BADin, NORTH CAROLINA
Opportunities for Men
main purpose of building a dam on the Yadkin
River at Badin, of constructing a large power-house
and transmission line, of installing electrical machin
ery, of building a carbon plant, and finally of build
ing a complete town, was to produce pig aluminum.
In the furnace rooms, then, or the "pot rooms," as they
are called, the actual production of pig aluminum takes
place.
Aluminum is made by the electrolysis of ore in an
electric furnace or pot at a fairly high temperature. The
work connected with this process consists in the operation
of these pots, and while it is possible for a green man to
become a fairly good potman in a short space of time, still
it is necessary that a man spend some time in the pot rooms
before he can absorb the necessary information to make him
a valuable man to the Company. On the other hand, a man
coming into our pot rooms who is ambitious, and desires to
learn, can climb quite rapidly. As a matter of fact, there
is no limit to the height to which a man may climb, provided
he puts the proper amount of intelligence and energy into
his work. While the process is comparatively old and well
established, still we find out new things every day or two,
and a man with an inquiring mind will find plenty in this
work to keep him from getting into a rut.
in the Aluminum Plant
We are employing quite a large number of men in our
pot rooms, and these men require supervision, so that we
are always in need of men who have proved themselves
capable of handling other men, and who at the same time
are willing to start at the bottom and work up.
The operation of the pot rooms is continuous—twenty-
four hours per day, and 365 days in the year—so that the
men working in the pot rooms are not in danger of being
out of a job, provided they do their work satisfactorily.
It gives the Company too much trouble to shut down one
of the pot rooms for this to be done unless it is absolutely
necessary.
The work is handled in three eight-hour shifts, and while
the work is a man’s work, still the conditions under which
the work is done are sanitary and healthful (see interior
view of one of the Company’s wash-houses below), and the
Company is prepared to take good care of its men.
If in writing the above, I have conveyed to you the
following points, I have served my purpose.
1st—That pot room work is steady work;
2d—That it is interesting work;
3d That the hours are not long, giving the men plenty
of time for recreation;
That opportunities for advancement are many.
R. E. Parks
VIEW OF INTERIOR OF ONE OF THE COMPANY’S WASH-ROOMS