The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 14, 1897, Page 22

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, = Sacr e i R \\‘ A\ i W NOVEMBER 14 ] A Just across the tracks beyond the South- | ern Pacific depot 1n Sacramento thereis a foriy-acre lot fenced in, and upon the lot 2 $5,000,000 investment testifies to the life achievements of four grest men, but one of whom now lives to v.ew the structure ¢ stands to-day, an ever. g monu- ment to their memories. Stanford and Crocker, Huntir ngton and Hopkins are the four 1 parably linked together, each staring a world- wide renown to which the unvielding will, the plodding, patient perseverance and the wonderful pluck of each con- tributed an equ re. A trip through the shops is the mos to any country. Their produc- ents, their necessities , their pastimes and t! eir comforts and belonging: with their precious contents, amento at any rate a safe that cannot be found 10,000 inhabitants. Barber, butcher, tradesmen of every doctor, lawyer and dentist; d tion ; ption; of every nature, callings o every kind, thrive upon this $170,000 which is dropped in the lapof Sacramento | every thirty days and falls with that wel- | come ring so charming to the ear of every Pro) rests and municipal in Half the men who work there havs lost their hearing, and itis no wonder when hours and hours of the day are spent in- side one of these great hollow steel drams, while scores of workmen keep up anin- essant hammering on the outside. Thou naces, and are placed there and mered into shape by hand. Since H. J. Small, superintendent oi motive power of the Pacific system and in charge of all machine and car shops, came to California it has been the policy of the | Southern Pacific Company to extend their work of construction as far as possible. ham- i H. J. SMALL, Superintendent of Motive‘; Power. i charming employment of a day’s time. There is something sweet in the anvil's ring; there sometning grand in the clamorous stroke of the sledge; there is an indescribable fascination in the rustle, noise and bustle of these shops. There is music in the buzzing and the whirring of the wheels, the groans of the ponderous derricks and the clanging of the chains make one grand chorus to a great indus- trial song. There is a palpitating pleas- ure in it all, an activity about it, an over- whelming sense of profit in their use of time. And motion! There is nothing but motion, eternal, . everlasting motion everywhere. The ceilings are full of moving wheels; the floors move; the sides of the building aren mass of slapping be!ts; boys with | red-hot bolts are scampering here and there. In fact, it seems like one erand race between the machinery and the me- each seeming to vie with the otber in an endeavor to wear the other out. So great is the confusion, so ab- | sorbed does one become in the activity of itall, that when you pass through the gate again, back to the quiet, indolent, shiftless world, a peaceful ieeling o sleep- iness comes over you; you feel tired, and wonder how men stand so much noise and agitation year in and year out. But they do stand if, and a happier, hardier lot of men could not be found. Some one has said that the safety of this nation de- pends not alome on the wisdom of our statesmen or the bravery of our generals, but with those men who are only to be sasn ron the pahlie 5i as they poss rom the fireside 1o the fuctory does our security lie. 1 that is true, Sacramento contributes much to the safety and secur- ity of the nation. She contribu‘es 3000 men at any rate who are only seen upon the public streets as they pass from the fireside to the factor, The aruuval prodact of 3000 men em- vloyed along the line of cns purpose must be a source of security to any country. chanics, The annual expenditures of 300 well-paid | mechanics in the maintenance of them- selves and great profit to any country. The savings of 3000 men to whom is annually paid the sum of $2,000,000 must be a sourge of | tered famiiies must be a source of | vublic and private affairs seives to the coming of the Sacramen Social, religi and political circles whirl around the vor i this forty acres, and to makes no concealment of her respect. Other cities, in A spirit of frie 1valry, often ask what would become cf poor old Sacra- mento were it not for her shops. Sacra- y and replies she does she is satisfied su- tion that she has that her envious sister s had half as much. ) ihrouszh the various departments outhern Pacific Company’s princi- pal works contumes the best part of aday, and 1 t space of time nothing like an inspection of deta‘ls cen be made. Pro- vided with a little slip of yellow paper, | issned by the division superintendeat, Colonel J. B. Wrnight, THE CALL corre- spondent presented himself to the gate- keeper of the yard and passed within. It was 8 o’clock when the correspondent en- this territory of terrible noises and before he came o; hour-hand of a lit- tle brass clock which hung on the wall of the gatekeeper's Louse had nearly com- | pleted the round of the circle described on liow face. Tl the ear, and the noise i3 simply terrific. i VIEW OF YARD, SHOWING OLD-FASHIONED AND DISMANTLED LOCOMOTIVES THAT rtment is an active one 1. The picture was taken at noon, while the men , as hundreds of mechanics ,In coutracts of grest magnitude Mr. | Smail is given the chsnce to comnpete with other establishments throughout the United And while the rate of wages ramenio shops is higher and the cost of coal and other expenses exceed those of Eastern factories, Mr. Small has been particularly succe a competition which results 1o the profit of California. tion of building monster furnaces for the Ogkiand ferry-bos 1 ry close and Mr. 8 only by a slight margin. ~It is in this department that the 600- pound car wheels are made,” said Mr. Baxter, who is the general foreman of the foundry. “There are over 100,000 of these wheels in service at the present time, and the average number which are condemned amount to but two or three each month, while those wheels which are manufac- tured in the E.st, and which are sent to the Pacific Coast under the cars of other companfes, average from thirty to forty each month. These fizures go to show the superiority of the Sacramento-made wheel. *Oae hundred and twenty-one tons of iron are daily used in the construction of these wheels. Great white streams of or furnaces from mornirg until night, and nds and thousands of redhot bolts are | welded upon one of these monster fur-| sful in | Wien it came to the ques- | ,from night until the morning dawns | again.” A dismantled lovomotive is a pitiful sight to behoid, and the manner-ana alac- | rity with which they dismantie oneat these | shops is astonishing. One of them in all its grandeur and strength and power and speed comes puffing into the yard like a | monarch that it is, when to! in one brief | minute, the fire of life is extinguished and men and boys are climbing about it | | and taking liberties they would not have | | dared to attempt an hour before. In an-| other short space of time the old king of | the road is propped up on trestles and | i blocks as harmless, as useless, as helpless | and as forlorn a spectecle as the eye could see or the heart pity. A group of these unfortunates is presented; their old-fashioned smokestacks and general | appearance of dilapidation is strongly contrasted in the modern structure which so proudly in the foreground, as if | conscious of its strength and superiority over the other Could a technical description of these rvelous works be given it would show a terful combination and result of me- chanical skill, ingenuity and strength of men where their energies are massed. At first there is not a semblance of shape or} form. A great iron bulk lies cold, dead and heavy upon the ground. A frame | then appears, a wheel or twe, a smoke- | stack, ana lo, there springs to life a throb- | g, moving marvel—a grand and beau- | tiful creation of man’s muster mind and | master hand! - From the ground up, they build a loco- | motive here. From the ve:y scrap pile of | broken and discarded fragments, there | suddenly appears a most magnificent | specimen of those iron monsters which | have given to this century its greatest | progress and prosverity. | Could the spirit of Peter Cooper, who drove the first suc iul locomotive in | the world, from Elliott Mills to Balti-| wore in the summer of 1850, stand by the | side of one of these trafiic monarchs of modern times, the old man's eyes would stare in wonderment and surprise at the ients made upon his little old heeled comtrivance of | ago. are nine hundred of these loco- motives in the service of the Southern Pacific Company, and just back of Super- | intendent Small’s office chair thereis a little board two feet by four which tells him where they ali are. In twe minutes he can locate upon the maps of Califor- nia, N Utah and Texas the exact whereabouts of each black giant in this | army of monsters, So can Mr. Benjamin m | wor M a, Welch, master carbuilder, place his hand | | on any one of the cars which carry the | people irom Salt Lake to the Rio Grande. | There is a wonderful system established | nere, and its growth to perfection is on of the most interesting studies presented | in this great plant. Your correspondent dropped into the office of Charles Bonte | during his rounds and a more charming, | agreeable and accommodating gentleman could not be found. He has been in the | company's employ for over twenty years, | fand is ncw at the head of the immense | | clerical force they employ in the Sacra- | | mento shops, He is the son of the late | Professor J. H. C. Bonte, whose long and | honorable service in the Berkeley Uni- | | versity has linked his name to the history | | of California. Mr. Bonte accompanied | | your correspondent in his irip |hrouphi | the shops, and to his courtesy and kind- | ness is due tbe material incorporated in din of boiler-shops breaks first upon | molten iron pour forth from the cupolas | this correspondence. One thing which particularly impresses | one while going through the shops is the | participation of so many men and depart- ments to one single achievement. In the building of a locomotive or a freightcar, | there is hardly a man in this foriy acres | who does not contribute something. From the serap pile to the superintend- | ent’s office, from the machine-shop to the | master mechanic each man has contrib- uted someihing to the final purpose, and without the contributions of each indi- vidaal the final consummation of purpose could not be reached. Itsimply demon- strates the power of massed energies. As | aggregations of wealth are essential in stupendous financial enterprises, so is the | other words, it has been ascertained to a | which gives 3000 artisans employment the | saving much labor and time in lhg con« vear round. A new engine starting from | struction of cars. In 1870 the emigrant the roundhouse for the first time sacrifices | sleeper, or tourist car, was constructed 6 cents’ worthof its efficiency every time | upon his plans, and bas since been its driving-wheels measure off 2 mile. In | adopted by the majority of roads through- out the United Staies. Over 2000 men are employed in the department of Mr. Welch, and he can remember the lnrn)' nd the certainty that every mile a locomotive travels brings a loss of 6 cents as com- pensation for its w-ar and tear. when there were not two dozen._a With a steam pressure of from 135 to | building he occupied was 20 by 150 feet. Heintzelman is masier mechanic of the Sacramento division, running from Wadsworth to Sacramento, Sacramento- to Red Bluff, and Sacramento to Placer ville. He has held his present position since October 1, 1888, prior to which time 180 pounds, with such a speed required as the immense traffic of the times necessi- | {ates, and with such trains as leave Sacra- | mento for the East, loaded with the| golden fruits of this valley, sometimes | amounting to forty and fifty cars, it doesi This cut shows a picturesque confusion of patterns in one corner of the foundry. dollars would not begin to cover costing $5000 is by no means an un azgregation of labor necessary to the com- | pletion of great industrial enterprises. | Indeed, these two combinations have s:00d side by side in all the great achievements of the world. T railroaa interests rep- | resent the greatest aggregation of both | capital and labor in the United States, not | even exciudinz the business of the Gov- ernme The bonded indebtedness of the railroads in the United States was, just one vear azo, seven times the bonded indebtedness of the Urited States, the former 11,000,0C0, while the latter | was on} i4,460. The:annualinterest | on the national debt was, just one year ago, $29,000,000, while the interest on the railroad bonds reached the enormous fig- ure of $252,060,00). There are 2,000.000 persons directly de- pending upon and interested in the rail- ways of the United States, Assuming each reported adult to represent five per- sons, the total number affected is 10,000,000 persons, not including those interested in the manufacture of steel rails and other products outside of the immediate needs of railway maintenance and supplies. Nearly 10 per cent of the people residing | in the city of Sacramento are employed in ! the railroad shops. The other 80 per cent are, to a great exient, dependent upon those who are thus emploved. In addition to the building of loco- motives and cars, the repair of equip- ments enters largely into the necessity | lrarned pattern-makix | mento in 1888 just after he left the Phila- | in 1863, A half-million the cost of this confused mass of wooden patterns, A single pattern usual investment. not seem strange that every mile traveied y requires a deposit of 6 cents to provide for the cost of repairs, as the cons:itution of ths iron horse gradually gives away. H. J. Small is tbe superintendent of motive power and machinery of the entir system of the Southern Pacific Company. Mr. Small resides in Sacramento because of his desire to be in close proximity to the company’s principal plant. He was born Coburg, Canada, in 1846. He . ironworking and drau ing, and worked in the shops of the Chicago and Nerthwestern Railroaa in Chicago, the Kansas Pacific at Wyan- | dotte, Kang, the Northern Pacific at St. Paul, the International and Great North- ern at FPalestine, Tex. Mr. Small took charge of the railroad shops in Sacra- in delpbia and Reading Raiiroad Company, where he had served in a like capacity. He succeeded A. J. Stevens, who held the position under the Southern Pacific for many years. Benjamin Welch, general master car- builder of the Southern Pacific Company, has been in their service many years. He first entered the employ of the company when he was engaged as car- master, but adaed to that duty was tbat of general superintendent of construction of thedifferent shovps, buildings, ete. In 1869 he invented a maghine known as the BENJAMIN WELCH, Master “framer and tenon machine,’’ thereby Cars Builder. ’ ; he was master mechanic of the Chicago, 5 St. Paul and Ksnsas City Raiiroad. Charles C. Bonte, chief clerk of tha S shops of the Southern Pacific Company, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in L Ha entered the employ of the co y in 1875, and has been constantly in their employ ever since. aid that there is not one of the 0 men who pass through the gates every day that he can- not call by his first name. His agreeable and accommodating disposition has made It i bim a great favorite with the shopmen, and there is no favor that Charlie Bonte could ask which would not be readily eranted, S Al il | il i uh[lliu HAVE BEEN CAST ASIDE FOR MODERN TYPES. 0 In addition to thls army of skilled men who daily through the gaie of the shopyard there is another corps of con- siderable magnitude known as the trai men. Conductors, engineers, fi en, brakemen, baggagemen, tracimen, sta- . tion agents, train aispatchersand depot attendants go to make up s additiona army of railroad employes. At the head of this department Colonel J. B. Wright and his assistant, T. R. Jones, botk of whom are vet rans in the railroad service. Colonel Wright has reached his present stution of trust, responsibility and emolument through yearsof close application and careful devotion to the great tem over which he presides, There is no part of the train service in which Colonel Wright has not served an exacting anprenticeship; not a formal participation to become acquainted with details after promotion, but a knowledge which was first acquired 1n the ranks and which naturally led to promotion. The d.vision over which Colonel Wright has sivisen i ene of the largest and mosg aifficult ones to marsge o 2 antire tem of the Southern Pac T. R. Jones, Colonel Wright's assistant, has spent the better part of a useful life at a little yellow desk in one corner of the “cffice back of the big clock.” = All of his time is not spent there, however, for when the great snow blockades on *“the moun- tain’’ come Mr. Jones, with an army to command, makes direct assault upon the overwhelming forces of nature, and he generally comes out victorious. Jupsox BRUSIE ss is