Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-01-01
sEATNe a cLoup-s0ksT

How an Engineer Outstrippcd F10od By
seventy Seconds
George Davis is one Of the oldest and best
engineers in Denver, says the News of that
city. He commenced in 1870 on the old Dem,
yer Pacific, ana was firing for Ed Hoskinsi
on old No. 80 when the engine brought the.
first passenger train to Denver in 1870. n
1872 he was given charge Of an engine, an !,
continued in active service on that line un |.
til, owing to sickness, he was obliged to lay, {
on [; but the company, appreciating his valua-.
BILE services, have him employed in the1
Union Depot examining train hands as to-
their knowledge of train rules and duties.
George had the reputation of being one ofe
the fastest engineers on the road, and on:
one occasion when pulling President
Adams car, speed indicator in his car in-F
dicsted seventy miles an hour for short
distance, but George thinks the. fastestS
time he ever made was on the afternoon off
July 12, 1875, when he ran q race with a.
food in Sand Creek and beat it by just sev-f
enty seconds. George can tell the story best,
however:
sit was during the time we were havingS
so many foods, and the bridge over Sanae
creek had been washed out few days bik-
fore, and the track ran down over the sans :
in the bottom of the creek, which was aro
ways dry except when there was food fhc
1--WE were an hour late that afternoon,
and when we reached Eaton, forty-eigKo
miles from Denver, we were just takiEen
water at the tank when D. B. Keeler, wien.
was the agent at that place then, came rum
ming out to me with message, which read:
"'Make all possible haste to Denver.
Water coming down Sand Creek
''The message was signed by Colonel
Riahpr the n,1 7 -
meant get there, and the way lammed the
old machine going over the track that after
noon was a caution. We had no air brakes
In those days, and had six stops to make,
but were only sixty-tour minutes from
Eaton to Sand Creek.
"When we reached the bank of the creek
it was nearly dusk, but l could see the
water coming only few rods above, foam
ing and roaring, solid wall six feet high,
full OF timber and wreckage from the
Kansas Pacific bridge few miles above,
and thought at first would not chance it,
but just as was about to blow the brakes
caught sight of Colonel Fisher on the other
side, waving his hat to me to come on, so
pulled her wide open and we plunged down
in the hole and wriggled up the other side
1Hst seventy seconds before the water
struck the track and wiped it out Of exist
ence with Q roar.
~ stopped as quick as 1 could after we
got over, and if you ever saw a delighted
set Of passengers they were there You
see they didn't know any thing about it
until we were down in the creek bottom,
when they saw the water coming. Scaredl
Well, you can bet they were. They had
been uneasy all the way from Eaton, and
had been coaxing Ed Hoskins-he was the
conductor-to make me stop running so
fast, but when we swung down into the
creek bottom at the rate of fifty miles an
hour, they knew something was up, and
when they caught sight of that food they
saw right away what the matter was They
got out on the bank and acted foolish.
cheering me and throwing their hats in the
air and shaking hands with me and saying.
God bless you,' and all that kind Of thing.
0, we had big time there for awhile, and
it was days before we could run trains
across the creek again"