The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-08-03
BUILDING A MILE
OF RAILROAD A DAY.
Modern Appliances Enable Rapid
Construction When WOrkmen
Are Obtainable.
LABOR SEEMS HARD TO GET.
Republic Correspondent Describes
Picturesque Trip to the
"Front" Over Incom-
plete Division.
BIZ A STAFF CORRESPONDENT.

On board Pioneer IRAN, Near seventy
Six. Mo-, Aug. 2.-After rounding many be-
wildering curves. the frowning bluffs rising
sheer on one side. the broad Mississippi a
few feet below on the other. We Of the Pho
neer train are half way between Wittenberg
and Seventy-Six. where. perforce, We halt.
because the track ends.
The pioneer train il on the new railroad
building from Cape Girardeau to st. Louis,
which will be Frisco property. and which
will be an important addition to the rail
arteries Of trade leading south from St.
Louis.
for the front" where an invading army Of
laborers rapidly are pushing into the hostile
country-hostile in that its picturesque and
lonely cliffs by nature are fortified against
the shackles which represent bondage to
sordid commercial necessities
There are many places Of interest along
the way-the resentfui cliffs not least among
them-but none that quite compensated for
ones disappointment in failing to reach q
spot called by such name as seventy-Six.
Why the number? II numerals were wanted.
why not have chosen "Seyen-Eleven,"
which generally are accredited with some
significance? But Of all the numbers from
one to the billions, why should anybody
The railroad men say seyenty-six Is a
boat landing. which soon win be small
railway water station. It seems that. .
pie Creek" Further south twenty miles Is
another creek, which had been christened
with the same designation. Confusion hav-
Ing resulted, some steamboat captain chose
Six. Though this die little en- meaning. IL
tie relevancy bore" nobody saw At e in
Seventy-Six.
NEGROES DESERTED.
We were William DEWEY. ]. W. Jones,
William Carroll. the writer. fence men,;
two or three brakemen, the fireman and
about thirty negroes. DEWEY is train
master. Jones or "Jonsie" is conductor and
Carroll ~ engineer; The fence men are
who were hired as laborers. but who dis
covered an uncomfortable dislike Of labor,
ana Who deserted one by one as we neared
More tragedy than comedy-for the con-
tractory-was involved in these assertions.
With plenty OF hands. track can be laid at
ing made. even two miles, day But labor,
what with harvesting. the deal Of railroad
construction now In progress In Missouri,
and other large enterprises such as the
The Contractors. Mccabss & Sleeve. who
engaged to build the difficult stretch Of
oas s. a. the 10 e Gaps tS r Sys CITY
were enlisted. Their fares we're paid to
GapS g ,be and SPECIAL train
Not d few had whetted their appetite for
travel by the time they reached The Cape.
and took Job as roustabout on the first
gether and set out with us. But on every
stop, their number notiseably decreased.
DEWEY, Jones. Carroll, the brakeman. and
man 81 to know wat tsy 81 esS Y sa
Ing from the cars and making off south.
They offered no explanations. Carroll would
they easily defeated by literally taking to
the woods. where high up on bluff or
down in q deep gulch they Demonstrated by
grinnink broadly that they had no I'll feel
A It was a positive imposaibility to run
heavy construction train over the noun
ssns a nsir Tar away such path
them adieu. Dewey and Jones the while
nhutterinE something about black hides and
buckshot.
ONE LONE LABoRER.
Just one solitary negro was aboard when
we reached the 'front.' camp. He was
horny handed son Of Ham, who evidently
was accustomed to hard work. Asked to
account for the conduct of his confreres. he
replied terseiy: Denis no count, niggahs.
boss a,ss, no Aia ab MAJ, NOT no Louian coon
DEWEY was kind enopeh to take personal
charge Of the writer. We sat on top OF the
ssbSoss Whence nc he pointed out the fRsSIsl
thing which, attracts Attention when View
n nsSer S q edess ,hss p
to the eyes. But, accustomed to cinder-
lined eyes, you are able to observe and rel
The the mt most It's striking Scenic features Of any
stretch Of track near 81. Louis. - -,
r.rd s Me Wiz nGf s s * ss5 ~ sRs s
few miles In Scott County one unbroken