INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES HALL

Date of Interview: June 20, 2003 in Nashville Tennessee

Interviewer Ryan MacIvor
Transcriber: Case Mond

Charles Hall:
...things like that, because at that time I wasn’t a cook.

Ryan MacIvor:
So you were just on kitchen patrol duty at the time?

Charles Hall:
KP

Ryan MacIvor:
So how did you learn to become a cook?

Charles Hall:
They sent us to school for meat cutting and things like that.

Ryan MacIvor:
Now, I’m just going to ask you some questions again to reaffirm. Charles, could you just tell the camera again your name?

Charles Hall:
Charles R. Hall

Ryan MacIvor:
And when were you born?

Charles Hall:
I was born August 10, 1919.

Ryan MacIvor:
And you were drafted into the army?

Charles Hall:
Yeah

Ryan MacIvor:
And they selected you to be in an engineering corps?

Charles Hall:
Yeah.

Ryan MacIvor:
And you were a cook within that. That was your job?

Charles Hall:
Yeah.

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you remember how much you got paid?

Charles Hall:
When we first went in, our base pay was $21 a month.

Ryan MacIvor:
Your trip to Dawson Creek. Do you remember Dawson Creek, arriving in Dawson Creek?

Charles Hall:
Sure

Ryan MacIvor:
What do you remember about it.

Charles Hall:
We got off the train. As far as the train went, we got off. We stayed there and then we went on up to Fort St. John, right up into the woods, start cleaning that out.

Ryan MacIvor:
So the section of the highway you were working on was from Dawson Creek to...?

Charles Hall:
We crossed the Liard River a couple of times, I think. At least once anyway the Liard River we crossed. We didn’t go into Alaska. We were still in Canada, because there were other engineers on above us.

Ryan MacIvor:
You were a cook. You didn’t start off as a cook in Dawson Creek, did you?

Charles Hall:
Well yes. They put me in a kitchen at Fort Ord, California.

Ryan MacIvor:
So you got your training in California to be a cook.

Charles Hall:
Yes

Ryan MacIvor:
And then when you went first up to Dawson Creek, you were a cook for the whole time, then?

Charles Hall:
Yes.

Ryan MacIvor:
To get an idea of what type of experiences you had, was there a... What is your most memorable experience of working on the highway? Is there one?

Charles Hall:
When we left Dawson Creek, we didn’t see no civilians no more. We saw a few Indians along the road. Outside that, that’s all we saw. We saw a lot of wildlife, like bears and moose and caribou and stuff like that.

Ryan MacIvor:
So, do you remember seeing the Indians. Did you meet them?

Charles Hall:
Yeah. In fact, there was one of them who could speak a little English, but the rest of the, I couldn’t understand nothing they said.

Ryan MacIvor:
And what do you remember about them?

Charles Hall:
Well, I didn’t associate with them too much, but there was one, one time, who’d killed a moose and he gave us the hind quarters to cook with for the Company.

Ryan MacIvor:
Was it good?

Charles Hall:
Yeah, it was good.

Ryan MacIvor:
You know what to do with it, I guess, when they gave it to you?

Charles Hall:
Oh sure, we cut it into steaks and fried it.

Ryan MacIvor:
What did you do when you weren’t working. Did you play chess, gamble, swim.

Charles Hall:
No, I didn’t do much of that because it was too cold up there to really swim. We used to, on the days that we had off, we would walk ahead, a couple of us would get together, and we would walk clear up to where they were surveying, cause they had surveyors up there. They’d survey the land up to where it was gonna go. And we used to walk up there on our days off and see what it was like before it was even dozed out.

Ryan MacIvor:
Oh really? So what was that like when you saw that.

Charles Hall:
Oh it was nice. I thought the ground laid fairly good, especially upon the ridges. There was blueberries up there, I remember that.

Ryan MacIvor:
So when you walked up, you passed all the machinery, and all the men, and then up to the surveyors. So was that quite a distance?

Charles Hall:
Yeah, that was quite a ways ahead of the gang that was working, yeah. See, when we first went up there, we only had D4s, we didn’t have the big dozers. So we’d cut a lot of it down... I even helped do that, sometimes, on my days off - cut wood - cut the trees down where they was gonna get us through, cause I’d cut timber at home before I even went into the service.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you keep in touch with friends or family when you were up there, write letters home?

Charles Hall:
Oh yeah, I wrote to my mother all the time, cause I was single when I went up there.

Ryan MacIvor:
How old were you when you went up, about 18, 19?

Charles Hall:
No, I was 21.

Ryan MacIvor:
And when you were in Dawson Creek, did you meet any young ladies or anything like that.

Charles Hall:
No

Ryan MacIvor:
What do you remember most about the land?

Charles Hall:
In places it was pretty steep where there was dozing. They’d done a good job, those guys that were around the equipment. Cause afterwards, after I was up there a while, they get a lot more equipment like the big dozers, D8s and D7s and things like that, where they could move the timber better.

Ryan MacIvor:
So what... so, you were saying that... I’m just gonna back up here. Some Indians gave you some meat and you had some blueberries. Did you use any other food from the land to cook with.

Charles Hall:
No

Ryan MacIvor:
What about the men that went out fishing or hunting, if they did.

Charles Hall:
Well yes, if they brought things in for us. In fact, Jim Taylor and another guy caught enough fish in one afternoon up there to feed the whole company. And we fried them up for them - cleaned them, fried them.

Ryan MacIvor:
And what about the weather? What do you remember about the weather?

Charles Hall:
It was cold

Ryan MacIvor:
So, you being a cook and everything, you were in the kitchen most of the time, were you not?

Charles Hall:
Most the time, yeah.

Ryan MacIvor:
So was it cold in the kitchen as well?

Charles Hall:
Well, no, we had these gas stoves up there, where you put the gas in... kind of like a white gas for a while that we used, and, they kept us fairly, fairly warm, cause it got down in the wintertime up there, it’s 30 below zero, up there.

Ryan MacIvor:
So, when you were leaving the States, were you expecting to go to Canada?

Charles Hall:
I didn’t know where I was going when I first [?]

Ryan MacIvor:
When you arrived in Dawson Creek. What was Dawson Creek like? Was it small?

Charles Hall:
Yeah, at that time it was. I can remember one thing there that happened. There was a fire in one of the buildings and we lost a boy, the youngest boy we had in the group, in fact, he lied about his age to get in the service.

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you remember his name?

Charles Hall:
Yeah, Norman Wasley. If you have ever seen one of the green books, there’s one down there. Well, his picture’s in there, in the front of it. Little picture of him.

Ryan MacIvor:
So was he there? Was he fighting the fire?

Charles Hall:
Yeah that’s what he did, he was fighting the fire. And he was about halfway up the ladder and there was an explosion. See, they knew that there was dynamite in the building, but they didn’t know the caps was in there. Cause when they said there was dynamite, they said it won’t hurt nothing, it will burn, but then when the fire got over to where the caps were, that set the dynamite off. So he got killed.

Ryan MacIvor:
Were you there as well at the fire?

Charles Hall:
No, I was close by, but I wasn’t right there when he got killed.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you see it at all?

Charles Hall:
No, but they told me everything, the ones that were helping fight the fire.

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you know if anyone else lost their life fighting the fire?

Charles Hall:
I think he was the only one.

Ryan MacIvor:
Is there anything else about Dawson Creek that you remember?

Charles Hall:
Not too much, cause we wasn’t there very long till we moved on up. As soon as we got all the equipment and stuff in there we moved up.

Ryan MacIvor:
You came back to Dawson Creek to build the rail head, right? Did you come back with them or did you stay up there?

Charles Hall:
I can’t remember that part for sure. As they build the rail head... I think we stayed on up there, we was working on above, I think, when that happened.

Ryan MacIvor:
You lived in tents?

Charles Hall:
Yes

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you remember any of the names of your bunkmates.

Charles Hall:
Umm. I can’t remember too much... that time... it’s so long ago.

Ryan MacIvor:
What do you remember about camp life?

Charles Hall:
About what?

Ryan MacIvor:
About your time living in the camp. Do you remember what that was like?

Charles Hall:
Well, Just everyday routine. Like I said, it was kind of cool when we first got up there even. It stayed cool practically whole summer, really.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you enjoy your work?

Charles Hall:
Oh yeah, it didn’t bother me a bit.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you have any accidents while you were up there?

Charles Hall:
No, I didn’t.

Ryan MacIvor:
The only one you know about is that young man who passed away in the fire, then?

Charles Hall:
Well, there was some more boys, and I think they were in D Company too, that drowned. They was crossing a lake there between, If I remember correctly, it was between Fort Saint John and Dawson Creek, when they were moving up and they got in that water and it was so cold that they drowned.

Ryan MacIvor:
You don’t remember any of their names, do you?

Charles Hall:
No I don’t. I don’t know if it’s in that book or not. It might be.

Ryan MacIvor:
And what about the clothing, was it warm enough?

Charles Hall:
It was warm enough, yeah.

Ryan MacIvor:
What can you tell me about the food?

Charles Hall:
Well, we didn’t have too much fresh fruit, cause it would get warm enough, like, in the day time, we didn’t have any refrigeration. Sometimes when the medics would inspect it, they didn’t say damn, they’d just make you throw it away and you’d have to use cans like spam and stuff like that.

Ryan MacIvor:
So did you have spices and stuff with you that you used to spice up the meals and stuff?

Charles Hall:
Oh yeah, they found us salt and pepper.

Ryan MacIvor:
The meals were quite good though?

Charles Hall:
It wasn’t too bad.

Ryan MacIvor:
As best as you could cook it, I guess?

Charles Hall:
Yeah, you got tired of having the same old thing, like corn beef hash and old bologna and stuff like that. You see, we got up so far, they took the ice out of the creek there and they had a sawmill and and saw the ones who sawed the mill, the dust and stuff, they built a place to keep the meat and stuff. But still, we didn’t get enough fresh meat, you know, to keep us going.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you have any pets while you were up there. I know some of the people had a...

Charles Hall: No, I didn’t, no. They had a... some of the companies had a... two of them, they had bears -- two bears, one of them had -- and then somebody had a pet moose there, but they got into the powdered eggs and it got too much of that and it died. It was just a small one.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you meet any of the other companies on the highway?

Charles Hall:
Oh yeah. [stumble] C Company... not C Company: E Company and D Comp... err... F Company.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you hear any stories from them of their trails on the highway and stuff?

Charles Hall:
No, not too much.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you meet any of the black soldiers on the highway?

Charles Hall:
Let’s see, I think it was in Dawson Creek there was a group of them.

Ryan MacIvor:
Did you face any dangers while you were up there, that you can think of?

Charles Hall:
Not that I’m aware.

Ryan MacIvor:
You took obviously pride in what you cooked. Did anyone get sick from eating the food?

Charles Hall:
I can’t remember anybody ever getting sick. Of course, they got sick because of the same thing all the time, but...

Ryan MacIvor:
What do you remember about the bugs.

Charles Hall:
The bugs? We had netting we would set up for bunk to bunk end then we had... Those mosquitos were so bad. We had netting that would cover the whole bunk and we would put them up in the air a little bit. And then we had hats, something like the state trooper wears, and we had a veil that come down over... netting that we tied down here to keep the bugs off of us. (points at throat).

Ryan MacIvor:
What about laundry? How did you do your laundry?

Charles Hall:
Well, we just built a fire outside and heated the water.

Ryan MacIvor:
What do you remember about the northern lights. Do you remember anything about the northern lights?

Charles Hall:
I’ve never seen nothing like that. Cause back home, you could just barely see them and up there it was as just bright as day. I thought it was amazing. It really never got dark some nights up there. At three o’clock in the morning you could see someone walking up... if he walked up the road, you could see him. You might not know exactly who they were, but you definitely knew there was somebody there.

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you remember any songs that you guys sang while you worked, or anything as a cook you whistled?

Charles Hall:
No, not that much. Cause a lot of guys, in the evening they’d sit around and sing songs, cause I think one of them had a guitar. They’d sing.

Ryan MacIvor:
Have you ever been back up on the highway?

Charles Hall:
No.

Ryan MacIvor:
Would you like to go?

Charles Hall:
Oh, I don’t know. It’s changed a lot, I’m sure, from the time that I was up there. They tell me it’s all paved and everything now. It’d be a hard road when we was up there. Well, you probably saw some of the pictures in that green book.

Ryan MacIvor:
So what did you think about the North? Did you enjoy it.

Charles Hall:
Oh yeah, the people up there were friendly. That is, till we got up to Dawson Creek, then we didn’t see the people.

Ryan MacIvor:
Is there any other story, or memories you’d like to share with me regarding your experience up there? Something that I haven’t talked about? Did you get supplies often? What are some of the other things...?

Charles Hall:
Well, they had trucks that delivered them. They came fairly often. We never, what you called, ran out. We might get a little low sometimes, but we never ran out. So we had like flour, rice... different things like that. We could make biscuits in the mornings and things like that. We had powdered eggs. Everything was powdered. It was powdered milk. We didn’t get fresh milk or nothing like that. And at that time it wasn’t as good, probably, as it would be today, because they’ve improved it now since that time.

Ryan MacIvor:
Now when you left the army, what did you do? Were you a cook still?

Charles Hall:
Oh no.

Ryan MacIvor:
No, you gave that up, eh?

Charles Hall:
I had a job when I left. I got hired at a conduit and cable company back at Glendale, West Virginia. And I was working there, so I went back to the job I had when I went in the service.

Ryan MacIvor:
So have you cooked ever since then?

Charles Hall:
Oh yeah. I have to cook now because my wife is in a wheelchair and she can’t get up and walk around.

Ryan MacIvor:
Charles, do you have any photographs or journals, or letters that you wrote home, or poetry, that sort of thing, from your time when you were on the highway?

Charles Hall:
No, not that I know of. I wrote home, but them letters would be gone...

Ryan MacIvor:
What about pictures?

Charles Hall:
Oh, I’ve got some pictures back there, like you’ve seen in this green folder too down here, you know, where we took... Some of it’s kind of faded a little bit right now.

Ryan MacIvor:
Would you be willing to share those with me?

Charles Hall:
If I can find them.

Ryan MacIvor:
Could you just tell the camera your name again?

Charles Hall:
Charles R. Hall.

Ryan MacIvor:
And is there anything else that I’ve missed that you would like to share with me?

Charles Hall:
Not that I can think of.

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you remember the song “In the Pines”?

Charles Hall:
Yes (laughs)

Ryan MacIvor:
Could you sing it?

Charles Hall:
I’m not a singer.

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you remember what the words were?

Charles Hall:
Yeah, In the Pines, In the Pines, where the sun never shines. Hine sang that all the time, but he wasn’t up there with us, but, some of the boys, they might have sang -- sang different songs. “Wanna go home” and things like that. They made up songs that they sang.

Ryan MacIvor:
Well, I’m, eh... I think that’s all I have. Unless you have anything else that you might tell me or share with me.

Charles Hall:
No, I can’t remember too much now. It’s been so long ago. But I can remember the guys, I mean, a lot of the guys...

Ryan MacIvor:
Do you remember a lot of the names and the faces?

Charles Hall:
Oh yeah, I remember a lot of the names that was in our company.

Ryan MacIvor:
So would you mind going downstairs with me and going through some pictures and helping me put some names to faces.

Charles Hall:
Well, If I can figure them out, yes.

Ryan MacIvor:
Perfect

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