Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature

James Grant's father, a worker and union man, gave up his union membership to work for and suprevise the quarry for the New York based McMullen Company. In 1905, this operation suffered a major strike. Workers demanded a shortened day (eight hours from nine) and a raise from two to three dollars a day. The company responding by bringing in replacement or "scab" workers. There were some incidences of violence betwee the strikers and the scabs but once the strike was over, many of the scabs stayed and even joined the union.