The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1923-02-23
PICKUPS IN THE
RAILROAD YARDS
Examination Held; Ice Harvest Over
and Multitude Of Trains Moving
In and out OF This Station.

During tne past week the depot and |
the great ramification OF sidetracks |
that ribbon the valley from east TO |
west. of which the depot Is the storm
center has been the scene OF busting |
activity. 1t has been an important
week for the boys who preside over
the destinies of the steel leviathans
taat push and pull trains into and out
of Oroyille. and the crews that" see
that those trains are properly made
nm and properly handled after being
once in shipshape for carrying IN and
out the vast tonnage of freight, or
conveying the travelling public happily
on their way to the various points
where that public is to be distributed.
The big engines spouting smoke and
steam. the grinding OF steel wneeis
on steel rails, the shunting OF cars
. tho humping of those cars when they
came in kissing contact with otner
cars. created a din that represented
action. while the active lads who wig
wagged directions, cut apart loaos
and empties locked together in amor
ous embrace. fitted here and there In
the performance Of multifarious du-
ties gave the yards the appearance
NJ terminus in large city. This EVIL
dence of things doing was good 10
look at. and one regretted. looking
upon tne performance, that 1t was not
an everyday occurrance. every day IN
the year.
There is a congestion OF cars IN the
Oroyille yards. Seldom has there ever
been such an accumulation OF roliihe
stock at this point. Great strings Oh
box and flat cars stretch from river
to river. From an early hour Monday
when the pinnacle of the rush was on,
no less than seven trains pulled out
while two extra locomotives put In
the balance Of the day switching and
making up trains. Much OF this buck
ing of rolling stock was due to the
ice harvest, cars being run in here for
, use at the west end of the line where
ice was being cut, on Otter lake. That
winter Job was finished Saturday. AS
showing what kinds of trains have
been running over the road 1t may be
~. .sirstanced@ that 6aturday~sa train ~of
= Is cars loaded with ice pulled in from
Princeton, tae run being made in some
five hours, which IS going some con-
sidering the size of the train. Why,
when the whistle blew for Oroville the
brakeman in the caboose was waving
farewell to his girl at Nighthawk.
1t has taken some CONCEALED liquid
to fill the ice houses along t1e line
that are supplied from Otter lake. II
has required 500 cars to move the crop
to the various repositories that are
supplied from this source. A crew Is
now storing the consignment for the
Oroville ice house which requires
$500 tons, and 'thatis quite bunch ol
chilliness.
Saturday two OF about the oldes,
EMPLOYEES of the Great Northern rail
road. who are assigned to the duties
of examining employees OF the roaC
upon the contents of the book OF rules
issued for the information and guid
ance OF men in every branch OF tn'
service. were in Oroville and held al
inouisition at which some SO OF tn
boys were put through their p's ant
as. An examination at this point Il
reached about once in every tnre'
years and the quiz is so severe tina
the men, or many Of them ratne
dread the ordeal. From what wa
dropped in casual conversation ate
the gang had been on the rack tn
inference is drawn that those wh
we're questioned made very goo
record.
The board Of examiners consisted
d. McNab. travelling chief train dis
patcher, a veteran in tle service, an
John Maher, one Of the Oldest engin
GERS on the road, both of st. Paul. MI
Maher has been pulling the throttl
for some "A years, and during the nit
time of Jas. ]. Hill Mr. Maher was
ways drafted to take out Mr.. Hill
private train. Whenever the gref
railroad builder took spin over Tn
road of which he was at the nea
Maher was called for and so long
Maher was In the cab. Mr.. Hill re
satisfied that he was In safe hands.
Mentioning the visit OF these OH
cials it may be added that 1t was
special pleasure for M. E. Reed, 81
our efficient and always courteous re
ident agent of the road, to meet M
McNab for when MIR. Reed first Drol
into service for the Great Mortimer
away back in 1899. he was EXAMINE
and passed by Mr.. McNab. And
Mr.. Reed aad railroaded for sever
years before taking this exam. tn
goes to show that M. E., Is no spril
C\icken as a rairoad employee.
Before closing this sheaf OF itel
pertaining to railroads 1t may be a
ded for the benefit Of the general pu
lie that round trip tickets over I
Great Northern for the season OF IL
to eastern points will be on the low,
basis that has ever been allowed
round trip excursion fares. The n
will be fare and one-tenth for
round trip The selling period
year will be longer than last ye
running from May Is to Septem'
Is. Final return limit. October
1923. Tickets will be sold to sa
destinations as last year and Will
ry the same privileges as to stopov'
diverse routes. etc. This concess
ought to bring many people to Wa
ington this year from the east.
ought to encourage people living
the west to go back and visit their
home town. rS
y - rNv