Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-05-24

"'There were only two railroad
conductors IN the State of Ohio,
for that was all our road required,
and there was no other railroad
running yet. These two conductors
were George Smith and William
Hazen. They are living set, one
in Yellow Springs and one in Gin.
cinnati. The engines had no cabs
and no thaw pipes to keep the
pumps from freezing. When our
pumps froze, which was at nearly
every stop if the weather was very
cold, we put a bunch of cotton
waste on the end of a stick, satu.
rated it with oil, set 1t on fire, and
held the blaze under the pump
until it was thawed. Many and
many time we would run out OF
water between stations, and then
we would stop the locomotive over
a creek and dip water from it with
buckets until we filed the tank
This was a very pleasant JOB when
the thermometer was dancing be-
low zero.
"tAfter left the Little Miami
| went to the Columbus and XeDia
Railroad, which had Just been
opened, and Sylvester Mayberry,
the superintendent, made me mas
ter of the Columbus shops. Strange
as 1t may seem nowadays, part OF
my duties were to run locomotive
whenever occasion required it, aud
occasion required 1t very
often. 1t was on one of these trips
that | struck the idea of the loco
motive pilot or cOwcatcher. At
that time-ths was forty yearz
agO-the only cOwcatcher we had
was a row of sharp iron spikes,
four feet long, and driven into the
bumper of the locomotive, a foot
above the track. 1t was a COW.
catcher and no mistake. | never
liked this thing; in fact, was al
ways afraid of it, for had many
dangerous ard disagreeable ex-
periences with it. II was especially
dangerous at night. The lOOOmO-
lives had no headlights, and cattle
of all kinds had the free run Of the
country, fences being unknow
along the line of the Railroad
Scarcely night passed that we
didn't run into drove and impale
one or two cows on the spikes,
their dragging bodies frequently
obstucting the wheels and throw.
ing us from the track, causing
many serious and fatal accidents.
The pilot was calculated to pin all
distractions right to US, instead of
throwing them from the track, and
| never made a trip that ] was not
studying some way that | could
improve the cOwcatcher so that it
would not only cease to be constant
menance to lite and property, but
would become a safety guard.
" Zone day as 1 was running one
of my trips, thinking as usual
about the cOwcatcher, | noticed q
farmer blowing IN a field near the
railroad. The manner IN which
the mold board OF his pillow threw
the soil to one side instantly gave
me the idea I had so long sought.
That was the very action that |
wanted for a cOwcatcher, but it
was one.sided. Then it struck me
that a device that would be yirtu.
ally pillow with a double mold
board would give the action on
both sides, and the modern loco
motive pilot was invented there
and then, as | sped through that
valley. 1 did not rest until |
a pilot after had
my own plan. | attached
it to the locomotive Paterson,
and on my very first trip with 1t
its success was moro than demon.
strated. Superintendent Medberry
was with me or that trip. While
we we're going at a stiff rate Of
speed we rounded a curve and
came suddenly upon a drove OF
cattle on the track. couldn't
have stopped if had wanted to,
but | wouldn't have stopped If l
could, for determined to test the
value of my new pilot let the conSe-
quence be what they might. We
cut through that drove like q pillow
going through soil, and threw the
cattle to the right and left of and
away from the track without dis
turbing the locomotive a particle.
" Every locomotive on that road
was fitted with my cOwcatcher at
once. Superintendent Medberry
advised me to have the device
but bad so mneh Work
to attend TO that neglected it,
The news of my pilot soon spread,
lnd it wasn't long before every |
'oad In the country had it on its
locomotives. and 1t lie 10 use today,
With no deviation whatever from
ny original plan. That idea that
he buckeye farmers pillow gave
ne should have made me more
han a millionaire, but it meyer
me a single penny-not
ven free ride over the road for
which | had made the hrst COW
catcher IN Y Hun.