Montana labor news., 1936-05-07
Combo Replies to Mayor
Hauswirth In Anselmo
Mine W.P. "A. Project
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINS
TRATION OF MONTANA
District Number -Four

butte, MOnt
May 9th, 1886
To the Honorable Mayor and Members
of the City Council,
OF the City Of Butte,
City Hall,
Butte, Montana.
Gentlemen
There appeared in last weeks issue
Of the EYE OPENER" reference that
give impressions of great falsehood
which at best are loose handling Of the
truth and give vent by way of nuan4e
and innuendo to w~rongdoing which
may not be properly attributed to the
Works Progress Administration, or to
any Of its employees, but in truth may
be laid at the door of the publisher of
that newspaper. The impression pur-
posely created was that the removal
Of waste material from the dump Of the
Anselmo Mine was not incidental to
the completion Of that project known
as the Copper Street Fill but was
done primarily for the sole and only
benefit OF the Anaconda Copper Min
ing Company an impression which
is an obvious and patent falsehood.
In an effort to point out that the
Mayor of this city knows SO little about
what is going on in the Works Pro-
gress Administration, or even in his
own staff organization of city officials,
we give you the case Of the Anselmo
Mine Dump, concerning which the
EYE OPENER" has been very vol
uble, to say the least. Just as in the
case Of Silver Bow Creek, which
Mr.. Hauswirth, the Mayor, criticised
SO greatly, this project was sponsored,
requested and asked for by the said
Mayor and his City Engineer, or En-
cheering staff. No project can be in
itiated by the Works Progress Admin
istration unless primarily sponsored by
some legal governmental agency such
as a city, county, school district, etc.
The Anselmo Dump affair arises in
connection with the project whose title
may be briefly designated as the Cop
per Street Fill a city sponsored pro-
iect. 1t was necessary to obtain fill
material to fill in Missoula Gulch from
the Hub Addition on the East to Ala
bama Street on the West. Materials
had to be obtained from somewhere
to construct this fill. The Works
Progress Administration in this district
has allowed the City Of Butte and its
Engineering Department considerable
latitude in the supervision OF projects,
much more than the rules and regula-
tons would actually permit them to
assume.
Quoting from a report prepared by
the Superintendent of Projects in Sill
yer Bow County, which was also
countersigned by the Assistant Super
%intendent, his Clerk, and the Foreman
Of that particular project, l give you
his answer which arose when | in
quired as to what had actually trans
pired leading up to the usage Of the
Anselmo waste dump material in the
Copper Street Fill;
In the particular case Of the Cop
per Street Fin it was necessary to pro-
cure dirt, rock and other fill material
with which to build this street. Mr..
Curran, a City Engineer Of the City Of
Butte, undertook to obtain this fill ma
t~erial, and he sought and obtained per-
mission from the Anaconda Copper
Mining Company to obtain a portion
Of the waste dump Of the Anselmo
mine to be used for this purpose. This
dump material was close to the pro-
ject, readily accessible, and could be
cheaply obtained and handled. Asst.
City Engineer, Mr.. Curran, made all
Of the arrangements with the Anacon-
da Copper Mining Co. concerning this
waste material, and was informed, and
so informed us, where and from what
part OF the dump the waste material
so needed was to be obtained. This
information was relayed to US by said
City Engineer, and we have since been
acting strictly in accordance with his
Instructions.
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed)
Vim. Reardon, Superintendent,
Carl HASTE, Assistant Superint.
Joe Beaudry, Clerk.
r. M. Dezell, Foreman.
1 have ascertained from my W in
vestigation that Mr., Frank Curran, the
Assistant City Engineer, called in per-
son on Mr.. William B. DAILY, General
Manager OF Mines Of the Anaconda
Copper Mining Company in Butte, and
laoa Nv nroct,red this nerm;eeion from