Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-11-13

great responsibilities, and whose mis-
takes might cost many lives and great
damage to property. This unknown
man is the track walker 1t is his bus
ineSs to patrol the tracks and look out
for broken rails, for sunken ties, for
instructions, for loOsened bolts and
1uts and weakened bridges. No mat
ter the state OF the weather, he must
go, hour after hour, walking up and
down the section of the track under his
supervision, watching carefully every
inch OF steel and wood before him.
Sometimes he pays the penalty of MS
duty with his life, for more than one
track walker has been run down by
fast trains.
In the summer time the work of the
track walker is not very hard, but he
has to be attentive because on the
track, or rain may wash out culVert
or weaken a bridge. Then, too, the
bolts in the rails are as likely to be-
come loose as IN the winter. In the
rainy season his labor is arduOus and
dangerous. In the fall it is tiresome,
but in the winter it is what a famous
American said war is. A track walker
generally has about six miles of track
to cover and carries with him long
wrench for the purpose Of Tightening
the bolts and nuts where such service
is needed.
With this wrench, too, he will tap a
rail occasionally to see if it is sound,
10 h Do h
to discover breaks. If rail cracks on
a tie, the break is not very plain to the
sight, but if off tie, one end of the rail
says down and the break is plainly dis
pcernibJe. Then the track walker hur-
Ties to the nearest telegraph station
and notifies the dispatchers. But if
he has not the time to do that, he
stands guard over the break and stops
any train that is due. He does no
track repairing, but he sees that the
track is kept in good order. When the
track walker discovers that rail has
Sagged down, that there is a low place,
he puts in a 'shim," which is a wedge
of wood ranging in thickness from an
eighth of an inch to six inches. This
raises the track and makes it level.
Sometimes the track walker carries
the @Eshim" with him, but generally he
aa&s to hew it out, and often he does
great deal of good with that little block
of wood. This looks like simple job,
but it has to be done skillfully. 1t was
only few years ago that terrible &C
cident, in which number of lives were
lost, happened few miles from In
dianapOlis because the shin" that had
been put under a tie was improperly
inserted, and came out just as a fast
train struck a curve. The horrors Of
that accident are still fresh in the
Eninds of the people of this city, and it
WAS all due to little block of wood
less than two inches in thickness.
The track walker is seldom seen.
Once in a while the passenger looking
e0u6. of the rear window of the last car
Un a train will see a man suddenly
eaIsrge from the side of the road, wave
his hand at the train and go tramping
along the track. Many may suspect
nina of being a tramp or others of being
a GARNER pedestrian. In most in
he is the humble track walker
and has inspected the track over which
the train is laundering, and found it
all right.
"A great many things are lost from
passenger trains, and most of them are
found BIZ the track walker. He is, as
q rule, as honest as he is faithful and
whatever he finds on the right-of-Way
fle turns over to the nearest agent, who
6orwards it to the superintendent
office, where the owner can get it.
More than one pocketbook with money
and valuable papers has been picked
up hy the track walker and returned to
its owner. But he is never rewarded.
If he saves wreck he has only per-
formed his duty, and if he makes a
mistake, he is discharged. When a
plot was laid to rob train in the north
part OF the state, the man most in the
way was the track walker, who had a
section in which the robbery could he
best carried out. On the night the
train was held up, the track walker
was knocked down and bound, and the
train ram into siding. 1t was through
u description of his assailants that the
robbers were captured, and one of
them is now serving IA years sent
e0ce in the Michigan City prison; but
the man who was instrumental in the
capture is not superintendent; he is
still walking the track. One Of the
things that track walker will not 10
us @O talk about his business. He dis
.cOVgTs many things that would make
ttIee people who ride on trains shiver,
lbuG Noe never tells them. He argues
that what is past will not hurt them,
and besides a still tongue insures his
Job.
Not long ago a fast express train,
nearly two hours behind time, was
edashing toward Indianapolis with the
T1ght-of-way over everything. 1t was
loaded with passengers. Though the
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