Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-05-24
he SHOULD BE Rich.
THE NAN WHO INVENTED THE
COWCATCHER TELLS
ABOUT IT.

ABOUT IT.
AN INVENTION WORTH MILLIONS
TO RAILROADS, BUT WHICH
NEVER PAID ITS ORIGINATOR
A CENT-AN INTERESTING
STORY.
III don't believe that there are a
dozen railroad engineers in the
country that know how or when the
cOwcatcher first came to be a part
of The almost human machine they
handle, or who it was that first at
tached that important and indis-
pensable fixture to a locomotive"
said a railroad man with a predi-
licuon for looking things up.
"There are engineers living today
and now and then one is still in the
service, who remember when the
locomotive had no cab, no headlight
no sandpipe, nothing to keep the
pumps from freezing in the winter
when the engine was standing still,
and there onght to be many a one
in active duty who remembers
when there was no pilot or COW
catcher, such as We have today ;
but have asked scores of engln'
GERS, who ought to know better,
if they knew how the cOwcatcher
in its present shape came to be put
on locomotives, and they have re-
Piled that 1t was always there, they
supposed. Well, locomotives have
been made In this country since
1881, or pretty near sixty years,
but it wasn't until 1850 or there
about that the present pilot became
a part of one.
aft you should go TO Columbus,
Ohio, any time within the next few
years, and should drop into the
little model. Uttered Office of the
Novelty Iron Works IN that city,
you would see a sharp eyed, white
headed old gentleman who would
either be porting over some o6tuse
work on mechanics or sketching a
quaint design for a pattern to be
used in fabricatlng some piece OF
ornamental iron work. That old
gentleman is L. b Davis, who ran
the first locomotive in active ser
vice on the first railroad built in
Ohio, who was for years a locomo-
tive engineer in that State, and who
is the man that invented the cow
catcher used on every locomotive
In this country today, and IN other
countries, too, | suppose. That IN
vention, or conception, has saved
millions of dollars to railroad COM
panies, and undoubtedly hundreds
of lives ; bat Davis has not received
apenny's benefit from it-'nOt even
a free ride on the road l made the
hrst cowcatcher for the old gen
tleman says.
"Dayis's story of how he came to
invent the locomotive pilot, and
his "reminiscences of the crude way
they raIlroaded half century ago,
are most interesting. He was
born in Kennebec county, Maine,
in 1917, worked on his fathers
farm until be was II, when he
served two years at the millwright's
trade, and then became assls tant
engineer on a PenObscot river
steamboat.
"In 1886 | went to New York
city to get job said the old en-
gineer. Il saw an advertisement
in a newspaper that Cornelius
Vanderbilt wanted an assistant en-
gineer on his steamboat Cleopatra.
l went Immediately to the COmmo-
dore and applied for the place. He
asked me a lot of questions and
kept smiling a queer smile all the
time. Then he told me to meet
him on the boat the next day. l
did. He called his chief engineer,
whose name was Birdsall, and told
him about me wanting to be as
sistant engineer, and they both
laughed heartily. cOuldd't make |
out what it meant. But | was en-
gagged tor the post, and the first
trip we pulled Out of the dock
found out what caused Vanderbilt |
and Birdsall 80 much merriment.
found that the engine Of the boat |
had to be worked by hand until
the boat was got into the channe |
OF the river, and it was the assistant
duty to that. | did 1T
successfully, and it required much
time and hard work and a great
deal of maneuverIng to keep the
boat clear OF other crafts. When
We got back to the dock from our
first trip Commodore Vanderbilt
came aboard and asked Brdsall
how the new assistant engineer got
along, and Birdsall replied that
did 6rst rate, as | coud work the
engine hv hand as well az he could
"Davis says he worked one sea
ION for Vanderbilt and then went
)ut West. He went to work Tor
Nichigan's pioneer railroad com.
Dany, the old Detroit and Ypsllan.
i, az machinist, and finally went to
running a locomotive. The Little
Miami Railroad was being built,
about 1910, between Xenia and
Springfield, Ohio, and Davis went
% that work, and ran a cOnstruc.
ion team unfiI fha rOad uao hutIf |