Vol. 4-Interview-Zahay

AV inter. FZ -7Tape 13

Thorpe to Jersey City 120 miles one way and coming back you had to go 156 miles and you would stock (?) maybe most of the time around 14 ton of coal

AV What kind of coal

FZ Soft coal, lump coal

AV That's why you say it was a hard job

FZ It was harder than minin', dirty and long hours

AV And you thought that mining was hard

FZ Yeh I worked down there just 2 years I worked on two different trains first one I quit I came back here and got my old job back

AV As a laborer

FZ Yeh, no as a miner then

AV Oh you did become a miner before you left your father

FZ No now just a minute, before I left my father, no. After I left the carpenter jpb then then I went in the mines and got a job as a miner and from there I went (???????????) and then I quit and came back and got my old job on the railroad again and by that time I was married and I wanted to move down there but my wife wouldn't move down so I come back here and I've been here ever since

AV What did you do on the railroad the second time

FZ Fireman, stoker, yeh that was hard work I was about 21, the only thing that helped me out is that I was used to the scoop shovel from being a coal miner that helped me out but some of the boys that went down there they didn't know how to use a shovel and they didn't last long at all it was pretty hard because you had a hole about this big to throw it in and the train goin' and everything shakin' you had a hard time to stay on your feet but I was used to shovelin'

AV When did you work in the carpenter shop

FZ That was right after I quit with my father I was 16 maybe '

AV inter. FZ -88/20/72 Tape 13

AV What did you do as a carpenter

FZ Carpenter work, repair cars, and their homes

AV So what would be a typical job that you would be assigned to do

FZ Mostly on homes, repair homes, whatever the people wanted done, maybe put in windows or casing, mostly on roofs

AV How did they arrange to have it done

FZ What do you mean

AV How did they arrange to get your services as a carpenter, did they call you

FZ No I went to work every day and when I'd get to the shop the boss would assign us to different work, if there were too many cars to be repaired we stayed in the shop and repaired cars if there weren't too many cars to be repaired he'd send us out to the homes

AV What would be the typical kind of repairs that you used to do

FZ Like I said, mostly windows, doors and roofs

AV You mean replace broken windows

FZ Yeh, some were pretty well rotted and the leaky roofs

AV What kind of roofs did they have

FZ Some, these single homes at the lower end of town we put shingles on the same as that are on now

AV Which ones would they be

FZ You know where Mrs. Ferko lives, down there in those single homes where they were mostly, most of them had shingles the other part of the town were mostly tar paper the same as they were before they put the shingles on

AV Tar paper

FZ Tar paper

AV What were the original roofing on these company homes

FZ Shingles I would say, and then I heard some of the old-timers say I know some of the roofs whether they were all that way or not, that they were sheet-iron,

AV inter. FZ -96/20/72 Tape 13 [Some kind of motor running ?????????????]

the Back Street homes some of those, see. These homes here were shingles and when the shingles went ba they put tar paper on, right over it, these homes here most of those single homes down there we put shingles

AV You don't think these homes had any of that sheet-iron for roofs do you

FZ No, Idon't but some of the Back Street homes

AV Do you think these were the older homes in Eckley

FZ back of the church there were 2 homes back there

AV What did they call them

FZ I think that's what they called #4

AV No. 4 is that a street

061 FZ No it's just the number the big shots(?) called the homes when they mentioned it . I was around but I don't remember a fellow that lived there was Joe Kirchner, he was much older that I am, we used to pal around together he told me he lived down there

AV And who lived in the other home

FZ Oh I don't know

AV What did they look like, these 2 homes

FZ Something like these, this pattern

AV Was it three stories

FZ Two, something like these

AV Did it have an attic on the third story

FZ No, just 2 story that's all

AV Would it be a double home like this

FZ They were all double homes then they had what they called Shanty Street

AV What was that like

FZ There were just 2 homes down there, those homes were something like this and right above from that that I don't reember but I'll tell you who told me, Helen's brother Joe, he run a club once, and right across the street from the club room

AV inter. FZ --10Tape 13 6/20/72

there were houses on that side of that alley were few homes I think they called that Shanty Street I'm not sure but there was one home down there that had 4 families but there were homes down there too

AV You said there was a 4 family home

FZ There was a 4 family home down there and some single homes but I'm just tellin' you what I heard

AV What would this 4 family home look like

FZ Like these the only thing is it was big enough for 4 families, 2 rooms downstairs and 2 rooms upstairs for each family

AV So they must have been 3 stories

FZ No there were no 3 story homes, oh you know where Fatula lives down there the foundation beside Fatula's house that was a big building too, that was 3 stories but they didn't use the third story, just as an attic but my brother lived there, there were 4 families in here and that's what they called a boarding house one time

AV Oh the one outside of Marshlick

FZ No, I told you where Fatula lives, way down, the big foundation this side of Fatula's house

AV Is it still there

FZ Part of it is still there well that's what they called the boarding house

AV And that was a very large one, did it have a porch on front

FZ Yeh a big porch on front, and it was way high too

AV A high porch

FZ Yeh they were on high foundations, big high porch, a nice porch

AV Did it have many windows in it

FZ Each family(???????????????)/ Two families in the front and 2 families in the back

AV Why did they call it the boarding house

FZ Years ago it was a boarding house

AV inter. FZ -11Tape 13 6/20/72

AV You don't remember what they use to say about it

FZ No

AV And then they made it into a family house

FZ A four family house

AV Who used to live there which families

FZ (??????????) and his brother lived on one side Davis/ and my brother lived on the other, on the back and one family was Rublic & Bradish I guess, there was 2 families in back there was a small street there and there used to be a home too across the street I think that was a 4 family home

AV Oh another one, what did they call that

FZ I don't know but the old-timers said it used to be a mule stable at one time and then they made a 4 family home out of it

AV Do you remember what that looked like

FZ Yeh, I remember, these homes only just 4 families

AV That's interesting and it has all disappeared

FZ Yeh all disappeared the Back Street that was a nice street especially we lived in No. 1, the first house I was single you know a boy we lived there and then there were 8 or 10 homes in that block, nice street, side walk on one side and willow trees on both sides of the street and then in summer time it was just like a tunnel the trees just grew over the street, a very nice street, a nice place to live

AV And was there a hydrant in front of your house

FZ Yes, we had one hydrant there and one on the other side not in front of the house no on one side there was a hydrant for 4 homes

AV Where was it located in relation to your old house

FZ Well we were in house #1, the first house, the hydrant was between the second and the third house, on the sidewalk

AV And over here there use to be a hydrant