Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-08-26
THE DEPOT AT SENECA.
Railroad Commissioner Sullivan Says
improvements are Needed.
Recommendation has been made b,

accommodation has been made by
Capt. ]. M. Sullivan, of the Railroad
Commission, that improvements be
made upon the present accommoda-
tions for travellers at Seneca. Capt.
Sullivan has submitted the following
report upon his investigation into the
state of affairs at that place.
The report is made to b. l.. Caugh-
man, chairman of the Commission,
and is as follows:
"On August 18th, complaint hav-
ing reached me, l visited Seneca, a
junction station on the Southern and
Blue Ridge railroads, for the pur-
pose of investigating the depot situa-
ton at that point, and found serious
need there of improved facilities for
moving over the two roads above
mentioned.
"The rules of this commission as to
supplying wholesome drinking water
and keeping waiting room clean, are
constantly disregarded; often dis
courtesy is shown to passengers. and
the public frequently fails to procure
important information as to ticket
rates and train accommodations, that
should be supplied readily by almost
any agency. ,r
"The Southern Railway Company
and the Blue Ridge railroad has each
man in the ticket office to sell
tickets and check baggage, each
mans duties being confined to his
own road, neither assisting the other,
and when either or both Of them are
out of the ticket Office, engaged in
checking baggage or other outside
duties, no one is left in the office to
sell tickets, exchange mileage, or give
Information.
From information obtained at
Seneca, am thoroughly convinced
that there is a serious want of sys-
tenn On the part of the employees in
connection with the passenger SER
vice, which demands prompt rem
edy. 1t appears to me that one COM
petent joint ticket agent there,
whose duty should be to keep the
office open at all reasonable hours,
and one competent baggage man to
check baggage, with the necessary
help to handle the baggage, would
simplify matters very much, and give
the public better service over both
roads.
"The commission has heretofore
noted the need at Seneca of a larger
union passenger station. This neces-
sity of late has Increased, and i am
satisfied it is the duty of the COM
mission to take the necessary steps
at once for procuring such a union
passenger station at Seneca as pro-
per regard for the safety, comfort
and convenience of the public re-
Quires.
"The white waiting room in the
present passenger station Is entirely
too small to accommodate the travel.
Passengers are daily forced to find
seats in the adjacent park. During
the severe winter months or In rainy
weather this, of course, cannot be
done, and travellers suffer the discom-
fort of being badly crowded in the
Casually dirty waiting room, with
out anything that can be regarded as
a convenience.
Tickets are sold in little nook
in this depot too small for one man
to work in, though Two men are re-
quired there. This old passenger de-
pot Is also used as telegraph and
express office, when 1t is really too
small for a strictly passenger union
depot at Seneca.
Seneca is a functional point of
sufficient Importance to require the
t 'endance Of a stewardess or ma
tt on, whose duty it should be to look
after the comfort of female passen-
gers and children, as we'll as the mat
ter of fire and water supply. Also
to keep the station waiting rooms
clean and lights burning when need
cd.
T hereby recommend that the
commission take such action as It
deems best towards securing the re-
lief needed at Seneca.
Pncnaoff,llv crhmftfa6
-. NJ. Sullivan, Commissioner"