Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-08
WOMAN RUNS ROAD.
A Paying California Railway Managed
by Fair Hands,

The San Francisco Bulletin tells in
the following manner of railway
managed by woman:
Few railroads anywhere reve1 In
dividend Of 10 per cent, but what
makes this one really remarkable is
the fact that it was earned under the
direction Of a woman-the only woman
active steam railroad president
This marvel Of femininity, manage
ment and finance is Mrs. S. A. Kidder.
Of Grass Valley, Cal, and her line
known as the Nevada County Marrow
Guage railroad, is in the northern CEN
trail part of this state.
No f1gurehead is Mrs. Kidder. When,
after the death of her husband, she was
elected president in his stead, she found
the road worn to a. fragile and in debt.
This was four years ago. Mrs. Kidder
mended the roadbed, put in new rails,
purchased new rolling stock. In 1903
the line began to pay. Now it is one
of the most remunerative Of its size In
all the land.
Connecting Nevada City and Grass
| Valley with the Southern Pacific sys-
tenn at Colfax, it does good freight
and a considerable passenger business,
and is the only outlet of one Of the bus
lest gold mining sections In the west.
Mrs. Kidder did not seek the presi
dency of the Nevada County Narrow
Guage railroad; the Office sought her.
When her husband, the late John F..
kidder, died in April, 1901, the stock
holders and directors unanimously
turned to her as his successor.
Together, husband and wife had bat
tied their way to the front through the
vicissitudes that so often mark life In
the mining sections of the west
In all of Mr.. Kidder's business ven
lures including the management Of the
railroad, she had been his confident and
was well recognized In fact, no one
else was suggested as the new head Of
the company, and she has been re-,
elected each year since.
While, previous to 1876, Nevada City
and Grass Valley We're important and
busy mining centers. they had no rail-
re ad connection with TIE outside world
The nearest line was the Central Pa
cific and Its nearest station, Colfay.
was eighteen miles from Grass Valley,
and twenty-four miles from Nevada
City.
Daily stage coaches brought passen-
gers to the two cities from Colfax. An
almost endless stream Of freighting
teams passed to and fro along the
supplies for the business houses and
heavy machinery for the mines ana
hauling but the products of the mines
Rich Mining Company.
In 1876 the Nevada County Narrow
Guage line was completed to fill It's
longfelt need. 1t is known as "the
crookedest railroad in California" be-
turnings throughout the hills.
Grass Valley. the home Of Mrs. Kid
der. is remarkably pretty city of u
600 people, nesting at an attitude of
2,400 feet in a little valley amid the
rising mountains.
Here it was that the first quartz
gold was discovered In California
Here, today, the great mines are rich
er, deeper and bigger than ever be-
fore employing hundreds of men, and
putting out a monthly payroll of nearly
500, 900.
1t is city Of pretty homes and con-
tented, Intelligent English and Irish
f.iners. Labor troubles are not known
in Grass Valley.
Six miles further on Nevada City is
Is almost q replica In fact 1t and
cities.
All the passengers and all the freight
OF these cities and for the mining
re gion about them are hauled over Mrs.
Kidder's railroad.
Immense quantities of quartz are
shipped out monthly, besfdes other
freight and in summer the fruit crop
lend additional activity. Eight trains
rass over the road each day.
At times all is not smooth sailing
with his little road high up in the
Sierras Usually during the worst of
winter snow plows must be out for
days at time. In the winter Of 1882
90 the most serious snow storm in forty
years occurred.
1t was during the blockade which
resulted that the executive ability and
grasp of railroad requirements possess.
ed by Mrs. Kidder first won recogni-
ton.
With her husband, she organized
hundreds of miners into shovelers of
snow, and distributed them along the
line to clear the tracks, while tenn
porary sleigh express to CoIfax was
put into service to carry passengers,
mails and lighter articles of freight
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