Camaraderie is not quite the term that I would use. My own
writing will attempt to put a handle on this for non-miners, but it is
very difficult. My last partner in the mine and our crossshift were
boozers - I was an extremely moderate drinker and also attended church.
When years later, as a teacher, I attended Johnny's funeral, I was
unable to explain our relationship to Johnny's brother-in-law, who was
a fellow teacher.
As soon as I completed mining school, I entered the ranks of the
"producers", and became one of the elite. Later, having been trained
for a year by the best miner in the mine (a moderate drinker), the old
timer, Vic, arranged to toast me in a public bar as "his partner" (Vic
had worked with many men but had only had four partners - including
me). This put me on an even higher level, and, although I was only
twenty, I was treated with deference by most of the old timers (although
with a little suspicion by the drinkers).
I must say at this time that there were "miners" (drillers and
blasters) who were religious and who didn't touch alcohol, and who were
very respected by all the other "miners". My father, a track man and
timberman, who was extremely religious was also held in universal
respect.
The drinkers tended to treat me with respect, but suspicion,
until I started working with Johnny. Johnny had been in the army with
my brother and was willing to accept me, despite the fact that I drank
only in moderation. How we came to develope a strong relationship is
too long a story for this letter, but it soon became apparent that we
could trust one another, and Johnny let me know that his regular pay
went home to his wife, Molly. His contract pay was his drinking money
and after receiving that pay, Johnny and our cross-shift would always
"go on a drunk" until it was all spent.
When our cross-shift found out that my training with Vic had
made me a better miner than them, but that I didn't go to the shift boss
to report their mistakes, they and Johnny decided to let "Vic run our
stope". Of course, this meant that they could expect to make better
contract, but trust was the important element. I was then accepted by
ALL the "miners" as one of their group of "producers". Johnny used the
word "partner" rather indiscriminately, but he and I became partners in
the same sense as Vic and I. The movie "Paint Your Wagon" illustrates
some of it.
I wouldn't drink like him, but I trusted him. After I broke one
of their superstitions by working on my twenty-first birthday, a number
of the drinkers said that thereafter I would have to spend my birthday
with them in a pub. I didn't have to drink with them, but I had to take
the shift off. Nothing was said about me spending Johnny's birthday
with them, but I probably would have done so simply out of respect.
There was no chance that I would end up being a heavy drinker. None of
them would have pressed me to drink more than I wanted. I would
probably have ended up getting them all home safely.
While I wouldn't drink like Johnny, I knew all his virtues and
his vices. I was quite frank in expressing my opinion of his drinking
TO HIS FACE, but I wouldn't let even his brother-in-law treat him with
contempt. Johnny was honest, and he was a MAN! In our modern world his
macho attitudes and open homophobia would bother many people, but he was
honest and open in his opinions, and he didn't force himself on anyone
who didn't want to associate with him. He knew my opinions on many
topics and didn't expect me to change them, any more than he would
change his habits to win the approval of what he considered to be lesser
men. More than anything else, "miners" respected each other!
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