The last spike, and other railroad storiesWarman, Cy
General
The last spike, and other railroad stories
Warman, Cy
American fiction -- 20th century; Railroad stories
At the close of the war, in recognition of his ability and great service
to the Union, Major Jewett was made a brevet colonel, by which title he
is known to almost every railway man in America.
* * * * *
Many opportunities came to Colonel Jewett to enter once more the field
in which, since his school days, he had been employed. One by one these
offers were put aside. They were too easy. He had been so long in the
wreck of things that he felt out of place on a prosperous,
well-regulated line. He knew of a little struggling road that ran east
from Galena, Illinois. It was called the Galena and something, for
Galena was at that time the most prosperous and promising town in the
wide, wild West.
He sought and secured service on the Galena line and began anew. The
road was one of the oldest and poorest in the state, and one of the very
first chartered to build west from Chicago. It was sorely in need of a
young, vigorous, and experienced man, and Colonel Jewett's ability was
not long in finding recognition. Step by step he climbed the ladder
until he reached the General Managership. Here his real work began. Here
he had some say, and could talk directly to the President, who was one
of the chief owners. He soon convinced the company that to succeed they
must have more money, build more, and make business by encouraging
settlers to go out and plough and plant and reap and ship. The United
States government was aiding in the construction of a railway across the
"desert," as the West beyond the Missouri River was then called. Jewett
urged his company to push out to the Missouri River and connect with the
line to the Pacific, and they pushed.
Ten years from the close of the war Colonel Jewett was at the head of
one of the most promising railroads in the country. Prosperity followed
peace, the West began to build up, the Pacific Railroad was completed,
and the little Galena line, with a new charter and a new name, had
become an important link connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific.
For nearly half a century Jewett has been at the front, and has never
been defeated. The discredited captain of that promising company of
car-boys has become one of our great "captains of industry." He is
to-day President of one of the most important railroads in the world,
whose black fliers race out nightly over twin paths of steel, threading
their way in and out of not less than nine states, with nearly nine
thousand miles of main line. He has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams;
and his success is due largely to the fact that when, in his youth, he
mounted to ride to fame and fortune, he did not allow the first jolt to
jar him from the saddle. He is made of the stuff that stands.
THE MILWAUKEE RUN
Henry Hautman was born old. He had the face and figure of a voter at
fifteen. His skin did not fit his face,--it wrinkled and resembled a
piece of rawhide that had been left out in the rain and sun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account