Help Wanted: The Railroad Boom Outran the Workforce
Crews at Sullivan Creek and Box Canyon needed hundreds more men as clay, springs, and slides slowed the Inland Empire's rail-and-dam boom.
Railroad activity throughout the Inland Empire has created a shortage of laboring men, which is seriously affecting the progress of large industrial development. The work on the cement plant and dam at Sullivan Creek is hampered by the lack of men, as is also the work of building the grade for the Metaline extension of the I. W. N. Several hundred more men could be employed to advantage from Ione north.
In the building of the grade some difficulty is being experienced from the nature of the country it traverses. One long side-hill cut, which was thought to be all rock, is found to be of clay, and several springs having been opened by the work a much wider cut is necessitated and a large amount of material must be moved. At the lower end of Box Canyon a 600-foot tunnel is being driven. In building around Box Canyon some very heavy rock work has been encountered, also some clay banks, which continue to slide and fill up.
“Several hundred more men could be employed to advantage from Ione north.”
The 1910 labor shortage was a growth problem: rail, dam, and cement work all competed for the same crews in the Inland Empire. Modern infrastructure booms in the same region still run into labor shortages and difficult ground conditions—clay, springs, and slides remain expensive surprises.
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