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Sec. 562, P. L. &; R.U. S. POSTAGE

PaidButte, Mont.

Permit No. 139

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A THIRD A~my-Navy "Eu star has been awarded the Reduction Worksof the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and their Union representa-tives at Anaconda and Great Falls. This is equivalent. to winning fourtimes the coveted honor which sym bolizes excellence in production of,war material.

The-HE" pennant is not a permanent award. To retain it, employeesmust continue the high grade of work that won the original award. Thepennant is given to war plants that are outstanding in delivering fightingequipment for our Armed Forces. The original award is for six months.At the end of the period, the record of the workers is reviewed by theArmy and Navy, and if the high standard of production has been main-tained the award is renewed. :rhis renewal carries with it the privilegeof adding a star to the flag.

Announcement of this new honor for the Reduction Works at Ana-conda and Great Falls was made by Robert P. Patterson, Under Secretaryof War, Washington, in a recent letter, in which he said:

"I am pleased to inform you that you have won for the fourth timethe Army-Navy Production Award for outstanding achievement in pro-ducing materials essential to the war effort.

"By maintaining the distinguished record which previously broughtyou distinction, you are once again proving your leadership on the pro-Cluctiolt' front.

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"This third White Star added to your Army-Navy Production AwardFlag carries with it the thanks and congratulations of our Armed Forces."

This additional honor conferred on labor and management at Ana-conda and Great Falls indicates their determination to supply our Fight-ing Forces with the materials needed to bring the war to a successfulconclusion.

ANACONDAand

GREAT FALLS•

DO IT AGAIN

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ROBERT P. PATTERSON

,A view of the community victory garden at Bonner, wh ere the Lumber Department is located.

ICOPPER COMMANDO is the official newspaperof the Victory Labor-Management Production •Committees of the Anaconda Copper MiningCompany and its Union Representatives at Butte,Anaconda. Creat Falls and East Helena. Montana.It is issued every two weeks ••• COPPER COM-MANDO is headed by 3 joint committee fromLabor and Management, its policies are shaped byboth sides and are dictated by neither ••• COP-PER COMMANDO was established at the rec-ommendation of the War Department with theconcurrence of the War Production Board. Itseditors are Bob Newcomb and Marg Sammons;its safety editor is John L. Boardman; its chiefphotographer is AI Cusdorf; its staff photographeris Les Bishop ••• Its Editorial Board consists of:Denis McCarthy, CIO; John F. Bird, AFL; EdRenouard. ACM, from Butte; Dan Byrne, CIO;Joe Marick, AFL; C. A. Lemmon, ACM. fromAnaconda; Jack Clark. CIO; Herb Donaldson,AFL, and E. S. Bardwell. ACM. from Creat Falls •••• COPPER COMMANDO is mailed to the homeof every employee of ACM in tlte four locations-if you are not receiving your copy, advise- CO~-PER COMMANDO at 112 Hamilton Street,Butte, or better still, drop in and tell us. This ;.Vol. 3, No.4.

TEAMWORK. N EVERY MOVE -------~--------------------------------------------------------------------------~A great many folks in Butte. Anaconda and Great Falls have asked us about the tele-phone operators. They wanted to know who they are and what they look like. Eventhe telephone operators in Great Falls asked about the Butte and Anaconda glrls andvice versa, since they know them only by their voice. So in this issue on pages 4, 5 and10 we ~ant to introduce you to the girls with a smile in their voices.

BONNE R -- ----------.-------------------.-.---.-._-6.

In previous issues of Copper Commando we have shown the big trees at Woodworth ..Montana. and the various steps necessary to move them from their native environmentto the mill at Bonner. Montana. In the last issue we introduced you to the communityof Bonner and now we want to show how the logs from the woods are handled afterthey arrive at the mill. This is the second part of a series of stories on the mill.

,PEOPLES 6- PLAC ES . : : --------------:-------------------------.---9.Aubrey "Pop" Stevens, residential watchman at the Pennsylvania Mine, has done theunusual. He grows flowers-and prize winning flowers at that-on an old mine dump,He has other hobbies, too, such as collecting mushrooms in the. mine tunnels. lnone day he collected sixty-four pounds of mushrooms with which to decorate a steak,

SUCC EST. ONS . : --------------------.-._.12

Cash awards are made for suggestions accepted by the Victory Labor-ManagementProduction Committee at Butte. Study the back page of this issue to see what type ofsuggestions are acceptable and then win a cash prize for yourself. This is another wayby which you can help win the war.

~ HE girls in the telephone office at Anacondaare like the Canadian Mounties. They get theirman. They'll tell you that if they are asked to lo-cate a man, they don't quit until they find him.Sometimes they have to make as many as twenty-five calls to locate him, but he is tracked downand his call is reported to him. That's teamwork,for a telephone call can be most important whenUncle Sam says nothing must stop production ofthe Anaconda metals. It's with speed and preci-sion that the girls go about making the connec-tions.

The switchboard at Anaconda is a smallboard, for the dial system for inter-departrnent :calls was installed six years ago. That means thatno local calls go through the board--only long

distance and Butte calls. There is a direct linebetween the smelter at Anaconda and the minesat Butte, so no tim{!will be lost in making connec- •tions. The switchboard operators will tell youa direct line is most essential for there is a steadyrun of calls between the mines and the smelter.In addition to the steady run of Butte calls, twen-ty-five or more long distance calls come in eachday at the smelter, so the girls are kept busy.

There's twenty-four hour service at thesmelter. the same as in Butte and Great Falls, Thegirls have a forty-hour week, working five daysand eight hours each day. Four of the girls. MyrtleReilly, Ann Devich, Agnes Toole and Lucey Sid-ney change shifts. Lucey Sidney and Ann Devichposed for the bottom shot but we missed gettinga picture of Agnes Toole. She was working the

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wrong shift. Then there's a relief girl, Anna MaeNovis, shown in the above picture. Wibaux Hal-liday has been chief operator for the last thirteenyears. That's Wibaux with Myrtle Reilly -in theupper left picture. She's been on the job fortwenty-three years and knows just about everyemployee at the smelter by his first name. Beforethe war and the many changes in personnel, shesays she knew them all. Wibaux says all of t~,egirls come out on the street cars with the shiftgangs and in that way they get to know them allat some time or other.

We wanted you folks to know these girls atAnaconda, as well as the telephone operators atButte and Great Falls. for so many folks havewondered who they are-the girls with a smilein their voice.

TEAltlWORKIN

EVERY MOVE

*Every move of a nation at war calfs forspeed, precision and feamwork. No beHerexample can be found of speed, precisionand teamwork than in the telephone of-fices. They are vital to war industriesfor they are a constant source of contactat a moment's notice for the many op-erating departments. If a man at theReduction Plant at Anaconda is needed.the girls in the telephone office find him.

Busy Lines.*

Busy lines are responsible for the "Line'sBusy" you hear. from the Butte A. C. M.

- telephone operators. Whether you hear"Line's Busy" or not you can count on itthat the lines are busy, for all the thous-ands of local calls from all over the ButteHill come through the switchboard at the

..s telephone office.

*Two hundred eighty lines on the boardto the offices and mines of Butte, sixteentrunk lines connecting with the Bell sys-tem and three direct lines to Anacondaare handled through the three positionboard in. the A. C. M. Butte telephoneoffice. Thousands of local calls to saynothing of thirty or forty long distanceoutgoing calls a day and plenty of incom-ing long distance calls, which usually takemore time, keep the operators constantlyplugging in.

The girls in the telephone office'work forty hours a week and it has takena lot of planning to work out a timeschedu Ie for them so that the good serv-ice they give can be the same for twenty-four hours a day. It is necessary to havethree girls on the board from 9 A. M. ,to5 P. M., for that's when the board is thebusiest. In order to avoid commotion andthus interruption of service, the workinghours are staggered. For the day shift,one girl starts at 7 :30 and works until3 :30 P. M., another starts at 8 A. M. andquits at 4 P. M., while the third startsat 9 A. M. and is off at 5 P. M. After 5P. M., two girls work until 11 :30 P. M.,and from 11 :30 P. M. to 7 :30 A. M. onegirl handles the board.

The telephone girls not only givegood telephone service, but give goodpersonal service as well. Calls come indaily as -to what time it is; what's theweather forecast: what's the altitude ofButte; who won the football game; whattime does a 'certain train leave and howcan I get in touch with Joe Blow whoworked at the Mt. Con six months ago.Apparently everyone thinks ~ telephoneoperator is a walking encyclopedia butregardless of the request, these girls. ifthey don't have the answer at the tipof their tongue, try to get it, and are al-ways cheerful in answering.

Usually during the day you'll be talk- .....ing to Louise Mcl.eod, Mable Howes,Marie Chidester or Mary Dell Sullivan,chief operator, who pinch hits in anemergency. Florence Griffith is the dayrelief operator and as you can see in thepicture, Florence was working the day wecovered the story. Gertrude Laurandeau,Margaret McLeod and Katherine Leework the afternoon and night shift andIrene Radigan is the relief operator.Irene's liable to be on the job any oldtime. Helen Graham, who is in the Me-chanical Engineering Department" re-lieves in an emergency.

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Here's Louise McLeod, Florence Criffith and Mabel Howes at the switchboard in the Butte office.

Mary Dell Sullivan, chief operator, fills in a slip for time and charges for all long distance calls.

Certrude Laurandeau, Marie Chidester and Margaret Keane are the team usually working at 4 P. M.

Here come the logs from the woods around Woodworth. You saw the bulldozer making the roads; the'felling of the trees; the cats skidding them to a truck landing; the tt:ucks hauling them to railroad land-ing; the loading on the cars; the Shay engine hauling them to the main line and now here is Bonner.

lit js necessary to have the logs firmly fastened to the cars. So chains are used as you can see in the pic-ture above. On the other side of the car are the trip stakes. which when released drop down so that thelogs can roll off into the river. Any logs not rolling of of when the trip stakes are released are hauled off.

ifhe logs make a big splash when they land in the pond but soon float lazily along in the log pond. whichis a section of the river set off for the handling of the logs. The weter in the log pond is warmed in thewinter by exhaust steam. so as to prevent freesing. The logs must be kept moving toward tile bullchain.

\ ·Ont~ofthe Woods

In our last issue, we took you around thecommunity of Ronner. Now let's go tothe mill and see how the logs from thewoods are handled when they arrive atthe mill. This is' Pari II of a series ofarticles on Bonner.

*A N average yearly production of lum-ber from the Bonner mill runs about 100,-000,000 feet, which is some footage. Weall know that mines and smelter opera-tions require plenty of lumber, so Bonneris doing its great part in keeping copperproduction going. When you stop fur-ther to consider that it takes about 300feet of lumber to put a man in combatduty for Uncle Sam and it takes fifty ormore feet to keep him there, we can un-derstand how important the continuedproduction of timber is.

Down through the famous BlackfootValley come the logs each day fromWoodworth, Montana, where the loggerspile the railroad cars high with neededtimber.

A trainload-that means (rom twentyto thirty cars - comes down from theBlackfoot region on the Milwaukee andfrom the Bitter Root country on theNorthern Pacific railroads. The railroadcars are shunted onto the siding at themill and eased up beside the log pond.This log pond is a section of the regionset off for handling the logs. In the win-tertime, when there is a possibility offreezing, this body of water is warmedby exhaust steam. When the cars are inplace, the stakes on the side of each carare released-these are called trip stakes-and they drop down so that the logsroll off into the river. They land with amighty splash, and those logs which donot falloff the cars are hauled off by ajammer. The hook of the jammer getsthe logs started when they get stuck.

In the river, we find "river men."These men are experts with their pikepoles-a pike pole is a long pole with aspike and hook at one end and they areused to maneuver logs into the properposition. One by one, the logs are poledonto an inclined endless chain service,known as a bull chain. The bull chain isused to pull the logs up to the saws. Onthe chain are sharp teeth or spikes, called"dogs:' and once the log is pulled up tothe point where a "dog" can fasten intoa log, Jhe log is on its way.

The way the "river men'; climb around on thefloating logs is a sight to see. Here Carl Swartz

Water' is sprayed heavi Iy onto thelog as it ascends to the building abovewhere the sawing operation takes place.This washing removes gravel and gritwhich might injure the teeth of the saw.All waste, such as sawdust shavings. etc.,are disposed of in a huge burner-thewaste is moved in on a conveyor from themill and it is dropped off into the burner.

The huge circular 96-inch cut-offsaw operates on what is known as a logdeck and it cuts logs into various requiredlengths. The cut logs are thrown off onthe deck and then down onto a carriage.This operation is in charge of what isknown as a log scaler.

We are really glad we have picturesto show you of the "rigs" and carriageswhich are responsible for cutting the barkoff the logs and then sawing them downinto the required widths and thicknesses.The best way to describe it that we knowis that it is a long carriage which moveswith great swiftness back and forth onrails. A single operator called the settersits on the carriage and as a log is ready

is moving the logs in the pond down to the logslip. We took the picture at righ~ to give you a

to be dropped on the carriage, giant jawsclamp it firmly and the carriage swingsdown the tracks where a saw cuts through'the log. By means of levers, the sawyerflips the log over to square another side.He may square off one side of a log andthen the opposite side. or he may merelyturn it a quarter turn. This depends uponthe width and thickness of the lumber.The matter of determining the width is incharge of the sawyer- who sits in a smalldug-out opposite the carriage-it lookslike a dug-out at a baseball field. Thedouble cut band saw cuts the log justlike you would slice cold meat. The in-structions are given to the setter, as tothe thickness of the boards desired, bythe head sawyer, after the sawyer has ap-praised the log and decided how it is tobe cut. The sawyer controls the speed ofthe carriage and operates the "nigger"which throws the logs over so that theother side can be squared. The log is cutwhen the carriage moves back as well aswhen it moves forward, for the Bonnermills use a double cut saw. The tail saw-yer stands in the opposite end of the .dug-

general view of the river and the pond with themill to the left and the mountains all around.

out from the sawyer and it's up to himto-get the lumber started down the rollsproperly.

All of this probably sounds likemumbo-jumbo to anybody except a lum-ber man, but we think the pictures shownyou on page 8 will give you a really goodidea of how this amazing job is done.It is certainly a wonderful sight to see·these huge logs. tossed around like somany match sticks by these efficient ma-chines and to see how quickly these hugelogs are reduced to lumber.

• The lumber industry continues to beone of the most important in the wholewar, and the men at Bonner are making agreat contribution toward getting the warwon. Although the signs in Europe con-tinue to be pretty favorable, none of usmust forget that even after the Nazis arebrought to terms, we will have a viciousfoe in Japan to conquer. Every fighting

"man going to the Pacific area to bottlewith the Japs must be and will be, wellequipped. Lumber is an absolute essentialto modern warfare.

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Here Ben McMurray is using his pike pole jnmoving the logs at the mill pond up the bullchaio

OCTOBER 13. 1944 •

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to the logging deck, To the right you can see the"dogs" on the bullchain holding the log as it i.

hoisted up to the water spray which washes thegravel and grit off before it reaches the saw.

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He re , in the picture above at the left, we see ~he96-inch circular cut-off saw on the log deck cut-ting the log in various lengths. This saw is re-yersed in the box above it until the log is set in ..,'ace-the log has just been hauled up the incline

on the endless chain and put in the position forcutting. Now, in the picture at the right, we backaway a little bit from the same sawing operation

• so that you can see how the job is done. The manat the right, .known as the operator and log scaler,

is Clarence Haaglund. He works the levers at hisright, and when the log is ready to be cut, he low-ers the saw into the log. It whirls away at a ter-rific speed and cuts throu'gh the biggest logs in no. \time. .

That is what is known a; the east rig and that isJohn McCloskey at the levers-you can see himin t"'e picture at the left above. Note the logs onhis right in the background-these have just beencarried along from the big saw and are lined up

ready to drop, one by one, onto the carriage. Youcan see part of the front of the carriage at the left,and the band saw blade is at the right of this pic-ture. The picture at the right is a righthand viewof the east rig. John McCloskey is at the left back-

ground and Carl Johnson, the setter, is on the car-riage. Note that the partially cut log is on thecarriage ready to be moved down against'the bandsaw for another slice. The boards fall off on therollers and are carried along to the next opera~ion.

Here is.a front view of the carriage and east rig.We had a little trouble with the lighting on thispicture, but at the left of it you can see JoeHebart, the tail sawyer, while the setter is HenryClaus. In the picture at the right we see what is.8.

known as the log deck of the west rig. You canhardly see his face but behind one of the smallerlogs just to the left of the center of the picture isJohn McKay, sawyer. Ceorge lehman. the setter,is on the carriage. If you look closely, you can see

that the first slab has been taken off the log andis riding along on the rollers out of sight. Notethe "dogs" on the carriage-these are the gadget.which clamp firmly to the log and hold it inplace.

OCTOBER 13, 1944

I F you "ve talked recently with a fight-ing man from the Pacific, you can easilysense h,is anger and disappointment thatwe seem to figure the war is about ove~.As this is written, the picture in- Europelooks quite 'rosy, and even the expertsare figuring that the collapse of Cer-many is not too many months away.

But, ever since we got into thisscrape, we have been engaged not in one~ar but two wars. Our military leaderslong ago decided that, rather than to tryto knock out the Na.zis and the Japs atthe same time, it would be better to takecare of the Nazis first and then wind upthe Japs. Whether .you agree or not withthis strategy, the fact remains that sofar it seems to have worked out.

B"t our fighting men in the Pacifictheatre of war have suffered from thebeginning from lack of supplies. Theyhaven't seen many of the great bombersand the vast supplies of ammunition.They have been kept alive by their ownfighting courage and by the certainknowledge that sooner or later the pro-ductive effort of the United N:ationswould come to help them out.

When Cermany falls, we will havefinished only one chapter of a two-chapterbook. There will be, probably, adjust-ments in Qur industrial system that maymake it appear that everything is in thebag. •

But the fighting men, who have,seen the Japs and have taken their meas-ure in combat, will tell you that the Japswill never give in until they are smashed.The average American fighting man,while he may hate the Jap, still has awholesome respect for his fighting abili-ty. We are going up against the mostruthless foe of them all. and the warwon't be over until we've done it.

We talk a lot about peace and thethings that are going to be done after thewar is over. But the war isn't over. Weface, according to the best evidence, atleast a year and probably two years offighting with the Japanese.

The United Nations lost such hold-ings as the Philippines, Singapore, HongKong and many others too painful to re-call. The Japanese knew, when they tookthese places. that there was a chance wemight some day try to get them back.They <have built defenses far superior toours. If we want to get these importantpositions. we have to go in and slug itout.

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F LOWERS growing on a mine dump!When we heard that, we said: "Seeing isbelieving." We figured you might notbelieve it either, so we got the pictureshown below to prove it. That's, Aubrey"Pop" Stevens and his wife. May, amongthe flowers and they are the ones respon-sible for changing a mine dump to a beau-tiful garden at the old Pennsylvania Mine.

Pop Stevens has been residentialwatchman at the closed PennsylvaniaMine for the I~st thirteen years. He start-ed mining in 1897 at the East Colusa andthe Leonard and in 1898 went into theEngineering Department. Since that time.,Pop has been shift boss and Safety-Firstengineer and has worked at-just about allthe mines around Butte at one time oranother. He was mighty pleased whenhe got the chance to be residential watch-man for it meant that he'd have more timeto devote to his hobbies-and Pop 'hashobbies and that's for sure.

Flowers have always been one of hishobbies. Soon after Pop and May movedto their new home. which was made bymaking a few changes in the old Pennsyl-vania office building, Pop began to won-der if he couldn't beautify his front yardwhich actually was the PennsylvaniaMine dump. The thought came to himthat maybe flowers would grow 'if hehauled some dirt in. He talked it overwith May and she agreed that it wasworth the try. The picture is proof ofthei r success.

Pop's flower garden is a sight to see.He has twenty-eight annuals and twelveperennials and for years has brought homeprizes from the Garden Club shows.Dahlias the size of a .plate are not un-usual in his garden .. He gets a head starton a lot of the folks around town though,for he built a lean-to hot house and plantshis seeds early and then transplants the

plants in early June.

The flower garden at the Pennsyl-vania is a familiar sight to many aroundButte, for it's at the Pennsylvania thatthe instruction classes have been held.Over twenty-five hundred students havehad their instruction in mining in the oldcarpenter shop right across the road fromPop's house. Although the Pennsylvaniahas been closed for several years and itis worked .from the Belmont Mine, theunderground' ai r from the Raris and Bel-mont is brought to the surface throughthe shaft of the Pennsylvania. There's ahuge motor which pumps the stale airthrough the stack, so the Pennsylvania'shaft is put to good use for ventilationpurposes.

Another of Pop's hobbies is collect-ing mushrooms in the mine tunnels. Heknows the right ones to decorate a steakwith too. He says there are six varietiesaround Butte. One variety, called thepuff ball, gets enormous in size. Onetime Pop gathered eight of them and thetotal weight of the eight was sixty-fourpounds, The largest one of the bunchtipped the scales-at twenty-three pounds.That mushroom. like his flower gardenon a mine dump. made news, andrplcturesof it were used all over the country inpubl ications such as "Life:' .

It's worth your time to go throughthe gate and up the hill to the Pennsyl-vania for all at. once there's a picture youwon't forget-and that's Pop Steven'sflower garden. Too, you'll enjoy Mayand Pop and their two sons, Bud, an elec-trician. and Fred. who works at the Leon-ard. Pop will tell you about a lot more ofhis hobbies and May will show you someof the most delicious canned fruit youever saw. You'll be well received andlikely as not you'll leave with a gorgeousbouquet of flowers. Pop and May Stevensare that kind of folks.

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VOICE- ~~· ·WITH SMILE

*The girls .working th~ switchboard atCreat Falls handle around two thousand;inter-plant and thirty or more long dis-tance calls each day shift worked. Allinter-plant calls are made through theswitchboard and twenty-four hour serviceis given. The telephone girls are probablythe best known of any employees. Every-one at the Plant knows them by voice ifnot in person, and everyone says ·'Swelljob."

*THREE shifts are worked by the tele-phone operators in Great Falls. Usually onthe 7:10 A. M. to 3:10 P. M. shift you'Ilhear the voice of Eleanor Chamberlainshown in the top picture. Eleanor hasbeen on the job for twenty years. At twothousand or more calls a day, figure outhow many times she "plugs in" duringthe month and then during the year. Shehandles the calls with lightening speedand doesn't seem to ever be nervous ordisturbed regardless of how fast the callscome in. That's true of all of the girls.Eleanor's son, Carl, who formerly workedin the Pipe Shop, is now with the ArmedForces in England.

In addition to the 7: lOA. M. to3.:lOP. M. shift, there's a 3: lOP. M.to 11 :10 P. M. shift and an 11 :10 P. M.to 7: lOA. M. shift. Four girls, EleanorChamberlain, Kathryn Tallon, Viola Wardand Mary Ann Sieben alternate workingthe three eight hour shifts for five days aweek. There's a "relief" girl, Joyce War-zeka, who works the extra shift eachweek.

That's the "relief" gal, Joyce, in thecenter picture with Mary Ann Sieben.Joyce worked as a full time operator untilshe was married six years ago. For thelast two years, she has worked one daya week and has also relieved during sum-mer vacations. Mary Ann Sieben, shownat the board, has been on the board for al-most nine years and knows most of thefolks around the Plant by their first name.Mary Ann has a son who is a Marineflyer for Uncle Sam.

The bottom picture shows ViolaWard at the board and Kathryn Tallonstanding. Viola has an eleven year recordand Kathryn has been on +he job for tenyears. Viola has two sons-Carol is in 'the Butte Engirreering Office and Jack isa painter at the Great Falls Plant.

The girls say they like their workand their records back up their state-ments. And the folks at Great Falls likethem and the efficient manner withwhich they handle the many calls.

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OCTOBER 13. 1944

Linemen from .. ~i"'nal company reeling out wirein the jungle ne ... _.1 important lap ai'rport.

Here a soldier from Texas operates an Italianswitchboard picked up in combat in Italy.~ .. "

Laying out wire in the water prior to setting upcommunication between shore and ships.

~~~~ ,~ ~Copper telephone wire is shown being strung on

, a combat island in the South Pacific.

'WhyWire

*A..LTHOUGH radio is widely used' du~-ing military operations. wire remains thebasic medium of combat communica-tions.

In reports from commanders of Sig-nal Corps field units, the ability of wire-laying unifs to 'maintain communicationsat a pace which matches that of the ad:'vancing Infantry, is emphasized, The se-curity and accuracy with which a largevolume of traffic was carried throughwire communications lines in the Siciliancampaign also are cited by the War De-partment.

"During the battle for San Fratello,"according to one such report. "it wasfound necessary to lay a five-mile line ofwire over a rocky, trackless mountainsidewhere a man could move only by the fre-quent use of his hands. and for fifteenmiles where wire could be transportedonly by pack animals and laid only byhand.

"In another instance, on a march ofthe Infantry from San Marco to Mirto toNaso, a twenty-mile line was laidentirelyby hand. In another, two lines were laidfor fifteen miles completely clear of thetrails used by the men and pack animals.This line was laid at the rate of advanceof the pack train carrying the wire. Onesix-mile line from the coast road to SanMarco required 24 hours to put in opera-tion because the winding. narrow moun-tain road on which it was laid was underconstant shell-fire."

Another report explained that "Thewire in the landing operation was broughtashore and laid from quarter-ton trucks.

- Additional wire was brought ashore andtransported inland in two-wheeled quar-ter-ton trailers, six miles of wire beingcarried with each of the teams landed.Wire to all regiments was put in operationas soon as physical contact with the regi-ments was established."

An Infantry commander added hiscommendation to the work of the SignalCorps in Sicily:

"During the ooeration, wire commu-nication was desirable down to rifle com-panies and battalion observation posts.The terrain was very mountainous, andthe highways impassable to vehicles, dueto blown bridges and anti-tank mines.Thus it was necessary for the battalioncommunications platoons to carry theirwire and equipment by hand, ... Linesfrequently were broken by artillery andmortar fire. by animals. vehicles and, in afew instances, by enemy patrols."

It is estimated that communicationsunits in Sicily rehabilitated 950 pole linemiles. a total of 49,176 wire miles, and24.588 circuit miles of communications.In addition, more than 1,800 miles ofspiral cable was laid

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In the South Pacific, a Signal Corpsman checksthe terminating board for a switchboard.

A corporal in the Pacific, using copper telephonewire, directs the 60 MM mortar fire.

Loading copper cable on Higgins boats to keepopen communications in the Southwest Pacific.

Signal Corps lineman makes a switch installationin Italy. Note how instrument is camouflaged.

•(;ASDFOBYOURIDEAS!

•SUGGESTION NO.7

Change the chuck wrench so it will pull out nailsthat are driven into posts and lagging.

Signed: H. S. BurgessMine: Lexington

SUGG'ESTION NO. 131A hose hanger on a mucking machine is a hosesaver, but often lost because of no place to hangit while changing cars or cJrifts. A track wrenchis small and very easily lost. These two articlescould ~e attached to a mucking machine withoutretarding or impeding action of a machine.The following sketches will attempt to show amore convenient place by an easy addition of twopieces of scrap iron. by welding same uponmucker.

Signed: AI GiecekMine: Tramway

SUGGESTION NO. 154Because of the damage and loss of locks on under~ground powder magazines, I am sub~itting thefollowing sketch of a hasp, with the locking de-vice consisting of a five sided bolt~ with the fivesided key made from three quarter inch pipe.

• One of these hasps has been in service at the Mt.Con for the past four weeks.

Signed: Max RamseyMine: Mt. Con

SUGGESTION NO. 169Because habituat'smokers take a cigarette with~out thinking I think smoking on surface sheetswould be called to their attention by having awide white line painted on the oiled surfaceacross the path leading from the change house in~to under the gallows frame, and "No Smoking'·plainly visible in large capital letters.

Signed: James SheaMine: Mt. Con

SUGGESTION NO. 178I would like to make a suggestion that wouldenable the men to save many monkey wrenches.Send the wrenches to the machine shop and havea hole drilled in the handle near the end. The mencould hang the wrenches on a spike and theywould not be lost.

Signed: C. J. FifieldMine: TramwayAddress: 3005 Amherst

SUGGESTION NO. 326Cable guard for A. A. F. 211-Sullivan doubledrum hoist to keep cable from jumping off drum.

Signed: Ray HenriksenMine: TramwayAddress: 2043 Hazel St.

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WHEN the Victory LabOr~Management Production Committee were formed atthe four Montana locations of the Anaconda Company, Suggestion Sub-Committeeswere formed at eaoh place •.. Out of these u nits have come a variety of helpful sugges-tions, ~es~gned to aid production and ther eby bring the Axis more quickly to itsknees.

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But what kind of suggestions are wanted? How should they be presented?What is done with them when they are submitted? These may very easily be ques-tions that you, readers of our Labor-Manag~ment Committee newspaper, are asking ..

So here we have picked, from the files of the Suggestion Sub-Committee atButte, six ·suggestions. We show how they were submitted, by whom, and the loca-tion of the employee. In the second col umn we show a sketch of the suggestion,and in the third column, we show the assignment report-in other words, we showwhat happened to the suggestion.

In Butte, suggestion boxes are located at various working places so that workersmay submit their ideas. Cash awards are made for every idea accepted and a furtheraward is made if, after a reasonable period of time, it is shown that the suggestionhas greater value •

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ASSIGNMENT REPORT-SUCCESTION 7A wrench will be made up for trial, and will betested at the various Mines.

Dept.: Engineering Research

ASSIGNMENT REPORT-SUGGESTION 131The suggestion of Mr. AI Giecek will be tried onone of our Mechanical Loaders. If proven satisfac-tory, it will be adopted as standard on all Me-chanical Loaders.

Dept.: Engineering Research

ASSIGNMENT REPORT-SUGGESTION 154The hasp and locking device as submitted by MaxRamsey is similar to one used some years ago inthe Nettie Mine.This is a good suggestion and a lock will be madefor trial.

Dept.: Engineering Research

ASSIGNMENT REPORT-SUGGESTION 169On the east side of the Head Frame facing thechan~e ho~se there is a .sign 15 feet above theground, 2 feet by 3 feet that reads, "No SmokingWithin 30 feet of the Shaft Platform." Newsafety rules will include this suggestion and it willbe enforced not only on surface but on all under-ground stations.

Foreman, Mt. Con Mine

ASSIGNMENT REPORT-SUGCESTION 178The suggestion as submitted by Mr. Fifield of theTramway Mine has some merit but due to the sizeof the nail head it would require a 3,4" diameterhole in the hand!e of the wrench.

Dept.: Engineering Research

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ASSIGNMENT REPORT-SUGGESTION 326The suggestion of Mr. Henriksen, Machinist atthe Tramway Mine, is being tried out at theTramway Mine.Detail drawings are being made of the CableGuard. and will be submitted to the OperatingDepartment with the recommendations that theGuard be made standard for all Sullivan AirHoists.

Dept.: Engineering Research