The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1894-08-11
IN THE STEEL MILLS.
A WORKMAN'S ACC UNIT OF HIS
FIRST DAY At HOMESTEAD.

Heat-The Fate Of One Poor MAJ Tossed
With Aching Homes at Night.
When | went To the superintendent
and asked for work, he sid, What
tan you do?''
Anything. am large, strong, ac-
tive and willing have been about
machinery ali my life and want work
badly
He touched button, and q boy ap-
pe;.red. ''Show this man down to the
converting mill and ask Fred if he can
do anything for him. Good morningl"
he said. and my interview was over
put on my new oyeralls and jumper
and followed my guide down through
tho mills. We made our way through
piles Of stock, raw material, rolls etc,
and came at last to the huge converting
mill. The superintendent was found
and the word delivered. He glanced at
me moment; then said, not unkindly.
You look good and strong. Jump in
and help those fellows there OH those
vessels
hardly knew what he meant, but
through the smoke and steam / saw
some men beneath one of the vessels, or
convcrters, working with sledges and
bars to get the bottom off. The mill,
with its ponderous and massive cranes,
the immense vessels all covered with
black scale and SCOT, the flying sparks,
tho roaring flames. the lights coming
and going, tho air filled with steam and
smoke, and, finally. the shrill and deaf
ening noise, awed, confused and even
disconnected me more than / should
have liked to acknowledge.
Iseized a sledge lying near and jump
cd in. We at last got out the keys"
as they call the wedges which hold the
converter together. and by the help of
hydraulic ram took the bottom off,
This left white hot opening 8 feet in
diameter and about feet from the
ground, under which we must work. 1t
seemed to me as though the skin ON my
neck and hands would burst with the
heat. My clothes even steamed and
smoked. How / wished had been any
where under the sun-good old Sol
rather than under this fiendishly hot
buu uduR1uR 80 very uedI ubl
When we had the new bottom ON, we
went up TO tho platform above the con-
verters and drove the keys home more
securely and stopped any small hole
there might be with "ball stuff. -
A shrieking engine passed by me and
swiftly poured Into the converter a
''heat" of iron. Then the blast was
turned ON, and cloud of yellow and
saffron flame. mixed with sparks and
small particles of metal, rushed out of
the mouth Of the converter into the air.
One of the men caught me by the arm
and pulled me away just in tii..o to save
mo from being seriously burned, for
was not expecting the flame.
By noon was so tired could hardly
stand, but l stuck to it for all was
worth. During the afternoon frequent
ly fell down because my knees were too
weak to hold me up. My hands were
burned and blistered, and my new over
alls were filed with holes burned by
flying sparks. About O'Clock in the
afternoon, while working under the
platform, / was startled to see stream
Ct red fire run over the edge of the plat
form and strike in the midst Of some
workmen. AS 1t touched the wet ground
it exploded with report like that of
cannon. The molten metal flew in every
direction Many workmen were burned
more or less severely, and in the case of
one poor fellow-it makes me sick still
to think of it, the steel came down di-
rectly ON the head and back. We got
him out of the steam and smoke and
carefully and tenderly cut his burned
clothing from him. As we placed him
OH the stretcher the burned flesh drop
ped from his bones.
When ] was relieved at 6 o'clock, 1t
seemed as If 1t would have been utterly
impossible for me to live in chat mill
another hour. dragged myself to my
room and went to bed at once. All that
night / tossed and turned my aching
bones, trying to get into some position
less painful than the last. was tor
tured by thousand grotesque fancies
and by the picture of the poor fellow
who was burned SO badly. At last / got
into an uneasy browse, but felt as IL
had not been asleep minute when my
alarm clock announced to me that it
was 4:45, and that must get up to my
5:l0 breakfast Oh, the misery Of that
rising and going to the mill! Every
bone and sinew seemed as If made of
redhot iron, and the joints as if rusted
together.
1t was dark, foggy morning, found,
! when, having desperately got up enough