The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-06-21

racine, and the terminal point for the
Sioux City-Norfolk branch of the Chi
cago, st. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha
line.
The three railroads employ between
400 and 500 people who live in Nor
folk and buy their bread and butter
here. Many of them own homes. They
are represented in all branches of the
city's life-in the city council. the
board of education and in all represent
tative organizations.
There are three railroad stations in
Norfolk-a union depot operated by
the Union Pacific and Omaha roads.
and two Northwestern stations, one at
the Junction a mile from the business
portion of the city and the other up
town. A new $4,000 uptown station
Is about to be erected by this road and
a new depot will probably also be built
soon by the Union Pacific.
Among the officials stationed here
for operating the Chicago & North
western lines are S. M. Braden gen.
eral superintendent; c. H. REYNOLDS.
division superintendent; e. o. Mount.
trainmaster; Il. Sly, chief train dis
patcher; s. T. Reynolds, night chief
dispatcher; w. B. Alton, round house
foreman; A. j. Colwell general fore
man of bridges and buildings; P. Stat
ford, roadmaster; J. G. Spellman, road
master; G. A. Anderson, foreman of
car inspectors; H. c. Matrau agent.
The Union Pacific has in Norfolk two
officials, N. w. Glover, commercial
agent, and G. w. Landers, station
agent. For the Chicago, st. Paul, Min
neapolis & Omaha road Mr.. Landers
is station agent.
Norfolk is the hub of the Northwest
ern lines in Nebraska, train operations
over S551s miles of track in the east
ern division of Nebraska being direct
ed from this city. The general SUPER
intendent's Office in Norfolk has SUI
pervision over 1,755 miles Of track.
The lines directed from this point ex-
tend to Missouri Valley, Iowa, Omaha,
Neb., Lincoln, Superior, Hastings,
Long Pine, between Oakdale and Scrib-
ner, and Dallas, S. d. The general
superintendent here has all of this ter
ritory and, added to it, the lines to
Lander, Wyo., and Deadwood, S. D.
Commercial Agent Glover for the I'm
ion Pacific, the only railroad man who
has down town Office in Norfolk, has
supervision over northern Nebraska in
his department. Besides officials, the
Union Pacific and Omaha roads en-
ploy about sixty men whose headquar-
tiers are in Norfolk, including train
men, enginemen, trackmen and Office
men. The Northwestern's list of en-
ployes in Norfolk exceeds 400 and in
cludes nearly $50 trainmen, about 100
enginemen, couple of score of shop
and repair men, a half hundred bridge
builders, number of track men, sta
ton forces, switchmen and office men.
Upwards of thirty miles of parallel
steel bars gridiron portions of Nor
folk In the Northwestern's extensive
freight and switching yards at the
junction there are close to fifteen
miles of trackage while the Union Pa
cific and Omaha roads use more than
ten miles uptown.
Beyond the couple of thousand Of
people located in Norfolk merely be-
cause of the 400 to 500 men here who
do the work of running the trains, the
fact that railroad tracks of all this
northwest point into Norfolk as the
starting point and ending point and
point of ensemble, has meant much for
the city's growth.
AS one indication of this may be
mentioned the colony of energetic
commercial travellers who make their
homes here because the trains run
ming in and out of Norfolk in five d.
rections give them superior advant-
age over drummers of other locations.
There are between eighty and 100 COM
mercial travellers in Norfolk, meaning
somewhere in the neighborhood of 400
people. And their value in helping to
support the city is eminently self-evi-
dent.
AS another indication of the import
ance of the railroad accessibility of
Norfolk, it may be said that there is
not business institution in Norfolk
which is not larger by virtue of the
surrounding territory, brought close
to this city by reason of railroads,
than it could possibly be were this
normal agricultural trading point. In
fact great many business institutions
in Norfolk, which have been discussed
in this column at length during the
past year, exist purely by virtue of
this location and could not be here at
all but for the trains that steam in
and out of town many times a day.
There are eighteen regular exclusive
passenger trains in and out of Nor
folk a day and twenty-one regular
scheduled freight trains, so that the
rails are kept warm most of the time.
In stock season there are, of course,
many extra trains each day, carrying
fatted cattle and hogs from western
Nebraska to packing markets.
To discuss the railroads of Norfolk