Enrico Butti was born in a small farming village on the River
Piave in the province of Milan in November, 1904 and came to
Canada when he was 12 years old in 1917 with his Mother and an
older sister who died shortly after their arrival. Mr. Butti
senior had come to Canada in 1912. He was a trained steam
engineer who had worked in the silk mills in northern Italy and
had been involved in electrifying them. In the Crowsnest Pass,
he also was involved in mine electrification. He was senior
electrician at the
Bellevue Mine when the
Hillcrest Mine
explosion happened and was among the first to arrive at the
scene and provide assistance. After being injured as a result of
the collapse of a scaffold, he moved his family to Edmonton
where he set up an electrical business. Enrico worked initially
in the mines in the Crowsnest Pass but moved to Edmonton with
his Father, owned his own electrical business as well as working
for Palm Dairies throughout the Province. He was involved in the
creation of several Italian societies including the Italo-Canadian
Society prior to W.W. II and the Cristofero Colombo Soccer Club
in the 1950s. He was also involved with the fraternal society
Fiori d'Italia [Flowers of Italy] in Trail as well as the Grand
Lodge.
This oral history draws from two sources: the Dante Alighieri
Oral History Project, initiated by Sabatino Roncucci, a founder
of the Dante Alighieri Society, for the purpose of documenting
immigration history so that it could be shared not only with the
Italian community but also the community at large, and Tony Falcone and Tony Caria
for the
Italians Settle in Edmonton Project in 1983, resulting in the
commemorative booklet of the same name.
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Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Butti: Oral History Excerpts
Henry (Enrico) describes the harrowing 24 day Atlantic
crossing from Genoa to New York during World War I and his
arrival in his new Alberta home.
Click here to listen! |
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Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Butti: Oral History Excerpts
In the following excerpt, Mr. Butti talks about beginning of
his own working history at age 16 running a boiler and hoist
in the mines in Nordegg; his Father was injured when he fell
from a scaffold and with monies received from the
Compensation Board decided to come to Edmonton and set up an
electrical shop.
Click
here to listen! |
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Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Butti: Oral History Excerpts
In the following excerpt, Mr. Butti speaks of the
Hillcrest
Mine explosion in 1914, one of the biggest in Canada; his
Father was the electrician at the Bellevue Mine and was one
of the first to arrive to help. In about 1980, he and his
wife Myra went to visit friends in Kelowna and stopped to
visit the cemetery, which he found in a state of disrepair.
On his return, he wrote a letter to The Edmonton Journal and
spoke to someone at the Provincial Museum about doing some
work on the cemetery. He also contacted the Crowsnest
Historical Society.
Click
here to listen! |
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