The life of the mill workers

From September 5-7, 2023 the seventh grade class of Academy Charter school went to Kennecott, Alaska, to learn about what the mining operations were like there and the lives of the workers. 

While the mine was opened from 1911-1938, mill workers went there because pay was more than salaries found in the Lower- 48. Kennecott was able to attract men willing to live and work in this remote Alaskan mining camp primarily because of the higher pay. In the Lower 48, the pay was around 25 cents per day for a miner. In Kennecott, they paid up to three dollars per day and engineer could be paid up to five dollars, according to the St Elias mill guide Ben Paraska, and a website about prices and wages during this time period.

At the time, thirty-five percent  of the mill workers were foreigners and most were Scandinavian In the mill town.

The mill workers worked eight hour shifts and shared bunk beds. Room and board was deducted from their paycheck. Mill workers did not have breaks unless their shift was over, or they got an injury that was bad enough to go to the nurse. If a worker lost a finger, they were paid $150.  If they lost a thumb, they were paid $250. If they were blinded, they were paid $2,000. If a worker died, $1,000 was sent to their family, according to St. Elias mill guide, Ben Paraska. 

Jobs in the mill building included working on the shaker tables or bucket chasers that would dump the ore from the buckets into the crusher, and mechanics who would fix things.  Baggers bagged the ore or put it down the shoot to be put on the train. There was a lot of machinery that needed to be handled. The mill building could be worked by 27 people, a skeleton crew could operate by five. according to the St.Elias mill guide Ben Paraska.

Working conditions inside the mill building were very wet and loud. It could be heard five miles away. Mill workers reported that buckets came every 52 seconds. When it was raining or snowing, workers had to pound the bucket about three or four times because ore was stuck to the bottom. Then they took the bucket over and put it back on a cable and sent it out. Then they had to run back and catch another bucket. 

"Workers did this all day long," said George Sullivan, a former bucket chaser, according to the video "Bonanza" about Kennecott mine.