The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1905-08-28
FAITHFUL EMPLOYE
DESERVES A
PENSION
Sketch of a Strenuous Life in
Service of Railroad--Ups
and Downs of James Bird.

James Bird one of the Oldest and most
faithful employees in the Southern Pa
elfic, has grown old and been badly Grip
pied In the service He is now asking
to be put on the pension list Of the com
pany. and IL there be a man any more
entitled to be retired on full or doub {
pay than is Mr.. Bird his name has never
been presented at pension headquarters.
Mr.. Birds life from the time he was
nine years of age TO the present day
has been strenuous and full of expert
ences, some bitter and others favored
with dash OF the better things in life.
He left Liverpool at the age Of ten.
alone. without money and hardly enough
clothing to cover his nakedness. He left
Liverpool a cabin boy and for fourteen
years he followed the sea and was
kicked about from cabin boy to forcastle.
He went through all the grades from
cabin boy to chief officer and quit with
a record seldom made by any boy these
days. He left the sea in New York in
July, 1863. and came west as far as
Cheyenne. but found nothing to warrant
him in staying longer at the river town
on the Platte and Tipped a half dollar
heads or tails with a young fellow
with no better prospects than Mr.. Bird
To xuhat bar uhn On a
Denver, then just blossoming into a
city with great possibilities. or come
further west. The coin said come west
and Mr.. Bird obeyed the commands OF
chance and came west He and his
companion paid $40 railroad fare to pe
carried to the Point of Rocks on the
their stage fare to South Pass city,
sweetwater. Wyoming, 1l0 miles from
the railroad There they began pros
pecting, and striking a promising pros
pect. began developing 1t. but like many,
many other promising prospects. the
ledge pinched out and Mr.. Bird and his
companion in the month of December
1869, concluded that they had better
pull their freight" and started out
with a team belonging to his partner
with only so cents in his pocket. After
striking the railroad again he got work
at Laramie on a section at sl.6O day
In six months time he was promoted TO
the more responsible position of iaborer
on the wrecking car; from that ne went
into the car shop and from that he went
to the round house as engine wiper Al
ter wiping one day he was given charge
of the coal yard at 50 per day and he
manipulate the throttle of an engine.
From coal boss he went TO firing Se-
tween Laramie and Cheyenne and pitch
ed coal into the furnace of an engine
for eighteen months and then he came
west and landed In Carlin. where he act
ed as freight brakeman for trip OF
two, then went 10 firing out of the old
town of Wadsworth. For six years ne
pitched wood to make steam TO enable
the company to collect all the traffic
would bear on goods required to keep
the steam in the furnace of the human
family at that time working for home
and making the Great American desert
to blossom as the rose. After pitching
wood for six years Mr.. BirG was pro-
NOTED to the position of running g
switch engine in the Wadsworth yard
position ne held until 1881. when ne
was given an engine on the main line
until 1894. when he got caught In
head-end collision and had his foo'
broken off. The brave old engineer dio
not quit, however The writer or TINS
article saw him in the depot building a.
wadsworth after the collision. stretched
on lighter with two or three doctors
working over him. and the writer
Continued on Atm page.)