Milford chronicle., 1906-04-27
THE CELLAR DIGGER.
what He Is and What He Used to BE
In New York.

what He Is and What He Used to Be
In New York.
The importance Of being a cellar dig
ger in New York city has grown witt
the other big things. 1t was not Sc
many years ago that a man who was
. cellar digger was looked upon in the
same light as the man whom you seni
for to take out the ashes or fix the
back fence, and it was common sighi
20 see little signs around the town not
so many years ago that read, John
Jones, Cellars Dug" or words in other
iuxtaposition that meant the same
thing.
The steam drill was a big thing and
marked an epoch in the career of the
cellar digger. The old fashioned cellar
digger. with his spades and hand drills
md his old fashioned charges of giant
powder for such, and who in himself
was of some consequence, was super
seded by the man with a couple of
steam drills and a license to handle
dynamite.
Then the big operations began, and
the cellar digger moved along. II he
didn't have the capital to handle the
big jobs he had to 80 to work for
some one. because the man who had
the big contracts could always spare
a man or two and a couple of carts to
run around the corner and dig a cellar
for an apartment house while he was
excavating for a big business block.
1 can remember the time when l
first went to work for my father that
a man who had ten carts and fifty
men working for him digging cellars
was big man. Today cellar digger
who has less than S5OOOO0 capital to
work on and 200 or 300 horses is only
wasting his time.
The men who do nothing but dig Gel
lars in New York city represent an
active working capital of not less than
s1OOOO,OOO. and 1 don't count the men
Owho, are digging subways and making
those gaping holes for the new stations.
1 am digging the cellar for the New
Astor apartment house on Broadway
and the capital involved on that job
alone is greater than the total amount
of my operations the first year Of my
career.
1 think it is the biggest cellar proper
vet scooped out in the city, and the
tons of earth and rock we have taken
out would have made a cellar digger
Of twenty years ago sick at the base
T,Fe. boo rE fo fbiDly of II
In the old days the cellar digger
didn't have any trouble with labor
questions.
He had work for so many men, and
they could come and take it or leave it.
Today the cellar digger has five diff
ferent unions to deal with. In the old
days if he wanted a couple Of horses
he went down to the old blue Front"
and -ueht them cash out of hand. To
da. IS to Chicago, Canada and
n Nv York, buys them by the
tells the dealers to draw
t al e old days a man with blasting
,r in making a hole for a cellar
tive downtown and got his powder in
package Dig enough TOT lue udy
work. Today he orders his dynamite
by the ton six months in advance and
has a special corps Of men to attend to
that alone.
IN the old days, when first went to
cellar digging, If a couple Of cellar dig
gers lived close enough together they
would occasionally get together on a
Saturday night and eat a little chow
der. Today the cellar dlggers have an
organization. with several hundred
members, that give a banquet every
year that isn't surpassed by any other
in the city in point Of luxury. They
are a power in legislation and have
West End avenue homes, and I'm re-
ferrinR only to the fellow that digs eel
sars in New Yerk.-David P. Canavan
New York World.