1917-April-25-30
''Good... keep up the pace'' I said while moving through a limestone quarry, watching how around twelve thousand workers were extracting the raw material for cement.
It was not the most modern extraction method possible, but since the limestone was literally only a few meters underground, if not directly exposed in open pits throughout several areas of the duchy, this would not be particularly difficult.
Extraction advanced at a good pace, producing several tons every day which were later transported back to the outskirts of Riga where one of the factories I intended to turn into one of the state's largest sources of income had been installed considering how few things the duchy could realistically produce.
So cement became the best way to secure proper revenue because it could either be sold directly or used for massive state construction projects since good cement opened the possibility of urban development, the creation of construction companies, and the offering of engineering services across Germany's allied states.
For that purpose I had ordered the purchase of an electric kiln from a steelworks in Austria-Hungary since they were the only ones I could find available on short notice. Every other option inside Germany had to be custom ordered because there were no spare industrial machines left due to the massive industrialization Germany was undergoing to maintain its war effort.
Using the electric kiln and drawing nearly the entire output of one of Riga's coal power stations, clay and limestone began to be calcined in order to produce clinker. Afterwards, by adding gypsum from one of the local quarries and grinding the mixture down, we obtained a proper Portland cement blend.
The only real dilemma was the proportions, but there was already someone working on that, measuring the ideal ratio of each material. At the very least we were finally beginning to reduce unemployment in the cities and stimulate other industries.
With a population of almost three million inhabitants, which was our estimate after reviewing the documents from the former Russian governorates, we had roughly four hundred thousand unemployed men. Considering the active male workforce was close to one million, unemployment stood at nearly forty percent. Fortunately women were not counted in these statistics because otherwise the numbers would have looked even worse considering women still filled the traditional role of remaining at home caring for the household and family.
So this state project had been created which, between the multiple quarries and the factory built around the kiln, currently employed around one hundred thousand men dedicated to all the labor required for cement production.
That alone reduced unemployment by roughly ten percent at the cost of finding a way to ensure the paper money we paid them with actually held value. For the moment I had solved that by allowing Baltic marks to be exchanged for food at a decent rate using the food produced in my greenhouses in Posen and Ukraine, which allowed me to feed most of the Baltic Duchy's population.
''Herzog... the train is full. It will depart for Riga immediately'' one of the foremen said while, like me, supervising the work to ensure everything continued as quickly as the primitive tools of this extremely manual labor allowed.
''Of course it will leave quickly. The clay extraction teams should already be done for the day as well, so the sooner it reaches the kiln for calcination the better'' I replied while beginning to move toward the vehicle.
One thing I had been exploiting was the Tenth Army and the Russian prisoners of war who had not yet been repatriated due to the civil war temporarily halting the transfer of soldiers. That meant I possessed workers highly experienced in one specific thing: laying railroads.
Railroad construction projects were underway all across the duchy, connecting every city to Riga and the other major urban centers in order to avoid the Russian logistical nightmare of poorly developed railway networks which had severely damaged the local economy and exposed how weakly connected the territory truly was.
When I arrived at the factory, which was really just an empty warehouse where the electric kiln had been installed and connected to the power grid, there were already several bags filled with finished cement beginning to pile up near the exits while workers continued stacking more.
Inside I found the foreman supervising the process of filling additional cement bags.
''Did you finally figure out the proper material percentages so the cement comes out correctly?'' I asked with interest.
''Yes, Herzog... the architect you brought handled the ratios after reviewing your cement proposal'' the foreman replied.
''Ah, they arrived?'' I asked, interested.
''Yes... from what I know they went to inspect the river'' the foreman answered.
''Excellent. Hopefully that means they can begin working'' I said while leaving the building and observing the two railway lines surrounding the installation where workers unloaded raw materials from incoming trains.
Without wasting a second I headed toward the Daugava River by vehicle. As I drove I quickly spotted the group of architects I had requested from Germany, engineers from the Preußische Wasserbauverwaltung who had worked on Germany's recent hydroelectric dam projects.
Coal was becoming far too expensive to continue importing even with all the favorable deals I had secured with the Kingdom of Ukraine considering the state's only revenue came from the German marks allocated to me for governing, roughly three hundred fifty million marks that had to last until the following year, so I could not afford to spend such enormous amounts merely supplying coal to the cities.
So the idea came to me of constructing a hydroelectric dam on the Daugava River that would also serve as a water reserve for future harvests because we needed aggressive industrialization in the cities and for that we needed electricity. A great deal of electricity.
Building a dam would obviously be catastrophically expensive, far more than simply purchasing coal, but only if one looked at the project like an ordinary man.
I had contacts and controlled every step of the raw material chain. I controlled the steelworks in Ukraine, which meant I could obtain steel at production cost from Ukraine in whatever form and quantity was required, drastically reducing construction expenses and leaving only labor salaries and, naturally, the payment of the architects, which would surely become the most expensive part of the entire project. Although the single most expensive element would be the turbines, which would have to be custom manufactured by some German factory, but that would only become necessary once construction neared completion.
''Greetings... I see you are already studying the river. Hopefully work on the project can begin as soon as possible'' I said while clasping my hands together and approaching the architects with a smile as they inspected their various measuring instruments.
''Herzog Karl von Posen, we have begun measuring the river. Although we have only just started, we believe the earliest preliminary phases should move relatively quickly'' one of the architects replied while standing on a wooden platform with a pencil in hand as several workers began crossing the river.
''Good to hear... I remind you that all construction materials and most of the labor force will be provided by us. I also hope you will train several local architects so that later we may continue projects like this without having to divert the valuable expertise of servants of the Kingdom of Prussia'' I said while positioning myself in front of the architect who seemed to lead the group.
''We have taken that into consideration, of course. Hopefully you truly possess labor in such large quantities once construction begins in several months'' the architect answered while one of his workers brought soil and stones from the riverbed.
''What do you mean several months?... I thought... well, you said it would be relatively fast'' I said while widening my eyes.
''This is a good location, certainly... but we must inspect the type of stone beneath the riverbed, examine the flooding levels of the river, study where the river course can be diverted so construction may begin, determine which villages the reservoir might affect, calculate water depth and dam height, and establish how much vertical drop will exist to make the project functional... all to avoid any sort of tragedy, which requires extensive study and preparation. We will be ready to begin next year'' the architect explained.
''Next year...'' I repeated the architect's words.
''Precisely, therefore we will begin work as quickly as possible'' the architect said.
''I do not have a year... is there no way to speed this up? I thought at most it would require one month of study and planning'' I replied with concern since this would completely delay my plans to combat unemployment.
''We would be risking the safety of several villages around the Daugava, Herzog. That could result in many deaths. Besides, we would need far more extensive river diversion works in order to inspect the area safely in case of sudden rises in the water level, which would greatly increase costs by requiring additional workers'' the architect explained while spinning the pencil between his fingers.
''What I currently have in excess are workers. I have an unemployment crisis on my hands, so if you need labor to divert the river I can provide you with three hundred thousand workers in less than a week... besides, all lands near the Daugava have already been marked for state expropriation and compensation is already being paid, merely waiting for the harvest to end because I intend to build several water reserves'' I answered seriously.
''Well... considering that... it depends on the stone beneath the riverbed... therefore we should divert the river by creating multiple channels so water continues flowing toward the city and the sea while allowing the area beneath to be inspected easily... since nobody will remain near the river, I suppose there is no need for major flood studies... aside from some catastrophic rise... but that can be solved with additional engineering works'' the architect replied while beginning to sketch solutions on paper and showing them to me.
''Good. Then I will begin bringing you workers so they may follow your instructions on how and where to divert the river, while also accelerating the expropriation process after the harvest so construction can begin soon'' I said while looking at the architect.
''Very well then... colleagues, we must figure out how to divert the river immediately. Our original plans have just collapsed'' the architect said to the others.
Without wasting time I returned to my vehicle and began driving back toward Riga.
Saying that I already had workers available was easy. Bringing them in from every corner of the duchy was the difficult part since they had to be moved from their homes through the labor laws that had been created to generate employment while being paid in local currency which allowed them to purchase food, but little else.
So after contacting the administrations of every city in the Baltic Duchy, workers began arriving by train.
First the construction of barracks near the work zone began because for the moment people would have to be transported back and forth every day, something expensive in terms of train coal consumption, but I needed people working in order to stimulate the local economy.
So multiple projects began taking shape while the construction of many worker housing blocks also started. Cement, bricks, and glass were gathered while work to divert the Daugava also began, bypassing the zone intended for inspection to determine whether it was suitable for dam construction.
Within only a few days I had assembled a labor force of roughly twenty three thousand men while preparations were underway for the arrival of the rest since many would have to come from extremely distant areas.
They had begun digging trenches and channels that captured portions of the river which then flowed around the area where the architects had started conducting their studies.
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