ESTEVAN — Roger Slager has retired from working at the coal mines in the Estevan area, but he remains busy with a mining-related project.
Slager and his friend Wes Biech, also a former employee at the mines, have been working to restore a model of a Marion dragline.
“They used that to train up some of their employees on how the operation of them would work, although it wasn’t exact because of the technology back then,” said Slager, noting the model was eventually retired.
The dragline’s boom is about 16 feet, while its house is roughly 4 1/2 feet by three feet. The unit will weigh about 400 pounds once it’s assembled, he said. Slager added it’s considerably larger than the model dragline at the Bienfait Coalfields Historical Society Museum.
According to Slager, the model he is working to restore was built in the 1940s by brothers who mined for a coal company in the U.S. In 1955, it merged with another company and became Peabody Coal, which had operations in the U.S.
From there, it was sold to the Marion Power Shovel Company, for which the shovel is named.
“The actual Marions themselves, the 7400 draglines, they went to Australia, and worked there, doing a little digging and plowing of the grounds, and then it went back to the U.K,” said Slager.
When it was new, the model dragline “walked” on the ground, Slager said, and employees learned to dig and swing with it.
One employee, Chuck Doerr, rebuilt it "a few hundred times” due to wear and tear, Slager said.
“He bought and owned the dragline after a bit, and so it went through various … owners.”
It’s been in the Bienfait area since the 1990s.
Slager recalled Biech told him about the dragline, so Slager went looking and found it sitting in an old shed in a crate. Slager then started making inquiries about whether it could be restored.
“I think it’s something the public can see. It’s history,” Slager said.
Ryan Short, who has a lot of knowledge of remote-controlled models, has been helping with the project, Slager said.
Ashley Wallster, who is now the site manager of Westmoreland’s Boundary Dam Mine, gave Slager the green light to rebuild the unit. Wallster also authorized a 20-foot trailer for the model so it can travel to parades.
Westmoreland Mining LLC and the United Mine Workers of America Local 7606 are excited about the project, Slager said, and want to see the dragline restored.
“Anyone that I’ve talked to around here that is old enough to remember it back in the day and has seen it in the parades, they’re all interested in seeing it back there,” he said.
It’s a tedious process, Slager said. He pointed out another person wanted to rebuild the dragline at one point and stripped it right down. In one way, Slager said the man did them a favour, but it also created a lot of laborious work.
“We have to try to figure out where the parts go, because he didn’t really identify a lot of it, so he took motors and drums apart, and even when he put it back together, it was backwards. We found that out by trial and error,” said Slager.
The dragline was also in a few accidents, so Biech is working on a few panels, the roof and the rafters.
Slager said he would like to have the dragline ready for the summer parade season. It’s unlikely to be finished for the Estevan parade June 12. A more realistic option might be the Bienfait Canada Day parade July 1.
Slager started working at the mines in 1997 and retired in 2024 after a 27-year career. When he was hired, he came from B.C. as a Red Seal heavy-duty mechanic. Once he arrived, he started running the equipment instead of fixing it, and he said he ran everything except for the buggy.
He ran the electric shovel, a dragline and a dozer, which he said was probably the best job because it involved putting the land back to the way it was as part of reclamation efforts. In his final years, he worked as a blaster.
