Woodcutter's Revival (7 page)

Chapter Seven

R
aymond had been the foreman-in-training for a week. Mr. Thomas had cautioned him that the miners would be resentful, envious and possibly hostile toward a flatlander coming in and stepping right into a leadership role. He had warned, “They might feel as if they have put more time in and deserved to be considered for a leadership position.”

Raymond was a little surprised how well the miners accepted him in his role. Possibly, Mr. Thomas put more weight into the leadership position than did the miners, or maybe, he was not as attuned to their thoughts as he imagined. Maybe Raymond was just a likable guy. Maybe the miners put a lot of weight into the fact that Raymond acted with a calm and cool head in the cave-in.

In reality, were these men potentially placing their health, safety and very lives into the hands of anybody who was a leader, either designated by the ownership or not? It could have been that the miners perceived that nobody, regardless of title was a boss in Mr. Thomas' organization except Mr. Thomas.

Mr. Thomas instructed Raymond to work along-side the other miners for a while. His first supervisory task was to verify the working time of the miners and watch to make sure they were meeting quotas. Raymond, in his naïveté, thought any progress into those rocky caverns was tremendous. The miners knew how much conditions could vary between solid rock that had formed into one huge mass and the veins which were loosely packed rubble between two mammoth shelves. The silver was more difficult to break out of the solid rock and more likely to be found in the looser rubble. They had to break and blast through the solid masses to get to the veins.

The miners knew what Raymond was assigned to do. He was surprised how much they began to discuss working conditions and compensation with him. He actually began to feel as if he could make a difference. He could be a voice to Mr. Thomas so their concerns could be heard by ownership.

The miners had seen others come and go while attempting to “grow” into leadership roles. They knew Raymond would be asked to repeat everything he heard them mention. The miners were aware that the quickest way to express their concerns to Mr. Thomas was to allow Raymond to overhear them. They realized Raymond would repeat their concerns, but were unaware of his sincere motives for doing so.

They also knew how to “snow” the inexperienced foreman by loading some extra rubble into the carts before they passed by his scrutiny. They were not dishonest. They believed in giving a full day's work for a full day's pay. They also knew how to survive with an unreasonable boss who might measure the wrong criteria for progress, assign capricious and arbitrary standards, and would not listen to reason.

They knew Mr. Thomas was more inclined to measure performance in terms of demonstrating honor toward him than actual rocks moved or silver extracted. He also tended to try to find underlings who would show him outward signs of honor and who would expect the same in return from the other miners.

Although Raymond only knew Mr. Peters for a short period of time, he was aware he had some huge shoes to fill. Raymond often, in filling the time of tedium and boredom with some mental stimulation, compared himself to Mr. Peters. He knew Mr. Peters was one-of-a-kind, because he truly cared for the well being of the men and their families. Although Mr. Peters never attempted to offer opposition in the form of confrontation or public debate, Mr. Thomas was careful to avoid any open verbal encounters with Mr. Peters.

The miners had trusted Mr. Peters, as they knew he was genuine. Possibly, if he had attempted to resist Mr. Thomas' bull-headed ways in front of the miners, they would have suspected that he was posturing his resistance to gain their respect and trust. He would also have not lasted long if he attempted to make a habit of confronting Mr. Thomas in public. The miners missed Mr. Peters. Although Mr. Thomas would never admit it, his organization was better off with Mr. Peters than without him. Mr. Peters did not have to demand work from the miners. He knew how to encourage them even with the paltry amount they earned in actual pay or benefits.

With the sudden departure of Mr. Peters, Mr. Thomas seized on the chance to use the incident to accomplish some major organizational changes. With the appointment of Raymond, he had some duplicity of purpose. He felt as if he had an ace up his sleeve with a new leader, as he could introduce the “new method,” train the new foreman and make the miners more dependent upon the foreman to succeed. As the mines were becoming less and less productive and new methods of mining were becoming common practice, this would be the time to shake the miners' comfort zone and allow the new leader to make a major contribution in the new system.

Mr. Thomas asked Raymond to come over for dinner on Sunday. They would take some time after dinner to discuss Raymond's progress and help with a further course of action. There was no way he would use company time or sacrifice his own evenings to have a management meeting with Raymond.

Raymond thought they would be meeting in the dining room at the inn. He was pleasantly surprised when he learned they would be dining in the Thomas home. Surely, Victoria would be home on a Sunday afternoon, not that the thought of her concerned him in any way.

“Come in Raymond. Father, I mean Mr. Thomas is in the living room.”

When Raymond arrived, Mr. Thomas was sitting in the living room, comfortably in his huge leather winged-back chair, reading and smoking his pipe. The fireplace was burning, giving the smell of mountain aspen.

Victoria was wearing a lace apron over her usual elegant attire. She looked slightly out of place in her domestic role. It might have been that Raymond usually saw women wearing more casual clothing to do work around the house. It could have been that Raymond had only seen her as a tough, clear-headed business woman – her father's prodigy. He could not say he minded the unexpected and pleasant change. The coziness and aromas of the pipe tobacco, the wood burning and the smell of baked ham and sweet potatoes almost lulled Raymond into a trance.

Although Raymond was beginning to feel a little familiar around the Thomases he could not yet say he felt comfortable. He could not decide if the discomfort was from Mr. Thomas' seemingly cold demeanor, or his feelings he knew he could not hide from Victoria. He was happy to admit to himself, that it was a combination of both perceptions.

“Hello, Raymond,” said Mr. Thomas, without getting up or offering his hand to shake. “How has your first week gone?”

“Father, business talk can wait until after dinner.”

“Dinner sure smells good, Miss Victoria.” Raymond added to break the tension.

“Raymond, you can call me Victoria.”

Raymond attempted to make some small talk, without much assistance from Mr. Thomas, while they waited for dinner. He could not think of much to say and wished he could be helping in the kitchen, not that he enjoyed kitchen work. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, which could have been due to the hunger, the aromas or the tension, Victoria announced, “Dinner is served.”

Raymond could not remember how long it had been since he had an honest-to-goodness home cooked meal. Oh, the inn was good, but cooking in the volume which they had to serve each day did something to the food. Trying to keep the food warm for serving in shifts had also limited the appeal of the food. This meal was cooling on the table directly from the oven. Victoria had done justice to the fixings. After dinner she served an apple pie from the apples that had recently come by rail. “If this was my last meal, I would die a happy man!”

“Oh, thank you, Raymond, I enjoyed fixing it.”

With the taste of the meal, the smell of coffee and hearing her pronounce, “Raymond,” he found himself in another trance. The trance was interrupted abruptly by Mr. Thomas, “Now, Raymond, if Miss Victoria will permit, we can discuss business over coffee.”

“The miners are accepting me better than I thought they would.”

“That is good. For now, I want you to proceed as you are, accepting more responsibility as you progress. Pretty soon we will have you supervising and you won't have to do the actual work.”

“You will still want me to do mining work won't you?”

“Not really. You will need to gradually isolate yourself from them. They will take you for granted if you remain one of the boys. If they have a problem with that you can always threaten their jobs. That will have some punch when they believe you will do it.”

Raymond admitted to himself he did not know much about leading people, but this way seemed contrary to what he believed. This arrangement had the potential to make him more dependent upon Mr. Thomas than when he was as a miner – the fact that he lacked knowledge and experience. He knew, initially any way, that he could not make decisions without first consulting Mr. Thomas.

Mr. Thomas continued, “There is one other idea I have that will work to our advantage. Have you ever heard of an air hammer or drill?”

“I think I have heard of them, but I do not have a clue how it works.”

“That is fine. I will send you to Wellspring to train you on it.” You'll then know how to make their work go quicker and be more productive. They'll depend on your leadership. Knowledge is power.”

Mr. Thomas elaborated, “Conventional mining is slow and can only produce so much silver, even when the rocks are prime. We are going to upgrade to a steam-powered air hammer. I want you to leave for Wellspring right after Thanksgiving. Victoria will make the arrangements. Go to The Mercantile and pick out a couple of blue work shirts and new dungarees. You will be representing Thomas Mines and we don't want you looking shabby.

“Finally, I want you to do one more thing, Raymond. Up until you go to Wellspring and after you return, I want you to keep your ears open. Let me know who is grumbling and what they are grumbling about, so we can deal with it.”

“Oh, I know one thing they would like. The biggest concern I have heard is they would like more money for their work. I was thinking of a bonus plan in which they could be rewarded for increased production.”

“I understand your concerns and I know you have some ideas, but you leave the management to me.” Mr. Thomas responded in a serious tone. “I particularly want you to watch for and listen especially of any talk about unions or organizing the workers. Down below, they have the luxury of being able to call out the militia or federal troops. They can claim the mining of coal is of national security and can get assistance in forcing the miners back to work. They can even use soldiers to mine the coal, and that is only after a work stoppage. The owners do not even have to pay for security.

“Up here, we have to call on the Pinkertons. They can ‘encourage' workers not to organize and actually have more methods to persuade than the use of troops, since they are not really subject to the law of the land. But they are expensive.

Raymond suddenly felt as if he was being asked to be the classroom tattle tale. Any other ideas or innovations he might have entertained seemed suddenly less significant. So much for idealism or imagining one could actually make a difference through effective leadership. He resolved then and there, whenever he would talk to Mr. Thomas; he would mostly listen and be very reluctant to offer opinion.

“There is one more thing Victoria will discuss with you. I will take a walk and be back in a while.”

As Mr. Thomas put his coat and hat on and left the room, Victoria began a conversation. “As you know, Christmas is coming in two months. It is a tradition for the employees to present Father with a gift at the annual Christmas dinner. Mr. Peters was always in charge of the gift in the past. Now you will be responsible to organize the collection, so you might start reminding the miners and getting their ideas as to what they would like to give.”

Raymond, attempting to conceal his reaction to the incredulity of the situation, said, “I will get right on that tomorrow. What in the world could your dad want or need?”