White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-06-18

do drous
things with the proper tools.
Thus Walter Chrysler, early in life.
developed the liking for mechanics
that has aided him so much in gain
ing such signal success later on in
life.
He was born in western Kansas in
1875. Wamego, typical prairie ham,
let, was his birthplace. His father,
an engineer for the Union Pacific rail-
road, moved to Ellis, nearby town,
when Walter was little fellow.
The lad grew up there in the at
mosphere Of engines and the din Of
repair work, for the shops of the
Union Pacific were located at Ellis.
He would watch his father start his
run in the primitive locomotives Of
half century ago. He would be
waiting for him on his return from
across the prairie.
The youngster aspired to follow in
the footsteps Of his father and be-
come first class mechanic. He in
herited liking for machinery from
his parent. The contacts and assoc
Citations of the railroad center served
to strengthen his inclinations. He
never thought seriously Of following
any career other than a mechanical
one.
The elder Chrysler piloted the first
coal burning locomotive owned by the
Union Pacific, which is Indication
enough that he was regarded as the
pick Of the engineers on the road.
His son came naturally enough by his
mechanical bent, it would seem.
The Ellis roundhouse and shops
saw much Of young Chrysler in the
time he could spare from school.
During the summers he didn't have
so much time to loiter around the
railroad shops. He worked for gro
Ger as an errand boy and clerk in
the vacation periods. His earnings
helped the family. Times were none
too good in Kansas in those days.
When he was seventeen and had re-
ceived the best common school educa-
ton he could obtain in Ellis he de-
cided that it was high time for him
to begin to earn his own living and
to acquire trade.
He tried and passed an examination
to become machinist's apprentice in
the Ellis shops. He had to make his
own tools as he went along. His kit,
consisting of assorted calipers, divid-
ers, balanced hammers, test indicator
and combination square, was all made
with his own hands, before he was
eighteen.
After year in the shops he was
skilled enough to build miniature
steam locomotive. 1t was complete in
every detail, including air brakes. He
built a track in his back yard and
gave demonstrations Of how the con-
trivance would run.
Tired as he was from hard days
work in the shops the youngster read
magazines and books On engineering
subjects to round out the practical
knowledge he was gaining as ma
chinist's helper. At the end of four
years Of strict application to his job
he was earning 227a cents an hour as
g first class journeyman mechanic.
Then he got the itching foot and
decided to see something of the coun-
try. He worked for a time in west
ern shops, finally settling in Salt Lake
City where his pay was 271A cents an
hour. There he repaired a locomo-
tive's blown off cylinder head in two
hours so that 1t could pull out the
fast mail on schedule time. !
This feat brought him the job as
foreman Of the Colorado & Southern
shops in Trinidad, Colo Next he be-
came superintendent of motive power
for the Chicago & Great Western.
Still thirsting for knowledge and a
chance to broaden himself, he ac-
cepted the place as manager of the
American Locomotive company in
Pittsburgh,
He got his first chance in the auto
mobile business with the Buick COM
pany, again accepting a big salary
cut for the opportunity. With him
the prospects for the future have al
ways outweighed immediate rewards.
What he did with Buick, General Mo-
tors, Willys-Overland Maxwell-Chal-
mers and his own product constitutes
one of the most outstanding achieve
ments in the automobile industry.
Today his headquarters are in New
York. where his ancestor, Tuenis Van
Dolsen, was the first male child born
in the days when the city was New
Amsterdam. 1t is far cry from the
sun-baked prairies Of Kansas to a
position in leading industry and to
offices atop the highest building in
the metropolis, structure that bears
his name.
But that is the place to which the
box of tools made by Walter Chrysler,
on his first job, helped carry him. He
still has the implements that started
him on the path to fame and fortune.
Nor has he forgotten how to use
them.
"a. by The North American Newspaper AilianceJ