Interview with John Peffers

Abstract

Audio recording and transcript of John Peffers's 1979 interview with Bernard McNicholl for the Coal Tyee History Project. Peffers opens the interview by explaining his family's arrival in Canada. He talks about how his father worked in the Wakesiah Mine and how the family lived in Harewood. Peffers shares how he quit school in 1929 at 15 years old to find work to help support the family. He was initially employed at a service station, but later went on to work in the woods and as a coal miner. Throughout the interview he talks about the various mines he worked in, particularly the Number 1 Esplanade Mine, the Number 5 and Number 8 Mines in Cumberland, and the Number 10 Mine in South Wellington. He talks about different coal mining methods, conditions, and equipment used. He also details several injuries and close calls he had while working as a miner. He shares the story of how in 1943 he was "chased" back to coal mining when it was declared an essential job. Peffers concludes the interview by talking about union organizing and perceived social divisions in Nanaimo, and he also shares his opinion about attitudes towards Nanaimo's red-light district.