The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1907-02-21

cxsstR tho ~ay. ar. the usra ~
4 hoas 1854 sa ~as travelling aa.
atter tog iac international Great
Sasthevn then aong sines eonAsslsaa-
80 S.tss - s.osszssa 4 Great Nufs
gh.gn aud t-~coma part of the
Gould py*teu " u uuaic. al the
head ~ thu International 4 Gs-st
Northern land ~ho later became
general manager OF The enuF. Could
syasnl ever 90 the lockout for
psoual.iag young railroad men. Was
not lons in rs-nins the good stuff in
soung ioakum. and he ~as soon
mad" travelling passenger agent.
ihSb immigration and industrial
awen, Ut the road Thus the young
bottom OF everything he did. was
learning other Valuable lessons In
faslrradsng He was becoming .x-
pert In every detail OF rsllroading.
the cost 0f moving passengers and
freight. the intricacses OF traffic
problems. and was becoming ae-
ausint.a with verifying pertaining
Ia the territory whore his fnture OPP
erations were to have tn. widest
scope and the most valuable returns.
In 1885 Urlah Lott. who had be-
gun building the San Antonio
Arkansas Pass road. made Frank foa-
kun his private secretary, but not
for long lie saw his great value and
made him his assistant. then rapidly
promoted him to general manager.
He was soon supreme head OF this
road. and il WAS his genius and the
reputation he had earned for strict
integrity and justice that enabled
him to rapidly extend the line until
Ii reached from the gulf branch to
Waco and to Houston and to Kerr
vile and Lockhart and Alice. The
Furnishing city of Yoakum, in La
vaca county, Is a tribute Of the peo-
pie to his worth and the esteem in
which he is held In that section.
During the financial troubles into
which the road was thrown In 1891
90 Mr.. Yoakum. who was the presi-
dent of the line and was made re-
ceiver thereof. astonished the rail-
road world by the display Of the
accurate knowledge of every detail
of railroad business and financter-
ing. Day after day. while he was on
the witness stand in court, he would
detail in answer to questions by
lawyers, prompted by the shrewdest
and ablest railroad men. without
note or scrap of paer to refresh his
memory every phase Of railroad
business-the cost of everything,
| right of way. grading, cost per ton
per mile, per car, cost of running
every train, every car or engine. the
very spikes and bolts used, and even
the oil and waste. Without mo-
ment's hesitation he would answer
these questions, which the lawyer
had been days in framing. Yoakun
demonstrated that he knew his bus
mess as few men had ever known it
land that his integrity was unswerv
ing.
Mr. ID. r. Robinson, who was
president of the road when the trOu-
bles were settled, said to the writer
/ L
most promising railroad man in all
! depa rtments in the cOuntry--that IL
the oporsanity presented itself Mr..
Yoakum would surely demonstrate
| this. This was in 1892. Mr.. Robinson
as president of the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe system, soon had an OPP
portunity to give Mr.. YOakum the
chance to show what was in him. He
appointed him general manager of
Gulf. Colorado 4 Santa re railroad,
| and soon recognized his signal abfl1-
| ty in this position by making him
vice-president and general manager
supreme head of the TeXas-Indian
Territory branch of the Santa Fe
system. Young Yoakum soon dem
onstrated that he was fitted for yet
larger and greater things, of more
importance even To the Santa Fee sys-
tenn than he could accomplish in
Texas, and he was, in 1896, made
vice president and general manager
of the 81. Louis A. San Francisco
system-thon an integral part of the
Santa F'e system. This attracted the
attention OF the railroad and finan-
cial world. and the career of this
truly great Texan has been part Of
the contemporary history OF modern
progress since then.
But it is a long way and far cry
from working upon the construction
of local Texas railroad In 1872 To
the supreme head In 1907 ot about
80 600 miles of railroad that is rap
idly becoming the bands of steel that
bind tp amic8bio ties ol COM
mcrv. tao nations
Nr. Yoakum is one of the most app
pguachabie men ln IN. world. In
fact he has been likened. In appear
anCr and manner. 20 a very prosper
Gus. Kind and unprutcutious farmer.
There Is no PEARSON connected with
rls lines ia auy capacity that mas