In
the early 1900's, James "Slag" Wormwood, was foreman of the "Graveyard Shift",
the period between sunset and sunrise, where a skeleton crew
of nearly 150 workers toiled to keep the furnace fed.
During
the stifling summer months, temperatures throughout the plant would reach
more than 120 degrees.Lack
of sleep, the heat, and low visibility made working the furnace literally
a "living hell" and only the poorest of workers, desperate for employment,
would work it.
These
workers, mostly recently arrived immigrants, were forced to live in cramped
housing located on the furnace site, and could be forced at any moment
to return to work.
To
impress his supervisors, Wormwood would make his workers take dangerous
risks, forcing them to speed up production. During his reign, 47 workers
lost their lives, ten times more than any other shift in the history of
the furnace.Countless others
lost their ability to work due to accidents, mishaps, and even a recorded
explosion in the small blowing engine house in 1888 that left 6 workers
burned blind.
There
were no breaks, there were no holidays, there was only the
furnace.and
its constant hunger for more and more coal.
