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Sayers Family
In 1912, George Sayers spent 14 days on a cattle boat crossing the Atlantic Ocean with his family, on their way to Canada from England. The boat docked in Quebec, and a colonist train brought the family across Canada to their destination; Haney. On September 23rd, 1912, the Sayers stepped off the train at the Haney Station.
After a few short years at school, George left his studies to work on the booms at the Kanaka Creek log dumps. In the six months he worked on the booms, he only fell in once, which was a record for those days. Following in his father's footsteps, he also became an employee of the Abernethy & Lougheed (A&L) Logging Company, joining the staff of the machine shop at the company headquarters at Allco. For many years, he did mechanical work, mostly on locomotives for the company, at an approximate wage of 45 cents an hour. This was considered good money then. George stayed with the A&L Logging until it folded in 1929, and then moved to the Hammond mill where he supervised the mechanical operations for about 25 years.
While working for A&L he was elected to take Winston Churchill, who was touring the logging operation, for a trip on the speeder. Speeders were fast single cars used on the railroad tracks to carry men to and from the job. George said speeders had every kind of engine in them, from 1912 Cadillac engines to Model T motors. George said he wasn't prepared to give Churchill a ride, so his superintendent gave him the keys to his car and told him to go home and put on a white shirt, which George did; under his overalls. When he returned, he discovered he was to drive Winston Churchill. He said it was quite an enjoyable experience.
After his retirement in 1957, George did a lot of work around Maple Ridge. He designed an unusual type of elevator that carried freight up at an angle from the alley to the back entrance to Fuller-Watson Ltd. He also spent a good deal of his time working for the UBC Research Forest, designing a wide variety of devices, including one which measured the amount of pollen in the air over a certain period of time. For years, he assisted Jack Walters, director of the Research Forest, to simplify the tree planting gun which was used to easily replant logged areas. George also loved gardening, and was one of the founding members of the Alpine Garden Club of B.C.
George looked after his mother in their house behind the Haney Hotel until she passed away in 1973 at the age of 96. George passed away in April of 1987.
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