘produc - tion was well maintained in spite of the strike’.” From “Free Gold - The story of Ca - nadian Mining” by Arnold Hof fman published in 1947: “When the steel came into Porcupine, there was new hope of pulling through (after the 191 1 fre) , but then the min - ers’ strike of 1913 (actually it started in 1912) and that looked like the end of McIntyre (Mine).” “The Porcupine Camp” 100 Y ears of Mining Page 28