The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-01
CHAMPION TRAVELLER
OF NORTH
DAKOTA
Duncan Leonard, a Scotchman
Of Grand Forks, Holds
Record.
HE GOES UP AND DOWN
-Four Hundred Times Daily
Traversing Over 100000
Feet.
o 9 3 9 . 8 (, . 9 9 @ . . . o O o Q
. 4
g Who Is the Champion Travelling.
{" man of North Dakota!

Q o o o . o o o . 8 . Q . O o o Q q
If this question had read: who is
the champion travelling boy?" it could
have been answered very easily. There
are in Grand Forks five of the class
that could appropriately be denomin-
ated travellers. The operate the lifts
or elevators in the Hotel Dacotah, Sc
curity block, the Antlers. the St
Johns and the Ontario store They
are all travellers and it is a hard mat
ter to distinguish from among the num-
Der, the champion. However, for
length OF service and labor performed
it looks as if the leather medal should
be given to lad. a resident of this
city for many years, boy who has
shown his integrity on many occasions,
Duncan Leonard, chief operator on the
st. Johns block elevating railroad.
Duncan Leonard is of Scotch par
entage, with the blisters of hard work
on rough cable, plastered over the
palms of his hardened hands. Duncan
is Is years OF age and makes up in
brains what he lacks in build. He
lives at 200 Cottonwood street. He
knows all about the history of the
elevator and the different classes. He
informs us that in old England the
elevator is known as the lift. Dun
can thinks this poor name, for when
the carriage goes down it is not lift
ing. The car operated by this young
citizen of Grand Forks is run by hy-
draulic pressure and a sharp pull on
the cable is necessary to get it in
motion. Owing to the fact that two
new copper cables were recently at
tached to the St. Johns elevator, Mr..
Leonard says that he must pull con-
siderably harder than formerly.
However, he says that when he gets
the new cables "broke" into the ways
of the lawyers, doctors and others in
the building, he expects an easier time.
The St. Johns block is five stories in
height and the elevator is in almost
constant use. Duncan tolls from in
the morning to $3.50 at night-that is
ordinarily-5ut ordinarily comes only
three or four times a week, for with
dance meetings and other gatherings
in the commercial club rooms in the
evenings, he generally gets in about
two hours extra.
When asked if he has unearthed any
uAooSoAS SShuuelS luc sOuu6 AcllOW
replied 20! no. I've seen lots of
ladies take out powder boxes when
We were going up, and after squirting
in my looking glass, niftily daub lit
tie spot on their faces. He claims that
the best place for bigger" scandals
and for tips" is in the hotels, because
through the hotels all classes of peo-
pie are constantly passing. When
questioned further on the question of
tips he told the Evening Times repre-
sentative that he. was the recipient of
but few Acknowledgements of his faith
full service. Frightening up on the
subject he said that he had received
quarters from several politicians
whose faces adorn the walls of the
tiny castle of the elevator magnate.
Duncan Leonard has never had an
accident Even when leaning the Pc
culiarities and eccentricities of the car,
and every car has its own peculiarities.
he was careful enough to escape with
out bumps into the roof or cracks on
the basement floor. Renters in the
block state that the lad stops the car
car with the gentleness with which a
mother rocks baby.
The car makes on the average 400
trips a day and with half the height
of the building as a basis, the distance
up and down the car travels
every week can fairly and conserva-
lively be estimated at 100000 feet.
This is a long distance and If stretched
out on the prairie would bring the
operator into the Polk county court
house in Crookston, MINI. Duncan
eschews notoriety but confidently in
formed the reporter that he is just
now completing statistics and calcu-
lations showing how far toward heaven
he would have gotten since he started
upon his duties in his present location
if he had gone straight up. He may
have some interesting discoveries to
disclose with fortnight.