East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-07-27
WEST AND HIS
LITTLE HATCAET
RAILROAD COMMISSIONER
WALKS TIES SO MILES.
Tests Ties and Bridges with Carrie
Nation WcapOn-Will Make Full
Report-One State Official Who
Seeks Insfomation at First Hand
Wants Road to be Safe for Ex-
cursion Trains.

oswald West, state railroad COM
missioner, who is always doing sem
sationa1 stunts in investigating the
railroads, has just concluded another
unique tour of investigation, the re-
suits Of which he promises to embody
in formal report to the state rail-
road commission within the next few
days, says the oregonian. Mr.. West
has completed a walking trip from
Albany to Yaquina, a distance of SO
miles. During the trip he made a
minute examination into the condition
of the roadbed track and bridges of
the line, which is now the property Of
the Hartman interests.
Commissioner West carried with
him a hatchet which he applied to the
ties and timbers of the road to deter
mine their physical condition. Wheth-
er the timbers of the trestles were
well preserved or not he could deter
mine in this way, and this was the
prime cause for his making the trip.
Many Bridges on Line.
Albany and Yaquina crosses and re-
crosses the Yaquina river great
many times, besides bridging a num-
ber of mountain gulches with high
trestles. There are between Albany
and Yaquina on this line of railway
14O bridges. This fact was the chief
cause of the TRIP beng undertaken,
for unless these high bridges are kept
in the proper condition any one of
them might collapse when a heavily
loaded summer excursion train passed
over it, causing many deaths.
The walk of SO miles that Mr.. West
undertook required some time, but
was completed during the past week.
He went carefully over every rod Of
track with his hatchet and examined
the bridges with the closest scrut-
my, climbing down the mountain
sides to the bottoms of the gulches
to investigate the stability of the
foundations and the condition of the
timbers.
Mr.. West found no serious defects
in the road so far as has been learn
ed, although what will be embodied
in his report cannot now be known.
Officials connected with the line are
satisfied with its physical condition
and say that 1t is fully up to the
standard of Oregon railroads.
Former Trip in Cattle Car.
Mr.. West made a sensational trip
last year on cattle train from the
Upper Willamette valley to Portland
to observe the methods used in trans
porting cattle from the farms to the
local stock yards. Disguised as a
farm hand. he was hired to care for
the cattle on their journey to Port
land. Upon accomplishing the jour-
ney, Mr.. West reported that the meth
DDS OF caring nor cattle while liz
transit in this state are cruel and UNI
necessarily brutal. He said the jour
ney was slow and tedious and the
cattle suffered anguish from thirst
and hunger.
1t was Mr.. West also who walked
over the West Side division of the
Southern Pacific from Corvallis to
Portland some time ago, after pas
senger train had been wrecked near
Forest Grove. Carrying a hatchet
with him, he chopped into ties along
the railway to see If they were sound,
and he reported that a very large
percentage were rotten and unsafe.
1t is expected that Mr. Vests forth
coming report will contain some SEN
sational features A walk of S3 miles
means much time and effort wasted
unless it develops something worth
while