Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1907-10-23
ANECDOTES OF
NEVADA RAILWAY
INtInKNrs THAT HAPPENED ox
THE CARSON Ann CoIoIiADO
WHEN TIMES WE'RE pILI..

lishod an account OF the opinion OF
lin Butler and H. o. Mills on the
subject OF the Carson aud Colorado
railroad. In which Butler was quoted
as declaring that II was the first
road he had ever heard of that b..
gan nowhere. ended nowhere. and
stopped all night To think 1t over.
and Mills as saying that II was either
800 miles too long or Il had been
built 800 years too soon.
II was originally built to handle
the big soda and borax deposits of
Owens lake. but 1t was thought that
the business along the whole line
would increase rapidly after the in
PRODUCTION of the road. But the re-
verse proved to be the case The
mines at Bodie and Candelaria be-
gan to peter out" and Candelaria
closed down entirely. Things got so
bad that as early as 1895, the train
of three coaches, including mail
and express car, smoker and regu-
| lar passenger coach would often
leave Mound House for it's 800 mile
journey to the south without a pas
senger. If there were a passenger.
4 and it CHANGED to be a young lady
she became the recipient of the al
| tentions of the conductor, brakeman
| postal clerk, express messenger and
baggageman from Mound House out,
with the engineer and conductor run
ming back at stations to proffer their
services in any possible way and vol
unteer remarks about the weather,
the scenery, and other topics of in
terest. The combined weight Of
these attentions We're apt to prove
embarrassing to young and inexper-
fenced ladies, and one youthful
school teacher on her way from Vir-
ginia City to Benton for the vacation
was so unstrung from having to lis
ten and talk to five or six men at one
| time that she returned from Benton
after months rest more fatigued
than she was on the day she left
! home.
If the passenger happened to be
man. he had to play cards, and if he
was unacquainted with pedro, poker,
or pinocnole, he was compelled to
learn on the way. Clergymen were
the only ones exempt from this rule.
Sometimes when conductor, brake
man, mail agent and express messen-
ger became very much absorbed in
game of freeZe-out or whist while
the engineer and firemen We're in
seven-up, the train would be carried
by station. But that did not mat
ter. there was plenty of time to go
back AS there were only two trains
on the run, and as they invariably
met at Wabuska, the engineer had
nothing to do but look out for cows,
and they were scarce in that region.
Coming out north from Hawthorne
1t was the custom. for long time.
OF the train crew to stop the train
just out of sight of the town and 60
swimming in Walker lake. One day
Mrs. Campbell, wife. of the then edi-
tor of the Virginia City Enterprise.
who at that time also was managing.
the Hawthorne Bulletin was the only
passenger on the train, and, becom-
ing uneasy over the unaccountable
delay, got out and made a search for
the missing crew. She finally found
them-in the lake, enjoying a swim.
On her return home she gave the in
cident few lines of space in the
Hawthorne Bulletin, and the matter
being thus brought to the attention
of General Manager Yerington, he or
dered the practice discontinued.
On another occasion woman with
two children boarded the train at
Mound House at it's departure for the
south, about | 0 O'Clock in the morn
ing. Approaching Wabuska about |
o'clock, the conductor informed her
:.
fore Hawthorne where they would
arrive before 8 in the afternoon. She
said she guessed she didn't want any
thing to eat at Wabuska.
The train crew got off as usual to
take their meal. and after they had
finished, the woman changed her
mind. With her children she alight-
ed, unperceived by the crew from
the car and entered the dining room.
The train pulled out without her, and
for twenty minutes her absence was
unnoticed by the conductor, who was
busy with other things But when
he found that she was missing he
pulled the bell rope. and the train
returned to Wabuska for it's three
passengers, pulling into the station
just as they calmly issued forth from
the dining room annarent1y mot at