While all family and community histories testify to how hard
the men and women of mining communities worked, all note that
they made time for recreational activities and activities.
Italian immigrants brought their love of music to the new world
and their faces can be seen in the colliery bands, a tradition
in British mines but also in the "self-made" orchestras that
graced home and community events. Spaghetti dinners in Miners
Halls, weddings and fraternal society gatherings provided an
opportunity to make music and enjoy communal life. Italians from
rural communities brought with them a love of the land and of
hunting. They, thus, hunted and fished gathering trophies to
decorate their homes and to brag about during long winter
evenings.
But there were also exceptional individuals who exploited their
personal love of the land for the public good.
Lawrence Grassi,
a miner who worked in
Canmore, became a renowned mountaineer and
outdoorsman. His love of the Twin falls area, near Field, BC,
prompted him to cut a path from Sulphur Springs to the foot of
the mountain where the falls tumble down and to the creek, which
is the source of the falls. He received an honorary life
membership in the Alpine Club of Canada and the Canadian Youth
Hostel Association. Parks Canada also recognized him by making
him the assistant warden annually from June to November at
Sargents Point (named for the painter John Singer Sargent who
painted there in 1915) at Lake OHara. He had landscaped the
grounds and trails in his spare time and also when strikes
closed mines where he was working. In 1938, legislation changed
the name of the Twin Lakes in Whitemans Pass to Grassi Lakes.
Finally, Italian boys and young men played Canadian games such
as hockey, baseball and footballgames that promoted
integration.
|