The Revolving Door of the Tunnel Works
Laborers are quitting as fast as they arrive due to low pay and brutal weather conditions at the Cascade tunnel site.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Hands at the tunnel are wanted all the time. Although they arrive there from both sides of the mountains seeking employment, the working force is little increased, because a good many, after working a few days, quit and leave. Some go to the Sound, while others come to Ellensburg. The weather during the greater part of March has been very disagreeable for outside work at the tunnel, and it has been raining or snowing a great portion of the time. The men say they cannot afford to work for the wages given and stand the storms. Work in the tunnel is limited; only a certain force can be employed on it. They leave nearly as fast as they arrive, for the reason stated above.
“The men say they cannot afford to work for the wages given and stand the storms.”
This captures the perennial struggle of labor in the harsh Pacific Northwest terrain. The difficulty of retaining workers in dangerous or isolated conditions remains a constant in industrial and infrastructure history, from the 19th-century railways to modern construction.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.