The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project: An Oral History of the Greatest Construction Show on Earth

Interviewees

xi Interviewees Sam Agati founded Laborer’s Local 322. He was a native of Syracuse, New York. Ambrose Andre was hired by the Corps of Engineers upon graduation from Clarkson University to assist in designing the Snell and Eisenhower Locks in the Buffalo District Office. In 1955 he was transferred to the Corps field office in Massena and was later promoted to the position of concrete inspector. Eunice Barkley worked on her mother’s lunch cart outside the gates of the Long Sault Dam. In the evening she worked as a waitress at the Village Inn in Waddington. She married Ron Barkley in 1958. Ron Barkley was a truck driver for V. A. Roberts, the project manager for Morrison-Knudsen, at the Red Mills section of the Galop South Channel improvement. He was also employed as a painter on the Iroquois and Long Sault Dam projects. Irene Bryant was married to John Bryant. She was trained as a veterinarian , but stayed at home to raise her children during the Seaway project. John (Jack) Bryant had worked for the Bureau of Reclamation on the Hungry Horse Dam and handled construction claims in the chief engineer’s office in Denver. He was hired along with many of his former co-workers from the Bureau to manage the claims adjustment department for Uhl, Hall, and Rich. xii   |   Interviewees Helen Buirgy was the wife of Ralph Buirgy, who served as an office engineer for Uhl, Hall, and Rich. She was born and raised in Nebraska on a farm and ranch, and taught school in a one-room schoolhouse before her marriage. Robert Carpenter, a native of Carthage, New York, graduated from Clarkson University and became an engineer for the Corps of Engineers. He initially assisted with preliminary subsurface investigation both in the Buffalo District Office and on site in Massena. During the Seaway construction, Carpenter served in the Massena District Office as one of five area engineers. Theodore (Ted) Catanzarite graduated from Massena High School in 1955 and worked on the Seaway for two years as a laborer until he entered university in September 1957. James (Jim) Cotter had worked for the Bureau of Reclamation in the western United States, on the Davis Dam on the Colorado River and the Hungry Horse Dam in western Montana. The Uhl, Hall, and Rich employment office hired him to deal with contract administration from 1955 to 1959. He had also previously worked as an insurance claims adjuster. Phyllis Cotter was married to Jim Cotter. She was trained as a medical technician, but took a break from her career to raise her children during the Seaway project. Joseph Couture worked as a carpenter on numerous projects for Ontario Hydro before relocating to Cornwall. He was transferred to the power dam project to work with Iroquois Constructors, the main contractor on the site. Couture initially worked as a carpenter, but was later promoted to the rank of foreman on the downstream end of the dam. Les Cruickshank spent ten years as an equipment operator for Ontario Hydro, first at the Niagara Falls project and then on the Seaway Project. He became an independent contractor and purchased his own grader to level land at the township relocation areas known as the Lost Villages. Interviewees   |   xiii Glen Dafoe was employed by Ontario Hydro as a carpenter on the houses relocated to the new town sites. He had previous carpentry experience and continued to work in his trade after the completion of the Seaway. Shirley Davis relocated to Waddington, New York, with her husband, Dick, who initially found employment at Alcoa. He was hired as an engineer on the Seaway project and the couple remained in the area until the project’s completion. John Dumas was the son of well-known local reporter Eleanor Dumas, who worked for the Watertown Daily Times. He is a lifelong resident of northern New York. Cyril Dumond served as a pipe fitter on the Robert Saunders Power Dam. He remained on the project for its entirety and continued his career in Cornwall after the project’s completion. Joyce Eastin moved to Massena on February 22, 1955, with her husband, Howard, who was the project manager at the Iroquois Dam in Waddington , New York, and their children. They remained for three and a half years. Lowell Fitzsimmons was a dragline operator and member of Operating Engineers Local 545. He worked on the project from 1955...