The Wakefield Bolter

Ernest Labelle: We needed to refit the system because the millstone assembly we were putting back together was missing all kinds of parts. Through my contacts, I heard that the Wakefield Mill, which belonged to Parks Canada, was closing. They had a lot of the parts we needed, but they were being sent to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. We were able to get the bolter (it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, right?). Instead of going to the museum in Ottawa, it would come here; all we had to do was go and pick it up. So, we went to get it. It weighed something like two tons. [Laughs] We dismantled it and put it back together. It was lent to us on the condition that we would use it. If we stopped using it, it had to be returned to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. It was… It was all a bit…

Léon Tremblay: Wasn’t Pierre-Paul with you that time?

Ernest Labelle: Oh yeah, there was a whole group of us: Daniel, Victor, Pierre-Paul and Jacques Langlois – he came on behalf of the City.