National Adult Literacy Database

February 15, 1999

Our story this week is a special event, because we are launching two learners' stories on the Internet, and you can read their stories as well as hear an audio version.

Don Murphy has been a student at Kingston Literacy's Read Write 2 Centre. He credits Isobel Bisbey for her direction and support. Don has raised his literacy skills sufficiently to begin working on courses to get his grade 12. He likes snowmobiling, ice fishing, camping and spending time with his three sons. He is good at fixing cars and has painted houses and other buildings for over 20 years.

Play an audio version of this story

My Life at the Lumber Mill

by Don Murphy

I started working at the lumber mill in the 70's. Minimum wage was very low. My wage was 3 dollars an hour. I was married raising a family on this wage. I was grateful to have this job and be able to raise my family. It was a very hard and dangerous job running saws and airguns.

I started in the summer then winter came and there was no heat in the mill. It was very cold to work in the mill so we had to work really hard to stay warm. Out of the 5 years I worked in the mill I had 1 accident; I nailed my finger to a pallet. After working there for about a year the boss said it was time to learn how to run the big saw that cuts the logs. It was very scary at first, it took some getting used to. There was a hoist to pick the logs up to put them on the table, and they put me on the saw with a man built like Hulk Hogan; this guy was very strong and he didn't want to use the hoist to pick the logs up. He also felt because he was strong enough not to use the hoist, that everyone should be as strong as him.

I hurt my back lifting logs, and I was off work for 3 weeks. When I went back I could only do light work until my back was strong enough to lift again. My back still gives me trouble when I turn the wrong way or lift too much, but the doctor says there is nothing wrong with my back.

Just to let you know how dangerous this job really was, I will tell you a bit about what I seen in my 5 years. I remember seeing another guy cutting his finger in half with a bandsaw. I remember seeing another guy forget to shut the top blade off on a big saw, he reached in behind the bottom blade to pull a piece of wood out that was stuck behind the blade, the top blade shredded his red toque throwing it across the room. I thought it was his brains being shredded. He was very lucky!

Another time I saw the same guy carving his name in a beam with a chainsaw, the chainsaw kicked back at him nearly cutting his shoulder. Me and some of the other guys were afraid for his safety so we told the boss what we seen. Unfortunately, they let him go before he hurt himself. I seen the boss's daughter run her hand through a plainer. The boss told her not to run anymore saws, she was just to build pallets. There was a guy named Bing Crosby, he was only with us for about 1 month. He was working in Napanee. They had a mobile mill there, and were cutting railway ties. The guy on the tail end of the saw didn't pull the slab out far enough, the blade pulled the slab backwards through the blade very fast hitting Bing in the head. He died on the way to the hospital. The guy working the tail end of the saw never worked in the mill again.