The San Francisco call., 1908-10-09
Gossip of Rai!waymen

Il am proud and happy. dismayed
and sorrowful, at the same time,' said
Carleton c.. Crane of the New York
Central lines yesterday.
What father is not proud when his
son wins a prize, eh?' he asked John
A. Gill, who is in charge of the freight
end of that road Answer me-"
You are right, Carleton, replied Gill,
but l was feeling sorry for your
father. He never had that feeling. that
is, if you were an only SON.
"Oh, never mind that" remarked
Crane hastily to his visitor; that's one
of Gill's jokes. Let me explain to you
the state of my feelings
1T was my ambition to make my
boy, Carleton, a passengerman. A
passengerman has to be truthful, stick
run away with him, but must adhere
always strictly to the truth.
All these hopes are destroyed now.
l picked up The Call this morning and
learned that my son has won a gold
watch in The Junior Call for fiction.
Imagine that.
What hopes can / now repose in
him to be passengerman when he
develops imagination at 10 years of
age?
Il see only one career open to him.
1t is sad, but what is has to be.
He will have to be a freightman.
For imagination is all that is needed In
that department of a railroad"
William Cook, district train agent of
the Southern Pacific at Ogden, in his
last weekly report to the passenger
department, says that 1853 people
passed through that gateway in the
last seven days out of a total of 2,2s9
by all the gateways. He further OBJ
serves that there are few bachelors
among the colonists, but nearly all are
men with families. who intend to settle
in California. One noticeable feature
of this immigration is that the home
seekers are ala travelling in tourist
sleepers. which is an evidence of their
being in comfortable circumstances. He
went among them and was told that
with few exceptions every head of a
family had means and was going west
with the intention of buying land and
engaging In farming. Though the fall
colonist movement to the coast last
year was heavier, says Cook, this year
we are receiving better class of I'M
migrants. Last year the westbound
movement was mainly of single men,
mechanics. who Were looking for work
and had no intention of settling in
the state, but simply came here to
escape the rigors of an eastern climate
They travelled in day coaches and. were
practically penniless when they reached
San Francisco. This year the immi-
grafton is composed of prosperous
class Of farmers
Track laying has been recommended
in Nevada by the Western Pacific and
the rails are now within eight miles
of Deeth. This gives the Gould road a
continuous stretch of steel rails OF 900
miles from Salt Lake city. 1t has al
ready 217 miles of track. from Berry
creek to Oakland, in this state. The
delay in the completion of the. road IS
owing to the tunnels. There are alto
gether 4S tunnels on the line of the
Western Pacific from Oakland to Salt
Lake City, and 90 more have to he
built. The road will have nine miles
of tunnels.
In the annual report of the Chicago.
st. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha it is
shown that, Notwithstanding large dis
for maintenance of wav.
structure and equipment. it was able to
curtail operating expenses and thereby
a falling off of more than
81 100000 in gross revenue into a de-
crease of a little more than 5000, 600 in
net revenue from the operation of it's