1227 
Vhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
>  *  • 
Across  the  Country  with  An  Apple  Car  Personally 
Conducted  from  Pacific  to  Atlantic 
Part  I. 
Freight  Station,  Chelan  Falls,  Wash., 
Dec.  8,  10  a.  m. — Ready  to  start,  at  last ! 
Car  packed  with  boxes  of  apples,  waiting 
to  be  taken  on  by  the  afternoon  freight. 
With  my  knapsack  packed  chiefly  with 
grub.  I  am  aboard  Car  No.  253176  G.  N., 
as  the  apple  nurse.  It’s  a  wonderful 
chance  to  get  from  the  State  of  AA’ashing- 
ton  to  the  old  farm  in  New  Jersey  before 
Christmas.  Likely  I’ll  be  there  in  about 
five  days.  Even  if,  allowing  for  generous 
margin,  I  double  that  to  10  days  for  the 
trip,  I’ll  sure  be  with  the  folks  by  De¬ 
cember  18.  The  apples  must  be  on  the 
market  for  the  Christmas  trade.  Sitting 
here  in  the  apple  car,  the  old  farm  in 
New  Jersey  looks  awfully  far  away.  Blit 
then  the  apples  have  to  get  there,  and  so 
will  the  apple  guardian.  It’ll  be  a  great 
Christmas  lark. 
3  p.  m. — Gar  and  myself  still  patiently 
waiting. 
5  p.  m. — At  3  :30  the  freight  pulled  in, 
and  I  had 'my  first  look  at  the  inside  of  a 
down  the  track.  I  beat  it  down  here  and 
am  waiting  in  the  yard  office,  where  they 
told  me  to  make  myself  at  home.  Good 
advice;  but  all  this  waiting  doesn’t  look 
as  if  I’d  be  home  very  soon. 
'Same  day,  3  p.  m. — Here  yet,  and  still 
making  myself  at  home. 
Same  day,  9  p.  m. — We  didn’t  get  off 
till  after  dark.  It  certainly  was  one  long 
day ;  nothing  to  do  but  wait.  I  didn’t 
even  have  to  light  my  stove,  for  the  ther¬ 
mometer  was  only  in  the  twenties,  and 
with  a  refrigerator  car  the  apples  are 
safe  until  it  is  15  or  below.  My  shipper 
has  a  method  of  his  own.  He  has  only 
one  heater,  and  that  in  the  middle  of  the 
car,  instead  of  one  at  each  end,  as  most 
have. 
Hilliard,  December  10,  10  a.  m. — What 
a  night !  I  wish  I  had  a  dollar  for  every 
time  we  stopped  and  started.  I  did 
sleep  some  in  spite  of  freezing  and  melt¬ 
ing  alternately  all  night.  But  here  we 
are  losing  time  again,  because  the  crews 
are  all  off  duty.  A  lot  they  care  whether 
we  are  moving  or  not. 
8  p.  m. — We  just  started  a  little  while 
ago.  Everything  is  off  schedule,  as  there 
has  been  heavy  snow  in  the  mountains. 
Many  of  the  passenger  trains  are  a  day 
ter  just  over  my  head  stood  at  91,  and 
when  put  on  the  floor  registered  36.  The 
stove  was  red  hot.  I  think  I  have  caught 
a  bad  cold. 
Cut  Bank. — Warmer  for  a  few  hours 
while  a  Chinook  lasted.  It  is  very  cold 
now,  but  we  have  a  good  caboose  again, 
so  we  can  stand  it. 
Havre.  —  Thirty  below  when  we 
reached  here.  Got  a  new  supply  of  oil 
and  grub. 
Hinsdale,  Sunday,  December  17. — This 
division  seems  to  be  the  worst  yet.  We 
had  hardly  left  Havre  when  our  engine 
died  and  we  found  that  our  fireman  was 
making  his  first  trip,  having  made  only 
one  “student  trip.”  The  head  brakeman 
had  been  a  fireman,  so  he  “hopped  to  it,” 
so  we  moved  on.  AVe  had  hot  box  after 
hot  box.  AAre  have  been  side-tracked  for 
everything,  from  passenger  trains  to 
trains  of  empties.  Everything  has  right 
of  way  over  us,  in  spite  of  our  perishable 
load.  Besides  the  fruit  we  have  a  car 
of  lily  bulbs  and  one  of  dressed  turkeys 
for  the  Christmas  market  in  Chicago. 
It  begins  to  look  as  if  Christmas  will  find 
the  turkeys  and  me,  too,  far  from  our 
destinations.  AAIiile  we  were  still  a  few 
miles  west  of  this  place  we  were  side¬ 
tracked  and  immediately  froze  up.  My 
car  was  uncoupled  and  taken  in  here  to 
wait  on  the  side  for  a  local  to  take  it  on 
to  Wolf  Point.  I  came  on  in  a  passen¬ 
ger,  and  when  I  go  here  I  beat  it  for 
my  car  as  fast  as  I  could,  for  it  was 
then  36  below.  When  the  stove  had  been 
refilled  and  turned  as  high  as  was  safe, 
Freight  Paid 
—as  Follows 
Freight  charges  prepaid  in 
full  on  all  orders  of  roofing  from  this 
advertisement  at  prices  shown  to  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  Michigan, 
Minnesota,  Missouri,  Iowa,  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania.  I  f  your  state  is  not  in¬ 
cluded,  proportionate  differences  in 
freight  charges  will  be  allowed. 
Order  from  this  List! 
Galvanized  Roofing 
These  GALVANIZED  sheets  are  suitable  for  roofing  or 
siding,  free  from  holes,  squarely  trimmed,  recorrugated 
and  given  a  coat  of  Red  Paint  free  of  charge. 
No.  SD-11 1 — Heavy  weight  overhauledGALVANIZED 
234-inch  Corrugated  sheets — per  squareof  100  $075 
square  feet .  •9— 
Painted  Roofing  and  Siding 
No.  SD-112— Standard  weight  overhauled  painted  234 
inch  Corrugated  sheets — suitable  for  siding—  $035 
per  square  of  100  square  feet . . .  «  — 
No.  SD-113 — Medium  weight  overhauled  painted  234-in. 
Corrugated  sheet — for  roofing  of  better  siding  $085 
—per  square  of  100  square  feet . 
New  Govenment  Corrugated  Sheets 
No.  SD-114— BRAND  NEW  PAINTED  234  inch  COR¬ 
RUGATED  SHEETS  in  22  Gauge — purchased  from  the 
United  States  Government.  A  wonderful  value  s;  4  25 
—per  square  of  100  square  feet . . 
Red  and  Gray  Slate  Coated  Roll  Roofing 
No.  SD-115— NEW  Slate  Coated  Roofing  in  rolls  of  108 
square  feet  complete  with  nails  and  cement.  $000 
Weight  85  pounds.  Red  or  gray.  Per  roll .  »  — 
No.  SD-116 — New  Heavy  Smooth  Surfaced  Roofing — 
Sound  and  durable — easily  taken  care  of— Adopted  to 
every  roofing  need.  Complete  with  nails  and  $4  65 
cement — per  roll . .  “  — — 
HARRIS  BROTHERS  CO. 
35th  and  Iron  Streets,  CHICAGO 
MAIL  THIS  COUPON  NOW! 
I  HARRIS  BROTHERS  CO.,  Chicago,  III.  I 
I  Dept.  SD-37 
I  Fill  out  coupon  below  and  we  will  send  you 
our  estimate  of  cost  for  your  building  without 
|  obligation  on  your  part. 
|  NAME . 
I  ADDRESS . 
:  Size  of  Building  or  Roof  Dimensions 
1  Kind  of  Roofing  Preferred 
I 
Seedling  Peach  Referred  to  in  Hope  Farm  Notes,  Page  1228 
caboose.  On  each  side  of  the  middle  aisle 
are  bunks,  cupboards,  and  places  for  coal, 
signals  and  tools.  There  is  also  a  stove. 
Above  the  middle  of  the  car  is  the  cupola, 
where  trainmen  sit  to  watch  for  hot 
boxes,  etc. 
The  rear  brakeman  was  cooking  a  meal 
that  turned  out  to  be  supper.  They  say 
it’s  a  case  of  eat  when  you  can  on  the 
railroad.  The  crew  lives  in  the  caboose 
when  on  duty,  and  some  of  the  single 
fellows  live  there  all  the  time.  It  saves 
money. 
After  much  delay  and  repeated  switch¬ 
ing.  my  apple  car  and  two  others  were 
coupled  on.  AYith  a  final  jerk  we  were 
off.  Boon  the  conductor  and  brakeman 
came  in  to  supper.  Having  already  eat¬ 
en,  I  did  not  accept  their  invitation  to 
join  them. 
Same  day,  10  p.  m.,  Hotel  in  AArenat- 
chee. — Our  first  stop,  Entiat,  came  too 
soon.  AVe  spent  an  hour  and  a  half 
there,  bumping  around,  switching  hither 
and  yon.  If  we  do  that  at  every  stop,  17 
days  won’t  be  too  many.  AVe  reached 
here  at  9  :20,  and  I  hoped  we’d  be  pulling 
out  soon ;  but  when  I  located  the  yard 
office  and  talked  with  the  yardmaster  he 
told  me  that  there  was  no  chance  of  our 
starting  before  next  morning,  and  that 
the  best  thing  for  me  to  do  was  to  “hit 
the  hay.”  His  advice  was  good,  but 
there  were  no  accommodations  there.  I 
walked  uptown  to  find  a  hotel,  good 
enough,  yet  not  too  good,  for  already  I’m 
beginning  to  feel  disreputable  looking.  I 
found  this  place. at  last,  which  seems  to 
fill  the  bill.  The  bed  looks  clean  and 
comfortable.  I  must  get  to  bed  now,  for 
in  the  morning  I’ll  have  to  hustle.  I 
must  buy  an  oil  heater,  a  can  of  oil,  a 
padlock  and  a  thermometer,  besides  get¬ 
ting  my  breakfast.  We’re  to  start  at  8 
o’clock. 
Next  morning,  December  9,  10  a.  m. — 
Not  getting  off  so  early,  after  all.  I 
hustled  round  like  mad  to  be  ready  by 
8.  and  was  ready,  too.  Even  had  my 
stove  wired  to  the  floor  to  prevent  upset¬ 
ting".  About  starting  time  I  went  to  the 
yardmaster  and  he  said  coolly,  “Oh,  you 
won’t  be  off  before  10  or  11  anyhow.” 
He  added  that  the  train  would  be  made 
up  at  the  apple  yards,  a  mile  and  a  half 
late.  AA'e  have  a  snowplow  ahead  of  us. 
Bonner’s  Ferry,  December  11,  a.  m. — 
The  usual  thing — waiting.  Last  night, 
shortly  after  we  started,  there  was  a 
hotbox.  That  meant  delay.  Then  it  be¬ 
gan  to  get  cold,  and  we  were  side-tracked 
to  light  stoves,  as  it  is  almost  entirely  a 
fruit  train.  It  was  a  short  matter  to  at¬ 
tend  to  my  car,  but  when  that  was  done 
I  took  pity  on  the  Great  Northern  apple 
man  who  had  42  cars  to  light.  He  had 
to  use  matches,  as  he  had  no  torch,  and 
each  stove  had  to  be  pulled  up  on  top 
with  an  iron  hook,  doing  this  with  one 
hand  while  holding  a  flash  with  the  other. 
Then  as  he  opened  each  burner  snow  fell 
on  the  wick.  Forty-two  cars,  two  stoves 
in  each,  the  thermometer  down  to  eight. 
I  helped  with  10  or  15  cars,  then  two 
brakemen  came  to  the  rescue  and  I  quit, 
for  I  thought  my  feet  were  frozen.  It 
took  three  and  a  half  hours  for  them  to 
finish  lighting,  and  then,  instead  of  going 
on,  something  about  the  engine  was  froz¬ 
en  up,  and  we  waited  still  longer.  After 
the  apple  man  had  thawed  out  and  had 
some  of  my  coffee  he  fell  sound  asleep  ;  at 
least  I  judged  so  from  the  sounds  he 
made.  Now  here  we  are.  The  crew  have 
worked  their  16  hours,  there  is  no  relief 
crew,  so  we  wait — for  a  change. 
December  12,  Troy. — AVe  lost  about  24 
hours  at  Bonner’s  Ferry,  for  when  at 
last  the  crew  was  ready  the  engine  was 
frozen  again.  There  never  seems  to  be  a 
fresh  crew  ready  when  needed  ;  we  must 
always  wait.  And  nobody  looks  after 
the  engine  while  the  crew  is  resting.  I 
would  do  it  myself  if  I  knew  how,  hut  I 
suppose  it  would  cause  another  strike  if 
I  did.  The  truth  is  that  no  one  seems  to 
care  for  the  shippers’  interests  at  all. 
AVhen  we  reached  Troy,  3  ft.  8  in.  of 
snow  had  fallen  in  six  hours.  I  stepped 
out  of  the  caboose  and  went  in  up  to  my 
waist.  This  is  a  division  point ;  here  we 
wait  again  for  engine  and  crew.  Here, 
also,  I  change  caboose.  It  was  down  to 
six  below  in  the  night,  but  the  apples 
seem  all  right. 
December  13,  'AVhitefish. — The  change 
of  caboose  was  a  change  for  the  worse, 
as  this  one  has  a  crack  in  the  door  which 
lets  in  a  regular  snowdrift.  It  got  down 
to  32  below  last  night.  The  thermome¬ 
I  tried  to  find  out  when  we  would  go  on. 
There  were  no  less  than  three  engines, 
which  for  lack  of  either  coal  or  water, 
or  because  of  frozen  pipes,  were  out  of 
the  running,  and  no  one  knows  when  the 
local  will  start,  so  I  am  settling  down 
to  make  a  day  of  it.  I  feel  sort  of  at 
home  here,  anyhow,  for  the  name  of  the 
minister  who  baptized  me  was  Hinsdale. 
Later,  same  day. — I  heard  of  a  “nice, 
homey  restaurant”  quite  near  by,  so  I 
unpacked  my  clean  flannel  shirt  and  shav¬ 
ing  outfit  and  looked  it  up.  The  landlady 
said  yes,  I  could  have  a  place  to  clean  up 
in,  but  it  wasn’t  heated  (thermometer 
36  below),  but  I  could  have  hot  water. 
She  showed  me  into  a  room  containing 
four  double  beds  and  a  looking  glass,  the 
latter  in  the  darkest  corner  between  two 
of  the  beds.  However,  I  got  to  work  to 
re-civilize  myself.  My  appearance  had 
evidently  been  too  much  for  the  land¬ 
lady’s  faith  in  humans,  for  she  sent  the 
man  of  the  house  in  to  keep  an  eye  on 
me  while  he  folded  paper  napkins.  I  had 
time  to  look  at  a  paper  for  a  while  before 
dinner.  It  was  a  homey  dinner,  sure 
enough;  all  you  wanted  of  chicken  and 
other  things,  and  only  40  cents.  They 
liked  my  looks  better  than  they  had  at 
first,  and  told  me  to  come  back  for  the 
night  if  I  had  to  stay  over.  AA’hen  I  re¬ 
turned  to  the  station  the  station  agent 
did  not  know  me,  but  I  persuaded  him 
that  I  am  myself.  He  said  there  was  no 
news,  so  I  fixed  up  my  stove  and  then 
thought  I  would  walk  awhile  to  pass  the 
time.  I  soon  had  enough,  for  the  highest 
temperature,  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 
was  20  below.  If  I  am  still  here  this 
evening  I  believe  I’ll  go  to  church.  If 
the  people  are  the  right  sort  they  won’t 
mind  my  clothes,  and  if  they  aren’t  I 
don’t  care  what  they  think. 
7  p.  m.,  same  day. — Have  just  learned 
that  an  engine  is  coming,  and  we  leave 
at  8  or  later,  so  as  I  cannot  risk  getting 
left,  it’s  goodby  to  church  and  bed. 
AVolf  Point,  December  18. — AVe  really 
started  about  9  and  arrived  here  this 
morning.  It  is  much  warmer ;  I  have 
put  out  the  stove.  Christmas  is  only  a 
week  ofl,  and  I  am  still  a  long  way  from 
home.  T.  H. 
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Low  steel  wheels^  (plain  or  grooved  wide 
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HERCULES  MFG.  CO. 
CENTERVILLE,  IOWA 
