Kate Welsh - Questions of Honour (Questions of Honor)

“How odd. Helmut was just telling me he’d been looking forward to my taking over.”

The man’s jaw dropped then Helmut stepped forward, his shoulders a bit straighter, his tired eyes lively. “This is Joshua Wheaton.”

“Mr. Wheaton,” Williams stammered. “I had no idea you’d arrived.”

“That’s quite obvious. I’ve asked Helmut to take me on a tour of the yards. I’ll see you later to discuss my findings.”

Joshua followed the old supervisor toward River Fall tunnel. The first thing he noticed was the breaker shed, instead of being separate, was over the shaft that held the ventilation furnace. It was a clear safety violation. He stood at the edge and paced off the distance to the second shaft. Then back again.

“Is there another entrance I don’t see?” Josh asked. His one-time mentor shook his head. “But the second shaft is twenty feet too close to comply with current mining law.”

“Williams said one hundred and thirty feet was as good as one hundred and fifty feet.”

Josh arched his brows. “He decided to just ignore a congressional dictate?”

“Most owners ignore the 1870 Mine Act.”

“It isn’t nearly as strict as the one enacted by Parliament in England. We complied over there and still made a handsome profit.”

Helmut’s only answer was a shrug.

Joshua growled and picked up a Davy safety lamp. Safety would be an uphill battle, waged inside the mine and in the engineering shed. The miners were supposed to use safety lamps on days when the barometric pressure was as low as it was that day. The Davy lamp was a safety breakthrough but it was far from efficient. It was too heavy to wear on a cap, so it had to be set down away from the actual work and didn’t give off as much light as an open flame. He knew he’d find the men inside with naked flames blazing on their caps, the flame teasing the flammable gas the miners called firedamp to explode.

They reached the breaker shed housing the cage and pulley system used to transport men and coal to the surface. Helmut introduced Josh to the shed supervisor.

“I think you ought to wait before you go in there,” he said. “The men are clearing a crush. Can’t tell how much firedamp it’ll cause.”

Joshua turned back to the man. “It’s no more dangerous for me than it is for them.”

“But what if something happens to you, sir?”

Joshua smiled and clapped the man on the shoulder. “I take full responsibility for my actions. Shouldn’t take long.”

But it did. And he was appalled. The open flames on the miners’ caps continually elongated as pockets of methane flowed through the tunnel, proving the old-fashioned furnace didn’t ventilate nearly well enough. In England, the shaft would not only have been closed, but it also never would have been opened in the first place. Anger felt as if it had burned a hole in Joshua’s gut by the time he reached the surface.

“Pull the men out,” he ordered, fury rife in his tone. “I counted five violations. Each one could cause a disaster. There are too many men in each breast. They’ve robbed the pillars to the point of insanity and the wood’s either rotted from the water or too light to start with. And the ventilation system’s a joke.”

“If we pull the men out they’ll be furious, as will your father,” Faltsburg protested.

Josh pinned him with a steely look. “Close it down, Helmut.”

“Joshua, I know you’re thinking of the safety of the men but what about their families? We shut it down and they go further in debt to the store. You know how it works. The men would rather take chances. That’s what this business is about.”

Through gritted teeth Joshua repeated his order. “Close … it … down! I won’t risk their lives for money. Gather them around the engineer’s hut. When I get through firing Williams, I’ll talk to them. As for my father, he wouldn’t relish spending the rest of his natural life behind bars. If even one of those engineering violations results in loss of life, he could. And at this point, I wouldn’t lift a finger to stop it.”

Forty-five minutes later Joshua emerged from the engineers’ hut. Williams had been fired exactly forty-two minutes earlier. Josh had checked the specs. Engineering plans hadn’t been followed. Corners had been cut. Dangerous corners.

Joshua stopped on the boardwalk outside the shed to talk to the miners and laborers milling about on the snowy ground. Their faces were blackened with coal dust. Their hands buried deep in their pockets. “Some of you may recognize me,” he began. “But for those who don’t, I’m Joshua Wheaton. I’ve returned to Wheatonburg to take over my father’s mining operations. The first thing I did was close down the River Fall shaft until it’s brought up to government standard.”

“And what are we supposed to be eating on until then?” a voice shouted.

“You’ll be paid an hourly wage to equal your best week during the last quarter. I’ll expect each man to work to his full ability. I see no reason why we can’t have River Fall in operation by the New Year. The furnace will be replaced by a top of the shaft ventilation fan. We’ll replace a good portion of the timbers, clean out the gob from the crushed-down breasts, add more brattles and construct safety doors to get the air currents moving. I’d also like to implement a better system for pumping the water out of the mine.” Joshua glanced down ruefully at his soaked trouser cuffs and boots. “Easy to see why it’s called River Fall.”

Several of the men laughed, giving Josh hope that he might be able to come to a pleasant accord with them.

“Ve all get paid the same?” a man with a German accent called out.

“This is not specialty work. If you object, you needn’t work. I’m sure Prescott would issue you credit but that would increase your debt.”

“It sounds like a fair shake,” another man shouted. “I say we go along. We lose nothing and even gain since no one can dig as much in winter as summer.”

“It’s fools you are to believe the word of a Wheaton. The same old Biddle fans sit where they’ve put in topside ventilation. How’s he going to be getting Harlan Wheaton to go along with buying new fans?”

Joshua scanned the crowd looking for the familiar face that went with the voice. It had matured but Brendan Kane’s Americanized Irish brogue was still easily recognizable. Josh fought to hide his hurt. Brendan was the best friend he’d ever had. First Abby, then the people he’d met in town and now Brendan. He didn’t understand.

“I don’t know what’s been happening around here, Brendan. But I’m now solely in charge of the mines. I’ll get the fans. In fact, Helmut, wire Bannans in Pottsville. Tell them to send the two Gribal fans I had them hold for me.”

The men murmured amongst themselves for several minutes before Joshua drew their attention. “So what do you say? Will you give me a chance to turn things around?”

“What about the men in the other shafts?” one man shouted. “My son and brother are working Destiny and my cousin’s at Lilybet.”

“I’ll personally inspect them, too. If we have to halt production there it will be done in the same way. Digging on the new tunnel will be stopped until the rest are brought up to European standards. Those who want to work on the cleanup show up here at your regular time tomorrow. You have the rest of the day off with pay.”

Joshua watched the men break up and head for town. He wondered what they were saying. Once he would have been privy to their opinions but everything had changed. Deep in thought, he didn’t hear the footsteps.