The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-07-11
A BLUFF CREEK IDYLL

life was Father Barker, the old rail- |
way missionary. During the laying
of the steel along the big transconti-
mental road which brought the
Rockies within hailing distance of the
Atlantic coast, it was he who trudged
from camp to camp carrying the con
solutions of religion to thousands of
navvies along the line, settling their
uuarrels tending their sick, and bury
ing their dead, usually the victims of
scurvy and premature dynamite blasts.
Father Barker was their pastor, coun-
sellor, and genial friend during those
strenuous years of railway building;
had he not been strong man ply
sically, the long and painful journeys
incident to his strange ministry, his
narrow escapes from the perils of cold,
hunger, drowning, and abandonment,
would have sooD worn him out.
But the old priest, now nearly
seventy, was built of stern fiber, and
neither hardship nor fatigue could
stem the current of the charity and
self-sacrifice which had endeared him
to his rough railway lock-his
slambs." as he called them. These
were made up of various nationalities,
men speaking different tongues, with
only smattering of English, Swedes,
Poles, Italians, Magyars-all submit
ted to the aged priests sway over
them; and more than once the heads
of the construction department &C
knowledged his influence as a factor
of peace among the incongruous
human elements he had to deal with
in the camp.
His long years of rowing up and
down the right Of way, with his port
able altar over his shoulder, had be-
come so natural to Father Barker
that he felt a pang the day the last
spike was driven that Joined sections
E and F. To him the ceremony meant
something more than the completion
of the road; it meant the breaking up
of the construction camps, the disper-
sion of thousands of workmen, the
organization of the railway as going
concern, the introduction of special
lied labor, all new interests in the old
mans life.
This came home to him forcibly
when the news got abroad that the
company had decided to turn Bluff
| Creek, a favorite spot of his, into a
divisional point; but he did not hest
tate to adapt himself to changed con-
ditions; a new sphere of activity was
opening up to his zeal and he set to
work to prepare for it. Local Super
| intendent Irvine, with his staff and
crews, had hardly arrived to lay out
| the small town and it's miles of sid
ings. when the missionary himself set
the ball a-rolling. His first act was
petition for a plot of ground to
build church on.
Certainly, Father" was Irvine's re-
ply, take your choice. The company
owes you more than an acre or two
for what you have done for our men
in the past four years. | shall write
to the president today and have the
thing ratified
And Father Barker set to work
| CIlGISCjlCdIly W VI S9ctllihC 1lAo new SSl4
gregation and to build his church.
Willing hands helped him, and soon
he had little wooden structure up,
with debt, however, of seven hun
dred dollars.
Bluff Creek is delightful spot. A
small level valley closed in by lofty
hills, with only an opening leading
down to the lake, only mile away
whose vast eXpanse of water SENDS
into the secluded nook its richest
breezes to cool the summer air and
give men life and vfgor. 1t seemed
almost a sacrilege to invade this
sanctuary of nature with the noise
| and hustle inseparable from railway
center; but the edict had gone out
and station, coal-dock, round-houSe
machine shop, and dwellings for the
employees and their families, went
up as rapidly as the builders could
raise them Bluff Creek soon took its
place on the map, and thither came
an army of engine-drivers, fremen
conductors, baggagemen, brakemen
mechanics,-in a word, the people
who were to handle in and out OF
that new railway point the tide of i'm
migration that was to pass through or
its way to the western prairies.
Many of the new arrivals at Bluff
Creek were railroaders of long ex
perience. Among them was Jack Har
vey who had pulled the throttle OF
other roads for a score of years
With him came Steve Hanlen, fire
man, who knew how to shovel Goa
into fire-box and keep up steam bet
ter than most men. Harvey knew
what Hanlen was able to do; he knew
too that he Harvey would be ex
pected to give results on the heavy
grades of the new road; and he tool
charge of the Mogul engine only OF
condition that Hanlen would fire fol
him. Another arrival was Joe Wild
er, the conductor who married Tillic
Hurn, the subcontractor' daughter
whom he met during construction a
Catfish bay. There were the two
roadmasters, Jim Conlon and Charlie.
Swenberg, who we're given charge o
the sections east and west of Bluff
Creek. Swenberg didn't belong to US
The fact that he was Lutheran die
not prevent Jack Harveys wife from
putting his name down with Conlon':
in popularity" contest for the bene
fit of Father Barker's church. Every