{"id":1768,"date":"2015-09-07T20:54:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T20:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/?p=1768"},"modified":"2018-09-03T15:23:40","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T15:23:40","slug":"on-labor-day-remembering-those-who-died-while-building-the-conowingo-dam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/on-labor-day-remembering-those-who-died-while-building-the-conowingo-dam\/","title":{"rendered":"On Labor Day: Remembering Those Who Died While Building the Conowingo Dam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Workers<\/a>
Workers at the Conowingo Dam in the late 1920s.
source: Conowingo Visitor’s Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On this Labor Day, a holiday that honors American Workers and remembers the struggle to acquire better employment conditions, it\u2019s a good time to share some research I have been doing on men who paid a high price erecting the Conowingo Dam.\u00a0 An untold number were killed, injured or disabled while toiling away at the dangerous construction job in the late 1920s.<\/p>\n

Some 5,000 people flocked to the rural area, seeking to earn a living wage as the construction got underway.\u00a0 About 3,500 personnel erected the hydroelectric plant for Stone & Webster and the Arundel Corporation, and the project generated\u00a0associated\u00a0employment opportunities.\u00a0 There were laborers relocating tracks and building new stations for the Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad, contractors paving new highways, and crews erecting 1,000 steel towers to stretch mighty transmission lines toward Philadelphia for Day & Zimmerman.<\/p>\n

It was nearly fifty years before, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which guaranteed the right to a safe job.\u00a0 \u00a0Regulations adopted in the early 1970s, made safety practices, such as fall protection, machine guarding, and personal protective equipment a standard part of the job.\u00a0 But this engineering feat took place long before there was much concern for occupational safety.<\/p>\n

While these men struggled to earn a living wage to support the family, many of them suffered disabling injuries handing high voltage electric lines, falling from high elevations, managing explosives, and much more.\u00a0 A number died while performing their duties.\u00a0 Construction work is dangerous business today, but in that era workplace safety wasn\u2019t a high priority and broken bones, fractured skulls, amputations and other types of trauma were common.<\/p>\n

While people often talk about worker fatalities at the Dam, a census or registry has never been compiled to give us some idea of the magnitude of the risk and to remember those who fell on the job.\u00a0 So we have been doing some data-mining and made an initial survey to identify those who lost their lives at Conowingo.<\/p>\n

It was a dangerous work, and newspaper accounts of men in the hard-driving industry suffering serious occupational\u00a0mishaps are common.\u00a0 Sometimes a man unsecured by a safety harness or net fell a distance or it was an automobile accident.\u00a0 For example, thirty workmen suffered trauma when a bus operated by the United Railroads between Baltimore and Conowingo skidded on an icy hill at the Dam and was upset.\u00a0 The injured were rushed to the company hospital.<\/p>\n

Other accounts involved single casualties.\u00a0 Irvin McDowell was confined to his home near Calvert in serious condition, the results of running a nail in his foot, the Baltimore Sun reported March 25, 1927.\u00a0 Alvan Prather, 25, of Inwood WV. was crushed while firing the engine drawing cars on the Stone & Webster Company\u2019s railroad, running from Havre de Grace to\u00a0Shure\u2019s Landing. \u00a0\u00a0In critical condition, he was rushed\u00a0to the company hospital where physicians determined he had a double fracture\u00a0of the left leg.\u00a0\u00a0The right one was smashed so it was amputated,\u00a0the Havre de Grace Republican wrote on October 15, 1927<\/p>\n

For this article, we focused on identifying occupational fatalites.\u00a0 Here is the registry as it stands on Labor Day, 2015.\u00a0 We will add names to it as others are identified.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

March 20, 1926\u00a0 — Alphonso Fortier, 21, Philadelphia; killed at Port Deposit three-hours after accepting employment with contractor building the hydroelectric plant;\u00a0 helping to unload a derrick and other machinery from freight car;\u00a0a heavy piece struck him, causing an internal hemorrhage from which he died an hour later.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Baltimore Sun, March 21, 1926.<\/p>\n

August 8, 1926 — John G. Shelor, 21, Calvert, Cecil County; tractor used in pulling stumps turned over backwards; broken neck at the dam; Remains shipped to Christiansburg, VA for burial.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Baltimore Sun, Aug. 12, 1926.<\/p>\n

August 11, 1926 \u2013 George D. Whiteside, 22, pipefitter\u2019s helper; run over by a train at the plant; remains shipped to his home in Champlain, NY.\u00a0 He was a college student employed at the dam for the summer.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Baltimore Sun, Aug 12, 1926<\/p>\n

August 3, 1926 (date is estimated).\u00a0 An unidentified African-American laborer was bitten by a copperhead snake while clearing ground for the new dam.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Cecil Whig, August 7, 1926<\/p>\n

December 21, 1926 — William J. Elliott, 46; killed at Conowingo Dam when he fell from a stone conveyor.\u00a0 Funeral was held at\u00a0Havre de Grace and services were in charge of Harford Klan.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Cecil Democrat, December 25, 1926<\/p>\n

February 18 \u00a01927 —\u00a0 Soon after reporting to work, George Graybeal, 35, became sick and went to the office of Dr. Mohr, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s physician at Conowingo.\u00a0 where he died.\u00a0 He and his father and a brother came from North Carolina to Cecil County to work on the project.<\/p>\n

March 8, 1927 — Adam Gelensky, 42, an employee of the Arundel Corporation was found on the Octoraro Creek Railroad Bridge with both legs severed after begun run over by a train.\u00a0 He died about four hours later in Richards’ Hospital.\u00a0 The body was turned over to undertaker Patterson of Aikin.\u00a0 An effort was being made to locate relatives at Brockville, PA<\/p>\n

April 18, 1927 — William Tuance, whose home address is unknown was instantly killed while working for the Stone Webster Corporation at the Conowingo Dam, when he was struck by a heavy piece of timber. \u00a0His remains were taken to the undertaking establishment of Pennington & Son at Havre de Grace. \u00a0Internment was at Angel Hill Cemetery. \u00a0Source: \u00a0Every Evening, Wilmington, DE; April 18, 1927<\/p>\n

April 25, 1927.\u00a0 Chief George R. Chapman of the Conowingo Fire Department was killed when the fire engine overturned near the Dam in Harford County.\u00a0 He was buried at Loudon Park Cemetery.<\/p>\n

June 29, 1927 — Frank McCann, 27, sustained injured by falling a distance of nearly a hundred feet while at work on the Dam died.\u00a0\u00a0He was from Detroit, MI and his body was shipped home.<\/p>\n

July 18, 1927 — Stephen Collins, 28, Baltimore; killed instantly when he fell from the crest of the dam to rocks beneath.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Baltimore Sun, July 18, 1927<\/p>\n

July 18, 1927 — O. P. Shelton, 32, Florida; killed instantly when he fell 140-feet from the crest of the dam to rocks below.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Baltimore Sun:\u00a0 July 18, 1927<\/p>\n

November 14, 1926 — Joseph Damfamete; employed by the Arundel Corporation; died of a fracture skull at Havre de Grace Hospital; struck on head by falling plank.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Cecil Whig, November 20, 1926<\/p>\n

November 21, 1927 — Hunter H. Bettis, 17, son of Lonnie Bettis, Havre de Grace; employed by Stone & Webster; drowned while walking along the edge of coffer dam, carrying a heavy bay of rivets.\u00a0 He lost his balance and fell into thirty-five feet of water.\u00a0 Source:\u00a0 Nov. 26, 1927, Cecil Democrat<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

This is the census we have developed thus far.\u00a0 However, Corner William B. Selse of Darlington, commented that more than twenty men had lost their lives on the project, while investigating the death of Hunter H. Bettis.\u00a0 He added, \u201cthe number is low considering the fact that on average of 3,500 employees have been employed there for nearly two years,\u201d he informed the Baltimore Sun.<\/p>\n

Curtis S. Poist of Port Deposit once wrote a Baltimore Sun\u00a0article called \u201cHelping Build Conowingo Dam.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThere was no way telling how many men were killed on the job,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0 \u201cOften the word would go around that a man had been killed, but I never saw a fatal accident.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The workmen spoke so many languages, came from so many parts of the world, nobody knew much about anybody else.\u00a0 Usually a man was known only by the number on his badge.\u00a0\u00a0 So if he fell into an excavation along with several tons of wet concrete who was to miss him let along mourn his passing?\u201d<\/p>\n

The registry probably represents a significant undercount as the primary source for this preliminary registry are newspapers.\u00a0 I\u2019m planning a visit to the Maryland Archives soon for another investigation and will pull death certificates for these men and others I am able to locate.<\/p>\n

Still on this Labor Day it is appropriate to remember the fallen workers thus far identified.\u00a0 I will update this registry as more workers are identified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this Labor Day, a holiday that honors American Workers and remembers the struggle to acquire better employment conditions, it\u2019s a good time to share some research I have been doing on men who paid a high price erecting the Conowingo Dam.\u00a0 An untold number were killed, injured or disabled while toiling away at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-1768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-conowingo-dam","tag-occupational-fatalities-suquehanna-river","tag-workers-safety"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Labor Day: Remembering Those Who Died While Building the Conowingo Dam - Mike's History Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On this Labor Day, a holiday that honors American Workers and remembers the struggle to acquire better employment conditions, it\u2019s a good time to share some research I have been doing on men who paid a high price erecting the Conowingo Dam. 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