PILOT ROCK.  [Attributed to Isaac Cox]

	C. Pratt	R. Hume
	H. Carpenter	J. B. Brown
	A. R. Wilkins	D. H. Nash
	C. E. Logus	N. S. Yougl
	M. M. Bartlett	A. R. Mount
	C. Tabor	W. Long
	M. Flood	O. C. Shown
	G. Singleton	C. E. Shippey
	E. L. Fisher	E. N. Tibbitts
	C. Fields	G. T. Bolter
	E. E. Smith	C. L. Mason
	Geo. Wiley	D. Willis
	M. L. Moison	D. J. Gawler
	W. G. Burt	A. W. Rosch
	H. C. Cole	J. V. Miller
	J. A. Zimmerman	R. Driskill
	J. Kelso	C. H. Miller T. F.
	J. Hume

    For some time a consolidation of the Harriman lines in Oregon has been expected, and on April 1st this consolidation will go into effect. By this merger the Southern Pacific lines in Oregon are absorbed by the O.R.&N. Co., and the general offices of the two companies in Portland will be made one. Excepting a few of the higher officials, who are not giving out any information just at present, railroad men are at sea in reference to prospective changes.
    The first official notice of the change was made in a circular posted in the offices of the Southern Pacific Co., bearing date of April 1, 1904, as follows:
    "Effective this date all officers and employees of the lines in Oregon north of Ashland will report to Mr. E. E. Calvin, general manager of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, at Portland, Or.
Medford Mail, April 1, 1904, page 8


Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, January 15, 1914, page 6


    It is a sad commentary on the carefulness of automobile drivers when they even run over the railroad flagmen stationed to protect them at crossings.
    Harry Evans, a Southern Pacific flagman at Medford, Ore., was run down and badly injured a few days ago while trying to signal to a reckless automobilist. The latter did not even heed the warning. He crossed the track at top speed, knocked down the flagman and kept right on going without even stopping to ascertain how badly Evans had been hurt.
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, December 1, 1915, page 6

    Shasta Springs closed on September 15, after one of the most successful seasons in years. The regular Thursday night dinner dance was one of the attractions that drew large crowds from Dunsmuir and nearby resorts and was enjoyed by all.
    Work has been started on the filling of White Point trestle located two miles west of Siskiyou, the summit of the Shasta scenic route. ["West" in SP speak means "south."]
    With the completion of the filling in of this trestle, which is eighty feet high and five hundred and twenty-five feet long, three curves and a total curvature of forty-four degrees thirty-five minutes will be eliminated, shortening the line 42.50 feet without increasing the gradient on account of elimination of curve resistance.
    The President's special passed over the division on September 16. The President commented on the beauties of Shasta Wonderland. His stay of forty minutes at Shasta Springs was taken up by a personal inspection of the grounds and Moss Brae Falls. Upon his arrival at Dunsmuir he was presented with one hundred choice mountain trout caught in the Sacramento River that morning.
    The many forest fires which have been gaining headway and destroying millions of dollars' worth of fine timber and other property for the past sixty days are practically extinguished owing to the light rains which have fallen recently.
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, October, 1919, page 9


    During January, 1920, an average of 306 cars were handled daily over the Siskiyous. This was the largest month of which there is any record on the Shasta Division. February brought forth an increase to 351 cars daily, while March shows a still greater increase, the daily average being 379 cars. This increase did not include passenger or special trains, which have preference at all times.
    The maximum grade over the Siskiyous, both eastward and westward, is 3.3 with altitude of 4125 feet and maximum car limit of fifty-six, which require five engines to handle. Maximum passenger train limit is twelve cars, necessitating three engines to handle.
    It can be readily seen that with such short trains and the large number of helpers cutting in and out, also meeting and passing passenger trains, that the Siskiyou Mountain is about as busy a place as any single-track territory can be.
    With the building program taking a boom all over the country, the lumber industries on the Shasta Division are making every endeavor to keep pace with the demand. Many new corporations are being formed and the old established firms are enlarging their mills, securing greater quantities of timber lands and extending their logging roads into the virgin timber. This is especially true on the Klamath Falls branch, where there are hundreds of thousands of acres of standing timber.
    During July, 1919, the Shasta Division handled 3466 cars of lumber, 1731 cars originating on the Klamath Falls branch and the balance on the main line. During February, 1920, a total of 2442 cars were handled, of which 1128 originated on the branch. February is one of the poorest months for lumber, for the reason that there are very few places where logging camps can operate to good advantage due to the heavy snow. However, with the coming of spring there is no doubt but what 1919 figures will be approximately doubled.
    Owing to the car shortage experienced each year during the busy season, Mr. FitzGerald has written a personal letter to all shippers of carload freight soliciting their cooperation in heavier loading and requesting that they take advantage of the slack season in shipping any and all commodities that might be ready, instead of waiting until a shortage actually exists. The appeal was tactfully presented, and while no reply was requested practically all recipients made it a point to answer the communication, and without exception assured us they were ready to cooperate and would do all within their power to relieve the situation.
    It is just as important that company freight be loaded to capacity as it sets a good example for our patrons.
    A very interesting safety meeting was held at Dunsmuir, March 22, in the reading room of the Railway Club House, and many new and important suggestions were offered and discussed. The change in the personnel was made, effective with that meeting, and from the interest manifested it is apparent that the Safety First work will not be slighted.
    The late frosts and snow, together with exceptionally cold nights, leaves little hope for the fruit around Dunsmuir. It has not been an unusual sight this spring to see fruit trees in full bloom and the trees covered with snow. The ideal weather in January and February is partially responsible for this condition. While fruit is not grown in commercial quantities there is sufficient to take care of home needs during normal years.
    The appointment of S. L. Clayton as division examiner in place of G. R. Williams has been announced.
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, May 1920, page 9

    More able pens than mine have described the scenic wonders of that portion of the Pacific Coast covered by the Shasta Division of the Southern Pacific. I write, at the invitation of the Editor, for those of the Pacific System's big family living anywhere along its 7000 miles who want to know wherein Shasta differs from other divisions, what are its operating problems, its physical characteristics, its accomplishments and its relation to the System as a whole.
    Most of us know that the Southern Pacific operates under a wider range of climatic and topographical conditions than any other railroad in the country. Its trains run 200 feet below and 7000 feet above sea level; across scorching deserts and through miles of snow sheds; over Great Salt Lake on steel rails and across Carquinez Straits on the largest ferry steamers in the world. A traveler can stay on Southern Pacific lines and experience every variety of scenery, climate and surroundings Dame Nature has provided. Naturally, it is pretty difficult for anyone whose duties require a more or less permanent station at any one point to realize and appreciate just what his railroad relatives are doing a thousand or more miles away. Yet it is desirable that somehow such an understanding be achieved.
    The Shasta Division is the gateway to the north, the central link in the famous Southern Pacific Shasta Route. It is celebrated for majestic scenery and as an example of the genius of William Hood, the company's distinguished chief engineer, who solved the engineering problems connected with the scaling of the Siskiyous.
    The construction of this stretch of railroad from Gerber, California, to Ashland, Oregon, and from Weed to Kirk on the Klamath Falls branch, a distance of 346 miles, covered a period of sixteen years, and illustrates well the courage of the pioneer builders in venturing into a large undeveloped territory with little local and no through traffic until actual connection was made between the Oregon corporation building south and the California corporation working north.
    In December, 1871, the first portion of the road was completed from Gerber to Red Bluff, the following year a second link was added from Red Bluff to Redding. Eleven years intervened before the next link was added, September, 1883, and the road opened into Delta.
    Other delays occurred and it was not until August, 1886, that Dunsmuir was reached. In November, 1886, the line was extended to Sisson and in January, 1887, it had reached Edgewood. In December, 1887, the connection was made with the line at Ashland, thus completing the link to the north.
    The Klamath Falls branch extending 126 miles from Weed to Kirk, and the only branch line on the Shasta Division, was completed in 1905.
    From an operating standpoint the Shasta Division presents many unique and interesting features.
    To appreciate the conditions under which a mountain division operates one need only board a freight train leaving Ashland, Oregon, on the Shasta Division and start on the upward move toward the summit of the Siskiyous.
    With an average train of 3550 m's it is first necessary to have in readiness five locomotives in first-class condition. Before reaching Siskiyou Station a 3.3 percent grade is reached, hence the five locomotives. A thorough inspection must be made of every part of the equipment, and only the most expert are entrusted with this important duty. Every precaution possible is taken to guard against any mishap which on single-track territory would tie up all passenger and freight traffic. The possibility of constructing a "shoo fly" around a derailment is eliminated on account of the narrow roadbed, which is cut out of the very side of the mountain.
    At Siskiyou the need of five locomotives no longer exists and three are cut out and returned to Ashland to assist the next train. Two locomotives will then handle the train to Hornbrook, where one is added to climb the grade to Snowden.
    However, at Edgewood we find the same condition as at Ashland and two additional locomotives are added in order to make the grade to Deetz. There we find we can handle the train to Dunsmuir with but one and four are cut out, two returning to Edgewood and the other two coming on to Dunsmuir light. We have only covered 107 miles, or half of the division, and have had to use eight locomotives. The balance of the division, from Dunsmuir to Gerber, can be handled with one engine.
    In the return movement from Gerber to Ashland we find the condition similar. Where we went up one side of a mountain or range to get to Gerber, we are confronted with an ascending grade on the opposite side. The eastern movement, however, can be made with one less locomotive. [In SP speak, "eastern" means "northern."]
    In speaking of a mountain division one of the first thoughts which come to the experienced railroad man is curvature, and the Shasta Division is no exception. One of the greatest obstacles in building the Shasta Route was the route from Dunsmuir to Mott. It was necessary to build up the Sacramento River to Cantara, a distance of five and one-half miles, cross the Sacramento River on a 14-degree curve, and then follow the other side of the river on a descending grade to Mott, a distance of 3.8 miles. The climb from Dunsmuir to Mott is 875 feet in 9.3 miles, or an average grade of 1.78 percent. In going the 9.3 miles from Dunsmuir to Mott by rail you have only covered a distance of approximately three miles in a straight line.
    The scenery from Dunsmuir to Mott is considered the most beautiful on the whole Shasta Route. Leaving Dunsmuir we pass through Upper Soda Springs, then Shasta Retreat and then the famous Shasta Springs, where all passenger trains arriving by day stop for a sufficient length of time for the passengers to refresh themselves with the famous mineral water. After leaving Shasta Springs you wind up the Sacramento River Canyon to Cantara where you leave the Sacramento River for the last time. From San Francisco to this point it has been necessary to cross this river eighteen times and pass sixteen tunnels. The Shasta Route follows this river for a distance of 239 miles from Tehama to Cantara.
    After leaving Cantara the train passes through Tunnel 12 and passengers may look almost directly down on the track they just came over about 500 feet below.
    After leaving Mott the town of Sisson is reached, the closest point on the railroad to Mount Shasta. Sisson is twelve miles from the summit and eight miles from the timberline of Mount Shasta. July and August are the only months in the year that the summit of Mount Shasta can be reached, and considerable hardship is encountered even in those months. Pack horses can reach the timberline and then it is necessary to make the balance of the distance by foot. It requires approximately two days to make the trip from Sisson to the summit and return.
    Black Butte summit, elevation 3904 feet, is the closest point to Muir Peaks, better known as Black Buttes, two extinct volcanoes.
    Leaving Black Butte summit, trains descend on a 1.5 percent grade to Edgewood, passing through Weed, the home of the Weed Lumber Company, which enjoys the distinction of being one of the largest lumber companies in the United States. This point is also the junction of the Klamath Falls branch, running to Klamath Falls and Kirk. This branch line was originally surveyed to connect with the main line at Natron, near Eugene, Oregon. Kirk, the present terminal of the branch line, is the nearest railroad point to Crater Lake, one of the Seven Wonders of America.
    Leaving Edgewood, the trail runs through the Shasta Valley, where Gazelle, Grenada and Montague are located. This valley is noted for its cattle and alfalfa, and is one of the most prosperous spots on the Shasta Route. Only a few short years ago it was used exclusively for cattle raising.
    Ten miles from Montague we find the county seat of Siskiyou (Yreka), famous in the days of '49 for the wonderful deposits of gold. Many of the old buildings and cabins are still standing.
    Just before arriving at Siskiyou trains pass through Tunnel 13, the longest on the division (3108 feet), reaching an altitude of 4125 feet, then descend on a 3.3 percent grade, passing through tunnels 14 and 15. The alignment through Tunnel 14 is a 14-degree curve. Just before entering you can look directly below and see the portal of Tunnel 15. These are known as the loop tunnels, and their construction is considered an engineering accomplishment of no small proportion.
    In addition to the curves mentioned there are 824 others, ranging from 1 to 14 degrees, making a total of over 100 miles of curved main line track in a distance of 220 miles. In making the trip from Gerber to Ashland the train turns around completely 76 times, as there are 27,470 degrees of curvature on the main line.
    It can be readily seen that the operating conditions demand a corps of trained and efficient men ever alert and ready to respond to every emergency.
    In the year 1913 the division was handling a monthly average of fifty million gross ton-miles, which has gradually increased until the apex was reached in March, 1920, with one hundred and eighteen million gross ton-miles. The closest contender was May, 1918, with one hundred and eleven million gross tons handled one mile. When it takes as many locomotives to handle 3550 m's as stated previously in this article one can appreciate what one hundred and eighteen million gross tons one mile means.
    There are approximately 2500 employees on the Shasta Division, with a payroll of $360,000 monthly.
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, July 1920, page 3


    This contribution is in remembrance of early days on the Siskiyou grade, Shasta Division. I was standing in front of a Sacramento hotel recently listening to a couple of "old timers." When the smokestacks showed clear I showed them my license and butted in. The old saying, "Truth is stranger than fiction," holds true in the two tales I will relate to the readers of The Bulletin.
    In 1895 I was firing wood on the Shasta Division, working out of Ashland, Oregon, over the Siskiyou Mountains. One beautiful morning I was called after having three hours in the "hay" and a previous trip of seventeen hours. The call boy shoved the call book in front of me and I made my "turkey track" on same.
    I asked him, "What engine and how far we went?" He replied, "We go through to Hornbrook."
    I went to the roundhouse and got the "Monkey" ten-wheeler, No. 1770, ready. My engineer's name was Dick Mellis. It was a three-hog train and we made a good run to Siskiyou summit, the helper cutting out there. We dropped the train to Hornbrook. After we were through the Big Hole and were drifting along, I heard a peculiar noise out in front and it was continuous. "Dick," I said, "hear that noise?" "Yes," he replied, "nothing serious; we are still on the track."
    I said no more. Yet that click-click was getting on my nerves. As we rolled into Hornbrook the left front engine truck wheel dropped off, spun from the right of way and leaned up against the roadmaster's house. The left box dropped on the rail and we slid along until we were in the clear. The engineer and myself put a new pair of wheels on the engine and were ready to go back. A shoulder one inch long was hammered on the ends of the pieces of journal, the axle having broken in the center of the box, and that was all that kept us from being scattered along the track. Old Dick remarked when looking the engine over, "They make fun of me for counting the wheels, but there's one missing this time."
    In 1896 I made a trip from Ashland to Hornbrook with engineer Jack Clark, and after we went through the big bore and were about half a mile from the tunnel we came to a trestle about 175 feet high [the White Point trestle]. The train consisted of twenty-five loads, mostly potatoes and lumber. I was looking back when, about ten cars from the engine, I saw the cars humping themselves. I yelled to Jack, "Hold her," and he gave her the big hole. The engineer wanted to know what all the excitement was about and I told him a bunch of cars were off the track. By this time we were pretty nearly stopped, and looking back the whole train was riding smoothly and without a jump. The engineer kicked the brakes off and we sailed away. He made fun of me all the way down the hill, and when I got to Hornbrook I told Roadmaster Burckhalter and he sent a wire to Siskiyou for a trackwalker to look the place over. They found the cars had been off the track, 300 ties cut almost in two, and when the derailed cars hit the guard rail at the end of the trestle it acted like a frog and rerailed the cars. The train crew and some "Jerries" were in the caboose at the time and they sure had a narrow escape.
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, November 1920, page 17


    In the November issue of "Bulletin" I read with great pleasure "Some Yarns of Siskiyou." It was like meeting a bunch of boyhood friends, although I cannot claim acquaintance with the writer. I recollect there was an engineer by the name of Frizell in my time, but did not know him intimately. But the other old-timers he mentions were my good and true friends. Dick Mellis was pretty well along in years when I was considered a young fellow. So I presume he has long since passed over the "hump" to grand headquarters.
    I had quite an exciting adventure at the same place mentioned in the article, though some eight years prior thereto. I went to work braking on a work train about November, 1887. [The line over the Siskiyous was under construction at the time.] Charlie Paris was conductor and Jack Rockford engineer. The latter was afterward asphyxiated in Tunnel 14. The end of the track was near Steinman, Tunnel 15. The very first day after my introduction to that oozy, shaken-up country, an engine and four or five cars ran away from Steinman while the crew was at lunch, crashed into a string of flats loaded with rails at Tunnel 15. That put a crimp in my nonchalance right soon, and all the time I was on the mountain it was "safety first," though I had never heard the slogan at that time. The means used was the placing of a stick of wood under each car or engine left standing. The other crew had failed to do so, so they were given positions that did not require such strict attention to details.
    But to my story: I was transferred to the main line with conductor Tom Gather, engineer "Shanty" Roberts, George Barr braking ahead, Mathews in the middle, and I was hind shack. We had 26 empties out of Ashland, a double-header. At Siskiyou we picked up a dead engine. Now I am free to confess I was afraid of that 4 percent grade, and while the dead engine was being picked up, I inspected the train, and examined it from end to end. For, on a former trip, I discovered three sheets of manifold inserted in the air coupling (to prevent leakage); it prevented leaks all right, for the aid failed to burst the paper, and we had no air on the three rear cars. If the same had been up at the head end, very likely I would not be spinning this yarn today. We had no pressure gauges in the caboose at that time. This was in the days of "hay burners," link and pin days.
    Well, we coupled in the dead [engine] and poked into the big hole. Very soon it appeared to me were were going a pretty good lick. I spoke to Tom about it. He said "it always seems like you are going twice as fast as you really are in the dark." The two shacks were supposed to ride "out," but they were comfortably ensconced in the dog house. Suddenly we flashed out into daylight, jumping and rolling over that unballasted track, and whipping around curves, at about 200 per, it seemed to me, and the "eagle eye" screaming for brakes.
    Maybe you don't think it took some sure eye, and foot, to navigate those humping, bumping, careening boxes. [The brakeman had to balance on the tops of the cars and set their brakes one by one.] Well, we managed to set the brakes down ahead till we met a "tallow pot" who had climbed over the dead one, and setting brakes from head end. I don't know who he was, never saw him afterward to my knowledge. Well, brakes all set, and if there was any lessening of speed it could not be noticed from where I was sitting. Mathews says "let's hit the grit, Bud." He actually did come down to the stirrup from where he thought she was slacking up a little, but climbed up again. The rails being wet, the shoes had to get warm before they'd bite. Well, anyhow we got her stopped before we ran out of Oregon. When both engine crews came tumbling to the ground they were pretty white around the gills. "What in blankety-blank have you alfalfy trainmen been doing?" roars "Shanty."
    Well, we inspected things from there to head end, and discovered that someone had closed the "lazy cock" (a valve in the train pipe just back of the pilot). Then they jumped her up and we dropped down to Coles' for breakfast. But I tell you right now, as an insurance risk, at one time, that outfit was some extra hazardous. My work was then under Mr. A. F. (Friday) George. Since then I have followed the rails on the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee. Moved up to head end, and finally to right-hand side. Was for some time in Siberia. Now on the scrap heap proper. Several jumps beyond the three-score mark. Have joined the bucket and mop brigade at general hospital, where they are treating me fine.
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, January 1921, page 31

Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, March 1921, page 24


    Unremitting effort over a period of a half-century has resulted in the building of the Portland Division of the Southern Pacific Company.
    From the time when the historic "Oregon Trail" was the only outlet eastward to the present, when the Division binds the state together with 1,498 miles of steel tracks, the development has been driven forward steadily in the face of a remarkable series of obstacles.
    The pioneers and their successors undaunted met the problem of traversing great sweeps of unstable water-softened valley soil and sliding hilly country, of bridging roaring mountain streams, of cutting through rugged regions and winning their way through the wilderness.
    Financial difficulties and the hazards of fire and water added to the magnitude of the task. Beginning with 1869, when the first old "hayburner" hit the rails at twelve miles an hour over the initial stretch of track, and continuing until today, that record of accomplishment is an inspiration. The story of the Portland Division is an epic of achievement.
    The inception and growth of the Portland Division centers about Portland as the head of deep water navigation in the Columbia River.
    The earliest settlements in the Oregon country were at Oregon City, Astoria and scattered points in the Willamette and Rogue River valleys, but as the agricultural possibilities of the country became apparent, the more astute of the early settlers came to recognize the location of Portland as a strategic one. Situated as it is at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers at the head of deep water, and where all the products of the whole Columbia and Willamette river basins might be brought in any form of river boats and where other means of transportation would follow water grade without the obstruction of intervening mountain ranges, its possibilities as a great shipping point were even then recognized.
    Antedating the settlement of Portland, which took place in 1845, considerable agricultural development had taken place in the Willamette Valley, activities being directed principally to the growing of wheat. This being so important a feature in the affairs of the family, the general prosperity of the people depended upon successful and profitable production. The major part of this production was then handled down the Willamette River on barges and exported from Astoria as early as 1844, there having been exported through this port in a single year one hundred thousand bushels.
    The new and promising industry which had been so favorably inaugurated in the valley of the Willamette was not suffered to languish. San Francisco, then in the years of her energetic youth, the Pacific ports in every zone, and the great empires of China and Japan became customers and bought the wheat and flour of this favored state in great quantities.
    Having adequate water transportation for the products from Portland to San Francisco and the Orient, the next need for profitable results from the industry was the development of a more rapid method of transportation from the wheat lands of the valley to the shipping port, and the railroad was ultimately the answer to this need.
    In the year 1867 Oregon country's only transportation connection eastward was still the old "Oregon Trail," that long trail of torture and of promise over which the early settlers reached the Northwest. To San Francisco the traveler had his choice of a long overland journey by stage, or trip by boat, as the water transportation of the country was already quite highly developed.
    Since 1863 there had been considerable agitation for a railroad. Various surveys had been made and several corporations had been formed, but most of them lacked the one thing needful, the funds to actually build. The government had recognized the necessity for a railroad along the Pacific coast from San Francisco to the Columbia River and had passed the Act of 1866 to stimulate construction of such a line. Two companies, each under the name of the Oregon Central Railroad, actually started grading; one on the east and one on the west side of the Willamette River at Portland. Both were projected toward the Oregon-California state line. For the next two years there was an intensely interesting and somewhat bitter struggle between the two for funds necessary for program in construction and for recognition by the authorities. The east side line finally won out, mainly due to the activities of Ben Holladay, a remarkable figure in the early transportation history of the Northwest.
    Construction in those days was carried out largely with the pick and shovel, the Chinaman and the dump cart, and as might be surmised the "Chinee" neither dug deep nor filled high and the lines constructed then still follow closely for the most part the undulations of the valley floor.
    One of the requirements precedent to securing benefits under the Act of 1866 was the completion of twenty miles of line by the end of the year 1869, and the energies of Holladay and associates were directed toward this accomplishment with such success that track was laid from Brooklyn to Parrot Creek by December, although the builders had one almost overwhelming setback, the washout of the wooden span over the Clackamas River. On December 24, Holladay with three Congressional inspectors, a few invited guests and the even then inevitable newspaper correspondents, conducted an official inspection trip which ended westbound in a big picnic feed on the banks of Parrot Creek. It is related that on the return trip the "hogger" had a quiet tip to "turn her loose" and the special went flying by field and through forest at the tremendous speed of 12 miles an hour. That the inspectors were favorably impressed with the line is evidenced by the report, a part of which reads thus:
    "The first section could be opened up to traffic at this time without fear of accident except through carelessness. The rails are of good quality and are fastened together with double flat bars with four through bolts. The ties are laid at intervals of only eighteen inches for the whole distance and where swampy places occur the ends are underlaid with thick planks often two deep which give additional solidity. Considering that most of the work was done in the rainy season we think it astonishingly perfect. Our opinion is that the track would compare most favorably with the Central Pacific east of the Sierras to Promontory."
    This, then, just over a half century ago, was the beginning of the Portland Division, and in that fifty years the division has grown by construction, lease and purchase to some twelve hundred miles of main track.
    In 1870 the east side Oregon Central incorporation was dissolved and the Oregon and California Railroad organized in its stead.
    From 1870 to 1874 Holladay pushed the construction of the main line to Roseburg and the west side line which he had taken from his unsuccessful competitors to St. Joseph, but in doing so was forced to go far afield to get money for construction.
    The lines failed to earn revenue sufficient to pay 7 percent interest on the bonds, and in 1873 defaulted in interest. In the spring of 1873 the bonds were quoted in the market at 33⅓ cents on the dollar. An investigating committee of the German bond holders arrived in Oregon that year and in the summer of 1874 the German bond holders sent Henry Villard to look after their interests. Villard brought with him a young German engineer, Richard Koehler, to act as resident financial agent for the bond holders.
    In 1875 the Oregon-California was threatened with competition. Joseph Gaston, the leading spirit in the unsuccessful west side Oregon Central, organized the Dayton-Sheridan & Grande Ronde Railroad and started to build a narrow gauge line from Dayton south. Gaston was unable to secure funds and sold out to William Reid and Scotch associates. This was the beginning of the Newberg, Airlie, Sheridan and Woodburn-Springfield branches. The Woodburn-Springfield branch, originally the Oregonian Railway, started from the Willamette River near Dayton, but that portion between Woodburn and the river was abandoned after the line was taken over by the Oregon and California.
    In 1880 the Oregon Pacific Railroad was organized for the purpose of building a railroad from Yaquina Bay to Boise, Idaho, there to make a connection with the Union Pacific or Chicago and Northwestern, whichever should be constructed first. It was the expectation of the builders that this line, by making steamer connection at Yaquina Bay, would provide a short route to the East from San Francisco and the other coast points. This line after much interesting history and financial vicissitudes finally became the Mills City and Yaquina branches.
    Construction of the Oregon and California (now the Main Line) reached Roseburg in 1872, where it rested until 1881 when work was resumed and finally completed to Ashland in 1884. In 1887 by the completion of the line from California, a through connection was established and a silver spike (long since reclaimed) was driven by Charles Crocker, Vice-President of the Southern Pacific, which line in that year came into control of the Oregon California.
    In 1890 the Southern Pacific took over the Oregonian Railway, the lines started from Dayton by Joseph Gaston. These lines were narrow gauge but a third rail was added and for some time both narrow and standard gauge equipment was operated over the Newberg branch, special couplings being used to permit the coupling of different gauge equipment.
    The Coos Bay, Roseburg and Eastern was completed from Marshfield to Myrtle Point in 1893 and the Beaver Hill Branch opened in 1894. This line, although acquired by the Southern Pacific in 1906, continued operation independently of the Portland Division until 1915.
    On October 21, 1895, the Shasta Limited first appeared, running on steamboat sailing days to compete with steamer lines in a rate war. The time between Portland and San Francisco was 34 hours.
    Construction during the period of 1900 to 1910 was more active than during the previous ten years. The Southern Pacific Company built the Wendling branch in 1900, Springfield to Springfield Junction in 1905, a line from St. Joseph to LaFayette to replace the old narrow gauge line from Whiteson to LaFayette in 1905, and the Lebanon Crabtree cutoff in 1910. During that period separate corporations were formed--the Oregon Eastern to build from Natron to Oakridge, now the Oakridge branch; the Beaverton and Willsburg to build from Willsburg on the Main Line to Beaverton on the West Side line to serve as a connection between these lines that would take freight traffic off of Fourth Street in Portland; and the Pacific Railway and Navigation Company to build from Hillsboro to Tillamook. Also in that period foreign corporations were formed and the following lines built which afterward were acquired and became part of the Portland Division: the Sheridan Willamina, Salem Falls City & Western, now the Fall City branch, and the Corvallis and Alsea, now part of the West Side Branch.
    From 1904 to 1911 the Portland Division as the Southern Pacific lines in Oregon was under the jurisdiction of the general manager at Portland. In 1911 the designated lines in Oregon were changed to Portland Division, headquarters in San Francisco as at present.
    In 1911 the Willamette Pacific was incorporated to construct the line from Eugene to Marshfield, and this was completed under jurisdiction of Mr. Wm. Hood and turned over to the division as the Coos Bay Line in 1915.
    Announcement of the electrification of the Willamette Valley branches was made in 1912 and through the agency of the Portland, Eugene and Eastern the West Side and Newberg branches were equipped for electric service, for which they were ready June 18, 1914. The Portland Eugene and Eastern constructed the Canby Molalla line, also the line from Monroe to Eugene, and purchased the Willamette Falls line, Salem, Albany and Eugene city lines; Sheridan and Willamina Railroad, Corvallis and Alsea Railroad--all of which were turned over to the Portland Division for operation in 1914-15.
    Some idea has probably been formed of the corporate complexity of the Portland Division, and it is fortunate indeed for those in charge of the division accounts that most of these twenty-odd original corporations have lost their identity.
    Topographically Western Oregon may be thus briefly described; the Cascade and Coast ranges running north and south parallel and about 100 miles apart extend from the Columbia River to the California line. Between them for the northerly half of their length lies the Willamette Valley with Portland at the northern end where the Willamette joins the Columbia. In the southerly half the main ranges are connected by three minor cross ranges, between which lie the Umpqua and the Rogue River drainage basins. Between the Coast Range and the Pacific the foreshore is limited for the most part but expands in a few places sufficiently to support prosperous dairying centers.
    Over 50 percent of the branch line mileage forms a network of lines serving the Willamette Valley, with the Mills City, Wendling and Oakridge branches extending up into the foothills of the Cascades and the Coos Bay, Yaquina and Tillamook branches extending over the Coast Range to the ocean. Following the Willamette Valley to its southern end the Main Line then crosses the minor cross ranges and through the Umpqua Valley and the Rogue River Valley, at the south end of which the Portland connects with the Shasta Division.
    The Portand Division embraces the following mileage:

		Miles
	Main Line, steam operated	339.56
	Branch Lines, steam operated	684.71
	Second track	7.0
	City Lines	26.63
	Spurs	287.50
	Total	1497.88

Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, June 1921, page 3


    October 31 was a very busy day at Ashland, Ore., for on that day the Portland Division delivered 313 loads to the Shasta Division and the Shasta Division delivered approximately 300 loads and empties to the Portland Division.
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, December 1921, page 17


    A new pony turntable, similar in construction to the one just completed at Ashland, only smaller, is soon to be installed at Siskiyou by the Southern Pacific railroad.
"Local and Personal," Medford Mail Tribune, April 11, 1922, page 2


    In order to take care of the powerful new "2-10-2" type locomotives on the Shasta Division, a  giant turntable 100 feet in length, weighing 183,000 pounds, electrically operated and equipped with the most modern appliances and safety devices, has been installed by the Southern Pacific at Ashland, Ore. Before the new table was put in operation it was necessary to cut the tender off in order to get the large engines on the 70-foot table.
    Tom Darrow, Construction Foreman, established a record for railroad turntable erection by installing the huge turntable in 10 hours and 12 minutes without delay to power or traffic. The cost is about $50,000.
    Regarding the installing of this turntable, J. W. Fitzgerald, Superintendent Shasta Division, says:
    "The preliminary work of installing the new turntable was commenced Nov. 1, 1921. The excavating for the new pit was completed and on March 15, 1922 the foundation around the original turntable center had been enlarged with reinforced concrete; the new circle wall and rail installed and the old circle wall removed. The thirteen radial tracks and two engine leads and a spur were supported on cribbing between the new circle wall and the location of the former wall. This work was done without any interruption whatever to traffic. A reinforced concrete slab 14 feet square and 22 inches thick was precast and allowed to harden.
    "On Feb. 16, steel gang arrived at Ashland and started unloading the table from cars. On Feb. 21, the work of assembling was commenced and table assembled and bolted by Feb. 27. Work of riveting started on Mar. 1st and completed on Mar. 13, 5365 field rivets being driven. An excavation was made and a portion of the circle wall left out, the table being assembled in this excavation on a track built especially for the purpose. This track consisted of a double line of rails so gauged as to fit the journals of standard car axles; four car axles used as rollers, an oak frame of 12x12 timbers forming the truck. Standard brasses and wedges used, the wedges being bolted through the oak timbers. All work could be done, such as installing of deck, sidewalk brackets, frame for motor carriage, electric wiring and conduits and installation of controller was done during this period. Certain portions of the steel which could not be painted after the table was in the pit were painted immediately after erection.
    "In the installation of the table, the Ashland Emergency Outfit with a work train was used. At 6:00 a.m., Mar. 16th, work of removing deck from old table was commenced. The air motor was taken off and the table swung at right angles to one of the engine leads. A trestle previously framed was then built out over the pit and the derrick run out on this trestle. The old table was lifted out and set in the clear at 7:22 a.m.; the old center casting was then removed and the granite block upon which this casting formerly rested was lifted out with dynamite, the holes having been previously drilled. This work was completed at 8:07 a.m.
    "Anchor bolt holes for the new concrete block were drilled; the bolts set in grouting and grout placed over the old foundation as a bed for the new concrete slab. The precast slab and new center were in place at 9:45 a.m. In the meantime cribbing was built from the opposite direction for the track on which the new table was to be moved into place. The table started to move into the pit at 10:46 a.m., derrick pulling the table into place; block and tackle and dead man at the opposite end controlling the movement. A timber lashed under the lower cords prevented the table from tilting. As previously explained a portion of the circle wall had been left out, and the track on which the table was rolled in was built on a 1.25% grade so as to save as much as practicable in lowering the table.
    "At 11:20 a.m. the table was in place over the center and ready to lower the necessary twenty inches to bring it down on the center. The method of lowering was by means of four 60-ton Norton ball bearing jacks, two on each side, auxiliary side cribs so placed as to come under the hip verticals nearest to the center of the table were used for wedging as the table was lowered. Lowering was completed at 4:00 p.m., electric motor installed at 4:09 p.m. and engine 2666 turned at 4:12 p.m. A total of ten hours and twelve minutes. There were available for this work thirty B&B men and ten track men."
Southern Pacific Western Pacific Bulletin, Southern Pacific Co., San Francisco, June 1922, page 18


    To the Editor:
    I listened with very much interest to the Oregon land grant discussion at the Crater meeting last evening, and it seems to me as though the argument advanced by Mr. Gore was entirely sound and the history of the situation as presented by him must have been indeed a revelation to most of the people who were there assembled; and certainly the government should make some provision for the reimbursement to Jackson County and other counties for the losses which these counties sustained because of the cancellation of the contract which the government had with the Oregon-California Railroad Company, but this, it seems to me, does not solve the whole difficulty.
    Even though we should be reimbursed for the losses which we have thus sustained because of our tax situation, the lands would still not be upon the tax roll for future assessment and for future revenue to the various counties in which these lands are situated.
    Not long since, we had a great war, and several thousands of young Americans volunteered their services to their country in that war. Many of them who volunteered did not get across the water, but they wished to go nonetheless. A great many of them got across the water who were drafted.
    The government said to each one of these soldiers: "You may take a piece of land and live on it seven months and make your final proof," and my suggestion is that the government should be generous enough to say to each one of these soldiers who enlisted, and to each one of them who went across the water, that "You may select any 160-acre tract of these Oregon-California lands and by making application therefor, the land will be yours without any settlement upon the lands."
    This would in very short order place all of the valuable lands of this grant upon the tax rolls of the country and they would be returning a revenue to the various counties.
    I make the distinction between the fellows who enlisted, or who went across as against the fellow who had to be taken by the scruff of the neck and thrown into the service and who didn't get across, for he is not entitled to the same consideration as the other fellow who did volunteer or who went across.
    The wealthy men of the country, by reason of the war, doubled and quadrupled the wealth they had at the beginning and took no chances, and the fathers of influential sons, like Edsel Ford and the Scripps boys (the owners of influential newspapers in America), escaped a draft and were released when drafted, and it seems to me as though it is a mighty tall consideration to pay to the boy who volunteered or hazarded his life or his health on the other side to allow him to take, without any further obligation on his part, a 160-acre tract of these lands as a compensation to him for these services.
    He offered and risked all that he had--his health and his life! the millionaire of the country risked nothing--he had a cinch before he invested and if he had no cinch, he made no investment in war activities, and certainly some consideration that does not require additional obligation on his part should be exercised in behalf of the soldier who enlisted or who went across the water; and a happy solution of the public land question in America so that the lands would be returning a revenue to the taxing bodies of the state, is to make the lands available to each one of these soldiers as compensation for his services in this great war.
    If this will be done all of the lands worth anything will soon be upon the tax roll.
    Why should not Senator Stanfield and the other members of Congress from Oregon be enlisted in behalf of the soldier of the country by procuring the passage of an act of Congress making these lands available for the soldier who performed his duty in this great war, and thus solve the whole tax situation so far as the future is concerned: for certainly when the soldier would receive his patent, the tract of land would be placed on the tax roll at its reasonable valuation and a revenue would be returned to the various counties in which these lands are situated.