Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-07-23


tail rates. No one was paid there, but
short stop was made, and during the in
tervsl, opportunity was taken to extract
some interesting information from Pay
master Lsthrop.
1--WE employ about seven hundred men
in all departments, " said he, land the COM
psny and contractors are paying out for
wages and material, something like forty
thousand dollars month, great part of
which ia put in circulation right here in
Wheeling. pay most of the men on
these rounds with the buggy, but
in 30 large force good many are neces-
sarily missed, and they generally get their
cash at the Office on Main street. We put
the money up in envelopes, in the ordi-
nary way, and the men 90 by numbers, az
a good many of the names are too compli-
Gated TO manipulate. The contractors
have made it a practice to hold out of the
wages all legitimate debts against the men,
particularly board bills. Every aid is ex-
tended to creditors of the workmen, except
in one class- whisky bills. We offer no
protection to creditors of that clsss, and
they can only get their money by pro-
ceedines at law.
"a great mistake has been made in sup
posing that most of our workmen are Ital-
ians. The men of that nationality are in
a decided minority. Nearly sill the tunnel
meu are Austrians or cOlored men, with a
sprinkling of Irishmen and few French
men. The Italians are mostly employed
on outside work, grading, etc They are,
as class, afraid of the work in the tun-
nels. Our tunnel men are experts in that
line, and most of the men came here from
the big New York City acqueduct, on
which Paige, Carey & Co. were large con-
tractors. Weare working very few Wheel
ing men, as they don't keep place long.
the work being too hard"
From the store, the party proceeded to
the blacksmith shop at the Top mill,
where large number Of workmen were
congregatsd, snxiously awaiting the Or
rival Of the psymaster. The men formed
in line, and presented their check num-
bers, and about one hundred were rapidly
paid Off They were tunnel men, drivers,
stone cutters, masons, blacksmiths.
etc, and the pay for the month ranged
from $50 up TO nearly 500. The men
were of a very good clsss, quiet and or
Derby, brawDy OF build, and are not Of the
tough class in which they have been
placed in popular estimation. There are
some odd characters among them, and an
artist in search of the picturesque could
fill sketch beck with portraits. The
colored men are especially of a happy dis
position, and about their boarding places, |
and up in the ravine, in the evening, the
- he ttnffff ohift r,aAo tho a |
cal with their songs and laughter.
From the blacksmith shop, Mr.. Lsthrop
and the reporter climbed MP into the tun-
mel, where about twenty-five men were
paid, and from there the party went across
the river to the Ohio side, paying off the
men on the boats, piers, etc as they pro-
cseded. A big force is at work on the
various piers and in the Martins Ferry |
stone yard, aggregatipg about ole hun
bred ard fifty. ]. Maloy is in charge of
the stone pedestals at the Top mill and
piers Nos and 2. He is man of large |
experience, and is pushing his work rap |
idly. All the pedestsls inside the mill are
completed except one, and that will be
finished to-day. T. F. Mitchell & Co. are
the sub-contractors for piers 3, 4 and 5. |
They are working about fifty men at
present, but will soon largely increase |
this force. This firm worked on the
PIT. Pleasant, and Chesapeake & Ohio bridge
at Cincinnati, and the firm is one Of the
best in the country for that class of work. |
They have many of their down-river men |
with them. They will have their three |
piers completed by October let. Pier No. |
is above the water level, and work on
Pier No. 5, which was temporarily sus-
pended, was resumed yesterday morning |
G.. W. Fisher is in charge OF the river work |
relating to caissons, piling, etc. He also
worked in that line at PIT. Pleasant and at
the Cincinnati bridge, and has a great rep
utation in his line. He has the caisson
for pier No. 2 almost ready.
The party next visited the stone yards |
above the Top mill, where twenty. Eve
men were paid off. They have q capacity
there for unloading and cutting twenty
FIVE cars of stone per day.
Up in the rsvine about fifty tunnel men
and lsborers were paid. Here Mr.. Frank |
Moran, the contractor for all the tunnel
work, was found He was sub.contrac-
tor under Paige, Carey & Co., on the New !
York acqueduct work, and is enc OF the
finest tunnel experts in America. He said {: |
1--WE are doing some mighty fine tunnel
work here, and the railroad company will |
have one of the best jobs in the country. |
The timbering we are putting in will last
twelve or fifteen years, and then they can |
arch the tunnels with brick or stone. We
are in about 300 feet at the mill, and 275 |
feet in the ravine and around on the cresk |
side.n
The next point visited was the tunnel
and pier work around by the Peninsula.
About forty men were paid off in the tun-
mel, and as many or more about the piers
Of the creek bridge and out on the Perrin.
sula. The force on the bridge piers have
been working day and night for a week or
so past, getting down tine foundations and
building up the stone work above water
mark. The exoavstiDg for one of the
pierS was completed Sunday. and timber
ing was commenced yesterday morning
Capt. Miles O'Rley is in charge of the
work at that point. one of the piers ia
up pretty lear to grade, and another ia
well under way.
From this point the big force of ls5orers
along the line Of the road clear down to
the Seventeenth street bridge were made
happy, and the outdoor work Of the pay
master was ended.
The trip was most interesting one
throughout, and showed up the big job in
an entirely new light, there being many
interesting incidents and sights impossible
to depict here for want of space.
The REGISTER is under great obligations
to Paymaster LsthIop for valuable in
formation and many courtisies. Mr.. Lsthrop
has been connected with the firm of Paige,
Carey & Go. for about fifteen years and is
an expert in his line.