The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-04-15
MINE SUPERINTENDENT
AND THE VARIOUS KINDS
METHODS OF SPENDING STOCK
HOLDERS MONEY; Diff
cULTIEs TO OVERCOME.
Oh. F. Scott in Engineering and Min
inc Journal

I'll h. scott IN Engineering and Min
ing Jounal)
There are times in the metal min
ing industry that the supply of miners,
machine men and timbermen is not
equal to the demand The crop of
muckers and trammers not being ripe.
they cannot be picked 70 rthese jobs.
and the mining companies have trouble
in trying to keep up the output. At
other times, as was the case during the
war; all departments are short of ex-
perienced men, with one exception
that is. the superintendent. There is
always a surplus of superintendent
Observation-Disclosures. want to -be-sup-
erintendents and the young fellow just
out of school (not all of them, Of
course) who has an idea he knows all
about the game and feels offended if
he is offered anything less than a posi-
tion of this kind. How sad the awak-
ening at the end of four or five years.
when he finds out he is just beginning
To learn a little about it,
In te course of number of years
travelling from one mining camp to an
other and working in the mines. one
will come in contact with all kinds of
superintendent some whose own i'm
portance overshadows everything else
They care nothing for the welfare of
the men working for them. All they
want is a certain number of hours
work each shift, and they do not know
whether the men work those hours or
not unless they are watching them, as
they do not know what a shifts work
is The men can sleep under a sage
brushand drink water out of the stump
for all they care. This class is always
unpopular with the men. Such super
intendents are generally short handed,
and the tonnage their mines produce is /
small considering the number Of men /
employed. They never speak to an en- /
ploye. underground or on the surface, |
unless it is to tell him to get out of the (
way A few cases are on record where |
men of this kind have been made good |
bosses by the use Of pick handle, but /
this treatment is not advocated.
A Passing Type
The most revered class Of superin-
tendents is the one which is almost ex- /
tinct and in few years will be obsO
lete. This class is made up of the old
time Irishman OF Irish American who
has come up the line from mucker.
He may not be able to read a blue
print or use a pencil as fast as the up
to-date man, but he is the odd Man"
who always comes around with
Good mornin' byes," and as rule has
time to listen to good story. He is
almost sure to roast you every time
he comes in the stope or drift in which
you are working, for something you did
OF something you did not do If you
are of the class that does not get
scared every time a boss comes around
and start to argue with him, he will I
sit down on the muck pile while you
do the same thing. When the question
is settled and he is gone, you throw
the throttle wide open and drill
round from six inches to a foot deeper
that shift, but after one Of the first
mentioned class goes by, as rule the
machine man pulls the drill out of the
hole with the remark shes deep
enough" cutting the round short.
Many of the wealthy mining of the
east and middle west seem to think
he position of superintendent was just
made for them to support their sons
md sons -in-law at the expense of the
stockholders. Cases of this kind are
more noticeable on the small proper
les than on the larger ones. In the
after. where experienced foremen and
,hift bosses have direct charge of the C
work, the inexperience of this class of n
men is not so conspicuous. b
Popular But Not Profitable. ID
A few years ago a railroad president IS
n the east had son who was going
90 fast to suit the wealthy parent. F
playing the races, Broadway, the t.
peaches. and many more things that n
ook the money faster than Dad s
bought a young man should spend it; C
10 the father worked him in as super
ntendent of a prospect in the west, in o
which he was interested aThe boy il
anne to the little mining camp and t.
made a hit with all Of the miners at q
nee. Apparently everybody was his b
qual and his pocketbook had no "
trings: it was out first regardless of o
whether it was two drinks or wine for b
he town. The prospect was new
me. and no machinery had been err
cted. therefore, the first thing was to b
.et that installed. He set fine cleo c.
rio bell up on a post then the shaft o
vas started and hoist set up, both lin il
a to the bell His mining ability was Il
ero, but at spending the stockholders n
money he was 100 per cent. He built s.
$4,000 house out on the desert, five a!
niles from the little town, and had Il
wo fast horses shipped to him; also t
many pens Of fancy chickens valet
nd a negro porter This was all very e.
ice for two years. when the company 81
uit. From the miners view he was 10
fine man to work for, but the shaft p
rent down less than 200 feet. with air Il