The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1940-03-28
S. Frank Bonaime-
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to Neche, North Dakota. Then he
moved quickly. In 1895 to Fisher
as warehouseman; then to ClimaS
for five years; at Thompson for one
winter; GAINESVILLE two years; Shell
ly for stretch of five; Roseau fol
rs years and then to Sank Centre
for slightly more than six.
He first became agent in '96, two
years after he entered the roads
service. He remembers because
''it was the year of the election"
In Roseau he had his longest
stretch. Born March 81, 1870 in
Grenoble, department of Iscre,
France, then a city of some 10000,
it is odd indeed that his career
should end thousands Of miles
away, across an ocean and half a
continent on Main Street.
That interest in mechanics has
made railroading fun for him. Some
Is or 80 years ago he perfected
his only invention. 1t was a sys-
tenn of signals, such as now en-
ployed on the road, for direction
of rail traffic. His utilized brush
es for their touchoff mechanism.
And it went further in that it con-
tanned a block that would stop a
train automatically that might be
a runaway. He never got it patent
ed; he never invented anything
else.
All of which doesn't stop that
desire to learn of the sciences and
dabble in mechanics. Some years
ago by correspondence he took a
course in electrical engineering,
and had it not been for his already
planted career in the railroad, he
might have turned to that field.
But his career well under way,
Frank stayed with it, not for a
has regretted it. His activ-
ity has paced the march Of the
station agent from the days when
he might be most anything-even
purveyor of marriage licenses-to
the day of more specialized atten-
ton.
He's carried the old-fashioned
seal punch, with which freight cars
are sealed, that weighed several
pounds. He's seen the old char
acteristic brass lamps that spotted
a yellow light about the station.
In fact, paradoxically, it wasn't un-
til he came to Sank Centre that
he finally got rid Of the old lamps,
the staid, traditional equipment.
That was six years ago when first
he could work under the incandes-
cent flood of electric light.
He remembered situations that at
the time were terrifying, but anus
ing and mellowed in the years. One
night when he was doing trick
alone, he went to a room in the
rear of the station to change
clothes. The door snapped locked,
and his keys were not handy. He
got out through a window, and
a pole tried to force the
ticket window open to get into the
station. Up to him sided a rough
fellow, Go half with you,"
he offered.
There was another time when he
was sitting in the dead of night
before the rudy glow of the coal
stove. Against the window, franz
ed in the eery light, came face.
Frank rushed to the door, threw
it open, and something dashed at
him. Terrified for an instant, he
found it was a dog, whose appar-
ent master was in drunken stoop-
er, propped between two chilly
barrels of iced fish.
There was real work in those
days; there is work today. But he
one time when he and
his operator were standing as high
as 36-hour tricks for an entire
week. There were times when
you fell asleep, but the clicking
key would awake you again." he
said. 1T was rough country and
they were rough days"
Franks plans aren't entirely to
quit the business scene. He plans
some sort of small service bust
ness, he said. With Mrs. Bonaime
and their three daughters, he'll
make his home here in the house
he purchased on Main Street.
And that interest in science he
isn't forgetting. Only a year ago
he read a complete course in var
led sciences. Any advertisement
he sees telling of new courses in
or science, he clips,
mails in. Result is the material is
piled about his office at the house
in such profusion, he'll probably
never get through it all. Which
isn't worrying him.
Mr.. Bonaime points out that he
is not a scholar; he's merely an
interested student. "I'm not a
specialist nor have I tried to be-"
he said. IT want only a working
knowledge Of some Of these things.
That for myself is the best way"
That working knowledge Of his
spreads from electricity to arch
aelogy.
His own career through, Mr.. Bon
Anne kept on long enough to see
his son get into the railroading
game. Son Sidney is now agent
at Tilden Junction and carrying
the torch from father to son.