The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-11
Short Lines Loss Cannot be
Estimated in Dollars.

L Hickey His records. as far as
known, were completely destroyed.
This means that no record remains Of
the hundreds of Oregon Short Line cars
that are now wandering all over the
country off the line of the company.
Tracers can be sent out to watch the
cars, but it will be some time before
this can be done, and it viii take far
longer before the cars can be caught.
While il is not deemed likely that any
of the cars viii be actually stolen, it
will be necessary for the Short Line to
take the figures of the other roads as
to the amounts of mileage for each
car, which involves a large amount Of
money. Altogether, the outlook in Mr.
Hickey's department. is for work
enough for the next year to make the
heart sink in contemplation.
The passenger department lost all its
records, tickets and advertising matter.
General Passenger agent D. L. Burley
has not returned from ChocagO. Assist
ant General Passenger Agent d. S.
Spencer did not let the grass grow be-
meath his feet Before the forenoon
was half over he had wired an order
to Chicago for the printing OF an en-
tirely new set of tickets. which are ex-
-pected within a. week or ten days, in
time to replenish the present supply in
the hands of agents. in case the agents
run short of any tickets they will use
the skeleton forms supplied until the
regular forms can be obtained. No Sc
riOus difficulty is expected on the score
of tickets, but the loss of the records
is more serious.
The vault of the freight department.
is believed to be intact, and it is hoped
most of the records have been pre-
served Until the vault can be opened,
however, the extent of the losses can
not be told. Traffic Manager T. N.
Schumacher and General Freight
Agent J. +. Reeves have not vet re-
n lsaI NF -,
traffic officials in Chicago.
In the department of Purchasing
Agent L. o. Rhoades the principal loss
was the records. These contain ac-
counts of transactions for years. to-
gether with much information abso-
lutely essential to the hikhest efficiency
of the department.
Mr. Rhoades was one OF the busiest
men in the employ OF the railroad yes
terday. He spent the day in rustling
furniture and other supplies and in
doing his best to equip the various de-
pargments temporarily until permanent
arrangements could be made.
General Manager w. II. Bancroft
and superintendent L. Z. Calvin boil
lost a large number of private papers
as well as the records of their offices
They scarcely stopped for meals YES.
| terday, but spent the day actively SUI
perintending the work of installing the
various departments in new quarter.
and looking after the thousand and on,
details that came up.
Mr.. Bancroft and Mr.. Calvin wer,
/ found together yesterday afternoon
and both declined - make any esti
mate of the loss.
1T is absolutely impossible to guess
at the present time" said Mr. Calvin
! The loss is principally records, which
! have comparatively small intrinsic
value. but which in many instance
cannot be replaced. The maps an,
other records in the engineers ofFic
cost a great many thousands of dol
lars, and the loss in these IS the mos
| serious"