THE SIPHON CREW.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12772, 25 May 1912, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE SIPHON CREW.

Up at the Storm King Canon they're working us day and night; We've got our standard to hold to, we've got contractors to fight; N .- • Wo live m boots and a slicker, we sleep when we get ths time, '.-. And our faces and hands are •plastered with stickiest hard-rock grime ; . We're too dog-tired for drinking, too • sleepy to touch a card; Our talk is all of the siphon— <>f- rook' that is soft or hard. ' -.-•-,■ The wise guys laughed at the projectrjv they said it would "never : do" !. — Rut up at the Storm King Canon we're putting the siphon through! ' ! /j

We sunk a shaft m the mountain, :where only the goats had played— - v: Where you had to hang -'by an eyelashto handle a pick or spade. ■ '■-. A shaft went down hy the ■■ river^^a-id the water commenced to -pour; - '■■ And we plotted a plan to plug it — for that's what bur pay is' for. We diamond-drilled on 'the -bias," ''We sunk a shaft m the silt, And sometimes the cold Would numb us and often the heat would wilt. We sought bedrock for ages and finally;-, got a clew—* ■-•<■ And down at the 'leven hundred We'ra putting the siphon through! -v V' 1 A seam was struck m the heading] far under the river-bed j , The water filled up the working 'and' all of the runners fled. .. ..hBut the pumps were set . going— ■»"<_■ made a bulkhead to block; And now once more the drillheads are

battering at the rock. The "hard-rock" gang were peaches-— ' they entered into the game, ; ■■ ... ' They laughed at the thought of danger, they took each chance as it came; V And, though there were politicians -who' . . tried to hand us a few — 'Up at the Storm King Canon We'-Te put-'---ting the siphon through ! . „ ;

It's tough — but it sure is worth it^itfs \ rough — but it's bully fun ' . To v do) the thing that the 'wise. $&yi . have prophesied can't be 'done;---' And when the job>is over and the water, is rushing m, ..... ra v^ Why— then is our chance to chuckle arid

then is our hunch to; grin! *. The stream will come from the rnouh-

tains and into, the thirsty town, Arid we will have done our portion* of. bringing the water down; -• - V So what if the. work is wearing asa* things will go askew^ '*-• [„:...'■ Up at the- Storm King- Canon -•-W-e'rei-putting the siphon through! — Berton Braley.