Oscar Forssell is someone that has to be mentioned when speaking about the history of Silverhill, notably Silverhill Hall. Oscar was someone who carried his house on his back as it was commonly known as. He literally carried his belongings in a satchel over his shoulder. He worked in logging camps on the BC coast, where conditions were terrible at best. Rotton food, straw to sleep on, and six twelve-hour days a week. Later, in 1913 he was building his own little house in Silverhill and working as a blaster on Silverdale road. It is here where a terrible accident happened to Oscar. When five shots of dynamite did not go off as anticipated, Oscar went to see what was the matter with the sticks. They unfortunately, they went off and severely hindered Oscar’s vision to the point where he could only tell light and dark and maybe a few outlines of shapes. Even with this poor vision, Oscar decided to go back to blasting after long recovery time. In 1917 another accident made Oscar completely blind when a branch snapped back across his eyes.
It was 1917 when the worker’s compensation board was created because if this, Oscar was one fo the first workers to receive a pension of $27.00 a month for life. Oscar was also of the first recipients of aid from the CNIB (Canada National Institute for the Blind) when he received a radio from them. In 1917 a radio, even a hand-cranked one like Oscars, was a really innovative ad exciting piece of electronic equipment. Oscar did not let his disability stop him from being an active member of Silverhill. He, along with his neighbour’s 10-year-old son, built many of the benches and chairs that made up Silverhill Hall.
Oscar was not one to simply give up simply because of him being blind, and this is such an important thing to learn from. He persevered and lived a happy and successful life despite his unfortunate disability. The three generations that knew him always remembered his warm spirit and his knack for telling great stories.