Women at Cominco During the
Second World War
ELSIE G. TURNBULL

When

German troops swept across Europe in the fall of 1939
Canada rallied to the support of Great Britain in its declaration of war against
Hitler and initiated a policy of restraint on the manufacture of luxury items
and a channelling of the production of all strategic materials needed in the
war. As a major producer of lead, zinc and chemical fertilizers, the
Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company of Canada (Cominco), to give it
its legal title, contracted to sell to the British government all its zinc in excess
of Canadian requirements and about sixty-five percent of its lead, and to
increase production by building extensions to lead and zinc plants. The
Company placed at the disposal of the British and Dominion governments its
technical and engineering information as well as its construction facilities and
its operational skills. This resulted in the erection of the coke ammonia and
nitric acid plants for fertilizer expansion, as well as an ordnance-grade
ammonium nitrate plant in Calgary for making munitions. Cooperation with
the United States government led to Cominco engineers building and
operating a heavy water plant which supplied an essential ingredient for the
Manhattan Project of manufacturing the first atomic bomb. More hydroelectric power was essential so Cominco undertook further harnessing of the
Kootenay River with a dam at Brilliant.
All these projects called for an increased labour force and for the next
few years every annual report of the Company would mention serious labour
shortages. Adding to the heavy demand for workers was the question of
security--guarding the plants from sabotage. According to the Report of
1940, President S. G. Blaylock wrote: "It is difficult to decide how far to go :in
this direction and perhaps we have overdone it. No part of the boundaries of
any of our plants is out of vision of at least one guard, day or night. Guards
are all sworn in as special constables (Tadanac Police) and have special
uniforms and must have a loaded rifle at all times. The Company has an
armoured tank carrying four machine guns and six rifles ready for action at
Barbara K. Latham and Roberta J. Pazdro, Eds., Not Just Pin Money
Victoria: Camosun College, 1984

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Women in Trail

any moment."
To cope with general labour shortages, the Canadian government passed
a Selective Service Act (NSS) which regulated where individuals could work
and excused from military duty those who worked at something needed in the
war effort. The Cominco solution to labour shortages was to close down its
gold properties in northern Canada and to move employees to more essential
work at Trail or Kimberley. Older employees were persuaded to keep
working beyond pensionable age and women were encouraged to enter the
work force. Seeking to inspire all eight thousand employees to an all-out
drive for accelerated production, Blaylock said:"Let us all remember that
nothing avails unless we win the War!" 1
The women responded with alacrity, concerned to do their share for the
war effort and in many cases replacing husband, brother or boyfriend who
was overseas in the Armed Forces. To facilitate the introduction of women to
the workforce the Company appointed two supervisors: Mrs, Edith Jure for
women in the clerical and stenographic staff, and Jean Thomson for women
in plant operations. Hiring new employees to fill the requirements of
increased production and to replace enlisted men was an important part of
their job. According to wartime laws, they could not hire anyone directly;
instead they had to do it through National Selective Service which ruled on
each applicant. However, this restriction did not prevent the supervisors
from moving Cominco employees to other positions in the Company. In
Kimberley, women were not hired to work the Sullivan Mine. Undoubtedly
this was not because of the old superstition that a woman working
underground meant the death of a miner, but because Kimberley women were
hired to replace men in the concentrator. In Trail, women rushed to work
in a multiplicity of departments hitherto the undisputed preserve of males.
Files of Cominco Magazine for the 1940s describe the impact of their entry.
Jean Thomson, of the Industrial Relations Department, summed up the
situation: "There's something very exciting and romantic about...women
marching to their war jobs every day and swarming home at night. Girls who
never dreamed of a job outside a department store or an office are getting
grease on their hands and liking it. Women who have never followed any
routine except their own flexible household schedule are hearing the precise
rhythm of conveyor belts. " 2
On .a trip through the hydrogen and ammonia plants inNovemberl942, a
reporter found two young women using testing equipment while other women
were scrubbing dirty cathode plates, and two hydrogen workers were
shovelling sand for concrete cell covers. Hearing the sound of a hammer
tapping metal, he discovered another young woman shaping plate clips. In
the assay office" beaker girls" were learning how to assay metals, while in lead
and zinc tank rooms women took over light jobs such as testing acid thickener
samples. 3 In the Central Research department women did testing in the
materials division, the plant lab, the instrument division stores, while they
also worked in the radio and legal departments and in the Central Technical
Library. High school physics and chemistry were put to good use in many
places. Dressed for efficiency in slacks or coveralls, women also wore burlap
aprons, rubber boots and leather mitts. Inevitably, hair was tied back and
held in place with a colourful scarf. This once led to a limerick:

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Turnbull

431

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CWTC members: Anne Jackson (1), standing "at ease," and Mollie Jory (r), standing
"at attention," Trail, BC, c.1940-1943.

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CWTC First Aid Team (I to r): Ida Cullen, Mollie Jory, Anne Jackson, Gertrude
Rutledge, Lila Ollis, at the Blaylock residence, Trail, BC, c.1940-1943.

432

Women in Trail

A cute little lady named Hannah
Who discarded her scarlet bandanna
Got close to a pulley
And her hair, though quite woolly,
Was shorn in a horrible mannah! 4
Women also were prepared as emergency volunteers. In March, 1944,
five women from the SO 2 Division won second place in the Tadanac First Aid
Competition. Each woman had won her St. John Ambulance Association
certificate the year before and had continued studying under the tutelage of
Art Bickerton in order to enter the competition. In September of that same
year, the Ladies' First Aid Team from the Sullivan Concentrator at
Kimberley won first prize in the East Kootenay Mine Safety Association
Competition held at Fernie.
With few exceptions the women proved to be dependable, capable and
willing to learn new skills. "In fact," commented a fellow male worker,"ifthey
become any more efficient some of us mere men will have to look to our
laurels!" While management was delighted with their competency, women
did not invade the select preserve of the workplace without causing reaction
among male employees. It was the subject of an article in the Company's
magazine which gave some answers to the question,"How do you like the
ladies moving in?" 5 "Great," replied one young fellow. "I've already dated
one for tomorrow night and I've got another for Saturday!" One of the older
men was not so enthusiastic: "We got along without them long enough and I
don't see why they have to butt in now." Further comments included: "Just a
fad. They'll soon get fed up and will be gone by Christmas." "Say, what's that
blonde's name?"
Women did not share in the same advantages as men. Remuneration for
women was based on the fact that they had to be trained on the job because
they knew little or nothing of the skills required. Rate of pay at the beginning
of employment was eighty percent of the wages paid to men. This increased
as the women learned until it reached one hundred percent in some cases.
Because at war's end the Company was committed to re-employing all
servicemen, in recognition of their accumulated seniority, the number of
women employees declined sharply.
Trudging up Smelter Hill to put in a day's work at the plant, spending
spare time rolling bandages, knitting socks, stitching up shirts and
nightgowns seemed mundane jobs, very much removed from participation in
"making the world safe for democracy" or "helping to squash Hitler and
defeating Nazism." Trail City, nestled in its mountain valley, was far removed
from military camps, so the formation of Detachment No. 6, Canadian
Women's Training Corps (CWTC) in December 1940 brought a feeling of
comradeship among women engaged in the same struggle. Promoted by a
group of Trail citizens, including the junior IODE, the detachment was
organized by Renee Ha weis, an officer from Vancouver. On her way to form
a similar corps in Fernie, she stopped overnight in Trail, appointing Mrs.
Margie McIntyre commanding officer with the title of Major. Second in
command was Margot Blaylock (Major) with Captain Edith Best (Adjutant),
Lieutenant Jean Motherwell, Orderly Officer, Lieutenant Dorothy Walley,
Paymaster. The titles of the officers had no military significance except

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433

within the local unit where they were used as part of the training program.
Members purchased their own uniforms: skirt and jacket of navy blue;
buttons, a World War One surplus; and wedge cap worn at an intriguing
angle. The Arthur Chapman Chapter of the IODE presented a flag and they
were ready for parade.
Drill sessions were begun under the supervision of Lieutenant R.
McNish of the Rocky Mountain Rangers and Horace Simpson of the
Canadian Legion who also taught them the use of small arms and musketry.
The Legion Voluntary Defense Corps granted the CWTC use of their rifle
range and after joining the Dominion Marksmen, twelve women earned
bronze pins. Training in First Aid was begun: Cominco provided all the
instructors and equipment needed. They learned artificial respiration,
stretcher drill, the binding of wounds and fractures and the stemming of
haemorrhage. A motor mechanics course made the women familiar with
maintenance and repair work of cars and trucks. Classes in Home Nursing
were also undertaken. Preparation in Air Raid Precaution manoeuvres was
also included in their training. They were taught by the police how to drive
cars along streets in the blackout and they were to carry out first aid duties on
any casualties in Tadanac Hall.
For two and one-half years the members of the spirited unit held
themselves ready and responded to demands for help in many fields. They
boosted the morale of townspeople and workers in War Saving Drives and all
the various campaigns organized to help the war effort. They were part of
every parade and festive civic occasion, but in the fall of 1943, the women in
the neat navy blue suits and wedge caps disappeared from city streets to be
replaced by a group of women clad in the tailored gray uniform dress of the
Red Cross Corps. The Canadian Women's Training Corps disbanded to
reorganize as a detachment in the Canadian Red Cross Society.
The Red Cross Corps continued in much the same way as the CWTC. It
was a trained disciplined body of women in identifying uniforms who
practised military drill and physical training with special emphasis on first aid
and home nursing. Instructed by nurses on the staff of Trail-Tadanac
Hospital, they were required to work a minimum of four hours a week as
nurses' aides. After completing two hundred and forty hours of voluntary
service, they would qualify as VADs. Margie McIntyre who had been in
charge of the CWTC became Commanding Officer of the Red Cross Corps,
while Mrs. Molly Jory became Adjutant.
All told, women in Trail and Kimberley made a significant contribution
to their community's war effort and in so doing opened a door to wider
possibilities of future employment. Although the Training Corps and the
Red Cross Corps disbanded after the war, and female employees of Cominco
decreased, the belief that women could not competently handle certain jobs
had been amply disproved. From that time onwards, many individuals found
careers in fields hitherto closed to women. In fact, one chemist, who had been
one of twelve women hired in 1943 to analyze ordnance ammonium nitrate for
making munitions in the Calgary plant, continued in the labs doing plant
analysis. Thirty years later she was still testing effluent and water samples as
well as working on hot carbonate and copper liquor. 6

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Women in Trail

Footnotes
Cominco Magazine, September, 1942: 15.
Ibid., April, 1943: 25.
Ibid., August, 1944: 6.
Ibid., October, 1944.
Ibid., November, 1942: 4-5.
The Orbit, December, 1973.