Elliston Ridge, NF

Date: December 10, 1998

Interviewers: Vera Cole and Tammy Baker

Tell us what you know about the Base (Elliston Ridge Base).

It was built in the early 50’s. It was built because of the elevation of the sea. It was 500-600 feet above sea level. After the war, they built a dual line. They had a listening tower and a barracks out on the Ridge, on your way to Catalina. They burnt the barracks there in Mark’s Path - that’s where they had the Army Camp. They had oil tanks, and everything was there.

Who burnt it?

They said it was sabotaged by some of the soldiers that were there. Americans. I don’t know. Germans, or someone got in there.

What was the dual line?

The dual line? The dual line was connected with Washington; with the military in the States, or whatever. As soon as something happen on the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland, Washington would know it in a few minutes. A telephone, a direct telephone system; that’s what it was, you know. They built one in St. John’s, one in Elliston, one in Wesleyville, and one in Cape John (Bell Island). (There was) one in St. Anthony, one in Cartwright, and we built 4 or 5 of them, and, they built one in Hopedale. That’s where I was to when Eddie was born. That was in 1953. All those Stations were connected and, anything would come up with the Atomic (talking about the threat of a bomb). The Russians had this atomic bomb and everything, and their nuclear weapons. The Western world was afraid of them - they were afraid of Communists, you know - they were Communists.
There was an attack on the Cubans and Kennedy went down there to stop it. That’s what the dual line was for. They had it on the Base down there.
The base on the Ridge had one big building. I don’t know how long it was, but it must have been 100 feet long, or 200. (It) could accommodate a couple hundred Americans. They had a cookhouse there, a generator plant for electricity, a helicopter pad, and they had an oil tank, a big oil tank. They had a fall-out building - what they would call it, in case of nuclear bombs - they would get in there for shelter. They had that there, too.
They had a pipe line coming down from the Ridge, coming down Mark’s Path - all the way down to Albert Trask’s house (and) down to Noder Cove. They had a pump there to pump the oil from the tanker that came into Elliston in the Fall. They use to come in there, and they had a hose hooked up to the pump. (They) would pump it over the Ridge in tanks. It was all self-sufficient…they had everything there that you wanted. You didn’t have to depend on anything from the outside. That was in ’52 or ’53. I know the one I worked on was in "51, down in Hopedale, but the one in Elliston, I don’t know when exactly it was built.

How long did you work down there (in Hopedale)?

I worked down there over a year. They spent a lot of money there - over 12 million dollars. It was built by the Canadian and American governments.

What year did you work down there (in Hopedale)?

In the ‘50s. It was built by "Terminal Construction", that was a big company. It was sub-contracted by "Fraser Brase", another big company. They (did) give a lot of contracts to the smaller companies. It was a year or more before they got it finished. The first thing they did when I went to Elliston was build an artesian well - built a cookhouse and bunkhouse area - then, they had to build a road up there, 500-600 feet above sea level, I believe. It was quite a few men worked there from Elliston.

Can you remember any of those men?

Les Johnson worked there…(most) are dead now. Dean Abbott’s grandfather was a Johnson from Catalina. The reason those men worked there…’cause the foreman went with a woman from Little Catalina – a Johnson. He knew a lot of people over there. He was a good carpenter - he use to work in Goose Bay.

Do you know anybody who’s alive today, that worked on the Base?

No…I don’t know. I know Caleb Hobbs use to work there. He died a couple of years ago - and, George Oldford - he’s dead too now. He use to work there, and a Chaulk man in Maberly - he was the head man when I worked there. I can’t think of anybody.

What was your position on the Base?

I was a driller, and (did some) blasting. We worked in the quarry in on Catalina Road, going across the gulches to get rock for the crusher. August was our foreman, August Majican. August’s Father worked there too, John and Tony Majican worked there too. That’s how come for August to be here. He use to be here almost every night - August had lots of women.

I ‘spose there was a big crew on the Base with the Soldiers?

Yeah, there was a lot of activity there. They use to have dances and everything there in the nighttime. We use to go and enjoy the nights there. A ship use to come in to the harbour, the "Evergreen", a Coast Guard Ship. She use to bring in a load of supplies when the war was going on. There was so many jeeps and trucks on the go. One time, a man got killed, an Edmundson man - fell over the back of the truck coming over the Ridge. Mostly all Canadians and Air Force worked there when I was working there.

What was the living quarters like?

The cook was from Little Catalina - Sandy Tippett. A Colonel there, in charge, was George Didden, an American. He use to come up here (Bonavista) too, and drink a lot of homebrew. We use to have a lot of laughs.

Could you leave the Base, or did you have to stay there all night?

We would come up (to Bonavista), but you could stay there if you wanted to. If there was bad weather, you could stay, if the roads were slippery.

Were you allowed to talk about anything that was going on at the Base, Mr. Hicks?

You could talk about what you knew, I ‘spose. It was the military - you wouldn’t hear too much from the working crowd. There was no big security, you could talk about what you like - but, you couldn’t go in the building.

Was it open to the public?

The only time was when they had a dance on Saturday night. You would invite certain people to go there, and a lot of girls would go. I never went. That was a nice place they had there. They had a fall-out building there, no windows or nothing there. You would go there in case of a nuclear weapon - for shelter.

What was Elliston like back then? Was it built up much?

Elliston? No, there wasn’t too much there then. Mostly older houses around the shore. They put this sewer line down through the road - it was a lot of rock - a lot of blasting, from Mark’s Path down.

Was there a Doctor on the Base?

There was everything there - I don’t know about a Doctor on the Base. When the war was on, Wilfred, my brother, was sick. Mrs. (inaudible) called the Doctor and he cured him. That was a Doctor from the Base - he brought up (to Bonavista) some medicine and gave him, and, in three or four days he was cured. I don’t know what was wrong with him (his brother).

Do you remember the Doctor’s name?

No, I don’t know the name - wait now, it was something like Fletcher. They had a cook for the military. I don’t know when they closed it (the Base). They leased the land for 99 years. The Russians were going to take the world over then. They had all of them nuclear weapons. It was the Cold War.

Why do you think they came to Elliston? Why did they put the Base there?

It was high elevation, above sea level. They had the Radar Station there - looked far out to sea - looked all around - not just one direction, but all around. The higher up it was, the more view you got.

How did the American’s know about Elliston?

I don’t know how they knew in the first place. They must have had surveyors or something going around and looking. Newfoundland is the gateway to the North America continent. We were under Responsible Government. They leased the land for 99 years. After the war was over, they gave it back again. They said if you get up on the roof and look across, you could see Clarenville. That’s (the Ridge) where they had the listening tower.

When did the Base close?

Now, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. It was after the war was over.

How did you get the job on the Base?

I worked on one in Gander and Harbour Grace. A big company had it, but it was sub-contracted out. I use to work with "Thermal Construction" as a driller.

Who worked there with you from Bonavista?

Ed Keel, Harvey Etsell, he’s dead too. Fred Butler from the point, Ralph Abbott, he’s dead. Alex Durdle.

What was the pay like there, Mr. Hicks?

We use to get pretty good wages.

Better pay than your ordinary work around town?

Oh yeah, better than local work. Companies would pay more. I use to get more because I was a driller, you would get more money for that. We didn’t eat there very much ‘cause we would come home and that would save on our board. We got caught, one time, in a storm coming up from Elliston. There was a lot of snow on the Ridge. The car got up to the Ridge - that’s all the far she could get. It was piled up 30 feet. Wilfred Hobbs, he use to work on a tractor in Elliston, he couldn’t get any further. Alex lost his glasses. When I got home there was about a half-inch of ice on the side of my face. There was no such thing as big parkas.

When you were coming back and forth, did you travel on the jeeps?

Ed Keel had a pick-up. Young Faulkner had a truck, too. Harry Sweetland had a truck, and so did Frank Little. I’ll tell you who else too - Uriah Hobbs had a truck, he use to work down there (in Elliston). He use to go to Bonavista for a young Murphy. They use to have some women down there.
We use to go blasting on the big rocks. Uncle John use to be the foreman, August’s father. He use to depend on other people to do all his work. He would depend on all the crowd that worked with him to load all the powder. He wasn’t suppose to do that, you know. They would cinch the powder in the holes, and blow it up. When we set it off, we hid away.
When it went off, they thought it was an earthquake, it buried the crusher and all. It broke off all the poles and buried everything in under. I laughed that much, I just about died.

What was the purpose of the quarry that they were building up there?

To crush the rocks for the concrete up there.

What were they using?

It was for the formation of the barracks. All the formation had to be crushed rock.

So, that’s what you did? Were there any women up there?

Women never worked much then. Women never had their rights then, until after that.

No, I suppose. There certainly weren’t in the military, were they? So, they didn’t have any women up there doing housekeeping chores, or kitchen work?

There might have been women in the barracks, but I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t in there.

Well, maybe if there had been any women around, you probably would have heard about it. They didn’t want any women around during the day!

Harry Etsell - he was a queer hand. He was driving the hammer in the straight cliff, like that. He was drilling in that way, see, instead of down into the ground. I was use to that ‘cause I was working at it for over a year, drilling into the ground, 75 feet. I was use to those hammers. Harry and them wouldn’t. Harry use to get it jammed up in the rock. We worked from 7 in the morning to 7 that night, and it was still jammed in the rock. Uncle John came up and said, "what’s the trouble, Harry"? Harry said, "I think it’s gone out in Elliston and someone got it clamped"!

Did you make any good friends with the American people?

No, I didn’t meet too many people on the Base. The only man was George Didden. He was a Major, or whatever. He was in charge of the whole works. He was just the same as if he were here all his lifetime, for that matter, you know. He was a real nice man.
There were a lot of nice people, just like down on the Cape - those who worked for the Coast Guard.
The Americans were afraid of dogs. Down on the Cape, you would see a scattered one coming up about 12 o’clock, with a big stick on his back. He was afraid of the dogs. Tell the truth, I had like (almost been) eat by one. They would (the dogs) all go in packs.

Yes, one time people had dogs to do their work.

Yeah, they use to be afraid of the dogs. I don’t know if any of the Americans on the Base married any girls from Elliston, or not.

Some people had babies by them?

I don’t know who to tell you to go for more stories.

Interviewer:

If we knew someone that stayed there (on the Base), we might get some more information about the other side (the Americans).

Mr. Hicks:

Cyril Mifflin - he worked there too. He’s dead now. He stayed there because he worked with the men from Goose Bay. He was a diesel worker. Duke and Bob Diamond worked there too.

Interviewer:

Thank you for the interview, Mr. Hicks.