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DM Interview Mary & Tom Ferko -4- 8/7/72 Tape 6
DM You mean because of dockage
TF No, they didn't always have the orders for coal, every town has a breaker,
DM You mean you'd walk in and they would say no work today
TF No a whistle would blow, at 3:30 a whistle would blow if it blowed one there was
work if it blowed 3 there wasn't any work tomorrow, at quittin' time a whistle
would blow
DM How's come we've been here 2 1/2 months and haven't found that out before, that's incredible
MF That's true every day at 3:30 the whistle blew
TF That's right if the whistle blew one there was work and if it blew 3 there was no work
MF We always listened for that whistle
DM If you got 8 days of work out of 10 you were doing well
TF Yeh, you didn't get work too steady then
DM I thought all they did was stock pile the coal, make you fellows work
TF How many breakers here, they had #5 breaker, you know where #5 is
and now over the top of the hill ------------ you had another breaker, Sandy Run had their
own breaker, Hazlebrook had their own breaker, Eckley had their own breaker,
#4 when you go towards Hazleton -------------------There was a breaker there, Harleigh had
a breaker, -------------, had their own breaker, everyone had their own breaker
DM How did they work it out as to who would work, like would it happen that Harleigh breaker would be down for a week and the rest of you guys would be working or what
MF They didn't have strippins like they do now, it was all mined
TF But after the coal started stackin up they wasn't getting their coal started to
tear down one breaker and then Look now they can't get enough coal
for the breakers, her uncle is over at Harleigh and he told me they have 100 gondolas to
a shift to operate the breaker now you figure 100 gondolas---------- that's a lot of coal
DM I had no idea I really didn't that things were like that
TF Where did you for for your information around here did you go to the woman