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.
The interview was conducted by Sab Roncucci for the Dante Alighieri Oral History Project in 1973.
This oral history project was 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.
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