The Saw Dust War

In 1868, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a law limiting the work day to ten hours, but four years later mill workers in Williamsport still worked 11-12 hours a day for $.80-$1.50 a day while mill owners reaped unprecedented fortunes. In late June 1872, labor organizers gathered in Williamsport and encouraged workers to demand a ten-hour workday with overtime compensation. Although some mill owners agreed to the workers' terms, most refused to negotiate, and mill workers went on strike, forcing owners to close the mills and the Susquehanna Boom. On July 22, 1872, owners reopened the mills and boom with strike-breaking laborers, and that morning striking laborers marched from mill to mill and clashed with strike breakers. Williamsport Mayor S.W. Starkweather, himself a mill owner, telegraphed Governor Geary to request 500 National Guard troops. The troops arrived the following day and arrested nearly 60 strikers. The strike ended with the work day length unchanged. Williamsport sawmills operated about seven months each year, and during that season mill laborers typically worked from dawn to dusk with a short lunch break. In winter, when the river and holding ponds froze and the mills closed, many workers moved to lumber camps to fell trees, then returned with the spring log drives, following the logs down the frigid West Branch of the Susquehanna River to Williamsport.

South Williamsport, Pennsylvania · United States