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Angela Varesano
6/13/72
Joe Charnigo

School
painted walls, and a floor constructed of wooden boards which
were "oiled". each week. In each room were fifty-six seats
plus two cloak rooms, one for boys and one for girls.
The cloak rooms had glass doors.

Boys used to borrow railroad flatcars [underlined]. One of them spragged
it as it went down a grade and hand pushed it until it was
at the top of the grade. These flatcars were left on the
railroad tracks. The boys would borrow them to "go for a ride." [underlined]

He worked for three months as a catcher. This work was sprag-
ging wheels and bringing mules to the miners. It earned 33¢
per hour. Then he drove a mule. He started with one mule
and increased one by one to four mules. Promotion was by
seniority and job space available. In 1937, the "motor" or
electric motor replaced mules [underlinged]. With motor he received 99¢
an hour. In 194[?], he was mining underground. He changed
jobs from mule driver to miner because mule driving was a
dirty job. It was hot. [?]o[???]ot too much sand and sand dust
from the rails and the cars. When the mine closed underground
in 1957, he stopped work.

In mule driving to go down a grade, the mules were unhooked
on top of the hill and the cars were run down the hill and
spragged so they stopped at the foot of the grade. To go
up hill the mules pulled two cars at a time. A safety device
was used to check the cars' backward toll.

The worst job in mining was the miner's-cutting the face.
The miners were paid piece work; other jobs were on a "time"
basis. Laborers worked just as hard as miners but for less
pay ($5.49) a day). They learned the trade of the miner.
After two years working as laborer, miner's papers were
gained by a test. Mule driving was a dirty job in which one
had to slosh through mud and water and get splashed by the
mules. At one time in Eckley there were a hundred mules.
They were used for three slopes in Eckley, #10, #6, and #2.
Mr. Charnigo started in #2 slope in 1926. He had to go down
to the stable each morning and ride the mules down to the
manway and muleway then they would go into the mine themselves.
Mules could see in the dark, "They can see in the dark, you
know," thus they could find their own way around easily in
the mines. You had to break a "leader mule" -first mule in a
line - so that he knew the way. Tests were needed to get
foremen jobs. Mostly Irish got "bossin" jobs. They had an
"in" with the company. "They were here first."