HARD JOBS

[cladking]

The hardest job I ever did was climb in a combustion chamber full of burning coal. The atmosphere was awful and it was terribly hot. It was a cylinder about 12' long and 5' high with a small port hole on the end to get in. The objective was to get in and shovel as much material out as you could before you either died or had to get back out. Of course you were dependent on men outside to clear the burning material away or you'd burn up when you went out and my co-workers were none too dependable. Most men could spend 4 to 6 minutes inside and get out about 100 lbs. I was only good for about two minutes but could get out about 250 lbs.

Fortunately it was not a regular job and I did it only once as an emergency.