Fraternity-Testvériség, 2008 (86. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)
2008-07-01 / 3. szám
A HUNGARIAN LOGGING CAMP timber to a band-saw mill upriver and connect it to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad along the Greenbrier River. For four decades, the town of Cass provided timber harvesting, lumber production and a railroad operation that roughly paralleled the Greenbrier River. The West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company built homes to rent to employees. Utilities were included in the monthly house rent along with water and electricity generated at the saw mill. Between 1918 and 1920, the company installed bathrooms in the homes, thus eliminating the need for outhouses. Three distinctly different sizes and styles of houses were rented out based on the importance of one’s job within the company. But houses were only one of the necessities provided by the company. Early in 1903, the entire town of Cass had the unpaved streets lined with wooden boardwalks. Residents purchased food, clothing, tools and building supplies at the company store where employees were allowed to buy on credit. At the end of a pay period, the purchases were deducted from the employee’s pay. Two hotels in Cass provided housing for employees without families and to transient travelers to the area. Long-term residences mostly for mill workers and train crews had their $1.00-$ 1.50 per day room and board deducted directly from the workers’ company paychecks. By 1920, the hotel boasted four indoor bathrooms. Later the company built its own telephone system and constructed a hospital and employed a company doctor; again, all fees were deducted from the workers’ paychecks. The mayor’s office and a four-cell brick walled jail were eventually constructed along with a reservoir on top of a nearby hill needed for fire-fighting, but water was mostly supplied by hand pumps from shallow wells. Fire was one of the greatest fears for these lumbermen because all around them was a plentiful supply of fuel which could be ignited by lightening, fuel leaks, or human carelessness. The Cass Company Store was the supermarket for these workers and their families. It sold dress and work clothes as well as shoes, loggers’ boots, groceries, furniture, dishes, household wares, coal, hay, books, toys, flowers, ice, ice cream, soda, fabrics, dog licenses, and jewelry. The Supply Company building which was 300 feet long by 60 feet wide held a post office, a pharmacy, an ice cream fountain, a short order restaurant, and the company payroll office where employees bought “on account” as most business was done on a charge basis. Bills were written on small billing pads which included a carbon copy, and customers were given one copy for their records. The bills of the employees were subtracted from the workers’ pay each payday while most other lumber and coal companies used script to pay their employees. These employees received money that was left from their account at the payroll office and since it was adjacent to the company store, they had the opportunity to spend that too before going home or back to the logging camp. Surprisingly, in contrast to stories of other company stores charging exorbitant prices, the Cass company store charged reasonable prices for their goods. The supply cars, owned by the company, would be taken to Whittier Station and other logging camps when the trains went up the mountain to get the logs for the saw mill. The company store was also the social center for most of the town’s residents. They would gather on the MRS. MARY URBANIC AND HER BOYS (L TO R) JOE, RUDY, AND ALBINE IN THEIR "SUNDAY BEST" ON BOHUNK HILL AT CASS. VLADEMIR MALECKAR COLLECTION, WEST VIRGINIA STATE ARCHIVES FRATERNITY - TESTVÉRISÉG 29
