Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1921-12-15
CHAPTER XVIII


: a little more than three hours Their.
were about a million things that woult
have to be jerked around into shap,
and propped up so that they coulc
stand hx themselves while tha shozs
Line was taking a vacation. AND
there was only a little handful of IA
In the headquarters to do the jerking
and propping.
IL was precisely In a crisis like this
that the boss could shine. From the
minute we hit the tremendous job he
was all there, carrying the whole map
of the Short Line In his head, think.
Ing straight from the shoulder. and
missing a lick and / don't be-
lieve anybody would ever have sus-
pected that he was a beaten man.
pushed to the ropes In the final round
with the grafters, his reputation as
a successful railroad manager as good
as gone. and his warm little love
dream knocked sky-winding forever
and a day.
Luckily, we found Fred May still at
his desk. and he was promptly clamped
to the telephone and told TO get busy
spreading He hurry call. In half an
hour every relief operator we had In
Portal CRY was IN the wIFe-reem, and
the back-breaking job of preparing a
thousand miles of railroad for a sud
den tle-up was In full swing. Mr..
Perkins, as division superintendent,
was In touch with the local labor
leaders. ~Persuading and insisting by
turns, Mr.. Norcross fought out the
necessary compromises with the
unions. All ordinary traffic would be
suspended at midnight. but passenger
trains en- route were TO be run through
to our connecting line terminals east
and west, live stock trains were TO be
aid out only where there were feed
ing %corrals, and perishable freight was
to be taken TO It's destination wher-
ever that might be.
The strikers agreed TO allow the
mail trains. TO run without Interrupt
ton, with our promise that they would
not carry passengers. Hoskins and
his committee bucked a little at this.
but got down when they were shown
that they could not AFFORD 10 risk a
clash with the Government. This ex-
ception admitted, another followed, as
a matter Of course. If the mail trains
were TO be run. some of the telegraph
operators would have to remain on
duty, at least TO the extent of han
ding train orders.
with thaua ganaroli4fac o,,t % Tho
way. We got down 10 details. Fire
wires were sent TO the various
and towns on the lines asking
for immediate information regarding
food and fuel supplies, M the strike
We're notified that. for sheer (.
sHke.r they would have 10 |
the handling Of provision Z
In cases where they were alb
sefuteiy needed.
BY eleven o'clock the tangle was
itself pretty well Strengthened :
1ut. Some OF the trains had already
leen abandoned, and the others were !
moving along to the agreed-upon des- !
Ilnations. Kirgan had taken hold In
he Portal City yard. and by putting a
IN extra crews was getting the needful c
and car sorting into shape, q
tna=tba Portal City employees acting
Ip0n their own initiative, were picket d
ng the yard and company buildings TO h
them from hooters or fire-set 81
ers. Mr.. Van Britt's special, so the Il
rires told us. was at Lesterburg. and G.
/ was likely TO stay there and Mr.. W
AN Britt, himself, couldn't be reached. a
1T was 1t halfpastAescven that1Wels
OF the first real yelF fEem- somebody f.
mo was getting pinched. 1t came In
he shape of q wire from the Strath- y
ona night operator. A party of e y
mine owners" the operator called -
hem=had just heard of the impend- ~
lg railroad tie-up. They had been o.
TO come In on the regular FL
light train, but that had been aban- al
oned. So now they were offering OF
kinds of money for n special TO
ring them TO Portal City. 1t was
presented that there were millions o.
/ stake. Couldn't we do something? -
Mr.. Norcross had kept Hoskins and -,
few of the other local strike lead i
s where he could get hold OF them, -
he put the request up to them as I.
matter that was now out of his
they ALLOW him-toErnn -
one-car special from the gold camp -
Portal City after midnightf 1t was as
# them to say. co
Hoskins and his a~ccompiIces went co
( to talk 1t ove with some of the fel
her men. When the big freight con- wi
came hack he was alone and an
as grinning good-naturedly. FIR
1--WE Amt amin TO make the com ri,
my lose any good money that ome 20,
down the Hill at IT. Mister
orcross.' he said. "Cinch these here
fafheoHa =hHErr4Aags4 rr al you can -.
I out o. them(and II you'll lend us AZ.
e loan of the wires. Wen pass the =,
ord to let the special come on -
~
1t was sure the funniest strike / no'