Kemano- Thomas Raymond Walker

The Photographer and Person that saved this memorabilia

Thomas Raymond “Bud” Walker

The Walker Boys
left- Grant F. Walker, right- Ayce Walker

Bud Walker, wife Bertie, son Ayce Walker
This trailer was Home Sweet Home in Wachwas Camp, when they first moved to Kemano

Grant sent some of his dad's wallet cards.
T. R. Walker, Box 2830, Smeltersite,
his address on the cards

A Kemano Camp Identification Card

#302, Boarder's name, T. R. Walker
Employer- Saguenay-Kitimat Co.
(subsidiary of Alcan)
Construction Company formed by the Aluminum Company of Canada, (Alcan) in 1955
Card not valid until signed by Crawley & McCracken Co Ltd

Morrison-Knudsen Pay stub, July 1954

Terminated July 3, 1953

Then he got that dreaded Pink slip, June 5, 1953
signed by J. B. Hartley his foreman

Bud Walker's driver's license, $5 fee,
I just paid $75 for same thing Nov 2010!

GMAC loan card

BCAA Card expired Jan 1, 1959

Kemano Camera Club Membership
signed by Jean Graves Secretary

Anderson Creek Athletic Association Card,
expired 30-4-57
used at Anderson Creek Camp, which was near Kitimat Smeltersite.

Vancouver, New Westminster District Trade and Labor Council Short Course School 1955

Red Cross Blood Donation Card

Medical Insurance Card
Feb 1, 1955

Vancouver Airlines Limousines Ltd,
Airlines Bus Card

He was a Non-Sustaining member #79, April 1952, Aero Club of BC

A Steamer pass for Union Steamships Ltd,
Good for all Steamers, until Dec 31, 1953
Company founded in 1889, operated until 1959
sold out to Northland Navigation Co
Operated freight and passenger service
to and from Vancouver.
Funnel- red with black top

Found this book written about the firm

T. R. “Bud” Walker in his office, on left.
Fellow worker on right, name unknown
Royal Bank of Canada calendar on the wall. dated Oct 1953.
Company phone list on the wall, beside each of them.
View it on the Kemano Phone book page.

This is a great picture of Bud Walker, hard at work at his desk

Bud Walker on left, Unknown in hard hat
Standing in front of one of the 4×4 Jeep station wagons.

Before going to Kemano, in the late 1940's, Bud was involved in the Logging Industry in Nanoose Bay and Port Alberni area.
Most of the time with Northwest Bay Logging Co., a Division of H. R. MacMillan Export Co.
Logging Archive Pictures here

As well as logging Bud was involved in flying, and took many photos of bush planes etc.

Airplane Archive Photos here
BC Aviation History

William Hubbard Business Card, Western Engineering and Trading Ltd

Eastman Kodak Photography Course, Rochester NY, 1970

Plumbers and Steamfitters Annual Ball, Nov 11, 1955

After Kemano, and before going to Kitimat, he worked for Labour Canada in Vancouver.

Article written by Bud Walker in the Sagimat Employee Newspaper,
summarized in a Nov 2, 1955 Globe and Mail article.

Left-right- 2 Lionel “Al” Brown boys,
Ayce and Grant Walker, Bud's boys
this was taken at the wharf.
the two tall structures in the background
held the cement used for the project.
Unloaded from the boats, it was stored here
until needed at the patch plant.

Bud Walker, his wife Bertie, and “Jay” Brown, Al's wife.

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Thomas Raymond Walker's son, Grant F. Walker, is the person who has donated all these photos. Here are some of his email quotes

“All the pictures that you have were taken by my father, or given to my father to do as he wished.
I have them all and they are all original. Not copies! ”

Grant Walker on top of Alcan's boat Kemano

“They also had a first aid station at each camp.
I do not think it would help a man that fell from the towers.
I know they had these aid stations because I climbed up Mt. Dubose
on the right side of the skip way (tram way) and found a half crushed quonset
with the medical supplies' still in it.
Ether in a glass bottle, of course I had to break the bottle.
I did this in the half of the quonset that was still intact.
I almost did not make it out before I passed out.
I was told later that the camp was abandoned
because a chuck of a glacier came down and crushed it.”

Art Linkletter used to say kids say the darndest thing,
but sometimes when we are young, we do the darndest things.

“The company had a bus that ran between Wachwas and camp five.
They would let you off any were you wanted, and pick you up when you waved them down.
This was a free service.
The only time I had trouble with them was when I found a half case of dynamite behind a shed at camp 5,
and the driver would not let me on the bus. Told me to put it back were I found it.
Missed that bus and had to wait for the next one. It was a good thing he did.
I know that as a kid me and my friends would have tried to blow up something.
We did not know that you needed a cap to set it off but we would have done something stupid.”
Can you imagine this happening today!!!!
we would have some terrorist group on this one!

Scary part on all this, Bud saved same kind of stuff as I do!

Sad to say Bud Walker died of Cancer in Oct 1980

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