CHAPTER ELEVEN

YEARS IN DEEP RIVER AND AT
CANADA'S ATOMIC ENERGY PROJECT
AT CHALK RIVER, ONTARIO

Without knowing of its existence beforehand, I became, on June 1, 1945, a member of the Manhattan Project when I took over the position of Works Chief Medical Officer N.R.X. Project at the Petawawa Works at Chalk River, Ontario, Canada.

Before going into my activities, I think at this juncture I should document the important events which have a bearing on how I came to be there.

On December 7, 1941, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, brought the United States into the war which Canada had been engaged in since it began in 1939.

I have in my files copies of newspapers from which the following excerpts are taken.

On May 8, 1945, the Toronto Globe and Mail stated: "London, May 7, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies today."

On August 7, 1945, the Globe and Mail stated: "Washington, August 6. Japan rocked today under the most devastating destructive force ever known to man: the atomic bomb." "He (President Truman) at 11 a.m. EST. said the first atomic bomb had been dropped on the Japanese army base of Hiroshima 16 hours earlier." "President Truman said the scientific skill of the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada had gone into long experimenting before the achievement of the long dreamed-of harnessing of atomic energy."

Ottawa, August 6: "The Dominion-Provincial Conference today heard the announcement of the first use of an atomic bomb, and Canada's part in its development. The announcement was made by Prime Minister King immediately before the noon adjournment."

On August 7, 1945, the Montreal Daily Star stated: "Washington, August 7. The Manhattan Project, probably the most carefully guarded secret of the war, produced the atomic bomb." Pictured in the newspaper were Major General Leslie R. Groves and Dean C.J. Mackenzie."

"Los Alamos, N.M., August 7. The age of atomic force was ushered in July 17, 1945, when a group of renowned scientists and military leaders gathered in New Mexico's desert wastelands to witness the results of their $2 billion experiment. The War Department disclosed yesterday that the test took place on that date on an isolated section of the Alamogordo, N.M. Air Force Base, 120 miles southeast of Alburquerque at 5:30 a.m."

On August 10, 1945, the Montreal Daily Star: "Guam, August

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10. The second atomic bomb dropped on Japan obliterated Nagasaki."

Headline: "Japanese offer to quit." "London, August 10. Moscow radio said today that the Japanese Foreign Minister had expressed to Russian Ambassador Jacob Malik, Japanese willingness to accept the Potsdam declaration."

On August 13, 1945, the Montreal Gazette carried a picture of the Nagasaki Firecloud.

An article from the Ottawa Gazette, August 12, 1945, was headlined: "Atomic Research at Chalk River to Probe Medical Applications." The article includes statements made by Reconstruction Minister Howe. On page 18, the first paragraph reads: "The largest and most distinguished group of scientists ever assembled, for a single investigation in any British country, worked in Canada on the experimental and development work of atomic energy." "Canadian scientists and those from abroad who helped in the work include..." (the list which follows has the names and university connections of upwards of 160 men and women, many of them from foreign countries).

On August 13, 1945, the Montreal Daily Star had pictured prominently in Section 11 a number of top scientists. Among them were the pictures of Dr. J. D. Cockcroft, who lived with his family in the house adjoining mine in Deep River (on the south), Professor R.W. Sargent, who lived with his wife in the house adjoining mine on the north, and beyond him, on the north side, lived Dr. G. C. Laurence with his family, who was also pictured.

On August 15, 1945, the Toronto Globe and Mail carried its bold headline: "Peace at Last". "Washington, August 14. President Truman announced at 7 P.M. E.D.T August 14, 1945 that Japan had accepted allied surrender terms. Orders went out immediately to silence the guns in the far-flung Pacific theater." "President Truman further stated General Douglas MacArthur has been appointed the Supreme Allied Commander to receive the Japanese surrender; Great Britain, Russia and China will be represented by high ranking officers."

August 15, 1945, the Montreal Daily Star: "San Francisco, August 15. Emperor Hirohito, in the first broadcast ever made to his 100,000,000 subjects, said today that the atomic bomb forced Japan to accept the first military defeat in the 2,605 years of her history."

I also have in files the TIME Magazine dated August 10, 1945. Cover story: "Atomic Age."

So it was in these hectic months in the summer of 1945 that I began to take up my responsibilities at Chalk River, Ontario. At that time the atomic plant was far from completion. In terms of output it contributed little, but its scientists supplied

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much knowledge and brain power to the creation of the atomic bomb. In this I had no part.

At the beginning my medical services were very limited. At the plant-site at Chalk River most of the employees were engaged in various construction projects. They were housed in temporary large barracks. There was no medical office and I started with a desk, in a temporary building where all the medical supplies and gallon jugs of medicines were sitting on the floor around about. When I wanted to dispense any liquid medicine the only available bottles to put it in were empty and discarded whisky bottles.

At the townsite, at Deep River, ten miles up the Ottawa River from the plant, conditions were a little better. I was able to use a newly finished small house with rooms where I could have an office with desk and file and an examining room. As yet, there was no hospital in the place and any patients needing hospitalization had to be sent to doctors in Pembroke, who were mostly general practitioners.

Among my first duties was the necessity of setting up some kind of record system to keep track of patients served and to keep them recorded and categorized correctly. There were occupational conditions to look after, as well as non-occupational conditions.

An attempt was being made to develop a non-occupational plan into which employees contributed a certain amount per month to assure themselves of prepaid medical care.

I had much to do in going over the plans drawn up by the company architects for a hospital at the plant with facilities on the ground floor for emergency service and for routine physical examinations for new employees.

The plant hospital had to have quite adequate laboratories to conduct both haematological and urine examinations quite extensively, and also a well-equipped biological laboratory to do quite extensive blood and chemical tests. The plant hospital facility could not be built until I had agreed upon its size and design.

Then it was my responsibility to hire the doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians to do the work. I was able to do this because of my previous experience at the Defence Industries in Ajax and from what I had learned in private tutoring during two months previously at the University of Toronto. Also I had the valuable advice of Surgeon Commander, Dr. C. B. Pierce, of the R.C.N.V.R. who was attached to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal.

Of course the plant hospital had to have its own x-ray machine and staff to operate it. The plant hospital building was designed to have, under the same roof, equipment for reading and measuring the amount of exposure of all employees to any radioactivity, which was monitored by the use of a dental-like film badge that everyone wore and turned in every week.

There had to be rooms for Dr. Cipriani and Dr. Butler to carry on their research activities. There also had to be space for various conference rooms and a private office for me and a private office for the supervisor of the health radiation staff (health physicists). Naturally all of this planning, building and staffing took considerable time. It was my responsibility to select and approve the hiring of all medical personnel, that is, doctors, nurses, medical technicians, etc.

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Much of my earliest attendance on construction workers at the plantsite was basically caused by over-indulgence in alcohol. There were injuries received in drunken brawls and accidents due to unsteadiness while drunk.

I remember one man who came to me complaining of a stomach disorder, which he believed to be an ulcer of the stomach. After talking to him for sometime, I learned that he was separated from his wife and very unhappy. I became convinced that his symptoms were all emotional in nature, and I would not refer him to a doctor in Pembroke to have his stomach operated on. Rather, I wanted to treat him medically. A day or so later, I learned that he did not take my advice, but went to a Pembroke doctor without my referral. I learned, in addition, that the Pembroke doctors did think that he had a gastric ulcer and went ahead with the operation. For some reason, the man died on the operating table, but they did not find any gastric ulcer.

The townsite, named Deep River, was built on the southwestern bank of the Ottawa River, about ten miles upstream from the atomic energy plant itself. This townsite was selected because it was far enough away so that it could not be damaged if an explosion occurred at the atomic plant.

Another reason for locating Deep River at this place was the fact that it was a beautiful area, well-suited for residential buildings, and at this point the Ottawa River was much wider and the current not very strong. This made it an ideal place for boating sports, and it had a lovely, and safe, swimming beach where the shoreline gently curved at this point.

I was immediately involved with the architects in planning the Deep River hospital building. It was designed to meet most of the needs of the scientists, skilled research personnel and highly trained technical personnel who would be working at the Atomic Energy Plant, both before and after its completion. In other words, an up-to-date general hospital was required where good surgery could be done, where adequate diagnostic services and equipment would be available, including a good x-ray machine. It had to be large enough to meet the needs of the Deep River community, that is, not only the workmen themselves, but also their wives and children, and all the townsite commercial inhabitants. It was designed to handle obstetrics and dentistry as well. Not only that, but it had to serve as an out-patient center as well, with each of the doctors having his office and examining room.

When it was completed it did serve all of these needs adequately. We had a dental office, well equipped with a dental chair and laboratory, and a dental x-ray machine. We employed two dentists and each had his own dental nurse. The work was all done in the one office because one dentist and his nurse worked from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the other dentist and his nurse worked from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

We were somewhat embarrassed in our obstetrical practice, because we found that our number of labors was three times that of the provincial average. This was because the plant employees were, on the average, much younger than the general population, with large numbers in the child-bearing age range.

We did not establish extensive laboratory facilities at the Deep River Hospital but used the plantsite laboratories which were readily accessible.

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In staffing these two hospitals, the plant hospital and the community hospital, I had to hire a lot of nurses and qualified technicians as well as business office personnel. I did engage Miss Frizell as my head nurse at the townsite hospital who was formerly in charge of nursing at the Ajax plant where I formerly worked. I also hired Dr. William Shelly who was formerly a doctor at the Ajax plant also. I made him head physician at the Deep River Hospital. For the head doctor at the plantsite hospital at Chalk River, I hired Dr. Ernie Renton who formerly worked at a chemical plant in Quebec.

When I also had the health physicists under my control with G. Guest, Ph.D. supervising them, my total staff was 70 people. So much of my work was in administration, not only of personnel, but also I was hospital administrator in Deep River and hospital and medical laboratory administrator at the plantsite facilities.

It was necessary for me to organize a workable system of record keeping and from those records to provide for top management a monthly summary of my department's activities. Fortunately I did not have to organize and take care of any of the finances. This was all done by the accounting department at the plantsite business accounting office. That department took care of payments to every member of my staff which was a fixed salary. None of us doctors had private patients and we never collected any fees from patients. The accounting department did all of that billing and collecting or deductions from the employees' payroll. The accounting department also paid for the drugs, chemicals and supplies we used, and took care of processing our purchases.

I sent Miss Frizell to Montreal where she got training in the operation of the Deep River x-ray machine. She became fairly adept at taking the needed x-ray pictures but we had to have a qualified doctor of medicine to read and make written reports on all of our x-rays. For this purpose we had a doctor come in twice a week. Our own doctors however were sufficiently competent in reading x-rays to begin treatment immediately and to take care of fractures.

There were three doctors working full time in Deep River and one working full time at the Chalk River facility. I made the fifth one, and did some medical work at both the Deep River and Chalk River hospitals. I also attended some patients in their homes in Deep River. This, and my administrative responsibilities kept me very busy. In addition, I had the responsibilities of Medical Officer of Health for Deep River and Chalk River and much of the township surrounding those communities.

One time, one of the Deep River doctors on my staff went out hunting in some of the large forests near Deep River. On that day he got separated from his companions shortly before dark and couldn't find his way out of the forest. His companions came back and reported him missing. It was decided that no search could be made until daylight the next day. The following morning he walked in by himself. When he could see where the sun was rising he was able to walk in the right direction to get out. He had spent a rather uncomfortable night but was otherwise unhurt.

Of course, in this narrative the title "Dr." will appear with many names so it is necessary for the reader to realize that many of them are called doctors because they had a Ph.D. degree. In actuality the only doctors with M.D. degrees were myself and the four doctors working on my staff. Of course the two dentists on my staff had D.D.S. degrees. The man heading up the Health Radiation Division, described later, was a doctor because he had a Ph.D. in physics.

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There was no high school in the Deep River community and there were enough children of high school age in the village, and living nearby, to charter a bus to take them to Pembroke and back daily. This was paid for by the operators of the Atomic Energy Project. While I was Health Officer, one of the boys who was riding the bus daily, who lived just outside of the village, developed poliomyelitis. As Health Officer I stopped the bussing for about a week. Then, since there were no more cases of the disease, I permitted resumption of the bussing.

By the end of January, 1947, the work of Defence Industries in building the plant at Chalk River was completed and the Atomic Energy Plant was then turned over to the National Research Council of Canada. I was retained with my title changed to Director, Health Division, Atomic Energy Project. The whole project at that time was put in the hands of the scientists with Dr. John D. Cockcroft, head of the British scientific team, named as top administrator. I then reported directly to Dr. Cockcroft.

The war at that time had been over for more than a year. Not long after Dr. Cockcroft took over he was recalled to England to help the British develop atomic power. He was succeeded by Dr. W. B. Lewis who was then my boss until he too returned to England.^* After Dr. Lewis left, Dr. D. A. Keys, professor of physics from a university in Montreal became my boss. It is of interest that Dr. J. D. Cockcroft later was knighted by the Queen of England and became Sir John Cockcroft for his work in atomic energy in Great Britain.

It was quite some time after the work of Defence Industries was done at Chalk River that the scientists were able to train the operators and get the atomic reactor operating. The first trial run was made during the era that Dr. Lewis was head of the project. The trial run was scheduled secretly, for a time in the middle of the night. I was among the four or five top men invited to be there. We gathered in a large room well down underground where communication was only by an electronic amplifier from the control room. A blackboard was used by Dr. Lewis to record the number of atomic reactions being recorded on screens in the control room. The control rods were lifted very slowly and atomic reactions began taking place.

It was an exciting time for all of us to be there for the initial splitting of the atom by the Chalk River reactor. It was run up enough in power to show that it worked and then was shut down. Later I was given a photograph of the figures Dr. Lewis recorded that night on the blackboard. I still have it in my files.

Obviously I was much involved in administrative activities but I did some medical work as well. I was called upon to attend the twin boys of Dr. Pontecorvo, a scientist for the project, in their home in Deep River. One of the boys was subject to recurring attacks of middle ear infection. Their mother was a small likeable woman but I don't think I ever saw or knew Dr. Pontecorvo himself.

I mention this situation because toward the end of the second world war Dr. Pontecorvo disappeared and sometime later it was reported that he had deserted the Manhattan Project and was on his way to Russia with the secrets of how to make the atomic bomb. Later we heard that after some time in Russia he was on his way to China. I don't remember when his wife and twin sons left Deep River, but quite sometime later we found out that they had joined Dr. Pontecorvo in Russia.

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* Dr. Jeremy Whitlock of the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.’s Chalk River Laboratories noted in April 3, 2009 email to Robert Park that Dr. W.B. Lewis in fact took over the Chalk River project from Dr. J. Cockroft in September 1946, and never returned to England but stayed at Chalk River to the end of his career in 1973, and retired in Deep River until his death in 1987.

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Sometimes one or two of the doctors in Deep River would talk over their problem cases with me. I recall one patient whom two of the doctors had tried unsuccessfully to help was eventually referred to me. I studied his case and found that both of my assistants were treating him for unresponsive diarrhea. It had always been preceded by days of constipation. I decided that his attacks of diarrhea were the natural irritation response to severe constipation. So I began by insisting on the intake of much water and fruit juices and put him on a well-balanced diet. Before long he was free of both his diarrhea and his constipation.

My chief headquarters was my office in the Plant Hospital from which I supervised the activities of my staff. Being one of the top men of the project I was expected to attend the scientific lectures given by the scientists at their regular meetings of that group. I did attend, but frankly they were so detailed and expressed in such difficult scientific terms that I did not learn much. However, I was present at the first showing of the moving pictures taken in New Mexico when the first atomic bomb was exploded at the test site. It was certainly spectacular and impressive as the mushroom cloud rose and developed before our eyes ten miles away from the camera.

At the outset, when I started work at Chalk River, I didn't know anything about the Manhattan Project. Later I learned that the project at Chalk River was a part of it, under the name Evergreen. So it happened that one time General Groves, head of the whole Manhattan Project, made a visit to the Evergreen Facility (Chalk River). I, of course, met him and was one of the large group that sat down to dinner with him.

In the fall of 1946, I again found time to do some writing. On September 18, 1946, I wrote a paper entitled "The Romance of Blood." It was never published nor shown to anybody but a copy is still in my files. It records briefly some early concepts of blood and circulation. Below, from that paper, are some of the important historical figures mentioned and their contributions.

1) The Greek physician Galen lived between 130 and 200 A.D. His concept of the ebb and flow in the blood vessels dominated the world for about 1400 years.

2) The Italian, Servetus, in 1553, grasped the present concept of pulmonary circulation.

3) Caesalpinus furthered the study of circulation in 1571.

4) Fabricus, in 1574, did more research.

5) Our modern concept of blood circulation was proven by the English physician Harvey in 1628.

6) In 1651, the Frenchman Pacquet discovered the thoracic duct.

7) In 1668, the Englishman Mayow proved that respiration took something from the air which he called igneo-areal particles. His work was forgotten for 100 years.

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8) In 1774, another Englishman, Priestley, described the absorption of oxygen by the blood.

9) In 1775, a Frenchman, Lavoisier, described the function of oxygen in the blood.

10) In 1837, Magus demonstrated both oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood.

The article goes on to describe the structure of the blood, modern concepts of bleeding and other scientific advances.

Because of my success in controlling the TNT problem at Ajax, Ontario, a request came through channels for me to study the exposure of employees to radium at the Eldorado Mining and Refining, Ltd. at Port Hope, Ontario. Since this also required geiger counter readings, I took F. S. Eadie of my health radiation staff with me. I wrote a report on that visit on August 29, 1947, which was sent to the company. It was no doubt helpful, but, of course, it was not available for publication. However, I have a copy of that report in my files.

The National Research Council sent me, in late September and early October, 1947, to a symposium at Saranac Lake, New York, U.S.A. I prepared and submitted to the National Research Council a report on that meeting. A bound copy is still in my files in its own folder. It is entitled "Report on the Beryllium Problem as Discussed at the Sixth Saranac Symposium, Saranac Lake, New York, 22 September to 3 October, 1947." It was dated November, 1947.

Sometime after the second world war ended, restrictions on my writings were lifted and I began to get some of my writings published.

1) The Canadian Medical Association Journal, December 1947, printed a paper written by me entitled "TNT Sickness."
2) The same journal also carried another paper written by me entitled, "A Fatal Case of Toxic Jaundice Due to TNT."
3) The Canadian Medical Journal of January, 1948, contained another paper by me entitled "Control of TNT Sickness in Industry."

In June, 1948, on request, I was sent to Kingston, Ontario to speak to the assembled officers of the Canadian Army on the subject, "Medical and Health Problems in Atomic Warfare." My speech was never published but a copy is preserved in my files. It consists of seven closely typed pages. My talk was well received and I think helpful to them.

Shortly after my meeting with the officers of the Canadian Army, when I returned to Deep River, I wrote a paper for publication entitled "If an Atomic Bomb Should Fall." This was directed towards planning in advance by doctors, nurses, first aid people, technicians, emergency stations, hospitals, etc. It describes the devastation that might be expected, burns, radioactivity exposure, etc. It describes the symptoms and treatment of radiation sickness and many other features that have to be anticipated in an atomic bomb disaster which is much different from any other violent explosion.

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Before this could be published, I gave it to Dr. W. B. Lewis to read and he, through proper channels, requested that it be unclassified, if possible, before I submitted it to any medical journal. His request was granted and it was declared unclassified, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal was given permission to publish it. I have in my files copies of these documents. The Canadian Medical Journal published the paper "If an Atomic Bomb Should Fall," in its entirety in the November 1949 issue #61, pages 473-478. I obtained reprints of this paper which were fairly freely distributed and I have a copy of the reprint in my files. The paper has a bibliography of 27 references.

A. Medical Advisory Committee
B. Project Health Committee
C. Health Radiation Department
D. Supervision
E. Central Safety Committee

	A.	It was recommended that the Project Health Committee be replaced by a Health Radiation Advisory Committee to consist of Dr. W. B. Lewis, Dr. A. J. Cipriani, Dr. G. Butler and Dr. D. F. Brown as regular members and with a visiting panel consisting of Mr. K. F. Tupper, Dr. W. E. Park, Dr. H. Carmichael, Dr. B. B. Kinsey, Dr. G. C. Laurence and Dr. L. G. Cook.
	B.	It was stated that the committee should be responsible for:           1) Setting up tolerances.           2) Definition of dosage and method of measurement.           3) Preparation of general health regulations.
	C.	It was further stated that this committee should be responsible to Plant Management and submit its reports through Plant Management to the Medical Advisory Committee for approval.
	D.	It was further recommended that the present Central Safety Committee be expanded to include all Research Division branch heads, and the scope of the Central Safety Committee be expanded to include health radiation hazards and that these be dealt with in the same manner as defined above for safety hazards.
	E.	It was further recommended that a representative of the Industrial Hygiene Division of the Ontario Department of Health should continue to visit the plant as he sees fit.

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Early in 1949 a report for the Division of Health was prepared covering the year 1948; I gave a report for the Division of Health as a whole and the heads of the three subdivisions gave further details for their specific areas. Dr. E. M. Renton, Branch Head of the Plant Hospital, Dr. W. R. Skelly, Branch Head of the Village Hospital, and G. H. Guest, Ph. D., Branch Head of Health Radiation each wrote his report. A copy of this report is still in my file of Deep River history. It details how extensive the activities of the Health Division were.

The Village Hospital Branch reported 14,614 attendances for the year 1948. 3,881 of these attendances were to people living outside the village of Deep River. 3,776 were for dentistry, 273 were for operations, 97 births--3,943 hospital days.

A new 200 millivolt x-ray machine was bought during the year for the Village Hospital which reduced the exposure of the doctors' hands to x-rays.

The Health Radiation Branch under the direction of G.H. Guest, Ph.D., acquired great proficiency in doing their job of monitoring radiation health hazards throughout the entire plant. This branch monitored and recorded weekly the readings from the dental-like film badges that all plant personnel wore. Those workers whose hands might be exposed were issued special wrist bands to measure exposure to radioactivity and some workers were issued pencil-like recorders.

During the entire time I was employed at the Atomic Energy Project at Chalk River, the only worker showing any warning of an over-exposure among the film badges was one of my dental nurses. The only possible exposure was from the x-ray machine. This posed a curious problem because both dental nurses were similarly exposed to the same dental x-ray machine. One of them never had an over-exposed film badge and the other always did.

I studied the situation and found that the nurse whose film badge was never over-exposed always had it pinned on the outside of her uniform and the nurse whose film badge was always over-exposed carried the film badge in the breast pocket of her uniform. I further learned that she also kept the chamois, through which she squeezed the mercury for the amalgam, in the same pocket with the film. So the mystery was solved. The film was darkened by mercury vapors and not by damaging radiation from the x-ray machine.

In his report for the year 1948, Dr. Guest mentioned that he and Dr. L. G. Cook had produced a document entitled "Design, Auxiliary Equipment and Services for a Radiochemical Laboratory." This was approved by the Health Radiation Committee and issued in bound form on February 14, 1948. I still have a copy in my files. It served as a manual for the Chalk River laboratories and the university laboratories working with radioactive isotopes.

Earlier, on January 1, 1948, Dr. G. H. Guest wrote a handy little booklet of pocket size illustrated by W.E. Moon of the Engineering Design Branch at Chalk River entitled, "Health Radiation and Contamination Control." I still have a copy in my files.

Later in 1948, Dr. G. H. Guest wrote another guide for workers in radioactive chemical laboratories using some of the materials and pictures previously used when Dr. L. G. Cook participated. It was entitled "Precautions for Workers Using Radioactive Isotopes." It was published in December, 1948 in the Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine. I still have reprints in my files.

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Early in 1949, while Dr. Guest was still working under my direction, he wrote another document entitled "Precautions in Industrial Uses of Radioactive Isotopes." This was later published in Vol. 1, Number 2, May 1949 of Industrial Health Review issued by the Industrial Health Division of the Department of Health and Welfare of Canada. I still have reprints in my files.

On April 7, 1949, the Health Radiation Branch was separated from the Health Division and thereafter I had no further responsibility for it. This was a reasonable move because, by that time, the Health Radiation Advisory Committee was working well with the Health Radiation Branch. Its members were better qualified than I to supervise the activities of the Health Radiation Branch. When this change took place my title was changed to Chief of Medical Services, Atomic Energy Project.

In May, 1949, the National Research Council sent me to Philadelphia, Pa., where I took Course No. 8 of the American College of Physicians on the "Physiological Basis for Internal Medicine." I profited by it, and when I came back I tried to share some of what I had learned with my staff doctors. Perhaps it was too advanced for them. Anyway, they didn't seem to enjoy it much.

On October 23, 1949, I became an active member of the Industrial Medical Association.

Not all of my time was spent at my work explained above. I did engage in other activities at the townsite in Deep River. An interesting page from the Pembroke Standard-Observer newspaper is preserved in my Deep River file. It is dated December 20, 1945, and is devoted entirely to Deep River developments as far as they had gone and something of future plans for the townsite.

The house which I was assigned to live in was among the most desirable right on the bank of the Ottawa River. I had a small garden space between my house and the river where I grew a few things. Most of this space I used for growing flowers, chiefly gladioli. My flowers were outstandingly beautiful and usually carried off the first prizes in the Deep River competitions. I was very good at arranging them in a huge basket with a large arched firm handle to which I could tie them.

I had another garden plot in an area quite away from the riverbank where many others had similar plots. Here I grew vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and beans. In the Deep River competitions I often won first prize for my potatoes--maybe more because I knew how to select potatoes of similar size and shape than because they were superior to others.

One time after a vacation trip through Georgia, where lots of peanuts are grown and processed, I planted some seed peanuts and had the experience of growing them. The peanuts grow underground in the same way as potatoes.

The winters were quite cold in Deep River, especially at night. I had to have a car readily available to me, so my car was housed in a special shed used for other important automobiles. In this building there was an electrical outlet for each car. Like others, I had an electric water heater installed in the engine block of the car equipped with an electric cord, which I plugged into the electric circuit every night in the winter. It kept the water in the engine warm nicely.

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Once there were some planks that washed up on the riverbank behind my house, so I salvaged them and built for myself a workbench in the basement of my house.

The house was heated by a furnace in the basement which burned coal. I had to feed the furnace from time to time and remove the ashes and clinkers. One time in the winter the furnace was not functioning as well as usual because something seemed to be blocking the chimney stack. I removed the furnace pipe to clean out the bottom of the chimney and there I found the bodies of two small river ducks. Evidently they had perched on the rim of the brick smokestack on the roof to get warm and had been overcome by carbon monoxide from the burning coal and tumbled in.

I had a small female dog with short hair in Deep River. I did not want to raise pups so I built a confined space outside of the house using chicken wire. I placed her in this to keep the male dogs away from her. However the wire was not strong enough. The male dogs chewed through the wire and got in anyway. So in the course of time a litter of pups arrived. When they were old enough I had no difficulty giving them away to town children. Soon afterwards the dog got sick and was put to sleep.

Many residents of Deep River went into hiking sports in the summer and skiing in the winter, but my interests centered around the river. I bought a sponson canoe which was the safest kind I could get. It had tightly enclosed spaces along the sides stuffed with buoyant material. This canoe, if overturned or filled with water, would continue to float and hold people up who were clinging to it. I also bought a motor boat with an outboard motor. With this boat we were able to explore much of the Ottawa River and go on picnics across the river in Quebec.

One time I had some important men from England in my home and proposed to take them on a short cruise on the river. They were agreeable but when I had them seated in the boat I couldn't get the outboard motor started so we had to give it up.

I kept the motor boat moored to a concrete block which was about four feet under water in the bay. It was reached by canoe which I kept on shore. One time when the water had risen considerably in the river, I paddled out to the motor boat to unhitch it, as usual. I dropped into the water as usual, and to my surprise went down into the water over my head without my feet even touching bottom. Needless to say I scrambled out of there, climbed back into the canoe and came back to shore.

There were a lot of sailing enthusiasts in Deep River and every Saturday or Sunday they had a sailing race in the summers. At the outset I had no sailboat but I had a small triangular sail set up in the prow of my canoe and joined in the sailing. I operated my canoe sailboat by myself and steered with my paddle. Of course, I could not keep up with the others and always came in last, but it was enjoyable.

One time, when I was sailing in my canoe about a half mile out from the Deep River dock, I was caught in a squall. It came up suddenly but it blew me towards my landing place. So I came sailing in at terrific speed, but managed to control the boat and arrived safely.

Later, when Mr. Desbarats, top man of Defence Industries and my original boss, left, I bought his sailboat and used that until I left Deep River. The largest sailboat was owned by Mr. Hatfield, one of my neighbors. It was a catamaran with two hulls

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and a huge sail. It didn't always win the races but probably was the safest sailboat in the fleet.

As the population in Deep River began to grow, so an interest in religious responsibilities began to grow. The needs of Roman Catholics were served right from the beginning because there was a well-established Roman Catholic church situated on the highway just outside of the townsite, which was functioning long before Deep River was thought of.

Among Protestants, the Anglican Church was the first to begin holding regular services in Deep River. This was perhaps natural because so many of the scientists were from England. When I arrived in Deep River, there was no church building, but the Anglicans were holding services in one of the available construction buildings.

By the time I was settled in my home on the riverbank there were enough children living in the town to warrant beginning a Sunday School. This was initiated by Anglican women cooperating with women of other protestant faiths. Originally these Sunday School classes were held in private homes beginning with my home, and later in temporary buildings, and still later in the Public School, when it was built.

For some time I acted as superintendent of the Sunday School until some other man was found to carry on. It is interesting that during all of the time that I lived at Deep River, the Sunday School was functioning as a cooperative protestant effort with all denominations working together, even the Anglicans.

Early in the life of Deep River, Protestants other than the Anglicans began to plan establishment of churches of their own. It seemed to several of us that if each denomination got a foothold in this new community that it would lead to much religious rivalry, and no denomination would ever become very strong. So Mr. A. S. Walbridge and I began discussing the possibility of getting all the protestant factions together and establishing a community church which would emphasize unity rather than rivalry. I personally contacted the ministers of all the protestant denominations functioning in Pembroke, the only nearby community of significant size. Among them were Methodists in the United Church of Canada, Presbyterians, Baptists, two Lutheran churches and some others.

Anyway, the proposal caught on and the Deep River Community Church was established. The established Anglican Church was invited to join but couldn't because their ministers had to be ordained in a special way (called the Apostolic Succession). However, the Anglicans agreed to cooperated in any way they could.

The Community Church was organized, hired a minister and became a functioning church unit. Services were first held in the Public School and later in one of the townsite's recreational buildings. When I left Deep River in late December, 1949, the Community Church was still functioning well in ministering to the religious life of the town.

After I left Deep River, a church was built in which all protestant religious services and activities were held. In October, 1952, while I was working for the State of Minnesota, I received an invitation to attend the dedication of the new church in Deep River, signed by three officers of the Anglican Church and two officers of the Community Church. Unfortunately, I was not able to go, but have in my files a clipping of an article from the United Church Observer which reports on the dedication

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under the title, "NEW CHURCH IS OPENED IN ATOMIC ENERGY CENTER," stating "It Meets Need of All Protestants in Area." The following are quotations from that report:

"Sunday, October 19, 1952 at 11:15 a.m. a joint Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication was participated in by the congregations of Deep River Community Church and St. Barnabas Anglican Church when the new and beautiful Deep River Church was set apart for the worship of Almighty God...The Very Rev. J. W. Woodside, D.P. of Ottawa, a prominent leader in the inter-denominational relationships in our time, gave the inspiring message for the occasion and dedicated the Church."

"The Church is the finest finished, and the most beautiful building in the Deep River Townsite, and very suitable for the worship of the two congregations...The main auditorium will seat 310."

"The Sunday School is for Protestants and now numbers 350 on the roll, with 35 teachers and officers...and more than 20 men are on duty each Sunday, in this important service for the growing youth."

"The high purpose of both congregations and their leaders is to promote the cause of Jesus Christ and His spirit of love and good will in this area."

It is my understanding from friends that this church is still functioning in the same manner in this year of 1982, which is thirty years after its dedication.

Sometime in the fall of 1949, my boss, Dr. David Keys, called me into his office and in a kindly manner suggested that I begin looking for another job. I am sure that if I were not handling my responsibilities well and correctly he would have discussed such things frankly with me, because he was formerly head of the Physics Department in one of Montreal's universities and familiar with administration. If he had reasons other than interest in my future, he did not reveal them to me.

For my part, in looking into my status at the time, I realized that the pioneer work which I had to do originally was already accomplished and there was not much challenge remaining ahead of me.

The thought of moving to another place, or even to another country, did not greatly disturb me because I was confident that, as had happened two or three times before, I would be guided into something better for me again, where I could be helpful to other people. As I look back now I see that this is exactly what did happen.

I first of all looked into positions available in various parts of Canada but nothing worthwhile turned up.

Somehow I learned that the State of Minnesota in the United States was looking for a doctor to take charge of the industrial health program for the Minnesota Department of Health. I further learned that the position had been open for four years, because they had been unable to find a doctor with the right kind of know-how. I wrote to the Minnesota Department of Health to inquire about the job and received a reply from Dr. Chesney asking me to come to see him for an interview. I went by train to Minneapolis and talked to Dr. Chesney, head of the State Health Department

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and others on his staff. I found the job to be attractive to me, and the men I talked to seemed to be interested in me. However, Dr. Chesney wanted the opinion of another physician who was not connected with the Department of Health, so he sent me to see a prominent doctor in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. I did so, but I don't remember the Mayo physician's name. Anyway, by the time I got back to Dr. Chesney, he had received the doctor's message by telephone, which was: "Hire him."

After some searching I found a suitable and affordable house at 1804 Humboldt Ave. So. in Minneapolis which carried a low interest mortgage that I took over. When I was ready to make a down payment to clinch the bargain, I found that Canada's post-war restrictions on the export of Canadian funds would not let me use enough of my own money in a Canadian bank to make a large enough earnest money payment.

The dilemma for me was not lack of money, but how to get it out and make my payment in United States currency. I was able to solve that in a rather strange way. The United States representative to the Atomic Energy Project was a friend of mine, and he lived on the same street as I did in Deep River, Ontario. Of course, he had private funds in a United States bank and always had to have Canadian money to pay his usual living expenses in Deep River. He agreeably exchanged his check to me for the full amount I needed in earnest money for my check to him in equivalent Canadian money drawn on my bank in Deep River. Several months later, after I was established and living in Minneapolis, all of my money held in the Canadian bank was released to me. After I had all of my bank funds transferred to an American bank in Minneapolis, I then paid off everything I owed on the house and got clear title of ownership.

Upon returning to Deep River, I submitted my resignation to Dr. Keys, releasing me from the responsibilities of Chief of Medical Services, Atomic Energy Project, to be effective on the last day of December, 1949. Because I had not used all of the sick leave and all of the vacation leave I was entitled to when I left the Atomic Energy Project at Chalk River, the National Research Council of Canada continued to pay me my salary for about six weeks after I left there.

In preparation for the move I sold my house, sailboat and my outboard motor, but retained my canoe to use on one of the lakes in Minneapolis. In the last days of December, 1949, I was on my way to Minnesota with my family* and household goods. When I crossed the border at Sault Ste. Marie on December 30th, 1 became an immigrant in a foreign country, having left the land of my birth, the Dominion of Canada. Of course, it was not a difficult transition because the language of both countries was the same. Furthermore my great-great grandfather, Dr. Amos Park, had been a citizen of the U.S.A. before he moved to Ontario, Canada and established himself there about 170 years earlier.

I found myself committed to a new job in the United States, carrying a substantial salary, with the Minnesota Department of Health undertaking to pay all my moving expenses from Deep River, Ontario, Canada to Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. This is where a new career opened up for me which I had never before dreamed of.

Volume two of the autobiography, describing the author's public health career in the United States, is available only in printed form. To obtain a copy contact Warren Park at 3339 15th Ave. So., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407 the address given in the Preface.

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