In the Consolidated Virginia mine, and in all other leading mines, three shifts of men are employed, each shift working eight hours.
The morning shift goes on at 7 o’clock. Before descending the shaft the men go to the office of the time-keeper, situated in the hoisting works, and give their names at a window which resembles the window of the ticket-office at a railroad-station. These men come up out of the mine at 3 o’clock P. M.[P. M.], and again go to the window of the time-keeper’s office, and give their names.
The afternoon shifts go down at this hour—3 o’clock P. M.,—giving in their names before descending the shaft. They come up out of the mine at 11 o’clock at night, but do not give their names. If any men are missing, or are taken sick, and do not work, their names are reported by the bosses of their shift.
The night shift go down into the mine at 11 o’clock at night and come out at 7 o’clock in the morning, when they go to the time-keeper’s window, give their names, and get their mark for the day’s work done. There are three shift-bosses for each level where regular eight-hour shifts are being worked.
When the shifts are being changed the men do not rush promiscuously to the shaft, but form in a line and march up to the cages in single file, just as men are seen to form in line in front of the window of a post-office or at the polls on the occasion of an election. On the levels below, when the men are coming up, they form in lines in the same way in front of the shaft. No crowding or disorder of any kind is permitted.
The shift-bosses report to the time-keepers the number of men employed on their shift, the number of car-loads of ore, and the number of car-loads of waste rock hoisted during the shift, all of which is placed in a daily report, for which there are, in the office of the time keeper, printed blanks. A car-load of ore is calculated to weigh 1,800 pounds, and the number of tons hoisted during the day is also figured up and set down in the blank. The following is one of the blanks used in the Consolidated Virginia—filled up with the exact work of the day on which it is dated—the names given are those of the shift-bosses:
| CONSOLIDATED VIRGINIA MINING COMPANY. | ||||||||||
| DAILY REPORT OF ORE EXTRACTED. | ||||||||||
| DATE. | NUMBER | CARS | CARS | TONS OF | TOTAL TONS | |||||
| OF | OF | OF | ORE | OF ORE | ||||||
| March 19th, 1875. | MEN. | WASTE. | ORE. | HOISTED. | HOISTED. | |||||
| 1300 STATION LEVEL. | ||||||||||
| 7 | o’clock | } | 17 | |||||||
| 3 | do. | Wilson. | 8 | |||||||
| 11 | do. | 8 | ||||||||
| 1400 STATION LEVEL. | ||||||||||
| 7 | o’clock | Dan. Skerry, | 75 | 4 | 54 | 48 | 1200 | |||
| 3 | do. | Wm. Harper, | 78 | 7 | 67 | 60 | 600 | |||
| 11 | do. | Jas. McCourt, | 76 | 5 | 79 | 71 | 200 | 180 | ||
| 1500 STATION LEVEL. | ||||||||||
| 7 | o’clock | Jas. O’Toole, | 63 | 6 | 65 | 58 | 1000 | |||
| 3 | do. | Wm. Odey, | 53 | 3 | 131 | 117 | 1800 | |||
| 11 | do. | Richd. Lewis, | 54 | 7 | 117 | 105 | 600 | 281 | 1400 | |
| Hoisted through | ||||||||||
| G and C Shaft. | ||||||||||
| March 18th, ’75. | 41 | 26 | 38 | 38 | 38 | |||||
| —— | —— | |||||||||
| Total No. of Tons | 499 | 1400 | ||||||||
| 180 Tons to Mill Lump, | ||||||||||
| 281 ” ” Mine ” | ||||||||||
By this report it will be seen that the account of the ore taken out through the Gould and Curry (“G & C.”) shaft is not handed in until the day after the work is done. The report also shows the number of tons sent to the dump of the big mill, near the mine, and the number sent to the dump of the mine to be shipped to other mills. In all departments an equally exact account is kept of all work done.
DIAGRAM SHOWING HEIGHT OF MINES.