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PREFACE 



This book deals with just an ordinary boy, 

 brought up, however, among people and con- 

 ditions that were not ordinary. This little 

 town of Silverton and the neighborhood around 

 it were made up of men and women who had 

 left the best sections of the Eastern States 

 to go West that they might avoid the Rail- 

 roads and conditions that followed them. 

 Strange as it may seem one of the early settlers 

 of Silverton had moved from Connecticut to 

 Illinois to get away from the railroad, and 

 later from Illinois to Oregon, and finally died 

 in Silverton without ever having seen a rail- 

 road train. Such a statement might mislead 

 some people into thinking that the man was a 



5 



