The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-19

Mr.. Gaunt's appointment becomes eff
fectfve tomorrow and in addition to ex-
ecuting such duties as may be assigned
to him by the general manager. Mr..
Gaunt will continue to superintend the
telegraph service of the company. He
is to get a material increase in sal
ary.
For some time past the work of the
general managers Office has been such
mat Mr.. Hurley has realized the neces-
s1ty of having an assistant, whom he
could delegate with the nroper authori-
~ to transact the affairs of the Office.
r. he took the matter up with the execu-
tive officials of the road and they agreed
that he should have an assistant
Not so very long ago Mr.. Gaunt was
offered a responsible position with the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway
company and this fact was known to
the officers of the Santa Fe Mr. Hur-
ley considered Mr.. Gaunt too valuable
man to lose and offered him the DO
sition of assistant general manager,
which was about to be created. Mr.
Gaunt accepted the offer and in the
future he will be known as the assist
ant general manager of the company.
Made Excellent Record.
Although Mr.. Gaunt has been in the
employ of the Santa Fe as superintend-
ent of telegraph for the entire system
for but three and one-half years tax
ing up the duties Of that Office on
March 1, 1902 he has accomplished an
unusual amount of work in that time
which has been of momentous import
anee to the company.
Under his direction the telegraph sys-
tenn of the company from Chicago to
San Francisco and to the gulf has been
reorganized- He has replaced all the
obsolete machinery in the department
with new and up to date apparatus and
has rebuilt the entire telegraph proper
ty along all of the lines of the system
- @ n --1-r
ganization and rebuildi~- of the tele-
graph system has practically quad
rupled the operating capacity of the
lines. At present there are more than
LOO employees in this department alone.
Mr.. Gaunt was born in Steuben coun-
ty, New York, in 1867. He was educated
in the grammar schools in Brooklyn
and finished the high school course at
Red Bank, N. J. On the completion Of
this course Mr.. Gaunt learned telegra-
ply and secured employment with one
Of the telegraph companies in New
York city. During his first year Of
work he continued his studies at the
Brooklyn Polytechnic institute. He
worked for four years in minor posi-
tiOns in the offices of the Western Tn
ion and Postal in New York and also
in the telegraph department Of the Bal
timore & Ohio railroad. He secured
position as operator in the Helena,
Montana, Office of the Northern Pacific
in 1888. He worked his way through all
the successive positions in the telegraph
department Of this road such as wire
chief, manager of the larger relay Of
fees, agent, dispatcher and division
chief, and in 1898 was appointed assist
ant superintendent of telegraph of this
road which position he held until he
came to the Santa Fe AS assistant tel
egraph superintendent of the Northern
Pacific, Mr. Gaunt assisted in reorgan-
izing and rebuilding the telegraph sys-
tenn on this road and bringing it up to
date.
Mr. Gaunt is married and has one
son. Harry, who is about IA years old
The family home is at 827 Tyler street.
Mr.. and Mrs Gaunt are prominent in
! the social affairs Of Topeka.