The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-09-17
YEAR after
YEARMYERS
plugs away
Constructs Well Planned and
Built Line on the
Kansas Prairie
ny MABEL ABBOTT

JETMoRE. Kan Sept iT.--An
alone on the shadeiyss prairie. miles
from any town. a man. a team OF
mules and a scraper are nibhling.
mouselike. at the immensity OF the
landscape. Behind them. across the
rolling plain. runs a long scar. its
cuts and fills level and true. its
sides raw with fresh-turned earth
near the scrsper. but weed grown
~ II stretches backward. until Il
vAnishes In the prairie grass
The man talks TO himself ~ ne
works. Sometimes he laughs. He
n bearded. and dark ms . negro
with sunburn and dirt. and his
patched overails are almost falling
from his lean body. but his mules
are fat and sleek
FOR II YEARS
TINE PUZZLE OF KANSAS
II II Rudolph Myers. building hts
railroad. For IL years Myers has
been the puzzle OF this part Of kan
So.
Working alone he has construct
"a about three miies OF railroad
grade around the base OF some low
bluffs several mica from Jetmore.
and has bought about II miles Of
right OF way from nowhere to no
where. In . general southwest di.
Yecsion.
Summer and winter he lives alone
on the right-of-way. In . shack Of
corrugated iron rusted to . uniform
hrickred. In q sort OF covered pen
Of broken boards nearby live his
mules.
Year after year he has lived and
worked thus. buying another mile
OF right OF way now and then and
paying f. Il with checks on a
bank in ansa< City. The checks
are always honored
Jesmore residents remember that
when he appeared In the village. 1.
or IL years ago. bids were being
called for on the grading OF ap-
breaches TO . bridge.
Bids Of $500 and 81 900 had been
made 'I1i do II for $780, offered
Myers and the city. smiling In It's
sleeve. gave him the contract He
e@t-Hss~o ~ AZ a" e@y aiaaAtE EOu1
Profit and doing n JOB that stili tes-
tifies to his experiences.
Then he set about his railroad
From that time he became prac-
IDEALLY . hermit. A. the years have
gone by he seems to have lost track
Of time. and sometimes comes to
town on a Sunday for his meager
supplies. forgetting that the stores
are closed. He has steadily refused
! 20 talk about himself or what he u
doing.
In what II declared In Jetmore 70
have been an unparalleled 1T Of com
municativeness. however. he told me
yesterday that he was building q
railroad from Jetrnore to some
where's north OF Garden City; I
dunno just where
Its the best route for q railroad
anywhere round here he said. at.
ting on the handle Of his scraper and
looking wistfulIy to the southwest
ward Il figured I'D have money
enough 70 buy the right OF way. and
] could do all the work myself. me
and the mules. I thought maybe /
could sell stock and be a stockhoider.
I've got about all the garding done
now, the rest will be level ground.
But ! won't have money enough to
put down the ties and rails and get
the trains running. And nobody
seems to take any interest They
come round and ask a lot Of aues-
ions, but they don't do nothing.
Some railroad fellows came and
booked at IL once. but they never
came back"
The route Is shrcwdiy chosen, resi-.
dents Of the county say. II would
give Jetmore a connection with Gar.
den City. which II has not now, and
would shorten the route Of the Santa
Fe by . number of miieA
But
Rudolph Myers right of way deeds
provide that the land shall revert to
J its original owners when work
ceases, or 1T becomes evident that
there IL no prospect OF a railroad
being completed"
HEnESC THE A