Eighty years ago this week, as the world awaited news that the six-year long war was over in Europe, another ending was playing out much closer to home: the resignation of Cominco president Selwyn G. Blaylock.
It truly was the end of an era of what some would call a benevolent, yet resolute, patriarchy over the company town he’d called home since 1899.
Although resigning his daily presidential duties, he remained chairman of the company. R.E. Stavert replaced him as smelter president.
Blaylock was born in 1879 in Quebec, the son of a reverend. He attended McGill University, where he completed his bachelor of science in metallurgy in 1899.
He was drawn to the Kootenay area and the Trail smelter, then known as the Canadian Smelting Works following Heinze’s sale of the smelter to the CPR only the year before.
Hired by Walter Hull Aldridge, Blaylock found himself employed in the assay office. The grass didn’t soon grow under his feet, as he quickly rose to chief chemist and metallurgist within two years.
He was a natural leader and inquisitive; the company gave him the space to challenge operations, eventually working out process issues that saw production of lead increase from six-daily tonnes to upwards of 80-daily tonnes, following the installation of the Betts electrolytic process.
Aldridge obviously saw the diplomacy and skill in his young employee and sent him to decommission the Hall Mines smelter in Nelson following the formation of CM&S in 1906.
His expertise there was too little, too late; CM&S executives believed the Nelson smelter would have likely succeeded under his management.
His next task sent him to the St. Eugene Mine at Moyie, facing a looming labour strike and rapid decrease in ore reserves. He solved the labour dispute within two weeks, but acknowledged the St. Eugene was exhausted.
He set his sights on the Sullivan Mine near Kimberley, securing the future of both Trail and Kimberley for decades to come.
He was promoted upon the departure of Aldridge in 1911, working under R.H. Stewart as Assistant General Manager.
The Sullivan thrived and under Blaylock, the process of differential flotation, developed by Ralph Diamond, was realized. The process, which uses electrolysis to chemically separate lead and zinc, meant massive infrastructure development at Trail to process zinc ore and led to rapid immigration in the early 1920s.
Blaylock was appointed the smelter’s General Manager in 1922 and immediately set about developing incentives and benefits for company employees to ensure a reliable workforce and labour continuity.
He believed in people. This included apprenticeship programs, housing loans schemes, and benefits packages which included insurance and pensions.
Under Blaylock, royal visits were welcomed, Warfield fertilizer operations were launched, cooperative scientific research with the US through the Manhattan Project secretly occurred, and the first iteration of a company union started.
His numerous accolades and awards for metallurgy, his esteem among a grateful community and shareholders alike, and his self-confidence make him one of the most influential men of his time, likely in the nation.
His legacy lives on in the two homes he built, one along the North Shore in Nelson and the smaller, more subdued version at 410 Ritchie in Tadanac.
Little of his personal life is documented. Married twice, he had three children (two daughters and a son); but little is known about his family life.
The smelter was his world and despite his propensity for recollecting personal details about his employees, his relationships were not reciprocal in that sense.
He lived a morally-superior existence and lacked any tolerance for untruths and impropriety.
But that did not deter his employees or community from engaging with, even confiding in him. He took his patriarchy seriously and did not hesitate to thrust his expectations on his staff.
Sadly, Blaylock would pass away almost seven months later, in November 1945.
A short-lived retirement of gardening and woodworking was marred by poor health.
It’s unlikely we’ll see a man of such inconceivable intellect and foresight, balance of practicality and theory, and ability to inspire and drive greatness again.
We have plenty for which to be grateful as a result of Selwyn Blaylock’s dedication to his work, to his city, and indeed to his people.
Sarah Benson-Lord, manager of the Trail Museum and Archives and Visitor Centre.
