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Oral History Interview with Will McShane, 1968 January 5, 1968 July 12, 2006

 Item
Identifier: BHS-SCA-019

Dates

  • 1968 January 5
  • 1968 July 12
  • Digitization: 2006

Digital Repository

Oral History Interview with Will McShane

Conditions Governing Access

Copyright to this resource is held by Bessemer Historical Society and is provided here for educational purposes only.It may not be downloaded, reproduced, or distributed in any format without written permission of the Bessemer Historical Society. http://http://www.cfisteel.org/index.php?pr=Archives_Copyright

Biographical / Historical

Will McShane was a coal miner for the CF&I Steel Corporation. Born Dec. 18, 1888. Father came from Ireland to Pennsylvania. At 11, he was workilng in mines in Kansas digging coal at $2.25 a day, .65 cents per ton. Went back to Williamsburg, Colorado. Father, brother and Will took over Emerald Mine. Operated it alone, shoveled coal into wagon pulled by team of horses. At 14, began driving 4 horse team hauling slag from Williamsburg to Florence. Worked for Richards and Smith, who sold their mine to Osgood. At that time, they shot (dynamite?) anytime they wanted. rooms were full of smoke. Mines were gaseous. Worked during the 1903 strike. After the strike , went to work at Rockvale. The 1913 strike at Florence was a war. Went to work at Empire Zinc mine. Rock Mountain Company offered a job at a monthly wage and stayed there until WWI started. Went to Floresta in June 1916 and stayed for 18 months. Worked at Crested Butte for 8 years as foreman. Anthracite Coal Co. wanted superintendent (Smith Hill?). Worked in Florence for 17 years until 1931. At one time he learned Italian from neighborhood boys. As foreman he had 36 Italians and 3 Welshmen and spoke in Italian. There was prejudice against the Italians at Florence. McShane took the ICS (correspondence) to become fire boss, assitant mine foreman, and mine examiner. In 1913 he was the night boss at Fremont Mine. Describes mine fire. Two men who had been asking for a job for 3 months began work the day the fire started. fire was burning timbers and mine started caving-in on McShane and partner-they were trapped.

Extent

1 Items ; 32.09 minutes

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Cassette Tapes: Nakamichi Dragon, Nakamichi cassette Deck 1 Reel-to Reel Tapes: Studer A80, Studer B67, Otari MX-55, Revox A700 DVD: Pioneer DV-434. Analog/Digital converter: Prism Sound Dream ADA-8XR; Prism Sound Dream AD-2; Computer Hardware: 3 (total) Intel Celeron 1.8GHz/224 MB RAM PC's (made by PowerSpec), each with a Firewire hard drive (2 made by MicroNet, 1 made by LaCie) and M-Audio Delta Audiophile (internal sound card). External Firewire Hard Drive; Computer Software: Windows XP; Steinberg Wavelength 4.0; Sony Soundforge; Other devices: Switcher to allow monitoring of multiple transfers; Basic Map: Playback machine->Analog RCA or XLR->AD converter->AES (XLR)->M-Audio Card->Software->External Firewire Drive

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

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