The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1918-07-29
Splendid Progress is Being
Made on Rivesville I'm
dertakinS
READY BY FIRST OF YEAR
Work Goes Ahead Without
Stop, Days, Nights and
Sundays.

office OF the new Rivesyille power
plant says Keep tn Hell OUT Prog
Tess Of the work going on there both
Sundays and weekdays has been great
the last few months. No one has any
time to devote TO visitors. A force
Of about one hundred and forty men
worked yesterday with about twice
that many on week days, the number
Of men changing with varied labor
conditions. Double decker bunk houses
holding somewhere around one hun
dred and twenty-five are filled at pres
ent with Russians, Italians, Austrians,
Poles and Americans. From eighty to
a hundred men eat there each neal
and according to the timekeeper, get
good meals for $3.50 per week, includ'
ing bunk at night. Men who have
been with the company longer have
separate rooms, two in a room and one
house contains a main room Win
about sixty beds. 81 take top deck
OF." said one OF the bOardeTs ye5ter-
day, CullOm, q new cook, has only
been on hand about two weeks, the
last cook leaving without notice, &C
eording TO report. II could sympathize
with him." said one Of the employees,
'for I had to cook suppers at night
for q while and / was mighty glad
when the new cook came. It's some
job!" zone fellow ate thirteen eggs
for breakfast" was reported. That
was when we were only charging $500
a week for board and room too"
Work on the big plant sounded yes
terday like the gigantic buzzing OF
bees as the steel work was riveted.
The noise Of pounding, calling, grind
ing, bells whistling and ringing, en-
zines running back and forth with sup
niles, coal unloading, elevator running
IN and down the shaft, did not cease
al day. Black clouds o. smoke were
all about. The elevator shaft is built
Of open cross pieces OF lumber, on the
outside Of the power building. II Is
used to carry material up and down.
At the top, floats 10th a service and an
American flag. sOmewha. tattercd and
gFimy. The plant has reached its full
height in steel work. and on the rail
road side most Of the brick work is
M. AS soon as all Of 1t is up, the
asbestos metal room will go On. A
stack is yet to go up about one hun
bred and twenty feet.
Near the river. derricks are filling
the mixer with sand and gravel, ready
for more pouring. No pouring was
done yesterday. a large sign in plain
view, posted on the Rivesville Coal
company tipple across the track, states
10 employees just how many patches
have been poured to date, also the last
hours batch. This stimulates the
men to greater effort in increasing the
capacity poured each day over the
previous days record" said one Of the
employees.
The sixty ton travelling crane was
Installed yesterday and with some ad'
ditional work to be done on II. will
probably be In place by tomorrow
noon.
Digging Is going on at two different
locations, one for the foundation OF
the switch house. some OF this founda-
ton being already in. and the intake
tunnel 10 being dug. This tunnel al
lows the water TO enter to be used in
the condensing Of steam.
One Of the most important events
% last weeks work lies in the fact
that coal was struck In one part Of
A. Vntuo v,hI,h - ~ (npnieh thig Of
gantic power plant with fuel. Tests
had been made for average depth and
work has been going on since May 10
at the mine location. Men have work
"a both weekdays and Sundays here
and a night shift Of about eight men
are still working in addition 10 a day
shift The coal here Is a sevon-fool
Pittsburgh vein and II was necessary
% 60 down one hundred and six feet
through fifty feet OF earth and rock
before the coal was reached. Two
days ago about six tons were brought
out and this lies to the side OF the
mine entrance. In drilling, a seventy.
five foot deep spring Of water was
struck. Standing near the hosting
machine, not more than two feet away.
stands a car on the railroad track,
partly filled with dynamite The en-
gineer in charge OF the hosting ma
chine mentioned casually that a Jar.
ing Of machinery had been known TO
explode dynamite. Just at that mo.
mOnt q slight noise occurred which
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