Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-07-07
o'NE|LL King Of:
HARD ROCK men
Alaskan Borer Who Knows "Tun-
mel Stiffs" and How to Get
Them to Work.
REAL coNQUEROR OF NATURE
Boss Of hard-Flstsd Devll.May-Care
itIrsrants Who Drive Tunnels
Differs Little In Appearance
From Corner Grocer.

Seattle, Wash.-Pat H. O'Neill.
king of hard rock men. has been spend
ing q few days at his home In Sc
attic. Seldom does Mr.. O'Neill enjoy
q vacation at home. for he Is usually
in Alaska hanging up new records In
tunnel driving.
Mr.. O'Neill's business would be de-
scribed as mining. but he has won his
fame as a tunnel driver. Boss OF the
ard-nsted. powder-scarred. devil-may-
care itinerants who drive tunnels this
summer in Alaska and next winter
perhaps in Florida or New Jersey.
Pat H. O'Neill has set q faster pace
than any man has set before him.
What he needed to make his sue
cess is what every famous general has
had-the understanding Of men.
Take q hard rock man away from
his environment and he isn't SO much
to look at. Tunnel stiffs" is the gen.
eric term for them all. "Hoboes" the
uninitiated would call them, but the
uninitiated would be wrong in their
classification. They are soldiers OF
progress, hard working. hard hitting.
hard living often and class conscious
as are their acrobatic brothers, the
structural steel workers, who spin
their cobwebs against the clouds.
Men Who Conquer Nature.
Look at these tunnel stiffs" in the
heading of q bore under q mile of
mountain. q place where the air quiv-
ers to the cannonading of compressed
air drills, where the scanned rock
squeezes, jealous Of intrusion. where
the earth sweats and Quivers with ter
ror, lined up across the face Of rock
behind the air drills that look like
long-legged rapid fire guns, drill run
ners working cheek to cheek. eyes in
tent only on the granite before them,
ears and fingers attuned to read from
the thunderous vibrations the LIES
history of the hidden strata where
their steel bits are chewing, their
helpers crawling between the buck
ing machines. wrench In hand, to ad-
just nut here and q valve there. and
you will see the tunnel stiffs" as su-
permen, who fight and conquer nature
in its toughest aspects.
The black oil splatters them till
their teeth show CHASTITY white and
their eyes glow. The steam of COM
pressed air glistens upon them. The
flying rock bites and scars them.
They drive tunnel at 30 much q foot
with the enthusiasm of men mad with
the lust Of battle.
To handle such men as these, to
spur them on to fresh bursts of speed,
to make them do the impossible, takes
a man who knows hard rock men.
That is probably one reason why Pat
O'Neill, tunnel boss. has succeeded.
When the Alaska Gastineau Mining
company put through two-mile tun-
mel in 1913 30 its railroad could haul
ore O'Neill was the tunnel boss. That
was the job on which he sat the su-
preme pace. Six hundred feet q
month was the average progress and
the last month the drills bit through
the rock at the rate of $50 feet.
When the tunnel was finished Col.
D. C. lacking came to Alaska in his
princely yacht Cyprus. His guests
were notable financiers and their fine
wives. And one day his guest of hon.
or was Pat O'NeilA the tunnel boss.
Gets Striking Tribute.
Probably 10 king of hard rock men
ever received q more striking tribute
than was paid this tunnel boss that
day. says the Post-Intelligencer. The
entertainment which honored him
reached it's climax when he was pre-
scented with q watch valued at 81, 1000,
the gift of Colonel lacking and his
associates.
But alas for expectations, the king
of hard rock men differs in appearance
from the corner grocer only in the
subtler details which authority and
experience in bossing men traces on q
mans face and in his habits OF
thought. In Seattle, at least, Pat
O'Neill has little of the appearance OF
the tunnel boss as he is pictured In
fiction.
The man, whose father and grand
father were miners and who started
mining at thirteen years old as a nip
per boy in Michigan. is under medium
height, broad of shoulder and thick
ening about the middle. His head
somewhat large, fits snugly upon
those broad shoulders by short. thick
neck. His face Is the face of q com
mander of men. The nose Is thin and
long and hooked, the eyes are small
dark brown and piercing of gaze, his
jaw is heavy and his chin is granite
Otherwise p. H. O'Neill is not q man
to attract attention In q crowd.
I'm an American and I've worked
In hard rock most all over America
So far as this making a record at the
.Gastineau mine is concerned we had
ideal rock to work in. The men were
working six-hour shifts, that was one
thing made it 60 fast. They got good
pay, So and 80 q day and q bonus fol
everything over $50 feet. The bonus
had Q lot to do with 1t"