Veteran Alexander Employee Recalls Early Days At mi
This old rendering showing the Alexander Sheeting Mill as Alexander. He kept the picture for several years and when ^
It appeared many years ago was found by veteran carpenter retired he gave it hack to the mill. It now hangs in the off“^
A. L. “Tobe” McFarland while he was remodeling offices at of C. L. Kametches, the mill superintendent.
When A. L. “Tobe” McFarland retired from the Alexander
Sheeting Mill at Forest City December 1, 1968, he held some
records which are not likely to ever be equaled at the Alexander
plant. He had been with the mill for 49 years; he started to
work when the mill was being built in 1919; and he worked at
Alexander during three ownerships of the mill.
Mr. McFarland worked in the Carpentry Department for the
entire time. He recalls that he received the grand sum of 35c an
hour when he was first employed. He worked 10 hours a day
and five hours on Saturday for a total of 55 hours a week.
“We were paid in cash back in the early days,” Mr. McFar
land said. “A policeman would go into town with someone from
the mill to bring the money back from the bank and they would
put your money in an envelope.”
At the beginning, Mr. McFarland helped with construction.
Houses were being built for the mill’s employees since there
was no housing available in the vicinity of where the mill was
being built. He recalled, “There wasn’t anything here then, and
they brought people down from town every morning in an old
truck.
“The truck probably held 30 people, and people moved into
the houses before we could even get them finished. There was
no transportation to and from work, so people had to live where
they could walk to the mill.”
Mrs. McFarland was with her hus
band at the interview and she also re
called some memories of life at Alexan
der Mills during the early days. She
said, “It was a good life and a lot of
fun in the mill community here.
“The company would sometime let
the young people use the truck to go
for rides or to go to some special place.”
The McFarlands were married in
1927 and have two children. Their son
is a professor at Appalachian State Uni
versity at Boone and their daughter
lives in Laurinburg. There are five
grandchildren.
Claude Landis, supervisor of plant
service was Mr. McFarland’s boss at
the time he retired. This was a switch
because when Mr. Landis first came to
work as a helper Mr. McFarland was
his boss.
Learning a mill job was quite differ
ent back in the earlier days, according
to Mr. McFarland. He said a person had
to learn the job on his own time and
once he had learned to do the job he
would be employed if and when an
opening came.
Mr. McFarland said the men who did
maintenance work on mill houses were
very well fed at Christmastime. “When
you went by the houses,” he said, “you
A. L. “Tobe” McFarland (left), who worked 49 years
Alexander Sheeting Mill at Forest City, is shown with Cla**
Landis, the last supervisor Mr. McFarland worked for.
.it
had to go in and have a piece of
cake and some coffee at each one. *
couldn’t refuse.”
Now that he is retired, Mr.
land has more time to spend on his bo
by of cabinet making. He made
of the desks and cabinets which ^ i
used at the Alexander Sheeting Mill
he has also made many of the
used for framing Karastan’s Happl^
rugs.
Mr. Landis paid tribute to Mr.
Farland, describing him as a top-h®^g(
employee and expressing regret
losing “one man who could really ®
any job done.”
THE MILL WHIST^