1

Maria Costello (Character representation)

Credits:
Atlas Coal Mine Historical Society

2

l-r:Fred Bozowski, Mary Bozowski holding daughter Jennie Bozowski
1933

Credits:
Atlas Coal Mine Historical Society

3

The life of a miner's wife was one of routine. We were on the same schedule when it came to daily duties and household chores. Monday was always a washday, and Tuesday was ironing day. Tuesday was also a great day to go to the grocery store, if you had the time. Wednesday was usually a catch up day for anything that had been left undone from the week before, and I like to visit my mother or sister. On Thursday it seemed like everyone was already thinking about their weekend, and wanted to get some of their house cleaning done. Finally, Friday morning we finished washing and waxing floors, and in the afternoon we baked. Saturdays and Sundays were reserved for big family dinners and and Church, with a little tidying here and there.

4

Florence Frances Yez watering her Sweet Peas
1940's
East Coulee, Alberta

Credits:
Dinosaur Valley Heritage Society

5

Florence Frances Yez doing laundry
1940's
East Coulee, Alberta

Credits:
Dinosaur Valley Heritage Society

6

Laundry day was always a big to-do. There was a Hungarian lady across the street that got up at midnight to do her washing, so hers was always on the line first thing Monday morning. After years of being second best, I thought I would try my hand at being the laundry queen for a day. I had to do the laundry on Sunday night and leave it in a tub of cold water overnight. I got up at 4 o clock in the morning and ran the laundry through the ringer. When I was finished, I proudly hung my washing on the line as if on display for everyone to see that I had finished first. Laundry became quite the competition. You won some and you lost some.

7

Ada Crittall (sitting) and Nora Crittall (standing), washing clothes in a washtub.
1928
Peers, Alberta

Credits:
Douglas Powell

8

Pearl Yez
1940's
East Coulee, Alberta

Credits:
Dinosaur Valley Heritage Society

9

My mother had a crow, a pet crow named Charlie. He wasn't your average crow, he always preferred people to birds. She adopted it one spring after finding it on the side of the road and raised him as her own. As soon as he was grown and no longer required attention, he rewarded her with entertainment and laughter. Stealing the clothes pegs from her clean line of laundry, causing her whites to fall into the mud, was one of Charlie's specialties. He would hang around even when she was doing the fall canning to pester her and cause a ruckus. One time she had her hot sterilized jars lined up along the counter ready for the preserves when Charlie decided the edge of a jam jar looked like a great perch. You have never heard a bird squawk like that. He learned his lesson I guess.

Charlie like most mine families loved gardening. He did not put in all of the hard work but he could sure reap the rewards. Our Hungarian neighbour was an excellent gardener and Charlie knew this. Instead of eating our fruits and vegetables he would fly over to the much more desirable garden next door. She always chased him out before he managed to peck at her entire crop of cucumbers!

One time Charlie was a little too eager and decided to try some beets from next door that were waiting to be washed on the back step. In his excitement he pecked a little too hard and managed to get his beak completely stuck inside the beet! It was pinning him down like a prisoner. My younger brother managed to find the wailing crow and free him. He never touched another beet again.

10

Three children all attempting to get into washtub at the same time; Nora Thorley watching from door
1935

Credits:
Atlas Coal Mine Historical Society

11

Fall was a busy season when it came to gardening. Everyone pulled their garden and everyone canned so that they would have vegetables and fruits over the winter. There was no fridge so canning was necessary ?not to mention the money it saved you.

Once the hungry thirties were upon us, anything we could do to save money and supplement our diets became a way of life. My husband John wasn't getting enough work and we were running out of credit at the grocery store. So he got this idea in his head that he would get out his old 22 and shoot a couple of rabbits. Arriving back home successful, he would skin the rabbits and I would prepare them for the stew. This is how we got along for most of the hungry thirties. As a matter of fact that was the last time my husband ever held a gun.

12

Kathleen Powell holding her first born child John Alfred Powell Jr.
1931
Drumheller, Alberta

Credits:
Carla Powell