The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-11-24
MACHINERY DOES
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established and all men desiring TO
do SO. may live right on the job. Many
houses have been built to make com.
Portable rooms for all workmen. One
large frame building Is used exclusive.
ly for the kitchen and dining room.
A cook Is employed to prepare the
meals and three times each day the
men assemble at the dining room to
eat. The very hest meals are served
and at the most reasonable rates. AZ
present. there are only about forty men
boarding at the camp. but as the
work progresses this amount Is ex'
pected TO increase to several hundred.
Preparations have been made for &C.
ccmmodating additional men.
The men work from o'clock In
the morning until 5:l5 o'clock in the
evening. After this time they enjoy
themselves at camp. The workmen
seem to like camp life.
AT present there are only about one
hundred men on the Job. Many oil
these live in Fairmont and 60 back
and forth on the street cars For
their benefit the Monongahela Valley
Traction company has added an ex.
ira car to the schedule. The special
leaves Fairmont at G:15 o'clock each
morning arriving at the camp al
GAS. At 5:15 in the afternoon after
they have finished work they have a
car waiting at the camp ready to take
them back to Fairmont.
Viewing the operations at the pow
or plant site. one is Impressed with
the labor saving machinery that is
used wherever profitable and possible
saving as much labor as possible In
these times OF great labor scarcity
From the time the concrete materials
are loaded on barges until they are
mixed and in place In the forms az
concrete. only four men are employ
ed, tending the mixer and feeding IL
cement. The old method OF hauling
the materials to the mixer and haul
ing the concrete away together with
the additional men used in mixing the
concrete, would involve the employ
ment Of some thirty men, where. with
the machinery now being used. but
four men do the entire work.
All gravel and sand is being deliver
ed via barges on the river from Point
Marion by the McClain Sand and
Gravel Company. 1t is then hoisted
into the air sent through separate
shoots. measured and mixed almost
automatically. As it is mixed it is
poured into large bucket, hoisted
to the top OF G $50 foot tower and dis
tributed by chutes to al parts of the
job.
A siding now being constructed
brings the concrete up to large ce
ment house. which has just been com
pleted for the storage of cement. An
other smaller track leads from the
cement house to the cement mixer
entirely eliminating the wheel-bar
row.
Other railroad side tracks to ac
commodate the great number OF cars
of material to be used in the struc
ture. some 600 or more are now being
rushed to completion.
A machine shop where all the re
pair work Is done is another big time
and labor device. Most OF the ma
chinery is sent direct from the fac
tory ready 70. use, but instead Of
sending a broken implement back to
the factory to be repaired. involving
much time an dthe possibilities OF q
serious delay, repairs are completed
right on the job. After the work is
completed the machine shop will be
come a permanent part of the new
power plant.
A store room has been built as well
as a supply house. A clerk is in
charge of the supply house and checks
out every tool that Is used. A pumr
house has been built and sufficient
supply Of water is carried to all parts
OF the working field.
Stables have been erected right on
the ground for the thirteen teams O.
horses that are now being used in the
work. A small ten ton locomotive
crane has been purchased and is used
in unloading steel and doing general
work on the grounds. All the wood
work is done in tho portable saw mill
and carpenter shop, building erected
especially for this work. Another
building ia used as a toll shop and a
blacksmith shop. Plans are being
euiiIeu Oul ioT Two parallel Siuings
that will extend along the side Of the
present railroad track.
All this work is merely preparatory
for the constitutional work that ia to
follow. Most of the buildings will be
torn down as the work nears compile.
ton.
For six weeks, in fact since the
work was first started, the workmen
have just been getting ready for the
work that is 10 follow. Monday morn.
ing the engineers are planning to be.
gin their first actual constitutional
work, for 1t is then that the first con.
crete will be poured.
The excavation for the boiler room
foundation is now about complete,
this being the first excavation yet to
be made. Upon the completion OF
this work the digging force will be
switched nearer to the river and the
digging of the large $50 foot trench
begun, through which water will pass,
going to the pumps, through the CON.
densors and thence back to the river.
This long trench will be 40 feet deem