The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-07-17
OF
A RAILROAD MAN

Penn, on the first day OF March, 1909,
everything ran along smoothly until
1873. whe Jay Gould and Russell Sage
got busy and made il very hard for
young and inexperienced person to get
enough to eat. Surviving this afro
cious attack, upon an honest, hardwork-
ing and unsuspecting people, and hav-
ing arrived at the semi-matured age OF
nine, my father put me TO work during
the spring and summer months picking
"dornicks'' from the fields and weeds
from the garden. Tring OF this occu-
patton | migrated to Holton, IN the
bloody. blooming feast or famine"
state of Kansas then, quite different
nowl, where | had a brother. left
home with the firm determination of
learning the painters trade. After
recovered from an attack OF painters
collie the doctor said | would have to
stay away from lead, so one season
was enough.
Roy F. Conner was then agent at
Holton for the old Kansas Central mar
row gauge road belonging to the Union
Pacific, running from Leavenworth to
Miltonville, Kansas. Roy took pity on
nv poverty and gave me the job of |
messenger, call boy and general swami
per. After surviving all the infantile |
diseases of railroading, such as running
over to the round house for red and
green oil left handed monkey wrenches |
and round squares. | graduated as an
operator and shortly was appointed |
agent at Easton, Kan, at the princely |
sum of $40 per month. From there !
went to various other stations until
finally M. d. c. Bevard. the superin- |
tendent, and had misunderstanding |
and QUIT, drifted into Colorado and
hired out to John Mccormack. Supt. |
Telegraph for the old Denver, Texas |
and Ft. Worth Ry. John thought so
much of my line of talk that he sent
me to Franceville Junction as night |
operator. Four nights of this and we'll
filled with alkali water ] protested. |
Fate was with me, the operator at
Folsom, N. M, went to saloon to de
liver a message to the saloon man and
woloper of a sheep herder asked him
o"have drink" The operator de-
clined. Think of it. gentle reader,
mediate, premeditate. the operator
REFUSED, and the sheep herder was
so terribly insulted that he pulled a
forty-fve and plugged the operator
through the lung. Then Mccormack
sent me to Folsom, post haste. as ii
was an important place. The first
night | worked there some Mexican
sheep herders lot into fight across
the track from tne depot in the plaza,
then BAN, ping. z-z-zit punk through
the window into the side of the office
came the cannon balls. Too much for
me; dropped to the floor on my face
(at that period in life my face was the
largest portion of my existence as well
as anatomy and stayed there until
Deputy Sheriff Geo. Thompson peered
through the lattice work into the office
| and asked. "Air yu hurt kid
replied "N-n-n-n-no. ge-ge-ge-
guess not. "
"Well git up, it's all over" he said.
| did, but asked if lie thought II
would be safe to go over to the hotel,
| felt kind of hungry. Thompson
said Eyes" he would "purtect" me.
This all happened in 1890.
From Folsom | went to Trinidad as
operator, then ticket clerk, then cashier
and finally agent. Remained in Trini-
dad from 1890 until 1901 during which
time the road changed names twice,
d. T. & F. W. to U. P.-D. & c., and
from that to Colorado & Southern. In
1901 a nervous breakdown forced me to
seek woler altitude and in November
of that year, on drizzling foggy even
ing reached Portland, Ore, and tied
4 up at the Grand Central. for a few
weeks until got to feeling well. Then
proceeded to the Worcester building
and interviewed r. A. Klipdel, Supt.
Telegraph, and was sent to Wallace,
Idaho, which point ! reached on the
fourth day of December and found
George A. Newell, the agent, hauling
straw from nearby barn to cover up
the water pipes to keep them from
freezing. The thermometer stood at
2S degrees below. George took me to
the hotel over the river and squared
me with the house, then to the office
and showed me what | was expected to
do. 1t was some job, believe me. The
salary was $50 but George was good
fellow and got salary raised $3.50, and
, used to give me cigar occasionally
and tell funny stories, maintaining
that Wallace was a pretty place. !
s, had to take his word for it as the snow
!. was so deep could not see any of the
beauty spots.
From Wallace to Wardner where Bill
J ly Freeman was the boss and N. H.
Brooke was an understudy. These two
men we're pretty good fellows but |
: have always had it in for them to a
certain degree because they made me
J sleep in the freight house and keep a
( fire going so that the fruit in the frost
proof room would not freeze. 1t was
so blamed cold that the nail heads were
flying out of the side of the building
and until | found out what it was,
thought bunch of hold ups were try
ing to pull off a stunt. Brooke was
9 like Newell, always trying to get me
: to believe that Wardner was weel
e burg, but the pill was too copious.
4 From Wardner to Pullman. did not
4 stay long enough to get acqusinted.
1 From Pullman to Garfield. This was
|. more like it and was pretty well sat
4 sfed. Good station, nice little town
and was just getting nicely acquainted.
when Ames from Athena bumped me
r and was sent to BlGGS. Well, say
e when lit there | was the most dis
!. gusted fellow you ever saw, but Leon
$ ard was so anxious to get away that
l he. John Burch and Harry Campion
talked so fast and had me sign this and
r that: that was agent almost before
E knew it. Did | stick? Sure! -Four
years in that desolate spot where the
coyotes sing sweet lullabys nightly and
7 7 the lowly sand feas work overtime.
4 From Biggs to Wasco. This was not
; bad. There were lot Of nice people
: there and chuck full of good fellow.
e ship. Had a dance every week and
!! everybody danced, and | enjoyed my
Q self all the time. Gene Catron, George
Crossfeld and Roy Atwood were good
!. story tellers and we passed many pleas
q ant evenings swapping yarns with mu'
sic by the phonograph.
: From Wasco to Hood River, the
: beautiful valley of paradise, where. ir
+ the springtime old mother earth
: warmed by the sun and nourished by
2 bounteous showers, becomes covered
i with a carpet of beautiful verdure
where the buds raise their heads to the
| e a l. htsr -