Author Topic: Found Film (Read 28574 times)

Francois · « **Reply #100 on:** August 27, 2020, 03:02:03 PM »

And the bathrooms are probably better equipped than the French ones of the 80's with their Turkish toilets...

Bryan · « **Reply #101 on:** August 27, 2020, 08:21:04 PM »

There are three of these log books with the photos that list details of each shot. I'm photographing each page so I have that information. Some log books are missing, these ones don't cover all the photos. There are names for some of the people in the photos and descriptions of some of the events that were photographed.

Bryan · « **Reply #102 on:** August 28, 2020, 12:27:39 AM »

The mini ingots on the forklift look like the same ones that the ladies spelled out Happy New Year 1951 with in one of the previous pictures. The guy in the second picture is electroplating something. The jug on the work bench is electroplating solution. The third picture makes me wonder how much a union worker got paid to thread nuts onto bolts.

Bryan · « **Reply #103 on:** August 28, 2020, 12:30:13 AM »

Pouring concrete in 1951 wasn't a lot different than how they do it today. We have some better tools now but the basics look the same.

Francois · « **Reply #104 on:** August 28, 2020, 03:11:35 PM »

Cement work definitely hasn't changed much. Though there ain't fifty ways to modify a trowel...

Bryan · « **Reply #105 on:** August 29, 2020, 09:38:03 PM »

The latest box, 251-300, is done. Kind of a boring one, mostly views of construction and quality control photos. This first one looks like a horribly dusty place to work. This place is still horribly dusty. I think this is part of the conveyor system that moved the alumina (aluminium oxide) from the rail line to the pot line where they turned it into aluminum. I don't think the Bauxite ore ever came to this plant, I think it was refined to alumina somewhere else. The alumina is that white dust, it's still all over the place out here.

The second photo is masons constructing a small building. One great thing about the construction shots is all the old cars and trucks.

Bryan · « **Reply #106 on:** August 30, 2020, 12:37:44 AM »

It's amazing how much construction was going on at the same time to expand this factory.

Francois · « **Reply #107 on:** August 30, 2020, 02:43:52 PM »

It must have been awful to work with so much dust in the air.
With so much aluminum oxide everywhere, you definitely don't want to bring in some iron oxide powder and mix it in....

Bryan · « **Reply #108 on:** August 31, 2020, 05:45:31 PM »

Four photos up is a shot of a masonry building under construction, it's the same as the building below. Now that I see what building it was I realized that's the building I found the negatives in.

I finished scanning all the negatives yesterday, now the hard part, editing them. I now have a date range for all of them thanks to clues in some of the pictures and the log books. The earliest were around 1950, possibly earlier but not by much. The last log entry is in 1956 but that's for photo number 2408, the last photo is number 2522. It may have gone into 1957 but I doubt it went past that. That last box was not completely filled and instead of having a range of numbers written on the box like 2451-2500 it read 2501-, so I'm pretty sure it's the last one. There were a few 6X6 shots on 120 film shoved in some of the last boxes so maybe they moved on to a different format. I didn't find any more film in that building other than some 16mm film that has very bad Vinegar Syndrome.

I did find a field note book in another building that has entries from 1942 but nothing to do with photography. Looks like engineering notes.

Francois · « **Reply #109 on:** August 31, 2020, 08:46:41 PM »

It must be quite a relief to finally see the end of the scanning part!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #110 on:** September 01, 2020, 04:59:43 PM »

Wow! What a fascinating thread with some wonderful images; thanks so much for sharing this ongoing project here, Bryan.

Bryan · « **Reply #111 on:** September 01, 2020, 05:40:06 PM »

One thing I noticed with the log books, a photo I posted earlier, #342, Happy New Year 1951, was shot on November 11, 1950. There are a lot of pictures that were shot November and December after that. Maybe it was shot in advance for a company news letter or something like that.

These shots are all from box 451-500, construction work shot in December during a snow storm. Based on the log book both of these were shot on December 8, 1950. Photo 455 was shutter speed 1/25 at f/8 and photo 467 was shutter speed 1/50 at f/11. It doesn't say the make or model of the lens but it was 135mm, f/4.5. The film is Kodak Super Panchro-Press Type B. Photo 455 is expansion of building 66, the compressor building. Photo 467 was erecting steel on building 30, one of several pot line buildings.

Bryan · « **Reply #112 on:** September 01, 2020, 05:41:34 PM »

Quote from: Ed Wenn on September 01, 2020, 04:59:43 PM

Wow! What a fascinating thread with some wonderful images; thanks so much for sharing this ongoing project here, Bryan.

Thanks Ed, lots more to come. If I start overloading the servers or start boring everyone to death let me know.

Bryan · « **Reply #113 on:** September 01, 2020, 06:17:37 PM »

Some photos of people working in the factory. Looks like a machine shop to me. The film is still Kodak Super Panchro-Press Type B, that seems to be the most common film they used. For these shots they used an on-camera flash with a #5 bulb. #485 is described as Copper Metalizer, not sure what that is. If you hate wearing a mask for COVID you should really feel for this guy, that mask can't be comfortable. #487 is described as Aluminum Bus Punch. #490 is described as Aluminum Welder.

The last photo is described as Wedding Gifts for Ami Jensen. I had to look it up, held og lykke is Danish for good luck and happiness.

Francois · « **Reply #114 on:** September 01, 2020, 09:15:49 PM »

That mask might not have been very comfy but it would look fantastic as part of a Star Wars or Bladerunner costume!

Bryan · « **Reply #115 on:** September 02, 2020, 04:49:20 PM »

Finished editing another box, numbers 501 to 550. Construction is getting closer to completion on some of the buildings.
506 - look at the guy in the lower left. December 20, 1950
515 - Pot Line building #30. December 20, 1950
520 - Installing roof on Pot Line Building. I guess somebody needs to go up there and attach the roof panels, not something I would do.
548 - This is the interior of the Rectifier building, the long brick building. Those must be rectifiers. It looks like they are getting close to finishing it. Driving by it this morning I could see where there is a change in the brick where they extended onto the building. The building is empty now, all the rectifiers were scrapped for the copper several years ago. December 27, 1950
532 - This is an odd one, the notes say "Smudge caused by salamander in construction lunch tent". It's dated December 22, 1950 so reptilian salamanders would be hibernating. I know there are kerosene heaters used in construction called salamanders that blow hot air, not sure if they had them back then.

Bryan · « **Reply #116 on:** September 02, 2020, 05:08:37 PM »

Some people pictures all taken on December 20, 1950 using #5 flash bulb.
525 - Charles "Pop" Lux in the restroom.
527, 528 & 530 - Rudy Petow in the pump house and at the oil tanks. He looks like the guy you call if you need a valve turned or a hose connected.
531 - L.W. "Bud" Glassley wiring in Duplex Cubicle.

Bryan · « **Reply #117 on:** September 02, 2020, 05:46:24 PM »

This looks like an event they had, it's only labeled Betty Johnson. All taken on December 22, 1950 shot at 1/50, f/8 using #5 bulb.
534 & 535 - not sure what this lady is doing but the lady on the right does not look amused.
536 - Some Polka music for the event.
543 - Group shot

Bryan · « **Reply #118 on:** September 03, 2020, 03:53:57 PM »

Box 551-600 was mostly boring quality control photos, the rest were construction. I only scanned one quality control photo, #568 below. As we strip siding off the buildings they are starting to look like they did during construction. These are the last of the shots from 1950, all shot on December 31, 1950.

553 - Building 55 under construction. We stripped all the siding, the roof is still there but it looks a lot like this.
561 - Construction of the Ore Bridge. This was a conveyor system that took the alumina from the railroad cars to the tall tanks. It started in a tunnel under the train tracks and reached about 100 feet above the ground. The section in this photo was already gone when I got here but we have taken siding off it on the lower parts up to the highest remaining point at 100 feet. The alumina tanks were removed several years ago.
566 - Construction of building 34 extension. This building was about 1,500 feet long with siding on both sides, it was the first we removed.
568 - Aluminum weld test. one of many quality control shots like this. For the flash it says #2 F.F., 15". I assume that's a #2 bulb for Fill Flash at 15" from the subject. The distance from the lens is listed at 3 5/8, not sure if that's feet or inches, I think it's inches. I don't think my Crown Graphic can't get that close without doing some kind of extension.

Bryan · « **Reply #119 on:** September 04, 2020, 04:18:37 PM »

Box 601-650.

608 - January 12, 1951, Location of well #4. There are still several water wells on site, even the local utility company uses one for the community. I think the well house for well #4 is still on site but I don't think it's an operational well anymore.
615 - January 17, 1951, Ore Bridge construction. The guy standing on a wood plank is about 100 feet above the ground. OSHA wasn't established in the U.S. until 20 years later. There's a lot of scary health and safety stuff in these photos.

These next three are kind of odd, especially the last one. All shot on January 26, 1951
647 - Horse Shoes
648 - James DeLon having a game of marbles.
650 - No description written for this one.

Bryan · « **Reply #120 on:** September 10, 2020, 03:54:12 AM »

Back at the photos again. Went home for the holiday weekend, my wife had way too many chores so no time for editing. That's what I get for being gone for 6 weeks. These are from box 651 to 700.

663 - February 2, 1951, Potline Operation. Looks like a horrible place to work.
666 - February 2, 1951, Frank Bort, Construction Superintendent.
668 - February 3, 1951, Al Garcia, tending pot. Good thing he wore a tie for the occasion.
671 - February 5, 1951, Drilling well #4 - 80 ft depth. L to R Drilling boss, WWW, ROG, HRT.

Bryan · « **Reply #121 on:** September 10, 2020, 04:00:32 AM »

682 - February 19, 1951, Harold Phinney
685 - February 20, 1951, Gate Light Bulb. How many union factory workers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
689 - February 20, 1951, Bill Heaten, Don McKee and Rolf Olsness limbering up.

Bryan · « **Reply #122 on:** September 11, 2020, 03:34:06 AM »

Box 701-750. Looks like a leaky roof.
710 - March 13, 1951, Roof building 55 construction seam in roof slab.
711 - March 13, 1951, Water draining from ice below roof slab.
717 - March 15, 1951, Hap Lord refilling fire extinguisher, for KA news. This is the first time I have seen a reference to KA News, must have been a company newsletter. That would explain some other random shots.

Bryan · « **Reply #123 on:** September 11, 2020, 03:41:28 AM »

I like this first one, great shot of some dirty workers.
720 - March 13, 1951, Mickey Sanders, Hugh Foster, Earl Wham, Carmine Nicholetti.
732 - April 3, 1951, no information for this photo.
748 - April 5, 1951 - pastoral view of the pollution spewing factory.

Bryan · « **Reply #124 on:** September 12, 2020, 04:56:51 AM »

Box 571-800.
761 - April 13, 1951, Pigs (Ingots under 25 kg are called a pig)
773 - April 13, 1951, Bowling Award Dinner.
780 - April 17, 1951, Well number 4 pumping
782 - April 17, 1951, Well driller

Bryan · « **Reply #125 on:** September 12, 2020, 05:09:44 AM »

791 - April 19, 1951, icicles.
793 - April 20, 1951, Stan repairing meter
795 - April 20, 1951, Checking meters
796 - April 20, 1951, Chas Uden busy at his desk.
797 - April 20, 1951, Bob Redinger, Fred Sundstad, Orville Newman with new softball equipment.

Bryan · « **Reply #126 on:** September 13, 2020, 02:45:58 AM »

Box 801 - 850. This log book ends on number 805, I have one more log book that starts on number 1744 so there's a big gap without information.
802 - May 16, 1951 - Matt McDonald. I guess the other guy wasn't important
808 - this guy look like a train conductor
820 and 821 - looks like this guy makes small horse saddles for his daughter. I'm guessing this was for the newsletter.

Bryan · « **Reply #127 on:** September 13, 2020, 02:48:32 AM »

These ones look like a company pick nick, I think they continue into the next box.

Bryan · « **Reply #128 on:** September 13, 2020, 08:14:24 PM »

Box 851-900,

852, 862, a few more from the company pick nick.
868, 872, some military portraits. One thing missing from that map in photo 872 is Interstate 90 which was built about a decade later. Must have been a long slow slog across the state back then.
870, looks like they're adding the pump to well #4.

Bryan · « **Reply #129 on:** September 13, 2020, 08:18:11 PM »

Looks like a bridal shower, she got a nice new Sunbeam waffle maker,

Bryan · « **Reply #130 on:** September 13, 2020, 08:21:02 PM »

881, not sure what they would be doing with a barrel of bees at an aluminum smelter.
886, 887, looks like more photos of the softball team.
893, The nicely dressed people from the employment office.

Francois · « **Reply #131 on:** September 13, 2020, 09:21:35 PM »

That lady looks sooo happy to have a brand new waffle maker

Bryan · « **Reply #132 on:** September 14, 2020, 04:26:46 AM »

Quote from: Francois on September 13, 2020, 09:21:35 PM

That lady looks sooo happy to have a brand new waffle maker

That was probably an expensive appliance back then, her smile makes the picture.

These are from box 901 - 950, 904 and 906 looks like another wedding shower.
925 - working in the lab
944 - I think this is in the pot line where they made the aluminum ingots.

Bryan · « **Reply #133 on:** September 14, 2020, 04:35:19 AM »

This factory made two things, the aluminum ingots and carbon anodes. The carbon anodes are used in the pot line to convert the alumina into aluminum. From what I understand this facility was one of only a few in the region that made carbon anodes, they supplied them to other smelters. Aluminum smelting was a large industry in the Pacific Northwest because of the cheap electricity that came from all the hydroelectric dams. Many of the smelters are shut down now, must be cheaper to make it somewhere else.

These pits that they baked the anodes in are still on site, they are deep and there's a lot of them. There are also mountains of carbon that are part of the cleanup I'm doing. Nasty black powder. I think they made the carbon from coal tar and green coke, not sure how that process worked but these look like the finished product coming out of the oven. I didn't realize they were so large, maybe they made different sizes and shapes.

Bryan · « **Reply #134 on:** September 15, 2020, 03:10:10 AM »

Box 951 - 1000, some pictures of employees.

Bryan · « **Reply #135 on:** September 16, 2020, 03:26:43 AM »

Bowling leage. Box 1001-1050

Bryan · « **Reply #136 on:** September 16, 2020, 03:28:17 AM »

Must be the end of 1951.

Bryan · « **Reply #137 on:** September 17, 2020, 03:09:50 AM »

Box 1051 - 1100.
1025 - I know, this one shouldn't be in this box but I think it's numbered wrong. There's another 1025 in the proper box. That looks like a teletype machine next to her. Amazing technology, you can type a letter and send it to someone else over a phone line, what will they think of next. She must have been the switch board operator.
1065 - Whoever made this was not impressed with their co-workers skiing skills.
1070 - Looks a little cold for softball, maybe they started the season early back then.
1082 - I have no idea what's going on here.

Bryan · « **Reply #138 on:** September 17, 2020, 03:28:19 AM »

The scans I'm sharing here are reduced size to meet the forums size requirement. There's a lot of detail in my full size scans and it's fun to zoom into things in some of the photos.

1080 - I noticed these batteries that are quite large. It's a No. 6 dry cell that's not made anymore. There were used in cars for ignition and old clocks and radios. It was one of the first dry cell batteries made.
1085 - Looks like this guy has something to do with radio repair, the radio he's working on looks like an old AM car radio, this one is made by Motorola.
Crop 1085c is a display stand with bottles of what I assume are chemicals. The display stand says "General Radio Chem..". Not sure what they are but Radio Chemicals would be radioactive chemicals as far as I know. Seems like an odd thing to have, or it could be something else.

Bryan · « **Reply #139 on:** September 17, 2020, 03:32:23 AM »

These must have been for the company news letter.
1089 - This guy collects shells
1090 - A musical family.

Bryan · « **Reply #140 on:** September 17, 2020, 03:38:28 AM »

A zoom from the family picture above, Marvel Tales #103
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Marvel_Tales_Vol_1_103

jharr · « **Reply #141 on:** September 18, 2020, 01:30:15 AM »

Great stuff Bryan. My grandfather worked as a foreman at Kaiser Meade for a good chunk of his life. I haven't spotted him in any of these shots. They might pre-date his tenure.
I have been helping scan some old family photos and came across this gem. Downtown Spokane in the 40's? I found ads for Wilrob's Cameras in the Gonzaga Bulletin from 1953/4, but I think this shot probably is before that.

Spokane-008 by James Harr, on Flickr

Bryan · « **Reply #142 on:** September 18, 2020, 02:36:56 AM »

Quote from: jharr on September 18, 2020, 01:30:15 AM

Great stuff Bryan. My grandfather worked as a foreman at Kaiser Meade for a good chunk of his life. I haven't spotted him in any of these shots. They might pre-date his tenure.
I have been helping scan some old family photos and came across this gem. Downtown Spokane in the 40's? I found ads for Wilrob's Cameras in the Gonzaga Bulletin from 1953/4, but I think this shot probably is before that

That would be cool if he turns up in these, I think the latest this batch goes is 1956 or 1957. If you want to send me his name I can look through the log books to see if there is any reference to him. I’m not posting every photo so hopefully I don’t pass him up if he is in here. I don’t have logs for all the photos and not everyone is named in the book so keep an eye out.

Someone I’m working with on the site has a grandfather that worked here when these photos were taken so I’m going to give him a copy of them when I’m done. I think his grandfather was an electrician.

mikec · « **Reply #143 on:** September 18, 2020, 02:45:38 AM »

Quote from: jharr on September 18, 2020, 01:30:15 AM

Great stuff Bryan. My grandfather worked as a foreman at Kaiser Meade for a good chunk of his life. I haven't spotted him in any of these shots. They might pre-date his tenure.
I have been helping scan some old family photos and came across this gem. Downtown Spokane in the 40's? I found ads for Wilrob's Cameras in the Gonzaga Bulletin from 1953/4, but I think this shot probably is before that.

I think that car on the left is a 1956 Pontiac. Over on the right are two camera stores right next to each other -- that's pretty extraordinary.

Bryan · « **Reply #144 on:** September 18, 2020, 03:04:17 AM »

I saw that too Mike, you could go into Wilrobs and say Dan offered me a better deal on that camera...

These are from Box 1101 - 1150, more crops.
1106 - At first I thought this was just another boring quality control photo, then I saw the film holders and box of flash bulbs in the back.

1136 - Laying brick in an oven and munching on an Oh Henry candy bar.

Bryan · « **Reply #145 on:** September 18, 2020, 03:08:26 AM »

1142 - Working on some big gears
1147, 1149 and 1150 - Some kind of award banquet.

Bryan · « **Reply #146 on:** September 19, 2020, 01:11:03 AM »

Someone just handed me some more film. One of the missing boxes of 4X5 negatives, about 100 color slides and some color negatives. Looks like I'll be doing some more scanning this weekend.

Francois · « **Reply #147 on:** September 19, 2020, 03:08:08 PM »

Wow!
That is a lot of pictures.

Bryan · « **Reply #148 on:** September 19, 2020, 03:41:19 PM »

Quote from: Francois on September 19, 2020, 03:08:08 PM

Wow!
That is a lot of pictures.

Not sure why my iPhone photo above got messed up like that, looks fine on my phone and computer.

I started scanning them last night, got through most of it. It's a little over 100 color slides that look much more recent than the stuff I've been posting. The color negatives are in really bad shape and it looks like a lot of shots that are just blank.

The box of 4X5 negatives has 50, like most of the other boxes. It's box 1501 to 1550, one of a few boxes that were missing from the sequence. I'm still missing 2101 to 2250 plus several random photos missing from many of the boxes. It's pretty amazing they survived at all considering they've been here for almost 70 years, 20 years of that after the factory shut down.

Bryan · « **Reply #149 on:** September 19, 2020, 04:59:38 PM »

Box 1151 - 1200, more from the award banquet. Looks like it's getting late in the evening and people are drinking a lot of Seagram's 7, gambling and dancing. I think the photographer may have been drinking, 4 shots were double exposures.