The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1900-10-10
RAILROAD
TICKETS
Enormous Extent of These
Articles Used Daily.
On one OF the Greatest Railroad Systems in the
United States Interesting Informa.
tlOn.
"TI,kets, tickets p

P"'tboaIu HtCCeSSdTy iOr ride.
drummer, who was telling an old s;or,
to new man, pulled his mileage book
out OF the first pocket he put his hand
into. The old man across the aisle had
less experience and more trouble
Rummaging around in all the pockets OF
his coat, vest and trousers, without
catching glimpse of his ticket, he
turned frantically to his overcoat, ran.
sacked that garment IN vain, plunged
into his valise, scattered its contents,
and finally sank back in his seat, hope.
less, detected, exhausted. Then the
conductor came along and picked the
old mans ticket out of his hat band,
where it had first been placed so it could
not be forgotten.
The incident had been observed and
enjoyed by two other passengers. The
conversation turned toward railroad
tickets, and one of the pair remarked: /:
at seems strange any one should have
difficulty in locating his ticket; surely
the Burlington prints enough of them "
"Yes, | suppose it does print Sc Seral
thousand"
"Several thousandl" You want to
guess again l have been doing a little
figuring, and find that the tickets the
Burlington issued last year, il placed
end to end, would reach from st. Paul TO
Chicago, a distance of 430 miles. After
carpeting the route OF its electric-lighted
limited, between these cities, there
would be five miles Of tickets left over to
cover the side tracks"
"That's pretty long strip of paper"
81 know it, but think my calcula-
tions are correct. have some figures
in my note book, and, il you like, well
look them oyer together. These figures
show the number Of tickets issued by the
Burlington from the ON ha general Of
fees during the last year. First, let us
look at the mileage books. find there
were II 800 Of these books put out.
Some OF them, those containing 5000
miles, measure just twenty six feet when
pulled out. But the l,0O0-mile books
more commonly seen, are nine feet long.
These strips Of mileage are printed off
one piece Of paper nowadays, and the
counterfeiter has not rs easy task as
when several strips of paper were pasted
together to make up one book. II we
place these II 800 strips Of mileage end
to end, they will extend down the track
for twenty miles.
Perhaps it would be more fun TO pile
the mirage books one on top of another,
as We used to do with blocks. II the
mileage books would remain on top of
each other we should have stack high
er than any church steeple you ever saw
--2S71@ feet Suppose you undertake TO
use mp these mileage books. Some of
them contain 1000 miles others 1000
miles, and few, 5000 miles. I'm the lot
there is transportation for l0,550, 900
miles. II you ride 500 miles day for
sixty years you'll just about use all your
books, Or suppose you want TO study
all the Burlington lines. There are S,O06
miles OF railroad in the Burlington sys.
tenn and you could make ,3lS trips over
it all before your mileage gave out.
"But mileage tickets are not the only
ones in the ticket case. There are
others. The tickets most commonly
used by Burlington station agents for
travel between points on that line are
known as book tickets. One hundred Of
them are bound together in the form Of
book, and on issuing the ticket the
agent writes his name of the starting
point and Of the destination. OF these
the Burlington's ticket an at Omaha
nsed 453 900 last year. Allowing 200 for
one inch in height, we should have
monument Of tickets towering ls9 feet
in the air.
"Wherever the ticket sales from one
station to another are very numerous,
and the demand regular, card tickets
take the place of book tickets. OF the
former Just about 10000 were used
last year. A stack Of $50 card tickets
measures eight inches in height. By a
years supply would pile mp over half
mile-quite piece of statuary.
"Of course, the tickets in this paste
board monument would not include the
thousands OF card tickets printed for
special excursions. II on top Of the
millionth card ticket were placed the
excursion tickets issued during one year
ior county and state fairs, expositions,
conventions, picnies and similar oc-
casions. our card tower would be nearer
a mile high, and the Washington monu-
ment would seem like boys size tomb
stone in comparison.
"But the Burlington sells many tickets
TO points off its own lines. There
through tickets are made by pasting
together a. many strips as are called for
by the different lines over which the
passenger will travel have seen the
Burlington ticket man paste mp one OF
these coupon tickets till il reached a
length OF five feet. The purchaser OF
this ticket, as you may guess, was going
10 do considerable travelling, over
number OF lines, and making numerous
stop.oyers. Sixty inches OF paper is
quite a strip for one ticket, lsn't ~