The Baraboo news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1884-1911, 1907-08-21

M. Kinney, uper1ntendenC OF bridges
on the Madison division of the Chicago
& Northwestern, has received an in
teresting letter from Mr.. I'll. w. Battin
who was formerly connected with the
Northwestern at Baraboo and Fond du
Lac and who is now engaged in con-
struction work at Missoula, Montana.
The letter is as follows:
Missoula, Mont. Aug. 4th. 1907.
Dear Sir:-The four months which
have passed since writing you, have
made a marked change in the condition
Of the work, as outlined to you in pre-
vious letters. The material changes
have been in the installation of the
plants at the tunnels, where compress
ed air and electrical machinery have
been placed and operations begun in
earnest The difficulty of obtaining
promptly the machinery needed, has
delayed the work to some extent in this
particular line. There has been no
lack of skilled labor so far, but the
scarcity of common labor, at $3.50 per
day, gives us considerable Uneasiness.
There is an over supply of engineers
for the small locomotives, on account OF
men dismissed from the r. r. service
desiring work of a similar nature.
Also, there appears to be plenty OF
men for steam shovel service, there be-
ing actual signs of the work in the
middle west letting down, with the re-
suit that the men freed farther east, are
looking for work out here. The supply
of common labor is limited, and altho
we draw freely on the Twin Cities and
other points in the Mississippi Valley
for help, we succeed in landing only a
few of the bunch in Western Montana.
In fact, if we land 3 out Of II that
come from Minneapolis, we feel that
we are getting a goodly percentage.
lSOme of our work is limited on account
of lack of help, but at no points thus
far, have we been obliged to close down
the work. The labor is also very indie
pendent, and exceedingly restless. One
feature that is difficult to buck, is the
tendency on the part of some of the
other contractors in this general terri
tory, to raise the price little in order
to get the men. When such a rise be-
comes known, the others become rest
less and want to move on into the new
territory where the wages are reported
higher. It looks now as if the West
ern Montana Work might be forced to
come to basis of $2.75 per day of 10
hours.
The steam shovel work is progress
ing finely and with all the shovels the
results are good. The rock is of such
nature that it can be blasted ahead of
the shovel and the loose rock loaded
out. In one of the larger cuts we are
using we'll drills to put down the blast
ing holes. We find that a three inch
hole gives about the best results with
the explosives. The effect of the eX-
plosion is to shake up thoroughly the
strata of rock, and the work of the
shovel is made very easy thereafter.
We find the rock in this neighborhood,
very much scanned and with so little
stability that it will require a lining
for all the tunnels. In the St. Paul
pass tunnel through the Bitter Root
range, there is heavy flow of water
from the roof at various points, with
the consequence of necessity for care in
disposing of the same.
Steam Shovel Work.
With the Channon Excavating ma
Ichines, there has been varying success,
according to the nature of the material
in which each machine has been work
ing. The experience of one party with
a machine that is mechanically per-
feet, is to the effect that he can go
down the first five feet and move all
that material with greater ease than
he can the remaining fwo feet below,
the latter material being coarse gravel
and small boulders. The two yard
dippers are too large for the size of
Mundy Engines employed. The result
has been that the size of the dippers at
II yds, is much more satisfactory. At
some points where the excavation is
below the water level of the river, the
water seeps through the gravel and
follows up the borrow pits, to the de-
triment of the work. The Hellgate
and Missoula rivers have held an un-
usually high stage for the month of
July, but have interfered with the pro-
gress of the work but little, with the
exception of the borrow pits on the c.
/ M. & st. P, where they are near the
stream.
Weather conditions have been fine
June was a rainy month for this terri
tory, but there was not so very much
time lost account of the rain. Borrow
pits drain easily, permitting the quick
resumption of operations after the
Tho dorc ~