Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-06-15

There Is a story OF an Elliston man
who had worked steadily for over q
| year. When he did come to town he
had several hundred dollars IN his
! pocket. but the next morning some Of
/ his friends found him wrapping sacks
around his feet In place Of socks. He
explained, II came to town yesterday
with over a hundred dollars In my
pocket but 1t didn't last long enough
for me to buy a pair of socks"
Their favorite sport around camp
was devising methods Of fooling the
saloon keepers. Probably the most
popular plan was for the men TO walk
into a saloon, cash their checks, and
take a free drink If one was offered.
then walk out without spending 8
cent. It was a good plan out in the
hills but few had the will power TO
put It to work when they got to town.
Cost of Living Was Lower
While the earning. capacities OF the
individual men varied greatly IL Is
doubtful If over a longer period any
of them averaged much over SIS or
$40 clear. over their living expenses,
a month. But then cost Of living was
much lower than it Is now.
During the companys last year OF
operation the railroad men went on 9 +!
strike for higher pay. The strike iaSge0 /
for about a month but passenger trains /
went through In spite Of them, with /
soldiers on guard In the engine cab,
baggage cars and probably IN the pas
senger cars also. For the duraLlon OF
the strike there were around 20 SOL
diers hanging around the depot anu
three or four were always on guard
at the water tanks to prevenI Inen
being blown up At that time the un-
Skilled railroad labor received around
Il "a a day and were charged 81
ryeaIr for hoard. The railroad men lost
At approximately sr the same time, the
Great Northern men also went on
strike. which they won IN compaLa |
lively short time. Their wage scaAe ave, Wa
;aid to have been still lower IMAM
hat paid by the Northern PaclIlc. /
however. for only two days were pom i
companies men on strike at the same S
ime. /
Clark Victory Killed Camp +
There is some speculation as TO the S
fleet a Dalv victory in the capital a
iqht with Clark would have had on a
ne operations Of the fluning business
a Eliiston. AS far as Elliston Is con-
erned the Clark victory had dis 4
stroits effect because as soon as II
vas definitely established that cne d
apital would not move to Anaconda, Il
riders came to cease all operations. n
fen who were in clear with the COM a
any were dismissed Immediately and z
nose who were IN debt at the company e
ore were allowed to work 1t out. How Il
yer, the men were all out Of the hills al
Y Christmas. D
The flume was not used again and
! time 1t passed over to the county
n taxes. Nothing was done with 1t m
} people started tearing 1t down for al
1ards, and a considerable number Of Is
d houses In E1liston are wholly or VI
artly constructed from boards taken
ON the nume. br
DAILY also ran similar project on be
i'll creek back Of Anaconda. At that ia
me the timber was free and they ",
st went and cut what they pleased WI
Id where they pleased However, pL
ort time later the government sur sex
yed the cutover areas on Mill creek tn
ID was successful IN collecting stump wi
e charges. Immediately after that a
surveyors came to EIliston On
d spent several seasons in estimating din
e amount of timber taken from tin
ere. All the men who had been In ms
e employ of the company were ques- at
ned as well as any others who as
ght know anything about its oper- ha
ons. Finally the government sub car