The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-09-23


boys, but enough remains to be sym
bolical Along the flume near tn
bridge is a fence where. 1 am told, .
bunch of Slavs' congregates regularl,
let us hope to settle no questions
nearer home than Fiume.'
Among the foremen and shift
bosses are a number of southerners
from the Carolinas and Tennessee
Most of them never saw a mine be-
fore they came to Idaho; they obtain
ed their experience locally, but they
are men of spirit and initiative. pos
sessed Of excellent judgment and al
ways loyal. Others on the stan are
Cornish and Welsh. men with mining
traditions.
From the town through the Bunker
Hill settlement and nearly to the
smelter there extends a cement paved
highway thanked by handsome cleo
troliers which would do credit to any
city. But this is a minor phase as
compared with the houses and gardens
that bespeak the comfort and thrift of
the community Beyond the mills is
another cluster of houses, belonging to
the smelter employees Each house
has six or eight rooms and is well
equipped with modern conveniences.
No two are alike; each has about an
acre of ground. in which corn and po-
tatoes are cultivated also strawber-
ries. Between the smelter and the
mills I noticed one particularly attrac-
tive brick cottage; upon inquiry, I
found that it belonged to Jim Sheri-
dan. the chief bricklayer When this
house was built, the entire brick lay
ing crew worked on it gratuitously
out of goodwill to their leader so that
the building went mp like a mushroom
in the night. Jim Sheridan's home
therefore serves as a monument to
the kind of good feeling that has made
the Bunker Hill something more than
a hole in the ground.
The settlement as a whole, the
part of it and the town of
Kellogg is more attractive than most
mining camps and above it rises ever |
the smoke of the smelter, like incense /
rom the altar of industry-pace
smoke farmers and other disagreeable |
people!
when the town of Kellogg decided |
o establish a sewer system and found |
in getting money for the pur-
,ose, the Bunker Hill company came
Onward and took the whole issue of
'Onds. To encourage education, the
gave a site for the first
chOOl house. built it and then decided
to the district. The ground for the
lew school house likewise was pro-
ided by the company on a 1O0-year
ease. The Y. M. c. A. club house was
uilt and is owned by the company
ihich placed the building in the town
n order to increase its assessed val
alton and to render it readily access
Die to the townspeople.
1.-THE land around the mine belongs
0 the company, of course. Employees
re encouraged to make homes for
themselves. Land is leased to them
{ nominal rate of 81 per annum for
ny area less than an acre. Then the
ompany lends money to build or to
urchase a house at per cent, al
lough the local bank rate ranges be-
Veen and u per cent. The en-
loye who borrows from the company
avs monthly, with a diminution of
iterest as the capital obligation is re
uced thereby so that the amount
aid to the company is the equivalent
+ a fair rent No instance of forfeit
re or foreclosure is recorded. If a
can not pay. the loan is
ansferred to another employee, who l.
Lkes the property with the debt, the e