WESTERN PACIFIC MARCH 1983 Mileposts Historic Issue

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REGULAR FEATURES: MILEPOSTS LAST ISSUE The MILEPOSTS issue you now hold is the last to be published under Editorial ...... 2 Caboosing ...... 52 that banner. By this time each of you will have received at least one issue FIFTY CANDLES FOR of Union Pacific INFO magazine and I know that you will agree that Service Awards ...... 56 WESTERN PACIFIC Manager-Employee Communications Jim Beck and staff do an excellent They Have Retired ...... 60 A reprint of the history job. In fact, a new publication is being designed to properly reflect the written for Mileposts needs of all employees in the merged system. In Memoriam ...... 61 March 1953 by G. H. Kneiss .. 4 Before we leave MILEPOSTS to the historians, a few words are in order. Letters Received ...... 62 In all, MILEPOSTS published 255 issues since 1949. The first Editor of EIGHTY CANDLES ON THE FINAL CAKE course was Lee "Flash" Sherwood ~ ~ Milepost 255 ...... 63 Being the history of Western who started MILEPOSTS in 1949 ~ Pacific between 1953 and served until his retirement in and 1983 ...... 42 1974. In numbers, Lee was respon­ sible forthe first 234 issues. Lee will YESTERDAY ... TODAY . .. be remembered always as "Mr. TOMORROW Mileposts." Paul Gordenev of our A photographic salute to our Accounting Department took over promising future . . .. Rear Cover from Lee in 1974 and served as Editor for several years until MILE­ POSTS was switched to a different format. Late in 1980, the Personnel Department, under the able steward­ ship of its Director Tom Green, received the mission to revive the Lee Sherwood MILEPOSTS and to return it in MILEPOSTS EDITOR most ways to the status it held 1949-1974 during the tenure of Lee Sherwood. Photo by Ted Benson I have indeed been fortunate to serve as your Editor these past two years and hope that what you now hold will serve as a keepsake in place of ON THE COVER all the issues you wished you had saved but didn't. First, we have reprinted the original history of the First Fifty Years of Western Pacific exactly as written by Gil Kneiss and printed in the March 1953 issue of MILEPOSTS. Second, Dick Bridges has been commissioned to write the Last Thirty Years of Western Pacific's history which appears under the title " Eighty Candles on the Final Cake." When you read it, I'm certain you Seldom, if ever, has a train met a more will agree that it has been prepared with the same care Gil Kneiss used , enthusiastic welcome than Oakland put on back in 1953. for the first through Western Pacific pa s­ Happy Reading! senger train on August 22, 1910. A. P. Schuetz Editor g Id d l 9 rs th t 110d b n fly ov n un til . nd fh d I am f hovfnc I '11 l ill Iln i l­ Fe ther River country following Bidwell's ing it celebrated discovery on July 4, 1848, The young surveyor managed 10 in­ had departed with thei r pokes and six­ terest several important men in his Fifty Candles for Western Pacific shooters. Barkeeps and dance hall gals idea Asbury Harpending of diamond had followed them. The many-pronged hoax fame, Civil War General William by G. H. Kneiss turbulent river which Arguello had named Rosecrans, Creed Hammond and oth­ Rio de las Plumas because of countless ers. Some of them were sincerely inter­ floating feathers from moulting wild ested in railroad building. Harpending. pigeons, flowed in solitude through its for one, was convi nced that the Central deep gorges. Pacific had chosen a most inferior One of the first professional jobs that route over the mountains and would be came Keddie's way after he had hung easy competition As the Qui ncy Union Tuesday, March 3,1903, was just an­ Prattville. Walter J. Bartnett, San Fran­ out his shingle at Quincy, county seat put it: "The Central Pacific have long other rainy day to most San Francis­ cisco, lawyer and promoter, had su b­ of Plumas County, was that of explor­ since understood they must content cans. There wasn't much excitement. scribed to 14,900 of the 15,000 shares of ing the North Fork of the Feather for themselves with the su m mer trade of Carrie Nation, armed with axe and Bible, capital stock but behind him, specula­ smashed some bottled goods and glass­ tion went, were probably the Goulds, the ware in a Montgomery Street saloon and Vanderbilts. Jim Hill or David Moffat. was hustled off to jail To jail likewise Perhaps the reason that the Chronicle went Miss Flo Russell, a young lady put its writeup back on page 14 along whose crime lay in exposing an ankle with the truss ads and the electric belts and bit of petticoat while lifting her skirts was that the story was not exactly new. Reconnaissance party high enough to clear the muddy pave­ Men had talked about a railroad through on the Butte & Plumas ment, and to jail in Marin County. across the Feather River Canyon for a long Ra ilway Company. "Snowball" is carrying the Bay, went one George Gow, who time. particularly one named Arthur W. a desk and beddmg fo r illegally failed to bring his automobile to Keddie. two men. a dead stop when a horse-drawn vehicle KEDDIE'S DREAM approached within 300 feet Over in Corea (as it then was spelled). Keddie had come to California in the San Franciscans learned from their news­ early sixties - a young Scottish lad, papers. fighting went on along the Yalu trained as a surveyor By that time the River between the Russians and the Japanese. and at Harvard Professor Hol­ .; lis. chairman of the Athletic Committee. ::e:rJimintl.r~ !Il~~tin,g the newly-organized Oroville and Beck­ Virginia City and Carson The Feather said that football aroused only the worst 1f~$ttm f-a.:jfic .{f(j<1tfw,,¥ ~Qm;a~ wourth Pass Wagon Road Company River Railroad will be the road across impulses and should be abolished. Up in Beckwourth Pass. for unknown ages a the continent " But others of the asso­ Sacramento Governor Pardee signed a great Indian thoroughfare. had been ciates were looking only at the specu­ bill making the Golden Poppy the state discovered to civilization by Jim Beck­ lative possibilities when coupled with flower of California. wourth, a mulatto scout. in 1850 A their own political influence No. not too much excitement, but Sierra crossing more than 2,000 feet The Oroville and Virginia City Rail­ even so readers of the San Francisco below the elevation of Donner Pass, it road Company was formed in April. Chronicle next day reached page 14 had become popular for covered wag­ 1867 Capital stock sales were author­ before they learned that eleven men had on trains ized up to five million dollars, but a sat down around a table in the Safe De­ Keddie made his canyon reconnais­ negligible amount was sold Where­ posit Building on California Street and sance in the dead of winter but the upon some of Keddie's new associates organized a new transcontinental rail­ snows he encountered were surpris­ railroaded a most amazing bill through road to be named the Western Pacific. ingly light Furthermore. he found a the California Legislature and induced It was to run from the city of San Fran­ route with grades too easy to waste on Governor Haight to sign it cisco eastward through the canyons of a wagon road Back to Quincy he went This new law was entitled "An Act the Feather River and Beckwou rth Pass with a thrill and a dream in his heart­ Authorizing the Board of Supervisors and on to Salt Lake City By branch Ii nes the thrill of having discovered what he of Plumas County to take and Sub­ it was also to serve San Jose. Alameda. / felt su re wou Id prove to be the best scribe to the Capital Stock of the Oro­ , l' / ." , Berkeley. Richmond. Fresno. Chico and route for a transcontinental railway ville and Virginia City Railroad Com- 4 S pany " Actually, it not only authorized the Feathe r. Bogue ra ttler favor d th them, it specified that said Supervisors Deer Creek route despite some 80 could be fined, removed from office, miles of 4 per cent grade, but Jay and sued for damages if they didn't do Gould gained control of the Union SOl This may have been good politics Pacific about that time, and the plans but it was deplorable public relations for a San Francisco extension were Enthusiasm for the railroad in Plumas abandoned County cooled while indignation boiled THE SAN FRANCISCO & and the Supervisors resigned en masse. GREAT SALT LAKE A legal battle finally repealed the ob­ noxious statute. This was bad news to California sh ip­ General Rosecrans tried to induce pers and merchants who had hoped the Union Pacific to take over the 0 & for some relief from the Central Pacifi c V C project as its California connec­ monopoly which skillfully adjusted rates tion and thus by-pass the Central Pa­ to the maximum figures which would cific with its already critical snow prob­ allow its customers to remain in busi­ lems. His old comrade in arms, General ness. A group of them got together an d G. M Dodge, actually left his U . P. con­ determined to build the Union Pacific struction camp and came out to con­ connection themselves. They incorpo­ Western PacIfIc. unlIke earlIer transcontinen~ sider the offer. He liked what he saw rated the San Francisco and Great Salt tals. was largely machine constructed, though the eqUIpment used seems quaint by today's but the Central Pacific end-of-track Lake Railroad Company and hired standards. was miles into the Nevada sagebrush Bogue's assistant, W. H. Kennedy. If he by then and, although the Union Pacific could locate a practicable route, one was authorized by Congress to build to which was not too expensive, they felt it the California line, it had to stop wher­ should be possible to find Eastern capi­ Left. above. shows a steam shovel workIng in Right, above. IS the "'merry~go~round" used in the cut lust east o f OrovIlle. constructing large fills in operation at Milepost ever it met the C . P. talists who would finance the under­ 59. Keddie started construction on the taking. O. & V. C. near Oroville in the spring of Kennedy was, of course, familiar with '69. A gang of thirty Chinamen was put the surveys made by Union Pacific but to grading between Thompson Flat believed he might find an even better Below. "Improved Harris Track~Layer"pu tt ing and Morris Ravine. Shortly afterward line. In Quincy he called at the County down rail near Hartwell (now QUIncy Junction). Congress was asked to help with a land Surveyor's office for a map of Plumas grant of 641,200 acres. But the whole Country; the County Surveyor was thing blewup. ThebuildersoftheCen­ Arthur Keddie, and the two men found a tral Pacific were adept at "pressure" lot to talk about. Keddie told the engi­ and they put plenty of it on Harpending neer of the low pass he had found near to ditch the scheme. And one of them, Spring Garden Ranch between the Mid­ C. P. Huntington, laughed Keddie out dle Fork of the Feather and Spanish of his office with the remark " no man Creek, a tributary of the North Fork. As will ever be fool enough to build a rail­ the Middle Fork Canyon became impos­ road th rough the Feather River Canyon." sibly steep below this point and the Arthur Keddie had to put his dream North Fork was almost as bad above it, in mothballs but he did not forget it. this low divide offered a means of utiliz­ The seventies and the eig hties passed ing the best parts of both canyons. The close of th e latter decade found Crossi ng the Sierra sum mit at Beck­ the Union Pacific, less than entirely wou rth Pass, thence descending the happy with its western connection, upper reaches of the Middle Fork and again considering its own line to San cutting over to the North Fork at Spring Francisco. Out in the field was Virgil G. Garden, as Keddie had suggested, to Bogue, U. P. chief engineer, running reach the Sacramento Valley at Oroville, trial surveys over the Sierra. One was Kennedy completed his survey late in down the Pit River, one through Susan­ 1892. It was a good line, with a ruling ville and along Deer Creek, several grade of 1 1/ 3 per cent, and as he filed through Beckwourth Pass and down his maps in the various county court 6 7 til Y 11 - IP I 1 ~\ ~ II Iy stak d UIII acll t ~ 11 1() llt S SUIV Y d. n night. s h S8t III houses, they established under the exist­ ing his surveys fo r th e U ni on Pacific in m il es of " li n ." he made a c opy of the his fi eld tent pondering the old Kenn dy ing laws, a five-year option on the route the '80's, recommended Beckwourth corresponding map Kennedy had filed line with its grade of 1 1/3 per cent which in the name of the San Francisco and Pass and the Feather River route. Re­ in 1892 and. by registering these in the the Western Pacific engineers had ac­ Great Salt Lake Railroad Company membering also an unhappy experi ­ county seats. won an incontestable cepted from Keddie, he noted from th e With these rights and Kennedy's esti­ ence he had once had in locating an­ five-year franchise. profi les that between Orovi lie and Beck­ mate of $35 million to build the railroad, other road, only to find the whole route Walter Bartnett then journeyed to wourth Pass there was only a difference the San Franciscans Journeyed to New plastered with mining claims of du bi ­ New York with Keddie's franchise in in elevation of 50 feet per mile. This sug­ York City, the lai r of capital But every­ ous mineral value but through w hich his pocket, convinced George Gould gested to him the idea of a uniform one where the S.F.&G.S.L. promoters called, rights of way must be negotiated. he that it could not be ignored Bartnett per cent grade. they found Collis P Huntington had advised Gould to form a "mining com­ and Gould signed an agreement on Rapid investigation proved this feas­ been before them. Why spend $35 mil­ pany" first. Accordingly the North Cali­ February 6, 1903, which provided for ible, and without climbing too high lion to compete with him, the wily old fornia Mining Company was organized the formation of a new company to above the river. Elated, Bogue wired E. man had asked each likely angel, he'd be and soon nearly 600 placer claims were take over the various corporations which T. Jeffery and with equal enthusiasm g lad to let them have the Central Pacific, staked out, blanketing the entire pro­ each had previously organized and to the D&RG president answered that if a monopoly and all, for a good deal less posed route across the mountains. build and equip the railroad Less than one per cent grade railroad between and be g lad to get it off h is hands. No Gould turned the job over to t he a month later and pursuant to this pact, San Francisco and Utah could one called his bluff and the San Fran­ Denver and Rio Grande and its presi­ the meeting in the Safe Deposit Build­ be located, money to build it was avail­ cisco and Great Salt Lake Railroad Com­ dent, E. T. Jeffery, sent a field pa rt y ing was called to order able regardless of the cost. pany joined the other punctured bubbles. under H. H. Yard west to locate the li ne. Shortly thereafter General G. M. Dodge It was all top secret. The transit men THE WESTERN PACIFIC IS BORN wrote to one of Bogue's associates as HARRIMAN VS. GOULD and stake artists were forbidden even follows: to let their wives know where they The Western Pacific Railway Com­ When Jay Gould had acquired control were. Letters could only be exchanged pany was thus organized on March 3, "I am glad to see that you are out of the Denver and Rio Grande proper­ through the Denver office of the rail­ 1903. Articles of I ncorporation were fi led there on the Western Pacific. That ties, he had seriously considered ex­ road. Two California corporations. the with the County Clerk the same day But line is almost exactly the line I run tending them to the Pacific Coast. The Butte and Plumas Railway and the when Bartnett's clerk appeared next day (sic) south of Salt Lake, thence Union Pacific, however, control of which Indian Valley Railway, were set up to at the Secretary of State's office in Sacra­ down the Humboldt, across the he no longer owned, had induced him be the figureheads. mento, the first of many roadblocks Beckwourth Pass, and down the not to. Both systems interchanged their It was, however, more than a bit di ffi­ thrown up by the Southern Pacific be­ Feather, but you have a better grade westbound traffic with the Central Pa­ cult to keep anything concerned with a came apparent. For the pioneer railroad than I got. That is the line the Union cific at Ogden and in return the latter railroad through the Feather River Can­ between Sacramento and Oakland, com­ Pac ific wou Id have bu i It if it had not divided its eastbound loads equitably yon secret from Arthur Keddie. T hat pleted way back in 1869. had also been been for the progress of the Cen­ between them. was a subject he kept up with Further­ named Western Pacific and the SP, tral Pacific east. " But when E. H Harriman and his sup­ more, he had another railroad scheme which had taken it over, still claimed all Rumors were still thick as to who was porters, after acquiring the Union Pa­ on the fire himself. He had formed an rights to the name. Bartnett threatened behind the Western Pacific. Some thought cific, picked up control of the Southern alliance with one Walter J. Bartnett mandamus proceedings and the S.P. the Burlington interests. Others picked Pacific System after C. P. Huntington who, with his associates, had built a withdrew its objections. The Western "J i m" H ill of the Great Northern or David died in 1900, they closed the Overland short line, the Alameda and San Joa­ Pacific Railway Company was thereupon Moffat, the Colorado capitalist. Most felt Gateway to the rival Rio Grande. George quin Railroad only a few years before incorporated, on March 6, 1903. positive that Gould was behind the road Gould, Jay's eldest son, had succeeded from Stockton southwest to the Tesla George Gould still remained com­ despite his still positive denials. There to the 11 ,OOO-mile rail empire by then. It coal mines. The mines had not come pletely out of the picture and denied all was a story current that Harriman and was his ambition to have his own rails up to expectations and Bartnett, w ho connection with the project. Although Ripley (of the Santa Fe) had together from coast to coast. They already stretch- was an exceedingly high powered pro­ he financed the new surveying parties offered him two million plus all he had ed from Buffalo to moter, had conceived the ambitious that were immediately sent out to make spent so far to give up the project. It was Ogden, he had defi­ plan of extending his 36-mile railroad the final location, he was forced, in the not until the spring of 1905 that Gould n ite plans to reach east to Salt Lake City and west to Sa n interests of this secrecy, to keep the Rio publicly announced his paternity of the Baltimore, and he had Francisco and then selling it to the Grande engineers in the field as well. Western Pacific and appointed Presi­ hoped to acquire the Goulds. The absurd result was two hostile groups dent Jeffery of the Rio Grande to head Central Pacific him­ Bartnett and Keddie incorporated struggling to outwit each other and often the new road as well. Bartnett, who had self. Now, bottled up in Utah by Harri­ the Stockton and Beckwith (sic) Pass on the point of exchanging pot shots, been president, became Vice-president. man, he decided to build a new road to Rai Iroad on December 1, 1902 Loca­ though both were actually on the same Contracts for construction were signed San Francisco. tion was amazingly fast and simple. For payroll. late the same year, although the line was Virgil Bogue had become George Keddie merely put some stooge "sur­ Virgil Bogue was finally dispatched not completely located nor the rights of Gould's consulting engineer and recall- vey parties" out in the canyon and as by Gould to choose the best of the way all secured. The Southern Pacific 8 9 "J , .------~- . and physica l obstacl , but alt lloug h it had conc luded it was the b st 1I1 Y coul d po sessed immense political power and do Harriman's forces sneered and r .­ a formidable bag of tricks, the Western laxed. Gould's were just beginning. Every Pacific promoters usually managed to move was carefully reh earsed and logis­ come out on top. tics figured to the last detail As the Oakland tidelands had gradu­ WAR ON THE WATERFRONT ally been filled in, the Government had The biggest row was that involvi ng the extended the banks of San Antonio WP ferry terminal on San Francisco Bay Estuary with rock quays called "training • A little historical background is neces­ walls" in order to prevent silt from wash­ sary here. Oakland was an unnamed ing into the Oakland inner harbor chan­ part of the Peralta rancho in 1851, when nel A dredger was often necessary to lawyer Horace Carpentier and two asso­ prevent the formation of a bar at the ciates made themselves at home on the entrance of the channel This dredger oak-studded meadows around what is became the Trojan horse of the Gould now lower Broadway and started selling attack. lots. Don Vicente Peralta rode around On the night of January 5, 1906, the EO WA RD r . JEFFERY with the sheriff when his cattle began to Western Pacific forces under Bartnett J Ulle 2l. 19{15 Noyerr.btr 6 , 19J3 disappear, but Carpentier glibly talked struck him into a lease of the land on which he With 200 workmen and 30 guards had squatted and then proceeded to armed with carbines and sawed-off shot­ incorporate it as the City of Oakland. His guns, he used the dredging company as PRESIDENTS hand-picked trustees gladly "sold" him a front. and seizing the north training the entire 10,000 acre waterfront be­ wall, began feverishly to lay a rough of tween high tide and the ship channel for track Most of the guards took up posi­ five dollars pi us two per cent of any tions at the shore end of the U S train­ wharfage fees he might collect Car­ ing wall and maintained them night and WESTERN pentier then took office as mayor day Laborers snatched their sleep in In 1868 when Central Pacific interests shelter tents on the wave-washed rocks sought a terminal on the Bay at Oakland, and the WP commissary department fed PACIFIC Carpentier made a nice deal with its them Scows rushed more rails and ties management. The Oakland Waterfront across the Bay to the end of the wall Company was incorporated for $5,000,000 Soon there was a mile of track on top of by both parties. Carpentier became its the rock wall President and conveyed "all the water­ Of course the Southern Pacific did not front of the City of Oakland" to the new quietly accept this outrageous trespass­ corporation Through this succession of ing on domains it had held undisputed events the Southern Pacific had main­ for more than half a century Its legal tained a stranglehold on the Oakland department, fairly in convulsions, was waterfront for half a century, although whipping out the necessary papers for the city had several times attempted to immediate appeal to the law This was invalidate the title. exactly what Bartnett had told Gould Obviously the S.P was fully confident would happen and exactly what they that it would have but little difficulty in both desired For the courts, as Bartnett isolating the Western Pacific from a had felt sure they would, held that the

CIIARI ~~ ::. ELSEY H A Rk Y A M ITCH E LL nn:OERIC 8 W HITMAN practical outlet on the Bay The Santa Southern Pacific title to the waterfronts J,m ua ry L 1<1 )! JOI fluary I. 1949 Jllly I. 19'19 Drctl'nl.tr .j). 1'l4 July I , 1949 Fe, only a few years before, had built its had not progressed westward with the ferry slip way up at Point Richmond shoreline as the tidelands and marshes rather than attempt to crack the SP had been fill ed in, but was valid only to stronghold Bartnett, after a hard strug­ the low tide line of 1852 The SP 's gle against the older railroad's influence, "waterfront" therefore was by now well did secure a small site on the mudflats of inland, and the new marginal land sur­ the Oakland Estuary It wou Id have made rounding, it was the property of the city a miserably cramped ferry terminal but, Years later, when the first WP passenger

10 11 II. "' I c Ii ' tl ~Ikl an cl . Me yOI Fl ank K. SLIp rIn! n nt r u W [ I m MOll in hi sp ch of welcome said: tively that the Western Pacific was sl l­ "The advent of the Western Pacific ing all his track men and that it wasn't Railway is epochal It is of peculiar very neighborly T J Wyche, the WP interest to Oakland, for this sys­ engineer, replied that all his assistants tem's coming made it possible for had positive instructions on this point Oakland to recover control and and wouldn't think of taking S.P men. A possession of its magnificent water­ few days later a Greek labor agent re­ front. This may well be placed first ported that the next batch of track men in the order of benefits which will he would deliver would have to wait until accrue to the city, as well as to the they could get their time checks from the Bay region and the entire state." S.P I Drunkenness was a problem too, CONSTRUCTION WAS NOT EASY one which Bogue finally solved by buy­ ing up all the saloon licenses handy to Construction camps had been estab­ the job. lished by the contractors at points all After the depression of 1907 set in , along the line under supervision of Com­ there were plenty of men available-and pany division engineers. Some were ac­ at lower wages. Had it not been for this cessible by rail and most of the others by unexpected break all of the contractors wagon road. But, for much of the dis­ would probably have gone bankrupt, tance through the rugged Feather River since the work proved considerably No. 1 of Bartnett's Alameda & San Joaquin Railroad. Became the first locomotivl'! to haul Canyon, not even a foot path was handy more costly than they had figured. revenue trains on the Western Pacific when its letterhead read "operating between Stockton and Tesla .· to the route. I ndeed the su rveyors had I n particular, the long tunnels at Spring often hung suspended by cables over Garden between the canyons of the cliffs in orderto set their line stakes. So it North and Middle Forks, Chilcootat Beck­ was necessary first to blaze a trail and wourth Pass, and at Niles Canyon not far set up small camps supplied by pack east of Oakland, ran into unexpected mules, then use these as bases for build­ delays and costs. Original plans had ing a wagon road over which supplies called for Western Pacific to be ready for and equipment for building the railroad business by September 1, 1908, and could be hauled. It was slow, and often when it became more and more evident dangerous. that this date could not be met, President At Cromberg it was necessary to cross Jeffery felt mounting concern the swirling river on a jittery rope bridge " It is really a very serious situation to Setting up engines for Western PacifiC at Salt Lake City In November. 1906. They would have to do a lot of construction train service before they could start hauling revenue freight. and here eleven men were lost working contemplate," he wrote Bogue in Janu­ on the cliffs or trying to cross the stream. ary 1907, "and the key is the completion They were tough men too, mostly lum­ of the long tunnels. The rest of t.tre road berjacks and hard-rock miners. Where we can build and get in running order, Grizzly Creek drops into the Feather, the and we can have our terminal facilities at field parties were forced to resort to rafts San Francisco and Oakland and our in order to by-pass the sheer granite floating plant in San Francisco Bay all cliffs. Over at the Utah end crossing the ready by or before September 1 (1908)." salt beds was a nightmare due to exces­ It was in March, 1907, when one of the sive temperature extremes and the kill­ worst storms in the history of California ing glare which often blinded men after a struck and the resulting floods com­ few hours work. pletely tied up construction Little dam­ It was difficult to hold men under such age was done to the half-finished West­ conditions while more pleasant work ern Pacific - in fact the storm effectively was plentiful and turnover was terrific. demonstrated the wisdom of its location Bogue actually had detectives infiltrated and Bogue wrote Jeffery that if they had through some of the gangs under the been building the 1 1/ 3 per cent grade suspicion that some outside agency must originally chosen, their prospects would be stirring up trouble and inducing the have been grim. But it was impossible to men to quit, but no evidence of this was deliver materials to the Job . Flood condi­ ever found On the other hand the S.P tions were so bad that S.P trains from 12 13 Magnitude of the Feather River ftood of March. 1907 IS shown by the construclion photos of Blldge No. 212.36. the Middle Fo rk crossing 7'1,. miles east of OrO Ville . The upper shows the bfldge piers barely cleaflng the crest. the lo wer was taken the follOWing November with the fiver at ItS normal flow

Remembered only as Dick and Andy. these Iwo dangerous looking men were part o f the "army" which held the Western Pacific positions dUllng the fight for an outlet on San Francisco Bay. Sawed-off shotguns. carbines and ammunllion remained on the storekeeper's list for years.

Sacramento to Oakland were operating and Union streets in Oakland on Janu­ by way of Fresno. With these and other ary 2, 1906, proceeded eventually to the delays it was not su rprisi ng for Jeffery to drivi ng of the last On November 1, 1909. write, "I long for the day when we can the track gangs from east and west met have the railroad in operation and I can on the steel bridge across Spanish Creek see the fruition of my hopes and plans near Keddie and foreman Leonardo di since 1892 Sixteen years is a long time Tomasso drove the final spike. In con­ to contemplate, lay plans for and pa­ trast to the gold spike ceremonies on the tiently work toward the accomplishment first overland railway just forty years of an enterprise: but th is is what I have before, no decorated engines met head endured to date, and must endure for to head before a cheering crowd, no fifteen or sixtee n months more." magnums of champagne were broached But the rail laying which had started The only spectators were a pair of local with the driving of the first spike at 3rd women and their little girls.

14 15 ~ en

ConstructIOn of Wllfow Creek viaduct. 1.005 feet long and 172 feet high. Below IS a train on the Sierra Valleys narrow gauge railroad

~ --J End of track at Berry Creek on May 17. 1908. of various classes Train mile costs were estimated, on the basis of 1,000- ton 30-car trains without helper ser­ vice, at $2.25 on the 1 per cent grade as against 1500-ton 45-car trains with help­ ers at $3.58 plus 36 cents a mile to return light engines Du vmg of the Last Spike on November 1 On the basis of such studies Wend­ 1909. at Spanish Creek budge. Leonardo over had been selected as the first sub­ Tomasso. the trac k fo reman. who pounded it division point west of Salt Lake City m. went back lorty years later and d rove a although it was without water Shafter, Vice-President and Chief Enginee r Virgil G. Bogue (extreme left) Inspec ts newly la id track near Ruby Spike at th e same spot In h onor of the 40 miles further east. had plenty of Portland m 1908. Bo th the wood-burning locom oflve and the comb m atlon coach first saw occasIOn . B elow are th e ceremO nies at tend· servic e on the historic Vlrgmla & Truckee Railway and. later. on Weste rn Pacific 's subsidiary. ani on thiS "R uby Jubilee .., water, better living conditions and was the B oca & Loyalton Ra ilroad. Th e other men (left 10 u g ht) are B ogue's secretary. F G . Va n an interchange point with the Nevada D eusen: B& L Supenntend ent W S LewIs . J. O. J am eson. WP divis io n enginee r. and George Northern However, Wendover sat at M attis. resident engineer at Portola. the foot of 33 miles of 1 per cent grade and the selection of Shafter as a sub­ ENGINES AND TERMINALS division point would have sacrificed tonnage for speed in order to avoid Surprisingly enough, President Jef­ with the Southern Pacific, would prob­ overti me, as well as fai lure to uti I ize the fery had first favored equipping the ably prove to be a mistake" 100 miles of nearly level track east of Western Pacific with small locomotives Jeffery was convinced and compara­ Wendover for maxi mum tonnage. Bogue of the vintage of 1888 These had given ble motive power was ordered: 65 con­ esti mated an n ual savi ngs of $100,000 good service on the Rio Grande and solidation freight engines with 43,300 by picking Wendover against Shafter were more economical than the heavier pounds tractive effort. 35 ten-wheel Each division point had been made engines it had since acquired. The passenger locomotives with a tracti ve the subject of a similar careful study as engines Jeffery favored were the D&RG effort of 29,100 pounds and 12 switch­ to location and design. At Oroville, the class 106, a ten-wheel passenger loco­ ers. The first twenty freight engines old gold workings governed the layout motive with a tractive effort of 18,000 were built by Baldwin, the rest by the and at Portola mountains and river pounds, and Class 113 for freight, a American Locomotive Company. They were important factors. Winnemucca consol idation with 25,000 pounds trac­ were a lot bigger than the 1888 models was the dividing terminal between coal tive effort. although they would appear tiny in and oil burning engines and here the Bogue at first appeared to fall in with comparison with those which would Humboldt River influenced its site. Oak­ Jeffery's ideas, but raised one doubt follow while they were still in service. land, in particular, had required pain­ after another as to the wisdom of or­ The work horses of the Western Pacific staking analysis as the engine terminal dering these little old-fashioned en­ for several decades, they were excel­ property was constricted and lay be­ gines. Finally he secured blue prints of lent machines. tween two S.P. grade crossings. Bogue the motive power used by the Southern Yards and terminals for the new rail­ and his assistants had done their work Pacific on the Ogden Route and sent road had been most carefully designed. well. them on to Jeffery in New York with his Traffic estimates had been prepared Rates of pay at the opening shed final comment on the 106 and 113 from local statistics, S.P. annual re­ light on the passage of time, Loco­ class: "To place these locomotives on ports, etc., and diagrams prepared of motive engineers drew $4.25 per ten- the road , hauling trains in competition expected east and westbou nd ton nage

1A 19 TIlE WESTERN UNION TELECRAPII C OMPANY.

~ 4, OOO OF f'lCE3 IN AMERICA. CABLE SERVICE TO AL.L THE WORl.D.

R E eEl V E D 11 S t Cat. p,U laGM ~I!i~ IllU 1 SI :·., Sta frm lm. Ctlil

'-t 211 co c j . I 30 patd V1a Reno

~'uj neT Calif H O'T l ' 09

'.j G Bocue Viee Pr e s iden t and Ch ief Englnee r \II P Rl Co . , S8n Pranet"co

Hy heartiest eOnir6tul at!.ons t o you and ou r cOlllpany upo n the ~ ot:1 'Pl et1on

ot th e bend o r steel by .... hl ch the ;.'bsteT'n Pacific this afternoon

g BYe to Ce t1. fo,rnia 21 graet transcontinental rallro Qd .

The "Otd Retlables" 01 WP The road began operatIons wIth 65 of the Ireight consolidations. above. 35 of the ten-wheel passenger engines (next page). and 12 switchers. For many ~ONEY "T R ."$ f'E RREO BY T£LECRAP ... . years they wele practically the safe motIve power and even now a fe w of the consolidatIons ale avalfabte for serVice No. 94. which putt ed the f,rst passenger tra m through the Feather River Canyon. IS preserved lor Ills toncaf purposes

Arthur W Keddle's A DISCOURAGING START hour of triumph Speaking Irom th e Through freight service on the WP serious damage through Palisade Can­ steps 01 the Plumas County Courthouse was inaugurated on December 1.1909 yon And to make matters desperate at QUIncy on the oc­ Prior to that there had been local freight along the whole railroad. the waters of casion 01 the First service. la rgely between Salt Lake City Great Salt Lake began to rise. ate away Through Passenger and Shafter for the Nevada Northern at the earth fill. and seriously threat­ TraIn. August 21. 1910 connection to the flourishing mines of ened ei ght miles of line carried on fill Ely Traffic was disappointingly slim and trestles Consideration was even The dally lading wires to Jeffery were given to abandoning this track. ob­ disheartening During three days in taining trackage rights ove r the San December, for example. 28.140 pounds Pedro. Los Angeles and Salt Lake route of merchandise and one car of lumber farther south. and building a ten-mile for Oakland was the total business connection west of the Lake It was not received at San Francisco, nothing what until the latter part of May that oper­ hou r day; fi remen, $2.75 Cond uctors mileage" in terms of operating costs, it ever at Oakland, and similar results at ation was returned to normal were paid by the month, $125 and no was rated shorter than the other road. other points Then came a small wind­ AN ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME overtime. Brakemen got $86.25 In the Th roughout the line there were 41 steel fall a solid fifty-car trainload of w ire office, a chief clerk found eleven twenty­ bridges and 44 tunnels. Everything had and nails from the American Steel and Passenger service was not begu n until dollar gold pieces and a five in his pay been designed and built according to Wire Company at Joliet, Illinois. reach­ August. On the 22nd of that month, the envelope; the stenographers $60 or the best contemporary standards but ed Salt Lake City on December 25 and fine new Oakland station, impressively even $75 if they were extra competent. there was much need for further ba l­ brought Ch ristmas cheer to all connect­ corniced with eight immense concrete The Western Pacific was now. opera­ lasting and other finishing touches. ed with the new railway as it rolled west eagles, saw an immense throng gather tive but far from finished. From San Furthermore, the Western Pacific was on WP rails to greet the first through train, a press Francisco to Salt Lake City it stretched an i nteg ral part of a 13, 708-m i Ie nation­ The cheerful mood did not last long special Promptly on time at 415, amid 927 miles, 150 miles longer than the wide railway system that now reached Du ri ng the latter part of February, 1910, the shrieking of factory whistles from com petitive route to Ogden; but against from San Francisco to Baltimore, with Old Man Winter hit California hard. Ex­ Berkeley to Hayward, engineer Michael the latter's steep grades, sharp curves, the exception of a short gap between cept for the Southern Pacific route Boyle eased her through an Arch of Tri­ and heavy snows at a 7,017-foot eleva­ Wheeling, West Virginia, and Connells­ through Arizona the entire Pacific Slope umph at Broadway and stopped before tion, the new railroad had maintained ville, Pennsylvania. It looked as if George was isolated from communication with the depot. Bogue's one per cent compensated Gould would be successful with his the East by landsl ides, snow banks and The trip had seen one amazing wel­ grade with a maximum curvature of 10°, dream of owning coast to coast rails, floods. Night and day extra gangs wres­ come after another. Crowds had turned and crossed the Sierra at 5,002-foot for work on a missing link, the Wabash tled with slides in the Feather River out all along the line, towns were deco­ elevation. On the basis of "adjusted Pittsburgh Terminal, was being rushed. Canyon and at Altamont Pass, there rated, salutes fired, parades and brass were four big washouts in the desert bands were everywhere. Children decked betwee n Gerlach and Winnemucca, and out in their Sunday Buster Brown suits 20 21 I

or starched eyelet-embroidered dresses THE COST ESTIMATES WERE had waved flags and tossed flower gar­ MUCH TOO LOW lands, while their elders pressed local gifts of grapes or watermelons upon the Gould had not divided the financial astounded passengers. responsibility for the Western Pacifi c In Quincy, 58-year old Arthur Keddie among his other railroads, but had placed had almost wept as he it all squarely upon the Denver and Rio On October 22. 1909. lust a few days before the dflvlng of the Last Spik e. Pres ident E. T Je ffery ran a complimentary excurSIOn out of Salt Lake City for legislativ e and other Utah spoke in welcome from Grande. By the terms of a mortgage arranged with the Bowling Green Trust bigwigs. Shown above IS Mayor Bransford o f Salt Lake City congratulating WP on a fme new the court house steps. railroad. a fm e train. and a fme lunch m the dmer which. Incidentally. mad e a tflP o f I .BOO And in Oakland itself, Company of New York in 1905, the Rio mJles to serve that one meal the crowd that surged Grande had underwritten $50 million in in Third Street or lined WP bonds, and in addition. had agreed roof-tops and climbed to advance any additional funds neces­ telephone poles for a sary to complete the line. better view as the train But building and equipping the West­ pulled up to the reviewing stand before ern Pacific had cost almost twice the $39 the station, was as exuberant las it was million estimate and the D&RG had been immense. A parade of welcome four called on to advance $15 million in cas h. Tram on the Nevada and Callforma RaJiroad at Reno. Nevada. ThiS narrow gauge Ime was The correspondence of Edward T Jeffery. purchased. standard-gauged. and partly relocated to become Wes te rn Pacific 's Reno miles long escorted the passengers and Branch. railroad officers to a banquet at the president of both companies. shows he Claremont Country Club. In the flowery was greatly worried at these mounting language of the day, the San Francisco figures and well he might have been for Call proclaimed' "The great heart of the they were to pull both railways into bankruptcy within a few years. - State throbs at the triumphal entry through canyons to the waters of the WESTERN PACIFIC GOES West, the Western Pacific led its iron stal­ TO WORK lions down to drink." George Gould was not present to hear Gould and Jeffery had. however. en­ the nice words of welcome to his new abled the Western Pacific to embark on railroad But soon thereafter his cushy its career with a top-flight staff of offi­ busi ness car A talanta (white tie and tails cers. C. H. Schlacks. first vice-president, customary at dinner) came West on the had 30 years of successful railroad expe­ rear end of the Overland Express. Gould, rience behind him. he had been general with his pretty ex-actress wife and child­ manager of the Colorado Midland an d ren , was aboard on a tour of inspection later operating vice-president of the The multi-millionaire railroad magnate D&RG Charles M Levey. second vice­ made a hit with the "rails" when he took president and general manager had been part in an impromptu baseball game at general superintendent of the Burling­ Portola. ton. general manager of its MiSSOUri 22 23 • nil , . 11111 , . VI • I J I IV ttl V I III ••• - -- _ . .... - 1 ...... ,... ·· ...... - •• , -' , •• .. , ,." ..... NOI til rn Pacific. T. M. Scl1urn ac her, coast-to-coast package rn erchandise cars vice-pres id ent in charge of traffic of both ran over WP, Rio Grande, Missouri WP and D&RG , had been general traffic Pacific, Wabash and Lackawanna. rnanager of the EI Paso and Southwest­ I n the passenger departrnent Lornax ern, while Edward L. Lornax and Harry was just as active in prornoting the beau­ M. Adarns, passenger and freight traffic ties and opportunities for sport in the rnanagers respective­ "Grand Canyon of the Feather"; the lux­ ly, were also capable u ry of the electrically lighted and fanned rnen of wide experi­ six-car Atlantic Coast Mail. On - toes ence. Such were offi­ solicitation garnered special rnovernents cers at the helrn for organizations ranging frorn the Bar­ of the infant railroad. tenders Union to the I nternational Purity Two of thern , Levey Congress. A Votes-for-Wornen Special and Adarns, were desti ned to becorne its paused at all stations for observation presidents. platforrn speeches by the Suffragettes in But not even superrnen cou Id have put the rnanner later adopted by presidential the road irnrnediately in the black. The candidates. high cost of its construction had already But as the earnest efforts of both traf­ nearly ruined the Rio Grande's credit fic branches fell far short of profitable Th is and the terrns of the rnortgage operation the Rio Grande becarne in­ which forbade any rnoneys to be spent creasingly concerned at the growing on branches until the rnain line had been deficits. In 1911 it was forced to suspend cornpleted, had prevented the construc­ dividends on its preferred stock in order tion of the nurnerous feeder lines which to rneet the interest coupons on the WP had originally been conternplated A first rnortgage bonds. By 1914 it was try­ worse deficiency was the lack of on-line ing to get the terrns of the rnortgage industries. I n San Francisco the road altered so as to elirninate this crUShing opened with only one industry spur, that burden Meeting with no success, its of Dunharn, Carrigan and Hayden Most directors decided to default on the cou­ of th e plants and warehouses in North­ pons due March 1, 1915 As a result ern California were already served by Western Pacific was forced into receiver­ Southern Pacific and Santa Fe. ship. However, they did their best. Alrnost at It was a tragic decision for the Rio once, they succeeded in signing advan­ Grande and rnade in the belief that tageous traffic agreernents with the Santa under the contract it was liable only for Fe and the Pacific Coast Stearnship the interest and not the prinCipal of the Cornpany They pioneered stearn road WP bonds. The Rio Grande could, at interchange with the new electric inter­ sorne sacrifice, have rnet the interest for u rbans. A secret agreernent, rnade March years, but its directors felt that by preCip­ 26, 1906, by Jeffery with Toyo Kisen Kai­ itating foreclosure and the sale of West­ sha, now becarne operative and public ern Pacific at auction, their I iability would knowledge. By its terrns this Japanese be ended. As it developed the courts stearnship cornpany which had previous­ held otherwise. ly interchanged with the Harrirnan lines The Gould ernpire was crurnbling. In would forrn a through route with the th e East the Wabash Pittsburgh Terrni­ Gould Systern. The first sailing direct nal project had bankrupted the Wabash frorn the Western Pacific Mole took place in sirnilar fashion to the Rio Grande's February 8, 1911 , when the Nippon Maru downfall. George Gould had been forced pulled away with a load of cotton for the out of active control of the great railway rnills of Japan. Eastbound the stearners systern. And, whatever the futu re of the brought in Oriental fabrics that rolled as Western Pacific, it would now be on its rnillion-dollar si Ik specials on faster than own. passenger schedules. Fast fruit trains With the San Francisco Exposition in rnade Chicago frorn Sacrarnento over 1915, slides closing the Panarna Canal , 24 25 rv O"l

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...... " v T f "'A S .... r,-- ...... __ .-'_r-'--O(

THE GOULD RAILROAD SYSTEM WHEN THE WESTERN PACIFIC WAS COMPLETED IN 1909

~""" ;~ V, :... !t ~' ~ .. ~ ~

rv -...J The 'Panama-Pacific Express stops ar Belden In the Fe ather River Canyon in 1914 The "Atlantic Coast Mail' leaving the Western PacIfic Mole In 1911 ChIcago 95 h ours and 25 minutes away vIa WP RIO Grande and Rock Island. growing involvement of the United States the railway and, subsequent to the auc­ in the European War and, particularly, tion, the Western Pacific Railroad Corpo­ Launching of the ferry Edward T Jeffery at M oore Dry Dock, Oakla nd. on July 13, 191 0. Th e J effery replaced th e stern wheel Te leph one (above) with whIch Wes tern Pacific beg an pas­ the results of its own development pro­ ration was chartered by the same parties senger service, and in 1953, operated on the Bay as an auto ferry. gram, WP traffic zoomed But the prop­ as a holding company, erty was sold at auction on the steps of Charles M, Levey, who had been second the Oakland station on June 28,1916, by vice-president of the old Company, be­ a Special Master in Chancery Three came president of The Western Pacific bank clerks, representatives of a bond­ Railroad Company Under his able di­ holders' committee, bid it in, It was quite rection it prospered for many years, One a contrast to the gala triumph at the of Levey's first actions was to engage same spot a short six years before. consulting engineer J W Kendrick to REORGANIZATION make an independent survey toward building or acquiring feeder lines, By the The Western Pacific Railroad Com­ terms of its mortgage bonds no branches pany had been incorporated by the bond­ had been built by the old Company, holders a few weeks before, to operate though Bogue had hopefully kept alive Western Pacific Mole, Oakland

28 29 many 1m r Tlng PI' J CTS ln; ! lina D n offered. One such was an entrance into Los Angeles through the Malibu Rancho and Santa Monica. Another was a net­ work of interurban lines to cover Oak­ land, Alameda and Berkeley, which the IjF .= ~==== present WP management can be thank­ TI 1,000,000 ACRES ful was never built l' SAN FRANCISCO As a result of Kendrick's studies a 75 A waiting Settlers! per cent interest in the Tidewater South­ SC ENIC ROUTE See List of Lands For Sale Herein ern Railway between Stockton and Tur­ l lock was acquired in March, 1917. the 1======1. Nevada-Cal ifornia-Oregon narrow-gauge Round-Trip line between Reno and the WP main line II J T () Y 0 Ki sen KII ish a 'I purchased the following May and stand­ (O,kn,.1 S. S. 1:0. I ard gauged, and construction of a San Homeseeliers' Jose branch begun. Several other exist­ Western Pacific R,lilway ing short lines and projects for branches Denver B Rio Grand( ~ Railroad were looked on with favor, but it was not Fares possible to do everything at once. Ken­ Motor car trip for photographers and wrilers from TO Los Angeles to photograph Canyon scenery for drick made one poor guess when he TH e: 5 E M I ·T R 0 P I C A L R 0 U i E stated in his report that: "the Oakland, AC R OSS THE P A C IfI C adverlising purposes Tra inmaster George Hamll­ V I A H ON O I- U t.,U Nevada and California Ion and E B. Allison. motor cal operator accom­ Antioch and Eastern can be of no possi­ panied Ihem. ble use to the Western Pacific." That line, For Settlers now a part of WP's subsidiary, the Sacra­ mento Northern. handles steel shipments to and from Columbia Steel at Pittsburg, a very lucrative business. Five heavy articulated mallet locomo­ tives, Nos. 201-205, were ordered from American to work in the Canyon They Advertisement In San Francisco Bulletin. June 27 were 2-6-6-2's of 80,000 pounds tractive 1911 effort. A comprehensive program of build­ ing and purchasing freight and passenger cars was also undertaken This was

THL (:M IVO ""Anu ~EVER BEFORE SUCH SCENERY extremely necessary as under the old BY ONE LINE regime most of the rolling stock had .. -"==-==--:::=-=-====l ~. been leased from the Rio Grande. The C. LA C ) GOOD RI C Ii "ATLANTIC COAST MAl L" old Company had actually owned only m ,'rlhl (I,Ul \I \L ,\( ••. ·U two box cars, both of which had been The WES TE RN PACIFIC 17 \' lth r S' rt> ~ t IlENV H 'Il Rill GRANIlE foreign cars forcibly purchased after Nom ISL,\NlJ LINE) I 0 ~ n II \ \1 \ Feather River Route wrecks. Od l ly UNCLE SAM TAKES OVER First and Third Tuesdays S;,/I I M SCISCO TO CHICAGO November, 1912 to December, 1913 SALT LAKE CITY "nd DEN VER On December 28,1917, with the Uni­ ted States several months a beligerent in Early Western Pacific fo lders. Above: Showing Inclusive the European War, President Woodrow jOint route with Toyo Kisen Ka is ha and RiO Grande E. L. LOMAX J. G. LOWE for dis/nbution in the Orient. Right: This pamphlet Passenger Traffic Manast:r Distrtct PIlsscn8cr Atent "'1" -, Wilson seized control of the nation's rail­ for prospective home-seekers in the West shows San Franctsco roads. The United States Railroad Ad­ tiROU r,l1 TilE rE A TIf~R RIVER C,'NYON and Ih.· RO YAL CO RGI the first WP insignia. ministration was set up by Congress, headed by William Gibbs McAdoo, Wil­ Sb6 'lilA )'.'}: -( ~ I " .IfJl ,,.l \.>1- - r wl'~ ' 16!'iI !.\ . , f,' 'I l' t I" " ... · .11 ''i 4 93(1 l UiS j-l\~ Q":) W AY fl. " ) '\ . ~" (\.11( 1.0,,,': 111 son's son-in-law On July 1,1918, McA­ ; '" "!)..! " .• t<. $ ' t h ..... ~ I\NHI,( 4 J1b doo appointed William R Scott, vice­ president of Southern Pacific, to manage that system as well as the Santa Fe Coast 30 31 ------~- I InF ,nCl VV ..I n i l , l TI mrg , nt ana 11 w 11 l a happy tim f O I Wp , al- general manager, a post he was to hold t!l o ugh th e USRA added ten Mikado until his retirement on June 30,1946. ngines, Nos, 301-310, 60,000 pounds Like most railroads the Western Pacific I ractive effort, to the roster, and ai­ was in deplorable physical condition I hough the Feather River Route was car­ when the Government relinquished con­ rying heavy trains of war freight and trol After a year's haggling it received "doughboys." Several of the measures almost $9 million in damages. Most of introduced by Scott were bitter pills to the money went to purchase control, on the Western Pacific officers. One was December 23, 1921, of the Sacramento the "paired track" operation of S.P and Northern Railroad, a third-rail electric WP between Winnemucca and Wells, line between Sacramento and Chico. 182 miles, where the tracks were paral­ With restored ind ividuality came much lel . Another was folding up Western friendlier, if no less competitive, rela­ Pacific's ferry and barge service on San tions with the big neighbor, Southern Francisco Bay, its passenger trains being Pacific. The paired track arrangement diverted to the S.P Mole and its San originally begun by Scott was discov­ .... -~ Francisco freight moving via Dumbarton ered to be a good idea and in the mutual This lonesome train on WP's now defunct subsidiary, the "Deep Creek Railroad," was the scene cutoff interest after all It was reinstated on of one of the West's last tram hold-ups. On October 18. 1917. three masked bandits boarded the But on August 31, 1919, Colonel Ed­ March 7, 1924, and an agreement for train at Salt Springs, about 20 miles south of Wendover. seriously wounded one passenger with ward W Mason, who had come to WP as jOint rates and routes was signed by a rifle bullet and made off with the Wells Fargo safe and other valuables. As was traditiOnal. they a car accountant ten years before and which WP was to bridge at least half of treated the lady passengers with the utmost courtesy served in France with the U S Army the S.P traffic between Oregon and Railroad Corps, was appointed Federal Ogden from Winnemucca to Chico on Manager of the Western Pacific and the the Sacramento Northern road again rejoiced in a family hand on All Western railroads suffered during The crew of Extra 83 chose an unusual frame for their portrait. the throttle. On March 1, 1920, when the roaring twenties from intensive Pan­ complete independence was achieved ama Canal steamship competition and again with the return of the roads to pri­ the WP was no exception However, its vate ownership, Mason became general acquisition of subsidiaries and building

A crowd delJ(J ous wilh lOY mobbed Th/(d and Washington when Oakland's own 159th returned from World War 1 After the "doughboys" detrained they were Jed up Broadway by Mary Pickford in a colonel's uniform.

32 33 Tw o almost fabulous personages are a vital part of Western Pac,f,c's history George J Gould (left) built it to run eas t and west. A rthur Curlis James (right ) made It a north and south carner as well. Photo sho ws James speak ing at the Gold Spike ceremo nies at Bieber, November 10, The Canyon was not tamed with the driving 0 1 the Last Spike Until slopes had been scaled 193 ! back and Insecure boulders minimized. inCidents like that above at M P. 246 made the locomo­ tive englneer's lob slml/ar to the airline pllo( s 0 1 today. of branch lines paid off in generally traffic. James called him back to activity favorable results Twenty-six more Mik­ to make him president of Western Pacific. ados were bought. Nos. 311 -336, and Complete renovation of the property large additions to the rolling stock, in­ was begun at once. Banks were widened, cluding 2,000 refrigerator cars, were ties renewed and increased, and new rail made. Upkeep of roadbed, however, left laid Sidings were something to be desired lengthened in prepa­ THE LAST OF THE RAILROAD ration for longer freight MOGULS COMES TO WP trains. The men out on the line were not In 1926 Arth ur Cu rtiss James, proba­ forgotten either. I nclud­ Williams Loop In the early days. shOWing the "cu t-olr by which descending westbound trains avoided going around the circle bly the last of the great railroad financial ed in the improve­ giants, added control of WP to his large ment plans were66 resi­ holdings in Great Northern, Northern dences for section foremen and agents, Pacific, Burlington and other Western as well as many well-built, attractive railroads A new era in the history of bunk houses for their crews. Western Pacific began at once. Face lifting on the existing property James was the son of a man who had was only part of the James program for a been one of " Empire Builder" Jim Hill's greater Western Pacific H is ambitious principal lieutenants. Railroads were in plans called for the purchase of several his blood There was plenty of money in shortlines and the building of new his pockets, too, for he had just sold the branches, practically all of which, how­ EI Paso and Southwestern to the S.P ever, had been contemplated in the orig­ after that Company had blocked his inal Gould plans and later recommended plans to extend it to the Pacific. by Kendrick's report in 191G. Of these, Harry M. Adams had left his WP job as the following short lines were of the freight traffic manager years before. A most import- Union Pacific career had culminated in 1) Acquisition of the trolley-powered his recent retirement as vice-president, San Francisco-Sacramento Railroad (tor- 34 35 J -~ • • • -.~ . - • . • • --• • - • . ------• •• , -- tween Oakland and Sacramento, T his as tall as a ten-story building, s long as was accomplished in August, 1927, and two city blocks, and as wide as one. merged, January 1,1929, with the Sacra­ mento Northern. THE LAST GOLD SPIKE 2) Acquisition of the Petaluma and At Bieber, on November 10, 1931, Santa Rosa Railway, also electric, as a amid the icy blasts of a snow-bearing foot in the door toward the Redwood gale from the North and the equally Empire. This was vetoed by the Com­ frigid financial storms of the deepening missions and the line was purchased by depression, Arthur Curtiss James drove the SP a spike of Oroville gold before several Of the proposed new branches, three train-loads of dignitaries. After the cere­ were of major importance: monies the guests tore down the grand­ 1) An extension, utilizing a portion of stand and with it built a bonfire to keep the Tidewater Southern, southward down from freezing. the San Joaquin Valley to Fresno. After a No such easy refuge offered for the bitter battle of words, this was barred by Nation's railroads. Traffic continued to the regulatory Commissions who held shrink as factories closed their doors. that additional rail service in the Valley One after another, they were going into was not justified. bankruptcy. The Western Pacific Rail­ The "Inside Gateway" is completed. Western Pacific No. 204 and Great Northern No. 335 1 meet 2) Direct rail entrance into San Fran­ at Bieber, November 10, 1931, as WP President Harry Adams and GN President Ralph Budd road Company defaulted on its bond shake hands from their pilots. cisco by means of a line up the Penin­ interest due March 1, 1935. The Recon­ sula. This was opposed most vigorously struction Finance Corporation, which uation of the James plan. ated as a "flying squadron" anywhere on by the S.P., but nevertheless won the had already made loans to the Company Eighty-five pound rail through the the line as traffic conditions required. approval of the Commissions. Complete in an effort to avert this outcome, now Feather River Canyon was replaced with Only one other railroad, the Santa Fe, rights of way were secured, but although requested the officers to prepare a plan 112-pound steel. Ten mountain-type had preceded WP in the use of diesel­ time extensions were several times grant­ of reorganization. passenger engines (Nos. 171-180) were electric road engines for freight service. ed by the I.C.C., this project was a victim bought from the Florida East Coast Rail­ It was fortunate that the railroad was of the approaching Great Depression. SECOND REORGANIZATION way in 1936 and eliminated helper en­ so well prepared, for traffic soared far 3) The third major extension, and the gines on varnish trains. Eleven more beyond the most optimistic day dreams one which was actually built and put into Accordingly, the WP filed a petition mallets were added in 1938. Passenger of the past. Freight more than doubled operation despite desperate opposition, and plan for voluntary reorganization cars were modernized with air-condi­ during the first year of the war while was the link between Western Pacific under Section 77 , providing for a two­ tioning and new freight cars were added passenger busi ness went up 600 per and the Great Northern now known as thirds reduction in annual charges and a Faster through schedules to the East cent. Both kept climbing, It was not the Inside Gateway. WP built 112 miles 50 per cent slash in capitalization. Other had become possible with the Rio unknown for the Exposition Flyer, the north out of Keddie connecting with the plans were submitted by the James' Grande's completion of the Dotsero cut­ road 's only through passenger train , to Great Northern's 88-mile extension at interest (Arthur Curtiss James had died off and use of the Moffat Tunnel in 1934. go out in as many as eight sections. Bieber, California. This was a most im­ in 1941) and it was not until1944 that the Daily engine utilization had to be ma­ portant project, making Western Pacific courts finally approved a stringent plan WAR AGAIN terially increased, and was. Yard facil­ a north and south carrier through its which cut the fixed debt to a quarter of ities were enlarged. connection with the Santa Fe at Stock­ what it had been, and fou nd the capital And so it was that Pearl Harbor and And in the Canyon, ton, in addition to being an east and west stock to be without equity. This, of what followed found Western Pacific in which otherwise would transcontinental. course, had been held by the Western excellent shape. More than 700 miles of almost certainly have The Western Pacific's part of the con­ Pacific Railroad Corporation which the main line track had been laid with 100 developed into an oper­ struction was through very rugged coun­ bondholders of 1916 had organized. and 112-pound rail. Among the 150 WP ating bottleneck with the great number try. However, construction methods had The $18 million program of placing locomotives were 17 heavy Mallets, cap­ of trains that were rolling, centralized improved vastly. The nine tunnels on the the railroad in first-class shape which able of handling most freight trains with­ traffic control was installed at a cost of route were all built within a year and by James had turned over to President out helpers. In addition 10 engines were almost $1 % million. The first stretch, the same crew - quite different from the Adams in the late twenties had been only leased from the Rio Grande and three between Portola and Belden, went into endless pecking at Spring Garden and half completed. By now the depression­ from the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range. operation in late 1944 and was extended Chilcoot 25 years before. A tunnel had starved railroad was down at the heels Furthermore, three 5,400 hp. diesel­ to Oroville by June, 1945. been planned at Milepost 5, near Indian again. A three-year rehabilitation pro­ electric road freight locomotives were With this heavy traffic came prosperity Falls, but by blasting off the mountain­ gram was initiated in 1936 with R.F.C. ordered in 1942 and received the follow­ to the reorganized company. The funded funds, while the road was still under trust­ side with a single charge, a deep cut was ing year. These three engines were oper- debt was reduced from $38 million to substituted. Fifty tons of black powder eeship. It was actually a delayed contin- 36 37 ..p c. v II I IIII V II, VVIIII I ~ \II C" UIVIV II \.' VV I paid. The Calilornia Zephyr w nt into r- Charles Elsey had become president vice on March 20 , 1949. Neve r has a new in 1932. He had joined Western Pacific train met with more immediate and com­ as assistant treasurer in 1907, while the plete popular acceptance and become a first rails were being laid , and had seen national by-word. the recurrent fat and lean years that fol­ lowed. As president, he had guided it NEW MANAGEMENT AND through th e Depression and through the NEW ACHIEVEMENTS War which followed. Under his leader­ ship three projects had been started that For the best man to succeed Mitchell would prove the firm foundation of the as President, the Western Pacific Direc­ railroad's future- dieselization, central­ tors had combed the country They ized traffic control, and the California found him in Frederic B. Whitman, who Zephyr. At 68, he decided it was time to had already established a nationwide ret ire. reputation for advanced railroad man­ Retirement was also breathing down agement practices and was then general the neck of his logical successor, Harry superintendent of the Burlington, as Pres­ A. Mitchell, who had succeeded Colonel ident Levey had once been. Whitman E. W. Mason as vice-president and gen­ came to the property in late 1948 as eral manager in July, 1946. Mitchell had executive vice-president and became come to WP as president of the Sacra­ chief executive on July 1, 1949. mento Northern. And now he became As his right-hand man, he brought ch ief executive of the parent road for the Harry C. Munson, assistant general man­ fi rst six months of 1949. A feature of his ager of the Milwaukee Road to be vice­ ad min istration was the debut of the Cali­ president and general manager. fornia Zephyr, an event that the men and During the four years in which Whit­ women of Western Pacific had awaited man has been president, he has fi rmly impatiently for more than a decade. established the Western Pacific not only as a first-class transcontinental line, but THE CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR as a leader in railroad progress as well. The road is now completely dieselized, For it was during the latter part of 1937 completely under centralized traffic con­ that Western Pacific, Rio Grande and trol (except for paired track, extensions Burlington first laid plans for a daily, and branches). Switches are kept free of diesel-powered streamliner between San snow by automatic heaters operated Francisco and Chicago. A downward from the same traffic control boards, and business trend the following year put the slide detector fences flash their warn­ plans on the shelf The War put them on ings there also. Switch engines and ice. yardmasters are joined by radio. So are In the long run it was just as well For the WP tugs on the Bay and soon road on November 16, 1947, the General engines and cabooses will also be radio Motors experimental Train of Tomorrow equipped Car ownership has been ma­ arrived at Salt Lake City and when the terially increased Western Pacific officers had boarded it With these technological advances at Portola and found their way into its have come faster schedules and top­ domes, they realized at once that only a bracket operating records. By various vista-dome train would do. Orders for standard criteria of railroad service and the California Zephyr equipment had efficiency such as "gross ton miles per been placed with The Budd Company in freight train hour," "car miles per car the fall of 1945, but because of the back­ day," "train miles per freight train hour," log of orders, work on the cars had not etc., Western Pacific is now usually found been started, and the specifications were among the upper few and often at the altered to provide five vista-domes on Before the days of diesels Western Pacific operated some of the most powerful steam power in top The road has also become recog­ the world. Shown above are the three classes of articulated engines. each of the six trains necessary for daily nized as a pioneer of improved equip- 39 38 mem. It was nrsno DUY no m3Ki vall­ I alT a mury na P(1 S - In In able to shippers of fragile merchandise "Preliminary Meeti ng" on March 3, 1903. the "Compartmentizer" box cars which These fifty years have seen the world have been so successful in reducing change more than fifty centuries before damaged lading; first to tryout and buy them These fifty years have also proved the Budd rail-diesel cars which are now that the Western Pacific project was, being ordered all around the world; first despite its ups and downs, a sound bus­ with many similar projects. And the pub­ iness concept and a necessary devel­ lic, largely, knows this. opment in the public interest. That the Partly due to growing pride in their revolutionary changes in American life rail road and partly as a result of the can­ did not lessen but rather increased the did, impartial and enlightened human need for their railroad is a tribute to the relations policies which President Whit­ pioneers of Western Pacific. man has introduced, the men and women The owners of a pretty ankle no longer of Western Pacific are finding, more than need fear jail if she shows it . But the ever, satisfaction in being part of a great college professors are still talking about enterprise. Many of the elders remember the evils of football. Trains and railroads how in the lea n years they had hea rd differ greatly from those of fifty years their railroad called the "Wobbly " They ago. But essentially they are much the hadn't liked it. Nevertheless. they had same. Fifty years from now. someone gone ahead with the job and often per­ writi ng the history of Western Pacific will formed near-miracles of operation with very likely make a similar observation President Whitman and Vice-President and General Manager Munson on line. little more than bare hands. Now, they about the first century enjoy the change. All aboard for the second f ifty yearsl

MILEPOSTS IS Indebted to the 10110 wing lor many 01 the pictures which appear on the preced­ Screen star Eleanor Parker. asssted by Calilornia's Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight. ing pages: E V. Allison, Carl Germann. P T. Hewitt. christens the Calilornia Zephyr on March 79. 1949. At left. President Harry A. Mitchell. Next day C B. Hinds. Lloyd A. Johnson. George Mattis. D. the sleek vista-dome streamliners went into service and met phenomenal public acceptance. O. McKellips. Edward L. Mehlert. Mlssoun PaCifiC. DaVid Myrick. Oakland Tribune. Mrs. C. F Post. Vernon Sappers. H. 0 Williams and INS Photo.

In January. 1950. Western Pacific initiated Budd ROC service.

40 41 xl n ion (K ddl I i ' b I) which sub- on th e m e lll ~ Irom a lederal district court ' t(l nll Ily improved servi ce vi a the "In­ after the U. S. Supreme Court had upheld EIGHTY CANDLES :, ide Gateway" as well as significantly the Company's right to sue. I d ucing operating and maintenance FORD COMES TO MILPITAS os ts on that segment of the railroad. At ON THE FINAL CAKE total cost of close to $700,000 Tunnel Probably the most significant event to by R. W "Dick" Bridges No.1 was concreted, Tunnels Nos. 7 and occur in the history of Western Pacific !J were eliminated by a line change and subsequent to 1953 was the location of Tunnel NO.9 was "daylighted". The abil­ the Ford Assembly Plant on company Ity of Western Pacific to offer service via property at Milpitas, California on the ttle Northern California Extension in San Jose Branch The agreement with In March 1953 Mileposts published its conjunction with the Santa Fe and Great Ford to build its plant at Milpitas was have passed before the Union Pacific Northern which could compete favor­ reached in 1953 and the first new car Go/den Anniversary Issue commemo­ control is implemented and we can right­ rating the fiftieth year of Western Pacif­ ably with the Southern Pacific's coastal rolled off the assembly line on February fully and proudly light eighty candles on route was enhanced by the work done in 28 , 1955. From that day forward each ic's corporate existence. The lead article the final birthday cake. 1953 and played its part in a decision year through 1982 the revenue to the of that issue titled "Fifty Candles for The end of Western Pacific's inde­ Western Pacific", written by the late Gil­ favorable to the Company in the so­ Company from the carriage of auto parts pendent existence also marks the end of called Northwest Rate Case. That case to the plant and assembled automobiles bert H. Kneiss, chronicled the history of Mileposts, this is its final issue. To us it The Western Pacific Railroad Company, from the plant represented a su bstantial seems particularly appropriate for that portion of gross revenues. But 1983 not from the original organizing meeting of final issue that we should reprint Gil March 3, 1903 down through the subse­ only brings to an end Western Pacific's Kneiss ' fascinating chronicle of the first service of the Ford Plant as an i nde­ quent fifty years. As the last sentence of fifty years and update that story with our his article Mr. Kneiss wrote. "All aboard pendent company; it also brings to an own account of the second thirty. So end that service by any railroad with the for the second fifty years' " Sorry Gil, we come now, Dear Readers, and re-live won't make that second fifty years, at announcement by the Ford Motor Com­ with us the last thirty year story of The pany late in 1982 that operation of the least as an independent Western Pacific. Western Pacific Railroad Company. However, an additional thirty years will Milpitas plant would be terminated by June, 1983. No longer will the "Ford Fast" symbol train make its regular, Thirty years h?ve passed since Gil IMPROVING THE NCE expedited runs providing a moving, one Kneiss wrote the fifty-year history As the "second fifty years" began to thousand-mile long inventory of auto of Western Pacific. As Western Pacific's run it course, the Whitman-Munson era parts for the Milpitas assembly plant. independent existence fades into obliv­ still had some twelve years ahead of it*. ion with the implementation of Union Significant and tumultuous events were THEONEHUNDRED~EARSTORM Pacific control, it seems fitting and pro­ to occur in those twelve years, events When Western Pacific "old rails" gather per that the task so well begun by Mr. which shaped the course of the railroad to reminisce about the memorable dates Kneiss should be finished by the chroni­ and those who worked for it in whatever in the company's history, the month of cling of those final thirty years. capacity. During the summer of 1953 December, 1955 will hold a prominent Westwood local on NCE June 18, 1968. Photo by Ted Benson. Hot exhausts slice the icy air above Keddie as place in their conversations. For it was in BN-138 tackles the 2.2% High Line grade at that month that Mother Nature demon­ Milepost 2, newly-renumbered U30B 3066 leading strated her awesome force by battering little sister Boat WP 2263 and BN units 2232/2515. Northern California with a series of storms four units, four paint jobs (WP silver/orange, WP green, CBQ red, BN green). December 10, 1972 the like of which (fortunately) has not photo by Ted Benson. been seen since. Almost thirty inches of was brought by the Company to force rainfall was recorded at Bucks Creek, in the rail carriers operating north of Port­ the Feather River Canyon midway be­ land, Oregon to grant joint rates to the tween Oroville and Portola, during the Western Pacific, Great Northern and period Decem ber 16th to 26th The water Santa Fe on traffic between Southern flow in the Feather River was measured California and the Pacific Northwest on during this period at a record high of as favorable a basis as the rates those 250,000 cubic feet per second Wash­ northern carriers already participated in outs, flooding and landslides occurred with the Southern Pacific. The long­ at several points on the railroad but the continued litigation in this Case culmi- most serious damage resulted from a 42 'Harry C. Munson retired February 29, 1964. Frederic B. Whitman retired June 30, 1965. 43 ••* •••••••** ••••••••••••••••••• PRESIDENTS of WESTERN PACIFIC

July 1, 1949

FREDERIC B. WHITMAN to MYRON M. CHRISTY July 1,1949 January 11. 1983 June 30,1965 June 30, 1965 November 30, 1970

Site of slide at MP 250 after service restored. Photo by J. T. Smith. massive sl ide at Milepost 250 .35 in the incipient landslide problems at that par­ Canyon about thirty miles west of Ked­ ticular pOint. This required boring a die. Around noon on December 22nd 3,116-foot tunnel through practically sol­ about 40 ,000 cu bic yards of decom posed id rock. Work was begun on the project' ALFRED E. PERLMAN R. G. "MIKE" FLANNERY granite and rock (with some boulders as ROBERT C. MARQUIS on March 27 , 1956 and the tunnel was December 1. 1970 January 1, 1973 June 9,1982 big as freight cars) slid away from a opened to traffic January 30 , 1957 Cost December 31,1972 June 9, 1982 January 11 , 1983 slope about 800 feet above the tracks, of the project was $2,000,000. completely covering the roadbed and OROVILLE LINE CHANGE the highway below to a width of about across the Feather River to its junction passengers. Operating losses too large 400 feet. By December 28th track forces An event important both in the history near Intake with the old line. This bridge to bear with no prospect of revenues working around the clock had managed of the State of California and of Western is a reinforced concrete arch with a main increasing at a greater rate than ex­ to clear the sl ide sufficiently to permit Pacific occurred on June 1, 1957 about span 308 feet in length; total length of penses dictated the discontinuance of laying of rail which was scheduled to five miles east of Oroville when Gover­ the bridge is nearly 1000 feet and its Trains 1 and 2. But did anyone in March begin on the following day But Mother nor Goodwin J. Knight presided from deck is some 200 feet above the river of 1960 when the application to abandon Natu re wasn't through yet. At about 7:00 the observation platform of the rear of a bottom. the operation of those trains was filed special Western Pacific train over the p.m that evening with the workers and SIGNS OF THINGS TO COME suspect that, ten years later to the day, equipment drawn off of the slide area, a ground-breaking ceremonies for the those same factors (i.e. , increasing costs second slide, larger than the first, covered Oroville Dam. Because water impounded Two events occurred in the year 1960 and decreasing revenues) would dictate the cleared right-of-way with an addi­ by the dam would inundate Western which, had an observer been blessed the abandonment of Trains 17 and 18, tional 50 ,000 cubic yards of material. Not Pacific's right-of-way from the damsite with 20-20 foresight, might have been the California Zephyr? until January 8, 1956 were the weary eastward to Intake (Milepost 232) , it was recognized as portents of significant The second portentous event of 1960 crews able to clear the right-of-way and necessary for the State to relocate the changes ahead for Western Pacific. The occurred on October 12th of that year relay the track to permit reopening of the railroad. Work on this line relocation, first of these was the discontinuance of when the Southern Pacific Company line. However that was not to be the end known as the Oroville Line Change, began the operation of Passenger Trains 1 and announced in a press release that it was of the problems at Milepost 250.35. A in 1957 and the first train operation over 2, which had provided tri-weekly service that day filing an application with the geologic su rvey taken of the slope above the new line took place on October 22 , between Salt Lake City and San Fran­ I nterstate Commerce Commission request­ the right-of-way confirmed company engi­ 1962. The new I ine is about twenty-three cisco with two self-propelled diesel cars, ing authority to acquire control of West­ neers' suspicions that the area above the miles long and includes four bridges, the the so-called "Budd Cars". Patronage on ern Pacific. Thus was born the "Control track was extremely unstable and sub­ most spectacular of which is the North these two trains had decreased to the Case" which was subsequently expanded ject to future and frequent slides. The Fork Bridge which carries the new line extent that employees being deadheaded when the Santa Fe also filed for authority survey recommended that a tunnel be . The new tunnel became tunnel No. 15. rep lacing by the Company from one work point to the earlier No. 15 which ha d been daylighted in to acquire control of Western Pacific. constructed under the hill to avoid the 1944. another often out-numbered revenue This battle of two giant corporations 44 45 t tr I'\J - (TUFi rm a a y c I I) a110 ns n 10 a1 rts sev­ liglltiny OV -, I "' SIlld11 !Jut significant prop­ r. urrn Ih ' Lib ·qu ' 111 Ir v y or erty was ultimately resolved on February of Mr. Christy's te nu re as Presid nt im­ onc rd , C Irfor ni . T h box-cars eral stops along the way. For this was the 3, 1965 when the Interstate Commerce portant organizational changes result­ I ntrai ned Numbers 43 through 64 final trip of America's "MostTalked About Commission rejected both applications ing in improved operation and adminis­ "' th e train behind the engine. As the Train" and townspeople at every sched­ and ruled that Western Pacific should tration were effected. The separate Ac­ Ir e in passed through Tobar a low-order uled stop had turned out to pay their last remain independent. But the unanswered counti ng and Treasu ry Departments were (\ lonation occurred in the 61 st car, respects. The decision to discontinue question remained: could Western Pacific combined in one Department of Finance t)lowing off its door and apparently sev- the Zephyr was one that had to be made remain independent? That question was under the Vice President-Finance; the ring the train line because the train because its operating losses had become to remain unanswered but always lurk­ I ndustrial Development section of the immediately went into emergency and so great as to imperil the Company's ing in the background until October of Marketing Department was up-graded came to a stop. Immediately thereafter ability to operate an efficient and profit­ 1982 when the I nterstate Com merce to full department status, reporting direct Ihere occurred a whole series of explo- able freight service. Nevertheless, it was Commission recognized the inevitable to the President; improved, modern meth­ ions which completely disintegrated a decision that was not made without a and approved the application of Union ods of material accounting and inven­ Ihe last four boxcars and one gondola good deal of anguish on the part of the Pacific to acquire control of Western tory control were introduced in the Pur­ behind them Except for the door of the Company's management and one that Pacific. chasing Department; the train dispatch­ 61 st car, no identifiable piece of the four its employees accepted with consider­ After having successfully guided the ing functions were consolidated in Sacra­ boxcars was ever found. The train con­ able regret. For twenty-one years the Company through the Control Case, mento; and the heavy locomotive repair ductor suffered a skull fracture and the California Zephyr had provided its pas­ President Whitman reti red June 30 , 1965, work was transferred from Sacramento r'ear brakeman cuts and bruises; these sengers with a level of service and mag­ thus bringing to a close a most signifi­ and Oroville to a newly-built $2 ,000,000 were the only injuries suffered except for nificent scenery unsurpassed in the cant and productive period in the history diesel facility at Stockton Also during Iwo transients riding the train who were annals of passenger train operation. The of Western Pacific. To his successors the Christy era a power-pooling agree­ slightly burned. Because of the destruc­ service and the scenery were still there Mr Whitman bequeathed a railroad in ment was reached with the Burlington tion of the car in which the original deto­ in 1970, but the patronage was not; trans­ strong physical condition, financially sol­ Northern and an agreement was con­ nation occurred. experts were unable to continental train service had become an vent and operated at all levels by people summated with Southern Pacific for joint establish a definite cause of the explo­ anachronism with the advent of the jet willing and able, as he was, to adopt and use of Western Pacific trackage between sion. age in air travel. adapt innovative methods of getting the Flanagan and Weso in Nevada. job done better. faster and more effi­ DESERT DISASTER ciently On June 29, 1969 there occurred an A NEW PRESIDENT event in the Nevada desert that could not As Mr Whitman's successor the Board have happened in a better place if it had of Directors selected Myron M. Christy to happen at all . Train Extra 765 West who became Western Pacific's ninth with four units and seventy loads was President July 1, 1965. Mr Christy joined passing a small siding known as Tobar, Western Pacific in 1949 as a traveling about 15 miles east of Wells around 400 accountant and thereafter served in sev­ p.m. in the evening Included in Extra eral capacities throughout the railroad 765 West's consist were twenty-two forty-foot including Division Superintendent and boxcars each loaded with one hundred Executive Vice President-General Man- and twelve 750 pound un-fused bombs

California Zephyr on Keddie Wye, June 1968. Photo by Ted Benson. THE LAST RUN THE PERLMAN-FLANNERY ERA

Train No. 17, the westbound Califor­ For Western Pacific people the pass­ nia Zephyr, arrived in Oakland on March ing of the Zephyr was change enough 22,1970 about four hours late. The delay for one year, but 1970 was to bring even was not the result of any equipment mal­ more significant events. On June 24, functions or operational problems, but 1970 Mr. Howard A. Newman, who had BN power at Stockton Diesel Shop. Photo by Ted Benson. rather the result of its operation being been elected a member of Western Pac- 46 47 Iii' [3 [\ Idul[ II ( t I ' rrM rl y !J l,h,wClS as p ct , In cluding equipment, roadbed, 01 t d Chairman of th Board . By the operating procedures and administra­ onrl of the year Mr. Newman had formed tive techniques. One of the most signifi­ (l Iioiding company, Western Pacific In­ cant of those modernization projects dustries, of which Western Pacific Rail­ was the "computerization" of the rail­ l oad became a subsidiary. Also in the road. By the end of the decade train con­ 8me period Mr. Newman brought in a sists were being produced and transmit­ new management team to run the rail­ ted by computer with pertinent waybill road. Alfred E. Perlman was elected data i ncl uded, car inventories and switch­ t nth President of the railroad effective ing movements at the several yards were December 1, 1970 and R. G. Flannery computerized, as were payrolls, accounts Executive Vice President effective Janu­ payable, freight claims, demurrage, car ary 1, 1971 Mr. Perlman came to West­ accounting and locomotive maintenance ern Pacific after a long and distin­ functions. guished railroading career which in­ cluded service for the Denver and Rio Grande Western, the New York Central and the Penn Central and was recog­ nized as one of the foremost railroad executives in the nation. Mr Flannery had worked under Mr. Perlman both on the New York Central and the Penn Power is changed on east bound Zephyr at Sheer ioy -- what more could you say about riding Central. Oroville, June 1968. Photo by Ted Benson. the California Zephyr's domes through Niles and Feather River Canyons? What more need be said --the smiles say it all. (Aboard #18 near Sunol in Niles Canyon January, 1970). Photo by Ted Benson.

WP 's path along the southern tip of the Great Salt Lake West of Garfield can provide some stunning views of America's great "dead sea" Here 's the GGM near Lago in June, 1973. Photo by Ted Benson.

Computerization of the railroad was achieved over the course of a decade, but in other areas the innovative leader­ ship of Mr. Perlman had its impact im­ mediately. Most significant of all was the fact that for the year 1971 (the first full year under Mr. Perlman) the railroad operated in the black after two succes­ sive years of deficit operation Further­ more, that pattern was to continue dur­ Feather River Route . Western Pacific. The ing the balance of Mr. Perlman's tenure herald, dating to 1915, says it all . .. the myth, the and during the tenure of his successor, legend, the real reason for existence, in engi­ neering, operating, romantic terminology. And Mr. Flannery, for each of the years of the what could say as much with as little as this 1970 decade. These "bottom-line" results fireman's eyeview of the twin bridges at Pulga, achieved during a period of ever-increas­ westbound in the Canyon in April, 1978 ing costs and continuing intra-and inter­ Demonstrators greeted the last eastbound In her last hours, photographers even showed up waking up to a foggy new day in "the slot" aboard California Zephyr at Stockton on March 21. 1970. in midweek to photograph the CZ's passage thru BN-139. Photo by Ted Benson. modal competition offer solid testimony Photo by Ted Benson. Altamont Pass - here a lone cameraman admires to the high level of management exper­ #18's glittering stride past the old station site of During the Perlman-Flannery era of tise with which Western Pacific was Goecken, west of Altamont, in February, 1970. the '70s great emphasis was placed on blessed during the Perlman-Flannery Photo by Ted Benson. modernization of the railroad in all of its years. 48 49 rrr 1, Ttl . TI 50 I t Il r , 1 intra- modal comp titi on was b coming too powerful for a small railroad such as the Western Pacific to overcome. Chiefly responsi ble for that situation was the rate-making freedom granted carriers offering single-line routes by the enact­ ment of the Staggers Act of 1980. a free­ dom which did not extend to carriers required to participate with other roads in joint rates to the same points served by the single-line carrier So it was that on January 23, 1980 President Flannery announced that an agreement providing for the control of Western Pacific by Union Pacific had been approved by the Board of Directors of both companies and that an application for authority to consummate that transaction would shortly be filed with the Interstate Com­ merce Commission. Two years later in mid-October 1982the Commission ren­ dered its decision granting the requested authority' In the meantime in June of Winter in Feather River country may not always 1982 Mr Flannery was elected President be as bad as snow operations on SP's nearby Donner crossing of the Sierra, but the head and Chief Executive Officer of the Mis­ brakeman on KGTwouldn't make odds on today's souri Pacific Railroad and Mr Marquis chore - breaking the ice on the switch at west was elected Western Pacifies twelfth Blairsden to meet a westbound pig train with President and Chief Executive Officer Western Pacific Bicentennial #1776 on her maiden run east from Oakland descends Altamont Pass with switch motors frozen in the 3° chill of a December, effective June 9,1982. tile GGM on March 28, 1976. Photo by Ted Benson 1972 afternoon Photo by Ted Benson As the Company girded itself for the THE FINAL WORDS challenges of the '80s, it did so under a The eightieth anniversary of the in­ One thing is clear - that corporation management team formed during the Lorporation of The Western Pacific Rail­ was merely an intangible legal entity; its course of the '70s, R, C, Marquis would way Company (which was to become spirit or soul or being, if you will, were be Senior Vice President-Operation; rhe Western Pacific Railroad Company) people: people who planned its creation W. G. Treanor Senior Vice President­ would have occurred March 6, 1983. and constructed its facilities, people who Law; R. W. Stumbo, Jr. SeniorVice Pres­ Western Pacific's independent corporate operated its trains, maintained its tracks, ident-Finance; R. G. Meldahl Senior Vice xistence however may be said to have bridges and assorted other structu res, President-Marketing; A. P. Victors Senior terminated on January 11,1983 when at people who kept its records, sold its ser­ Vice President-I ndustrial Development; a meeting of the Company's Board of vices, maintained its signal and com­ and J. J Gray Senior Vice President­ Directors action was taken to confirm munication facilities, kept its equipment Intermodal. Presiding over all was R. G. Night falls on the Western Pacific in Elko . Ihe Company's status as a subsidiary of in repair, in short all those people who, the last diners have gone home and only a Ihe Union Pacific Railroad Company. as Western Pacific employees, did the "Mike" Flannery, President and Chief handful of stalwarts remain at the bar of the Executive Officer. It was this manage­ Nevada Dinner House on Silver Street as the Even so, we feel that the Company is necessary Jobs to keep the Company ment team that formed a corporation First COFC fills the August, 1982 evening with ntitled to light the eightieth candle on operating It is to those people that this which, with I nterstate Commerce Com­ the throb of turbocharged diesels, anxious to be its final birthday cake and herewith take final salute goes In the course of eighty off city streets and onto the high desert for Salt mission approval (dated January 26, the liberty of doing so (symbolically, at years the numbers of such people has Lake City and beyond. Federally cofunded least) with the hope that no one will become legion - too many, of course, 1979), acquired the assets of The West­ relocations into a new Elko Yard and a mainline ern Pacific Railroad Company from West­ away from the heart of downtown Elko are ainsay our right to stretch the truth just to be identified by name. But to all of ern Pacific Industries, thereby restoring underway at long last a project begun by WP a little. them we say, "Congratulations on a job Western Pacific to its independent status. and ultimately to reach fruition under Union So now the time has arrived when the well done!" Pacific. Photo by Ted Benson. final words must be said. But how do we However, despite the bold and reso­ . And approving at the same time the compaf1lon I ute action taken by the Company's request for authonty fOi the merger of the UnIOn find the words properly to mark the end management in restoring its independ- PacifiC and Missouri PacifiC. of an eighty-year corporate existence? 50 51 STOCKTON Elaine Obenshain

Congratulations and best wishes for a long, happy retirement are wished to Engineers Dennis R. Bright and John P. Rice who retired October 31,1982. These retirees were honored by a group of their fellow employees and their wives with a cake and gifts held in the Valley OAKLAND/SAN FRANCISCO YARDS District Superintendent's Office. Rose Ganassln/Flo de Souza On November 30, 1982, a luncheon Dennis Bright entered service of was held for Gene E. Webster who Western Pacific on October 1, 1953, A retirement party was held on Octo­ retired with 23 years serviceas a Switch­ retiring with 28 years service. He was in ber 31,1982 at the Oakland Yard Office man and Yard master - twenty of which the service of the Southern Pacific for Engineer Dorance H. ("Deadhead") were spent at San Francisco 25th Street prior to that for about four years. Miller who leaves after 40 years and 10 Yard. John P. Rice entered service of months service. He was presented with Gene and his wife, Bernice, with Western Pacific on December 22,1941, a plaque, a safety jacket and a model their daughter and her family moved retiring with 40 years 10 months service. Western Pacific engine. Dorance and lock, stock and barrel to Toledo, Ohio his wife, June, plan to reside in the where they are going to raise steer, Our deepest sympathy to the fam­ Russian River area. pigs and goats. ilies of Engineer John P. Cosby who Retiring Yardmaster Gene Webster receives his retirement gift from Oakland Senior Trainmaster passed away October 27, 1982 and Bob Ridinger retired Conductor Hanson E. Matthews who passed away December 26, 1982. Jose J. Jiminez, Carman, retired De­ Appearing in the Fall 1982 Issue of cember 31,1982 after 23 years of service. Animals of Wyoming is an article writ­ His friends and fellow workers had ten by Conductor Earl L. Hanway and coffee and cake in his honor and pre­ Vera Saben, entitled "Bay State Marked sented him with several gifts. Joe and an Era." Earl has contributed several his wife, Helen, will remain living in the articles to th is publ ication and is pres­ Bay Area. ently, researching the Old Lassen Trail, We were saddened to hear of the preparing to write an article on that death of retired Yardmaster Kenney subject. He is interested in hearing Crouse who retired in 1977. Kenney from anyone who might be able to had recently moved to Idaho. provide information about that area.

Engineer Dorance H. Miller proudly displays retirement plaque and model WP engine. He is shown with his wife June (right) and daughter Linda Oliver. also a WP Engineer. (L to R) Engineers Dennis R. Bright and John P. Rice 52 53 SACRAMENTO imm iately ssum r spon I Illy or ~-- 'wnl c n I 1mll nl5 wne LuCille nave a very mter­ Transportation keeping the yard secure with his con­ arrivals i ob All n Pruitt, born to esting and rewarding hobby--they in­ A. G. Cocreham stant patrol and faithful watch. His fero­ Brakeman Allen and wife Sandy Pruitt cu bate and raise seven varieties of cious bark alerts us of a stranger, visitor, on January 20,1983 at Eastern Plumas bantum chickens and ten varieties of District Hospital, Portola. Jacob weighed ornamental pheasants as well as Guinea Happy retirement to our dear friend, or another dog. Hobo has total com­ mand of the yard and is constantly 6 Ibs. 5 oz. and was 19 W' long. Paternal hens, Muscovy ducks, Canadian hon­ Norma Joseph, who retired on Decem­ grandparents are Conductor and Mrs. R. kers and several varieties of pigeons. ber 15, 1982. Norma hired out August monitoring all the various activities. We recall an incident a number of L. Pruitt, Sr. They keep quite a population of birds 14, 1951 and worked in the Mechanical Portolans were grieved by the loss of and chickens along with all the pens, Department until the early seventies years ago when Hobo was inadvertently locked in a boxcar of Company material, Track Laborer Layne Shields who cages and natural habitat in which when she came into the Transportation passed away on Christmas Day at the they're kept. Rich and Lucille are mem­ Department, working for the Agent and shipped into the Feather River Canyon where he survived for 21 days without age of 23 after a short and tragic bers of numerOUS poultry and bantum later the Trainmaster at South Sacra­ illness. Layne, who grew up in Portola, associations. They have received nu­ mento. Norma's many friends and co­ food or water. Once again the em­ ployees nursed him back to health and is survived by his mother, Irene Moser, merous awards and trophies in pretty workers surprised her with a luncheon and stepfather, Track Foreman Leonard stiff competition at bird shows. During buffet and many gifts to celebrate her soon thereafter he resumed his duties. Throughout the years Hobo has come Moser. Maternal grandparents are re­ February of this year they wi II be taki ng reti rement. tired Track Foreman Martin and Nina some of their prize bantums to a na­ Welcome back to Mary McCullough­ to know many of the railroad employees Wood; father Frank Shields, employed tional meet in Phoenix, Arizona. Rich now working in the Roadway Depart­ and suppliers who pass through the in Radio Shop, Stockton and 5 brothers has had a love of bantum chickens and ment after many years in Stockton. facility. He is a welcome sight and com­ panion to us all. and sisters. pigeons since childhood. He is very "Welcome to our World" Nicholas Word was received of the passing of content when he is working with his Alexander Musser, born December 21, reti red Clerk Gladys Rosengarten, for­ birds. Congratulations and good luck 1982, weighing in at 9 pounds 5 ounces, PORTOLA mer Trainmaster's Clerk at Portola for at the national meet. son of Communications Maintainer Karen Thomas about 27 years. She was residing in Harold Musser and his wife, Kathleen. Elko since retirement in 1970 with her Congrats! Portola dates back to 1905, and had its husband, retired Asst. Roadmaster K. SALT LAKE CITY Elizabeth Aadnesen, wife of Division beginnings in a logging camp. Between T . Rosengarten, up until her death Ed Hart Superintendent ChrisAadnesen, is Chair­ 1906 and 1908, no less than four dif­ September 13, 1982. It was reported man of this year's Children's Theatre ferent names were applied to the com­ that long time employees from Portola production of "Rolly-p-Lolly-n-Hoe Dee munity. The name "headquarters" gave might remember Russell V. Taylor, Yard Troy Marie Turville, daughter of Con­ Hoe", sponsored by the Junior League way to "Mormon" and at the suggestion Clerk in Gerlach, Nevada several years ductor and Mrs. Judd Turville, is a of Sacramento. This production is per­ of the Western Pacific, which was still in ago, who passed away January 9, 1983 formed for young school children through­ the process of construction, the town in Las Vegas. His surviving sister, Helen out the Sacramento Valley and is not was named "Imola." Later the name Thrasher, operated Gerlach General only entertaining but carries a safety "Reposa" was hit upon, but the Post Store, which supplied groceries to message as well. Office Department rejected it as the gangs and wrecking crews in years name for the new post office being past. established here because it was too OROVILLE similar to the name "Repressa," the Engineering name appl ied to the post office at the ELKO Dorothy Smith Folsom prison. Upon this, E. I. Lane, later one of the Theda Mueller Along with the many assets and tal­ charter members of Edward Reynolds ented people to be merged into a new Post, wrote to V. G. Bogue, Chief Engi­ With several inches of snow on the and progressive rail system, is a small neer of the Western Pacific in San ground, the wind blowing and 5 degrees furry creature that resides at the Oroville Francisco, asking him to suggest a below zero, we received a postcard from Material & Equipment facility. His name name. It so happened that just at that retired Carman Jack Hastings from Maui is "Hobo" and he has been with us since time, Mr. Bogue's daughter, Miss Virgilia telling us what a great month's vacation 1974 when, as a pup, he wandered into Bogue, was queen of the Portola Festival he and his wife were having, playing golf the facility abandoned, starved and in San Francisco, and the name Portola every day in 80 degrees weather and shaken from a train ride with a tran­ was suggested and adopted. * surrounded by beautiful girls on the golf sient companion. Much has come and gone during the course - and beach. What a great way to He was quickly befriended by the history of the town and the railroad from start retirement! Jack retired the 1st of employees who have fed and cared for • Excerpts from A merican Legion Magazine January . him on a daily basis. Hobo almost May 8-9, 1937 Rich Fuller, Field Mechanic at Elko, Troy Marie Turville 54 55 5 111 111. U third y ar h II 1st runner up at h m omlng. I I I . 40 YEAR national cheerlead ing conferences and Hall f rni ly al 0 had another teaches dance and cheerleading. Troy, addition with Mollie Victoria Austin W. J. Curtis this year, had the distinction of being born on C hristmas Day to daughter Mech. Laborer ...... Stockton one of the cheerleaders who accom­ Kelly and her husband George. Great P. A. Penman panied the University of Utah basketball grandparents are retired Carman an d Engineer ...... Sa lt Lake City team to Tokyo, Japan. Mrs. Glenn Pinney, also of Salt Lake, A. C. Jones On October 22, 1982, Brett Pope formerly of Portola. Conductor .. Elko joined Shannon, Steward and Brandy J. C. Currier Jr. Engineer Oroville

35 YEAR

B. J. Wilkes Clerk/ Acctg. San Francisco

30 YEAR

G. D. Call Lineman Oroville R. L. Meyer Service Awards Dis!. Sup!. Orovi lle October - December 1982 G. C. Turville Conductor ...... Salt Lake City M. L. Bowers Clerk/Car Acctg. San Francisco V. Catanho En gineer . . Oakland R. R. Retana Track Patrolman Modesto C. S. Watson Conductor .. Portola H. N. Dellinger Conductor ... Portola G. R. Bicknell Switchman ... Stockton P. P. Neri Conductor .. Milpitas K. J. Archer Conductor Elko J. M. Vlasak Data Base Admin.! Mgm!. Svcs. San Francisco W. I. Zimmerman Conductor Portola F. M. Gabbert Clerk/ Purchasing San Francisco J. L. Worthington Marketing Service Repr ...... Oakland G. O. Gordon Rate Analyst/Marketi ng San Francisco F. D. Webb Trainmaster . . Milpitas Freight Claims Investigator D. J. Bruce (left) receives 35 year service award from Director­ J. W. Hoppenjans Freight Claims & Safety L. F. Battaglia. Mgr. - Marketing Services ..... Atlanta

56 57 25 YEAR 15 YEAR

M. C. McManus S. C. Navarro Mgr Transportation Services San Francisco Clerk ...... •...... San Jose S. J. Daniels M. B. Telssler Conductor Winnemucca Brakeman Oakland A. Bateman W. E. Simmons Carman . . . Milpitas Clerk ...... Portola W. R. Miller 20 YEAR Clerk ...... • ...... Sacramento T. G. Giovannoni F. R. Montanez Field Survey Engineer San Francisco Track Laborer Milpitas D. J. Stanley M. D. Bates Clerk ...... Stockton Clerk/ Acctg. San Francisco S. J. Stemi F. L. Worlein Marketing Service Repr ...... San Francisco Brakeman ...... San Jose S.J.Randall A. L. Mangelsdorf Track Foreman ...... • ...... Keddie Clerk/Car Acctg. San Francisco S.S.Pena W. J. Fisher Track Laborer ...... Sacramento Signalman Salt Lake City R. D. Kirkham D. C. Brown Carman ...... Elko Electrician Stockton M. D. Long T. Barker Carman Stockton Brakeman Winnemucca V. M. Boner J.E.Haugh Switchman ...... • ...... Elko Clerk . .. . Sacramento H. W. Powell C. L. Phillips Track Laborer Portola Switchman ...... Stockton R. Borkowski A. M. Martelli Jr. Clerk/ Acctg. San Franc isco Engineer ...... Milpitas D. R. Tribble Signalman ...... •...... Stockton E. H. Heine Clerk/ Acctg...... San Francisco R. D.Rapp Carman ...... Sacramento S. E. Humphreys Div. Road Foreman Stockton 10 YEAR

B. C. Dlaz Track Laborer Sacramento C. E. Blackmon Conductor ...... Fremont J. M. Stevens Switchman ...... Oakland J. S. Miller Chief Mech. Officer/ Loco ...... • ... . Stockton K. R. Pruett Brakeman ...... • ...... Elko M.I. Roth Brakeman Portola W. Waterhouse Brakeman ...... Portola J. A. Chamberlin Brakeman ...... Portola L. C. Oakes Track Laborer ...... Stockton 15 year service award is presented to Field Survey Engineer Tony Giovannoni (right) by Cliff G.V.Henson Gerstner, Engineer-Design & Construction, at Stockton Piggyback facilities. Conductor...... Portola 58 59 Po J. HUll H . L . W-fSl o tt Brakeman ...... Portola CI rk/ A CC lg ...... San h " ncisco H. L. Ward W. R. Maclay Jr. Carman Stockton Asst. VP-In d Prod'/M rktg. San Fra nc isco W. G. Cleveland W. lzzarelli Fuel Conserv ati on Officer . .. Stockton Clerk . Milpitas D. Young J. Martinez Mileposts wishes to record the deaths of C rew Admin. Officer ... Stockton Machine Operato r Elko the following active and retired Western M. J. Schoennauer Pacific employees and to extend condo­ . . . Stockton Signalman lences to their families and friends.

William F. Boebert Daniel Reule Retired Chief Special Agent - Retired Machinist - They Have Retired San Francisco ...... Nov. 18, 1982 Sacramento ...... Dec. 18, 1982 Frank R. Boulware R. W. Mustard All of us at Western Pacifi c wish the Retired Conductor - Retired Chief Mechanical Officer - very best for the following employees Salt Lake City ...... November 1982 San Francisco ...... Dec. 9, 1982 who have retired from active service. Clay W. Bridges Otto H. Roelle Retired B&B Foreman - Retired Carman Keddi e ...... Nov. 18, 1982 Oakland ...... Dec. 23 , 1982 Frank J. Casey John G. Rose Tillman A. Atkins Jose. J. Jimenez Retired Locomotive Engineer - Retired Train Desk Clerk - Machinist. Stockt on November 15. 1982 25 y rs. Carman. Oakland December 31 1982 23 yrs Oakland .. , ...... Nov. 18, 1982 Stockton ...... Jan. 15, 1983 Lee A. Bale Lee W. Marshall James C. Caughey, Sr. 5 yrs. Herman Ross Machinist. Stockton October 13. 1982 Service Representative Retired Machinist - David V. Barragan San Francisco October 3. 1982 37 yrs. Retired Shift Boss - Oroville ...... Nov. 24,1982 Welder. Orovi lle October 29. 1982 26 yrs. Dorance H. Miller Sacramento ...... Nov. 19, 1982 Dennis R. Bright Engineer. Oakland October 31 1982 40 y rs. Wilbur S. Cope . Layne A. Shields Engineer. Stockton October 31. 1982 29 yrs. William H. Otis Retired Manager - Labor Relatlons- Hemit, CA ...... Feb. 19, 1983 Track Laborer - Willard J. Curtis Engineer. Oroville Dec . 15. 1982 41 y rs Portola ...... Dec. 25 , 1982 John I. Cosby Mech. Labore r. O roville Oct. 29. 1982 40 y rs. John P. Rice J. W. Shoblom Engineer - Stockton .. ... Oct. 27 , 1982 Jose J. Del Valle Engineer. Stockton October 31 1982 41 yrs Retired Secretary/ Marketing Track Laborer. Edward Sears Kenneth H. Crouse Dept. -San Francisco .. Dec. 29 , 1982 Sacramento November 19. 1982 27 y rs. Carman . Oroville Novem ber 29. 1982 22 y rs. Retired Yardmaster - Manuel Vasquez Robert E. Enger Manuel Tinoco Oakland ...... November, 1982 Supt. of Communicati ons. Machine Operator. Reno Oct. 31. 1982 22 y rs. Retired Storekeeper - Hanson E. Mathews Sacramento ...... Oct. 1, 1982 San Francisco November 30. 1982 34 yrs Grover E. Webster Retired Conductor - Jesus R. Fierros Rex L. Warren Yardmaster. Oakland Dec . 1. 1982 23 y rs. Stockton ...... Dec. 26, 1982 T rac k Laborer. Joseph A. Williamson Retired Section Fo reman - Thomas E. Murphy Sac ramento January 13. 1983 25 yrs. Clerk . Revenue Acctg Oakland ...... Nov. 10, 1982 Jack C. Hastings San Francisco November 30. 1982 24 yrs Retired Conductor - Carman. Elko Jan uary 4, 1983 18 y rs. Bernard J. Witucki Elko ...... Oct.12, 1982 Martin C. Herrera Track Foreman . O roville Dec. 31 1982 36 y rs Track Laborer. Yuba City December 2. 1982 13 yrs Norma A. Joseph Cl erk , Sacramento Dec. 15. 1982 31 y rs

60 61 ~ffer6 ~ceiveal

Dear Editor:

Without any further infestation on my part, here's the Farewell Photographs for the last MILEPOST. I wasn't quite in the contributing stage for MP #1 (wasn't quite 6 months old then) but at least we can remedy that oversight by the time MP #255 gets here. Seems appropriate to end in the heart of the Canyon, too. Might as well say goodbye in the place most people associate with the legend and lore of the Western Pacific. The enclosed pictures follow my own growth over the years with the WP--starting out with the Tidewater Southern, my own "backyard" hometown railroad, expanding into the Zephyr years, the trips to the far ends of the system in the early 1970's, a look at the " Faces of The Willing People", and finally, some scenes from this final summer of independence and a look at the future under Union Pacific control. Going back over 15+ years of work brought back a flood of memories, a few regrets at things I never adequately explored, but mostly I wound up with a feeling of having done the best I could in a number of circumstances, and if I couldn't come away with the total "corporate catalog" that might have resulted had I found a job as an official photographer for the WP, I'm sure not disappointed with what I did get on filml Being an outsider has given me a different perspective on the WP and definitely opened me to a variety of approaches to the railroad I might not otherwise have undertaken. Considering my profession as a journalist, I've always felt my railroad work and my news work have tended to compliment and expand on each other and I probably never appreciate that kind of perspective until I sit down with a complete body of work like this and begin to appreciate the irreplaceable nature of it all. The blessing and curse of being a railroad photographer is the knowledge that today's commonplace scene is tomorrow's history and if one doesn't respond adequately and in the fullest possible manner, you often lose the chance to duplicate your results a few months or years down the road. VOL. 35 MARCH 1983 I'll miss the Western Pacific as a corporation and independent identity WP's always been the tough little guy in a world of giants, a real railroader's railroad that wasn't too big to ignore its avocational admirers and indeed, give them encouragement and support in their documentary efforts. It's a very secure feeling to see this kind of "class" become part of Union Pacific, for UP is quite simply the Standard of Excellence in today's rail industry. Instead of saying "goodbye" to the WP, it's more a case of "see you later" for despite the UP influence, the railroad and most of the people will remain. I'd much rather go to a wedding than a funerall Sincerely, Mem ber-Association of Railroad Editors Ted Benson Box 1164 Modesto, CA 95353 WESTERN PACIFIC MILEPOSTS A special publication for the employees of The Western Pacific Railroad Company 526 Mission Street Editor's note: Mr Benson has been a frequent San Francisco, CA 94105 contributor to Mileposts but none of his contri­ butions have exceeded the work he shares in T. R. Green, Director-Labor Relations this final issue. A. P. Schuetz, Manager-Personnel MILEPOST 255: Looking west from Camp and Editor, Mileposts Rodgers. Note the slide fence at the left and a portion of the 6713 foot siding at the right. B. A. Adams, Personnel Officer and Associate Editor, Caboosing 62 63 Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow

Sunlight and shadows bathe WillIam's Loop in lights of differing values. A westbound grain train of Union Pacific origin symbolizes the tying of the knot between Western Pacific and Union Pacific and also serves as a predictor of tomorrow. Photo by Ted Benson. WESTERN PACIFIC MILEPOSTS BULK RATE 526 MISSION STREET U.S. POSTAGE PAID SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105 SUNNYVALE, CALIF. PERMIT NO. 964