Part one in a series of an Interview with Mr. CY Kelly
by Van Wagner
interview took place on August 16, 1998 at 228 Grand Street Danville PA
For the last few years, I have had the privilege of becoming friends with Charles H. Cy Kelly. He lived on Grand Street in Danville. He was born Oct. 4th, 1914 and passed away Dec. 24th, 2000. He served with the army during WWII, receiving 2 purple hearts and a bronze star. This wasn’t any typical Danville Ironman! In his early years, Mr. Kelly was employed at the “Big Mill” in Danville. I have grown up with Cy’s grandson R.J. Renteria of Danville. It was only recently, after I expressed my interest in Danville’s iron history, that the Renteria family mentioned Mr. Kelly’s roll in our towns past. I made plans to go visit him the following week.
I must admit, I expected to meet a worn out old man who would tell me about his simple job in a Danville iron mill. Instead, I found myself immersed in an ocean of stories about one mans amazing life history. After my first discussion with Mr. Kelly, I choose to begin using audiotape to record my discussions with Cy. Over the next few newsletters, I will share this amazing biography, word for word, as it was told to me. I would like to point out one more thing. In all of my time with Cy Kelly, he continuously questioned why I wanted to honor the men and women of Danville’s iron age. In his view, the men and women who served our country during World War II were far greater heroes and deserved more than they ever received in terms of thanks. Because of this, I dedicate his story to just those people, the men and women of our armed forces who have served so bravely, so that Americans such as myself may have such a wonderful and fulfilling life, Thank you.
-Van Wagner-
CK = spoken by Cy Kelly
VW= spoken by Van Wagner
CK-“Down there at the Big Mill, I have to tell ya, the first day I went to work was the first day of hunting season. Dad said ‘ you better get down to the mill and see if you can get on.’ I was just a kid then, weighed about 130, and damn first day I walk in the door I got a job. And I was so mad, hunting season ya know I waited all year to go hunting and then something like that happened. Now the men who worked at the furnaces had what we called ‘work shoes.’ That would be full of sweat while you were working, and rolling out the back would be sweat. They made about $5 a day.”
**VW-**Was that in the furnaces across the road from the mill?
**CK-**No that was the furnaces in the mill. They took the shale, there’s some ore in with it, they mixed that all up in these furnaces. Then they’d roll it up in a ball. Puddlin’…yea, that was puddling. Did you ever hear of Ira Sweitzer? (spelling?) He was one fella about my age, he got on there and his dad said ‘don’t you come in here, this is no damn place for kids.’ They really work those boys.
**VW-**What would they put in the furnace?
**CK-**Well they put in what we called ‘pig iron’ in other words it was the first, you see iron they don’t use it the first time they heat it. It has to go through different processes to temper it and what not. They used to use bacon on the rolls to grease the rolls, I guess it was cheaper than grease. It smelled pretty good! Oh it was quite a place.
**VW-**So they put pig iron in, could they put in scrap iron too?
**CK-**No, not in that. Scrap iron was used to make ‘box piles.’ Now that’s where I got a job, on the box piles. You take all that scrap iron that they bought back, then they’d work that in with the iron that they made from the pig iron. Then they rolled that into bars. It would be 4 inch or 6 inches or something like that wide. They’d cut it a certain length, then they had these clamps that they stuck these pieces in that fit in maybe 2 fives, a four, and a six. And then they’d work this in with scrap iron, that was called ‘piling.’ Then they’d put them in these heat furnaces, that was a different type of furnace. They’d heat that and get it white hot, then they’d bring that out of there and run it through a roller. To make what they called ‘navy iron.’ They made a lot of navy iron. You see that worked all that in there so it made the iron like all knit together. You don’t hear too much of that type anymore, we had almost 500 people working on that part.
**VW-**How old were you when you went to work?
**CK-**About 14 or 15. I was as skinny as a rail. By God you worked too.
**VW-**Where did they get the pig iron from?
**CK-**Well they got that down around Maryland somewhere. They bring that in on box cars, then the men would get in there….oh, not box cars but gondolas, that’s about half a car like…guys would get in there and throw em’ out. That’s where you got in shape. Years ago they made the pig iron in Danville. Years ago, that was what they called the blast furnace.
**VW-**Did your family work in the blast furnaces at all?
**CK-**No, my grand daddy he worked all over though. He helped mine this ore out of the ground. Did you ever hear of the Lawrence’s? They’re the ones that had the mines. Them guys got a dollar a day for working in the mines. I’m gonna have to tell you this, my grand daddy told me when they cut props for where they were working, from their hand down to their elbow and that would be the height of the prop. He worked on this side of the hill (the Danville side of Montour Ridge). There was a lot of them things. I think they were Welsh. Now that was all before my time. He used to say that you get in there and you shoveled that out on your side. They mainly used a pick, I don’t think they did too much blasting. Last I heard they had about 9 of these blast furnaces, and these shale pits as I called them, furnished them with iron ore. This iron ore around here wasn’t near as rich as they could get up around the lakes, Lake Superior. It was easier to get.
Now my dad wasn’t that old, he worked in the big mill. And he worked for Art Lawrence, he delivered ice around here. That’s one of the first jobs I had. He used to peddle ice up Mill Street, down West Mahoning, and Market Street. It used to be cut from the dam out there, out there where Perkins is now. There used to be so much ice there, people would skate at night.
**VW-**When did you dad stop his ice job and begin working at the big mill?
**CK-**It was night and day, he worked 2 jobs. He worked the mill at night, and delivered ice in the day time. Well Jeese’ you didn’t make nothing, you had to do that if you had a family.
**VW-**Was there a union?
CK-(laughing) I had never heard of a union until just a while back. You know something, that’s what’s got our country down. I still say…here’s the thing, you go out on strike…now figure out, who benefits? The unions, you’re damn right they do. I don’t think there was even much of a union at the end of the big mill. In fact it was sold before the war (WWII) they just teared it down and shipped it out. A lot of that came back as shells too.
**VW-**What was your fathers job in the mill?
**CK-**His job was what you called ‘dragin out.’ When them bars came out of the rolls, they had a pair of tongs. They hooked em’ under with tongs and stacked them up, it was red hot iron. Some of there shoes were that thick (several inches )
**VW-**What was the mill making at the time?
**CK-**They was making pipe. Shade iron, large bars for the railroad for under the cars, its like a spring…it was more like a spring bar.
Now, my father and I was born in the same house. Down in the company houses. Just across from Jake Engles junk yard. It was number 625, he was born there and so was I. The company owned those houses, you just paid rent. They took it out of your pay check. There was a company store there, but the company store was just about phased out by the time I started. Down there where Kindt’s used to be.
This ends part one.
Part II of Interview with Mr. CY Kelly
by Van Wagner
August 16, 1998
228 Grand Street, Danville PA
CK = spoken by Cy Kelly
VW= spoken by Van Wagner
**CK-**You know over there where Beaver Place is, well that’s all built on slag from the blast furnaces. I dug a few cellars over there. You know, if that mill had hung on say 6 months longer, it would still be there. It was sold just before WWII, I went into the service about that time, with the National Guard. We hurried and put in a year then came back to get a job..(laughing) that was the longest year I ever put in….. nearly 5 years! I was in England, France, Italy…when I enlisted there was tearing the mill down at that time.
Quite a place over there, the Big Mill I mean. I worked there about 2 years. We were just so tickled pink to have a job. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week…it was a good place to work, but it was damn hard work! We may have a got a 15 minute break every so often. You got a couple of minutes to eat lunch, maybe half an hour if you were lucky.
**VW-**What was it like in the mill?
**CK-**Hot and dirty, and stinky, sulfury…lot of sulfur. Comin’ from all that soft coal.
**VW-**Soft coal? Do you mean bituminous?
**CK-**Yeah.
**VW-**I always thought they used anthracite.
**CK-**Not in there, I think they used anthracite in the blast furnaces. But in the Big Mill we was using all soft coal…Johnny Mitchell! Did you ever hear that? Now there’s where the unions started coming in there. After the Molly Maguires started.
There was a lot of dust in the air in the mill…but nobody complained, they were just happy to have a job. Honest to God I think that’s all it was. They didn’t care. When a person died, you didn’t think much of it. That was just natural. I never saw anyone die there at work but there may have been some.
They had a place there where you could take a shower. You know I still say they were just as dirty when they came out as when they went in. They showered right in the mill.
You know they never wrote much up about all of this.
**VW-**That’s why I’ve wanted to talk with you.
**CK-**Well I’ll tell you, I forgot a hell of a lot. I’m 80 some years old! Well them guys that worked down at the mill, well when they went past you why…..them guys would be so tired. They would stop by a couple of the bars and have a couple of drinks so they could make it home.
**VW-**Did a lot of the fellows go to the bars?
**CK-**Most all of em’. They’d go to places like Wysocki’s…he was my old bowling buddy. Buddy’s Café there at Frank Wysocky’s…that was our hang out. There were more, the Continental Hose Company and Ryan’s. They were for the people in that area, the company houses area. Why you could buy those homes for $250 a side! My dad was afraid to take the chance and buy a home. You know some of them men walked all the way in from Mausdale, then they walked home when they were done with the day. That don’t seem like a long distance, but after you did a days work it was! There was a fella from Bald Top who would walk down the mountain everyday for work, that’s a pretty steep hill to climb. Brother after you did a days work you didn’t want to have to walk a couple of miles home and then be ready to come out the next morning.
At one time they used to have what was called a call boy. He’d go around and tell the people it was time to go to work. He’d knock on doors and wake em’ up.
Boy that’s changed a lot up there on Bald Top. Do you know Gus Livziey? His granddad used to have what we called the “Skunk Farm” up there. Me and him used to go hunting and fishing together. We played football together too. You know they just don’t have the spirit around here like they used to about football.
**VW-**When you still lived in the company houses, what type of folks lived there?
**CK-**Everything. I’m from the area we called “the bloody third.” That was the 3rd ward. We had the Catholic church. When we used to go to school, you’d stay on your side of the street and the Catholics would stay on their side. This is the way it is over in Ireland today!
**VW-**What would folks in the company houses do for entertainment?
**CK-**We may walk up the street to the post office a couple of times…that was your Saturday night. If you had enough money you got a bag of peanuts. People just don’t realize how ruff if was in them days.
**VW-**Was there any musical entertainment for ya?
**CK-**Only after a few drinks. They’d get to fighting and singing. There was one fella out on Mill Street, Keefer, many times he get drunk and get arrested for singing. That was quite a section of town…out there in third ward. “The Continental”, “Ryan’s”, “Pifer’s”…all the way up and down was saloons. Well you got a glass of beer for a dime. A mug, sometimes I think half water (laughing).
They were some days. You know that was a busy place, Mill Street. You’re damn right it was. I don’t think any of those stores there today do half the business that they used to.
**VW-**With money being so hard to come by in those days, how were so many men spending it on booze?
CK-(Laughing) A lot of that was on tick. Did you ever hear of that?…They charged it. I think half of it never got paid.
You know I can remember the trolley. I used to be the errand boy for Mary B. Kline, lived on Market Street. Used to get a quarter a week to run errands for her. One time I was supposed to get on the trolley and ride it up to Ida York’s, to get some vinegar, she wanted some vinegar. Well here I didn’t know where she lived and ended up riding right into Bloomsburg! I finally got the vinegar but only after 3 or 4 trips up the trolley. People were mighty strange in those days about stuff like that. If they wanted a certain type stuff, well they wanted a certain type of stuff.
To be continued!
PART 3
My mothers madden name was Nevius. My grandfather, her dad was the one who worked in the mines. Bill Nevius had a couple of boys, I’m not sure where they are now.
Do you play any sports Van?…We used to play baseball day and night. Sometimes we’d tear an old sweater apart to make a ball. There were some good baseball players around this area, some great teams. You know during the war I got to shake hand with Honus Wagner out around Pittsburgh…you know he was the sloppiest looking baseball player you ever saw. I had an uncle who pitched in the service, the First World War, he could’ve gone to the big leagues but he wouldn’t go. They came here to get him and he wouldn’t go. At that time I lived in Montour Row. They call that Beaver Place now. That was company housing. My uncle, he worked at the big mill. He was what they called a hook man. There was a big chain that came down with a bar on it, that helped raise these bars that would come out of the rollers…onto their next pass. See they kept changing the size of the bars. Boy he was a good ball player, he was a pitcher. There was another kid here who was good too. Ever hear of Bigs Baylor, Shorty McKormick. yeah they had some damn good ball players here. Out at the state hospital they played. It’s a damned shame, they ruined that field up there. On Saturday that place would be jammed with people to see the games.
How’s your music going?… You know years ago we’d have bands on Saturday nights in the bars. They don’t do as much of that any more. They used to have a lot of square dances. That used to be a popular thing. Now that faded out.
**VW-**Do you play any instruments?
**CK-**I couldn’t even play a Victorola, I’d scratch the record (laughing).
**VW-**May I ask you wife’s maiden name?
**CK-**Keefer, Ruth Keefer from Catawissa. That’s my third wife. Nancy’s mother was Ida, Ida Titesworth…then I had another wife Marks, from Washingtonville…it’s about time I quit.
**VW-**Behind us here where KVS is, was that an iron works?
**CK-**The Stove Works that was. I never worked there. I worked the summer delivering ice, and in the winter when we had work I worked the big mill. $3.15 a day at the Mill. Then they took rent right out of your pay. I think that was $5 a month. But still we lived on it. We didn’t have a whole lot but we lived on it. There used to be a brick yard close to the Washies play ground. They made bricks. Pappy told me about that I never saw that. There used to be a blast furnace out around Sunny Brook way. The trouble with the furnaces is they found a higher grade of iron ore out west somewhere. There used to be a fairground out there near where Perkins is. Back then people were more neighborly, if something went wrong, everybody was there. You just don’t see that anymore. Some of these people don’t even know their neighbors. Now, you grew up on Bald Top?…well I got my first deer up there. With a slug gun. I got a 7 point buck right there where the house, what we called the first hollow. Then to top it off, we lived in the Row at the time. This deer headed down over the hill, I had to hug and tug it all the way back to Montour Row.
We had something called the eel dam on the river. We used to fish near there and catch eels, they were something. They’d bend your pole in half and then get all tangled in the line from the way they’d twist. Years ago we didn’t do any dry fishing, back then everyone used worms or some live bait.
Boy I used to love to fish. My son Terry is a good fisherman, he’s a nut about it.
You the fella across the street from me used to have some pictures of the old canal. The canal used to haul coal through here. The canal went right through town. There was a coal yard near where Giant food store is now. Then it went down through the middle of town, right by the Masonic Temple. I knew fellas from the coal yard, but I didn’t know anybody from the canal. There used to be a guy there who sold salt. I was just a kid then. He used to come around town selling salt. It came in on a canal barge. That was before my time.
**VW-**You mentioned they shipped in soft coal. Where did that come in from?
**CK-**They brought that in from out around Pittsburgh.
**VW-**With Shamokin, Mount Carmel…with the hard coal close by I’m surprised they didn’t find a way to use it in the puddling furnaces.
**CK-**Well soft coal could get hotter than the hard coal. And the sulfur smell was all over. It’s a wonder they had anybody working there.
**VW-**What would happen if you ever got hurt at work and could work for a few days?
**CK-**They had compensation. I got compensation, a piece of barb metal caught me under the chin. I was working with the shears and it snapped off and caught me under the chin. I got 12 hours a week compensation. It wasn’t a heck of a lot. They over paid me one week. In other words they gave me 2 weeks for one. I had to give back. Or I’d loose my job. I should’ve told them to go to hell because that was the last week the mill was open.
**VW-**So that was the last week the mill was open? Would you have stayed there if it had stayed open.
**CK-**Hmmm, probably would’ve…we didn’t know any better. We didn’t know where else to get a job. We used to set up rolling pins to make a few extra nickels. Bowling was big around here.
**VW-**Who owned the Mill when you worked there?
**CK-**Reading Iron Company. Same company that owned the railroads.
**VW-**What would you take to work for lunch?
**CK-**Did you ever hear of scrapple? I used to make scrapple sandwiches and scrapple pie. I carried it in a metal lunch box. Maybe a thermos bottle. Never had too much in there. If people today had to work like that, they’d go crazy.
To be continued…….
PART 4
Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of becoming friends with Charles H. Cy Kelly. He lived on Grand Street in Danville. He was born Oct. 4th, 1914 and passed away Dec. 24th, 2000. He served with the army during WWII, receiving 2 purple hearts and a bronze star. This wasn’t any typical Danville Ironman! In his early years, Mr. Kelly was employed at the “Big Mill” in Danville. I have grown up with Cy’s grandson R.J. Renteria of Danville. It was only recently, after I expressed my interest in Danville’s iron history, that the Renteria family mentioned Mr. Kelly’s roll in our towns past. I made plans to go visit him the following week.
I must admit, I expected to meet a worn out old man who would tell me about his simple job in a Danville iron mill. Instead, I found myself immersed in an ocean of stories about one mans amazing life history. After my first discussion with Mr. Kelly, I choose to begin using audiotape to record my discussions with Cy. Over the passed few newsletters, I have shared his amazing biography, word for word, as it was told to me. I would like to point out one more thing. In all of my time with Cy Kelly, he continuously questioned why I wanted to honor the men and women of Danville’s iron age. In his view, the men and women who served our country during World War II were far greater heroes and deserved more than they ever received in terms of thanks. Because of this, I dedicate his story to just those people, the men and women of our armed forces who have served so bravely, so that Americans such as myself may have such a wonderful and fulfilling life, Thank you.
-Van Wagner-
VW- What were some of the jobs in the Big Mill?
CK- Well…to fill box piles, I helped do that. There were big pieces of cast iron they got in, outside they’d break them up…some would use sledgehammers. They also used a big ball they’d lift up in the air and drop on this cast iron to break it up. So they could melt it down again. They’d work some of that in, in the puddling mill.
VW- Did the puddlers get paid well?
CK- About 5 dollars a day.
VW- What was the best paying job you could get at the Mill?
CK- Probably the puddler. That was a big thing to brag about. They got paid by weight. If they did what they called “lose a ball” then they wouldn’t get paid for that. Sometimes it wouldn’t get mixed up right. You see that idea with a puddling mill was to get all the stuff in there mixed up just right, knit together. Sometimes it got messed up. They’d lose that ball, Maybe a dollar or dollar and a half.
VW- Then they’d puddle it into a ball?
CK- They had paddles, what you called paddle. Big iron paddles. Then they’d shut the furnace down so they could get it out. Then they’d take it over to what they called the rollers. That’s where they started rolling it into bars.
VW- I bet that was a hot job.
CK- Them people would be ringing wet. Their shoes…why I’ve seen the sweat just rolling out the back of the shoes. Me, I’d never be able to work in there. I’d stick with the box piling. I couldn’t take that heat. It was bad enough with the smell of sulfur.
Once there was an explosion down there, it was before my time. A baby was killed across the street from the big mill. I never heard much more about that. That was before my time. I guess there were tubes in these boilers that got clogged up.
So you’re only 22?
VW- Yes sir. I’m studying Wildlife and Fisheries science at Penn State.
CK- Boy that’s all I did, hunt and fish. I used to own a store here for twenty some years, but when hunting season came buddy that’s what I did. I made a living at it. My motto was “If we didn’t have, we’d get it.”
Just don’t be afraid of work. Cause you’re gonna have to work, so get used to it. Sometimes I’m afraid for our country. Things are nice now, but it can’t keep up. How many jobs are being lost? It scares me to think about it. This here, what they call downsizing…well something’s got to give. I hate to think about what may happen.
VW- I’m not keeping you up too late am I?
CK- (Laughing) Oh no, I can sit here until hell freezes over. I tell you it’s quiet… it’s peaceful.
You know with the hunting, I hunted all over. There used to be more Pheasants, boy I liked that. Ring-necks.
VW- I enjoy hunting Grouse. I hunt a bit up on Carl Hower’s farm up on Blue Hill. You know I heard that the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross up there years ago.
CK- Yes, I seen that cross. We lived on Mill Street. You could see it. I never knew who it was. They said it was a warning to someone. That’s all we ever heard. Yeah it was such a hush hush thing. They’d come along and flash these tickets, I don’t know who would do it. You’d spot it on someone’s house. It was a warning to them. For them to either mend their ways….I never paid much attention to it. That was quite something at one time. It was sometimes meant for some guys to stop drinking, they were warning them…but hell that never stopped em’ (laughing).
Did you ever here much about the CCC’s? I was in them. We did what they called nappin’ the stones. You bring shale in, and the big pieces you did what they called ‘nappin up’ with a nappin’ hammer. Long handle. I was on the Gooseberry detail for a while. Did you ever hear of Gooseberries? You hike through the woods, then you’d pull them out by the roots and hang them up in the crotch of tree so they’d die. They wanted them out because they carried disease for Pine Trees. Down near Huntingdon. You could go for miles and never find one…then you’d find a bunch and you’d destroy them. That was a good education for a lot of people. That took them off the streets and away from trouble.
I think you’ll like that work with the outdoors. Do you know if they’ve been able to get the Shad up here? You know we used to have Shad in the Susquehanna.
Hey..do you know who the first burgess of Danville was? ..His name was Magill. Mary D. Kline, I was her errand boy. It was her dad was the first burgess of Danville, I believe his name was John. That was in the civil war days. She used to always remind me or that. She had a heart as big as a whale. I believe her husband was a doctor.
VW- I’ve read that the Geisinger got it’s start in the coal industry. Kingston Coal Co.
CK- They did, they owned a lot of stock up that way.
VW- Well it’s getting too late for me.
CK- Well you stop by anytime. I’m usually here on the porch.
Recorded August 16th, 1998
