A tale of three brothers

If you combine the years each Bauer brother has worked at Sanford Lab and Homestake, you get 57. That’s a lot of years.

The three brothers are all hoist operators in the Ross Hoistroom—and always have been during their years at the facility. I caught up with them at a shift change as David and Kevin were preparing to leave the day shift and Kelly was preparing to begin his night shift. You can easily see they are brothers—they look alike, they all laugh easily and they really seem to enjoy each other’s company.

And, like most siblings, they love to tease each other. A lot.

“These two are really good to me,” Kelly said. “Probably because I’m the baby.”

“He was spoiled,” said David, the eldest.

Kelly pats his stomach and smiles. “I beat them to the table, though.”

“No,” Kevin throws in quickly. “Mom beat us back.”

They all laugh. “I like to pick on them when I’m here,” Kelly said.

David worked at Homestake for 17 years before the mine closed in 2002 and been at Sanford Lab for 10 years. “I’ve always been at the Ross Hoistroom,” he said pointing at the dual-drum behemoths. “I like the people and I like running the hoists.”

Kevin, a 10-year veteran of Homestake, has been with Sanford Lab for six years. He recently was recognized with a Safety Performance award when he noticed a problem with the hoist rope. A steel guide used in construction in the shaft had come loose from its rigging, causing the rope to bounce wildly.

“The rope will bounce a bit if it hits a rough spot in the shaft,” Kevin said. “But if it starts jumping around, then you know you have a problem. That’s what happened when the guide came loose.” Kevin immediately stopped the hoist, preventing damage to the shaft, and reported the incident.

There’s a lot more to working in a hoistroom than simply operating the levers that raise and lower conveyances. Hoist operators also make sure the hoists are in good running order, keep an eye on temperature gauges in the motor-generator rooms and do general maintenance and upkeep in the hoistrooms.

“Physically, it’s not a hard job. But there’s a lot you have to pay attention to,” Kelly said.

Kevin nodded. “The crews’ lives are on the line. It’s a big responsibility.”

When they are not working, Kelly likes to golf, although he hasn’t done much this year; Kevin likes to hunt; and David enjoys spending time with his family, including son Russell, an infrastructure technician in the Yates Shaft for nearly four years.

Incidentally, the Bauer’s father, Charlie, was a hoist operator in the Yates Hoistroom during Homestake days. “I trained with Charlie when I was a hoist operator,” said Dan Regan, maintenance foreman at Sanford Lab. “He was a really good operator and trainer, and a great guy overall.”

And Charlie worked at Homestake for 40 years, bringing the total number of years worked by the Bauer family on this site to just over 100.

And just to be clear, Regan is not related to the Bauer family.