The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-10-30
S CLAIM adjuster in the del

DIVISIONS ana nfdnCneS OF the TOdus dL
the head or tail OF problems involving
the cOmpany's money or the want or
it. Old Perth, roundhouse foreman at
Wandop, had helped me in fixing the
responsibility of q shortage In the
freighting of engine oil from an east
ern firm, and perhaps on that account,
or from some sort of affinity, we be-
came fast friends. OF course an eX-
dispatcher like myself and an old en-
gineer like Perth could hardly escape
feeling an interest in each other; be-
side, Perth was a, man of good intel
iect and eminently worthy of cultiVa-
ton.
Sitting one day in his little Office he
told me tie story OF Katie Lyons
great ride during Long Blankets raid,
and her race for life in the bu1alo
stampede.
TT was the first stip 1 ever fired an
engine" he said. Il was then green
lump Of a boy, only a couple of years
off the farm. Eighteen months in the
shops at Omaha had given me an am
bitiOn TO push nay way toward the
throttle as fast as possible, and wipers
and gremen being plenty in my quar-
ter. ] came on out 10 the mountain d.
vision and went into the rOundhouse
at Ludder That was way back IN
the COS, when the first road was Dei4lg
pushed across the western half or the
continent.
"There was some question as to
whether Ludder would continue as
divisional point, and, partly on account
of its possible removal TIE roundhouse
had been constructed of WOOD instead
Of brick. The building contained stalls
for eight engines, and stood some 2OO
feet from a creek. Into the creek
emptied an eighteen-inch drain, carry
ing off the waste water that we
washed out the engine boilers with.
But for this drain it Is probable lnat
Katie Lyon would never have taken
her memorable ride.
Jack Lyon, Katie's father. handled
the throttle of the old 40. Jack was
a middle-aged man then. and the 40
was young. Both are in the scrap pie
now. God bless them! The advanced
front of construction was nearly
hundred miles west of us, and such
rolling stock as we boasted was chiefly
employed i'm hauling rails, ties, ma
chinery men and supplies toward the
front The rather indefinite homes OF
the companys employees at Ludder
consisted, in most instances. OF Sod
huts and flimsy pine cottages. Lyon s
home lay a quarter of a mile down the
creek where a Jersey COW and calf
and young white mare. brought from
Iowa. found pasture close at hand. The
engineers family consisted of wife
and three children Kate, IA or is years
of age. and twin boys in their 10Th
summer.
Katie was a restless creature. boy
ism and as whimsical and lively as
thistle-down. ] remember-you can
hardly fancy how clearly-of often
looking down from the engine house
and seeing the girl and the two little
chaps playing at all sorts of FRANKS In
the pasture below the house One day
il would be circus. with Katie on the
mare. sometimes standing up. urging
the animal round a circle. with enc
twin as ringmaster and the other as
clown or lumber; another day It
would be cowboy with one of the
twins or Katie on the mare and rop-
ing tie Jersey calf or COW or one OF
the children. Once, when years old,
Katie had been to a circus, back in
Iowa. and memory of it still famed IN
her mind. Lyon occasionally asked his
daughter. in teasing vein, if she had
yet decided which she was best cut out
for a circus rider or a cowboy. But
Katies equestrian weakness ultimately
served the little community a very
good turn, indeed.
During those davs Indians were
plentiful. Buffalo in uncOunted thou
sands grazed on the plains and in the
legs all the way from Texas to Mon
tana Wild horses roamed in freedom,
and the antelope and coyote were not
afraid. 1t was beautiful
But that order of things had been
touched with change; the roar OF the
locomotive began to reverberate in the
soIitudes. and the first criminal slaugh-
terers OF the bison herds had begun
their awful work. The Indians grew re-
SentfUl and troublesome, and details OF
United States troops had often TO be
called out to guard the railroad and
defenseless settlements. Then came the
general attack led by Chief Long
Blanket on the north and by Black
Calf from the south. That brought to
light the real stuff OF most of us, and
il was then / found out the uue-blue
steel Of which Katie was made. She
used to come UP 10 the station almost
every time that her father came in
with his engine and would usually
climb into The cab and mount the fire.
mans seat and ring the bell while
ran the engine into the house. When
Lyon wasn't looking, 1 remember,
used to let her hold the throttle as we
went down to the roundhouse switch
She could always do almost anything
with me.
well, one September morning a re-
port came from the front that the men
on construction had been having a
warm time with the redskins and
wanted help. Three troops of the Third
cavalry were in camp on the creek a
mile or so from Ludder, and a messen-
ger was sent all speed to notify them
Old Fort Chandler lay off TO the south
west Of Us about fifteen miles, and the
blueshirts had been brought near tho
track in order that they might strike
quickly for disturbing rumors had beer
coming in for some weeks Of a general
uprising OF the savages. Major Holmt
had gone west from Fort Chandler In
search OF Black Calf and his band
leaving the troops at the fort reduced
to "a small number, three companies
under the command Of Captain Pope
having been detached to guard the rail
road and settlement at Ludder BLACK
Calf, however, had given HOlme the
slip and was making a long detOur Il
the south and east to strike US at the
division station; but all were ignorant
of this. Reports had come in that Lons
Blanket, with a band of warriors, hac
been seen in the low foothills north o.
the track some twenty miles west go
US. and Pope was preparing to swinl
his force against them, when wore
came that his men we're needed at th'
front, eighty miles west.
The superintendent Of construction
who was at the front. had sent thu
message. It came by wire. early in thu
morning. and within an hour Pope wai
at the station with his troops. Thu
horses and luggage were hurriedll
loaded into box cars, most or the boy!
boarded other box cars, whiles two fla
cars were thrown into the center of th'
train, each bearing a mounted howitzel
and staked breastwOrk of railroad iror
81 coIslfpre T.rcfrt