22 BOOK OF A HUNDRED BEARS 



owned it. His will was law, and he started out to 

 show what he could do with a railroad. So it 

 has resulted that the U. P. has a peculiar place in 

 Mr. Harriman's affections. It was the firstling 

 of his flock, his eldest and dearest. Whatever the 

 U. P. wants, it can have. He has made of it a 

 great holding company with enormous interests 

 in other roads, paying regular dividends, and, as to 

 its present physical condition, there is nothing to 

 criticise. 



I sat in the observation car with nothing to do 

 but watch the ninety-pound rails slip away behind 

 us without a jar or a vibration. I saw the auto- 

 matic block signals rise to their warning position 

 and enclose us in an invisible network of protec- 

 tion through which no other train, front or rear, 

 could break. I saw the right-of-way, clean as a 

 lady's parlor, the magnificent ballast of Sherman 

 gravel, everywhere the evidences of a trained eye, 

 of supreme railroad skill, care and intelligence. 

 By the way, can you recall when you have heard 

 of an accident on the U. P.? Just stop and think. 

 You read about railroad wrecks here and there. 



