People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-08-31
500 A. DAY ON THE BOOM.
Made the Biggest Wages Ever Paid on
the West Branch.

the West Branch.
ii must tell you how we got ahead
of the professional divers who were
in Nilllamsport. Penn, in the 1889
flood. The Pennsylvania railroad
run a lot Of loaded freight cars up
their Linden branch the day of the
food and put them on the Linden
bridge to anchor it Some Of the
cars we're loaded with steel made the
very day before at Johnstown. The
whole lot went through the bridge
to the bottom OF the river and the
railroad company asked us If we
could get it up. We agreed to do
the job for $l5 a ton. but they
thought the price was too high and
hired two divers at S25 day. to say
nothing OF the extra crew they had
to assist in the operation OF rowing
them about, letting them down and
up and pumping air to them After
working two weeks the divers re-
covered two tons OF steel and some
barbed wire.
1t was beautiful steel, in long,
thin bars. for making knives, forks,
cutlery, etc, but when they got il
up it was found to be dirty with
sand. which they failed to remove
before raising it, and they had bent
and twisted it all out of shape. The
railroad company was disguised.
They came to US again and told US
to go ahead, saying they would lend
us their divers in the bargain.
We told 'em that we didn't
want their divers. but they sent
EN- anyhow, and we didn't object, OF
course. but sawed wood. At Z o'clock
in the morning six OF us took the
steam pils-driyer-as the boom com.
pany had no use for it that day
and went to work. The cars we're
down in sixteen feet OF water
LAS We prepared to drop in a
chain to get hold of the sunken cars
the divers arrived. One of them
began to put on his suit, and said:
Quick as | get this on I'll 90 down
with your tackle. Get your chain
ready | stepped off and went to
the bottom When | came up that
chain was securely fastened to one
end OF the car. The diver by this
time had his rubber suit and brass
shoes on, and he yelled for the chain.
| says, The chains on the car now
You never see fellow so done out
as he was. The divers fooled around
there few hours, and then went
back to town.
well, we had all that steel-for-
ty-three tons Of it - straight and
clean on the bank where the railroad
people could load it on their cars
by I o'clock that night. How did
we do it? This way; After got the
chain under one end of the car, as |
told you, we raised her with our
steam pile-driver till that end stood
at about fOrty-iive degrees, and held
her there. Then we did the same
thing to the other end, and had the
car on the level but still under water,
so that we could stand on her with
part of our bodies out OF water. The
steel was covered by about two feet
of sand. This we shoveled out. then
raised the car still more and lifted
the steel bars out on our flats"
That's pretty good days work."
said the reporter, making a mental
calculation. "Forty-three tons at
So ton would be $64j for you six
men or over 500 for each man for o
days work. That's probably the
best wages ever paid on the boom,
is it nOt?"
YES. said Gmdrum, "but at the
rate the divers were working, a ton
a week they would have been at il
iorty-three weeks How much would
that be at $50 a day for the two
divers, not counting their assistants"
just $4,000"