Oral History Program Joseph Compton Interviewed by Betty Jones 29 April 1971 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Joseph Compton Interviewed by Betty Jones 29 April 1971 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Compton, Joseph, an oral history by Betty Jones, 29 April 1971, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Joseph Compton. The interview was conducted on April 29, 1971, by Betty Jones. Compton discusses his years working for the Southern Pacific Railroad driving a motor car and working on maintenance. He describes various wrecks, a hotel on 25th Street, and life in Promontory. BJ: Mr. Compton, you worked on the railroad for a long time. First, can you talk a little about your background, where you were born, when you moved to Utah, and why? JC: I was born in the state of Pennsylvania in the year of 1892, on August 10; in a little town they called Naisbett, right where the Pennsylvania Railroad crosses the Susquehanna River. And we came here -I came west when I was six years old. I have lived in the state of Utah with my grandmother for I don't know exactly how long. My father went back and forth after the family went west then, and he settled here in town. I went to school in Ogden at that time. My father went to work for his mother here for quite a while. And then from there, why he went on the railroad to his old job as a telegrapher. His first job, I think, was over on the old line at a little place they called Kelton. Then from there he bid in over on the main line after they got the cut-off completed. He went to work at Banyard, which is just west of Montello - it was a terminal at that time. And from there in, when they built that town, why he was - job was cut out - another little place called Noble. And then from there on, as time went by, he went further up to LaRae a wayside station also in Nevada, near the Utah border . And from there on, as times went by, why things were made different. We went up to Valley Pass. And from Valley Pass, we traveled on down to Promontory. Well, from Promontory, Of course that wasn't so far out to go, why we had a - in 1909 hired out in the railroad, but I never did 1 go out to work. My mother talked me out of that job. Then from there on, I went out to the farm and stayed from 1909 until 1910. BJ: Where was your farm? JC: Just a mile north of Promontory... Just a mile up from the Point... Then of course from there on, I went to work with the signal department, and my first job was on the extra gang out on the road. And from there, I kept on working and went on to Maintaining. My first job maintaining was on at old Toeana... Just this side of Montello. And then, of course, times went by and I bid in Montello from Lucin. In Lucin I went up there at Montello. They cut out the job there. I had a bump over at Lakeside. From Lakeside, I had to go over to Promontory Point, and that's where I retired, at Promontory. BJ: What kind of work did your father do on the railroad? JC: He was a telegraph operator. He was a telegrapher, they called it. BJ: Can you remember any interesting incidents that he related to you in his career? JC: Well, as I was saying, he used to ride back and forth on a bicycle to work, which would be something to some people today, would be something to see. His father's bicycle had special wheels with clamps to stay on the track. But in my own experience I remember, like I say, that car of rails coming down, broke away from the train up at old Toeana coming down the hill. Between the two operators, they told each other what it was doing. They went up and turned the switch and it went out on the wye switch. Two rails went in the ground. Two fell out of the carload. They were there for a long time, but I think they wouldn't be there now. And I remember another wreck that happened when a runaway train come down the hill with what they call local. A1 Peterson was the 2 conductor. And I was at - at that time, maintaining. And I remember all them train crews on top of the train were waving as we went by and turning down brakes. I think they got it stopped after they got down off of Gartney Hill. Went down pretty near down off of Garney Curve. BJ: Was this on the old line or the new line? JC: No, that's on the new line. That was the old line originally. The old line branched off one mile and one-half west of Lucin. Went around the lake and then it went across. BJ: What company did you work for on the railroad? JC: Southern Pacific Railroad Company. BJ: Can you remember any other incidents that stand out in your memory? JC: As I say, in the spring of the year, it would break up and start blowing with a big windstorm. Well, that ice would just pile on top of each other, see, just like skating. Ice would come up on the track. It would come so fast up on there that the trains would have to be stopped, couldn't go. One time, this one particular time, when the track walker came across there, he found this big rock setting in the middle of the track. And he was so excited; he pretty near forgot what he was doing. BJ: Can you remember the train depot in Ogden before 1923, before it burned down? What was it like? JC: Well, that's the trouble. I have forgot about all dates. But I remember the station before it was burnt, yes. I remember the ticket office was on the west side. Today it is on the east side. But I can't remember the dates. BJ: Did it have a--I have seen a picture of it. It had a big steeple on it with a clock. 3 JC: In the center? BJ: Yes. Didn't it have hotel rooms in it? It was kind of a hotel. JC: Well that I do not know. We have, in this station we got down here now; of course it's gone now, too. But I imagine they would have just the same in the old station as they did in the new one, but I don't remember ever having that. BJ: What were the trains like in those days? JC: Oh, before they was awfully small cars. Slow engines, too. Like I say, there was 1700s and 3200s, and I think there was about the smallest under that 1700s. Passenger coaches but made considerable different from what they are today. I remember my dad, when he used to get his paycheck. They hung onto the end of the observation car. The paymaster was inside. He'd come up one side, go in and get his paycheck and down the other side. That is the way they paid them in them days. They paid them all in money. They didn't pay them checks. BJ: What kind of workers did they have working on the trains- did they have conductors and porters, the same as today? JC: I don't know about porters, but they still had their trainmen. I forgot whether they had porters. I don't remember that far. But they would have brakemen and conductors, firemen, and engineers, just the same as they have now. BJ: On the Lucin cut-off, first it was a bridge, wasn't it? It wasn't filled into the bottom of the lake. Was it kind of a bridge? JC: Yes ma'am. It was filled in all the way. It went across. It went from Salem to the end of the bridge. Then they started making the bridge went over the Lakeside. That made the 4 railroad. But still, they had a fill from Little Mountain out here over to Promontory on the other side, and from there on, oh, just the same way all the way across. BJ: What was the bridge part for? JC: The bridge part for? That was for the trains to go across, what we call a trestle. BJ: Why did they have to build a bridge? JC: Well, I guess in them days it was awfully hard, I don't know, whether they had the equipment to do what they did when they made this here fill out here now. Of course, the biggest part of that was the old time men, the Italian people and them Chinese people that built the old line across there, and that there main line. But they used the bridge altogether, and I think they still put trains across there when they have to. But on the bridge, honey, it's in 12-foot spans. And the reason why it was made in 12-foot spans was for navigation. It used to be in them days when they built that, which was in 1902 and 1903, it used to come down from Kelton on the old line from way up there near - clear into Montello with oars and load it on there. BJ: On a boat? JC: On a boat - barges. BJ: Did it have to go under the bridge? JC: They'd have to go through these 12-foot spans in order to get through. Of course those spans are still there. I think that was what made them burn that thing thereafter. They had to have it for navigation, on which the lake is navigable at this time. BJ: Did they ever have any trouble with the lake flooding over the tracks? 5 JC: They had plenty of trouble. Plenty of trouble. Every time you'd get a north wind or a south wind, it would blow over there and make big holes there, clean up to the ties. Of course, then they'd have to fill in them holes in order to get the trains to go across. Several times they was delayed for hours getting them across. And I've seen the trains going across there when the waves were so big that the spray would go over the top of the train. B J: What was your work like, just your everyday work? JC: Of course there were so many things, everyday work; I don't know what to start with. Oh, just maintenance work, taking care of switches, putting in long wires, taking care of batteries, filling lamps, keeping things a-going, putting in light bulbs, and keeping things a- working. BJ: Now you have observed the railroad in the early 1900s and today. How was it different back then? Did it play a larger role in the life of Ogden? JC: Well, I imagine it would. When they got started and got the old-style signals with the old arm signals and put in cutter light signals which we have today. It would make a big change in operation of maintenance away in the signal departments. Of course, there's other things too, that comes up in the signal department. They got out in the mountains out there, and they have different kinds of signals and apparatus than what's here. Out there it is altogether different than here. Here is CTC that operates through the dispatcher, but you have to maintain it, to fix it, before he can do the operation. 6 BJ: You go down to the depot today, and it's a pretty empty place. It's such a big building... And there's very little going on down there... But I imagine in your time it was quite a busy place. JC: Well, of course, different things went in. After this station was built, this new one was built, why then we had the Express Company come in, and you had your laundry built and modernizing all the time. BJ: In closing, can you remember anything else that stands out in your career on the railroad? JC: Well, did you want me to mention that stuff we got talking about? About that explosion? Well, these cars was put in on the sidetrack at Jackson, powder cars, see. They used to run water trains over there when they made that cut-off. The Lucin Cut-off had water trains regularly to take water to the people and gangs when they made that. Then this explosion, if I remember right, which I'm not positive about this - as the train came down, it ran into them. Then, of course, dynamite on the side track, and of course they exploded and went off. But there's one thing that I can put in there. It knocked a pair of rails through the station at Jackson, through the front windows where the office was. People lived in the back, and it knocked this pair of tracks through that thing and never killed anybody, as far as I know. And to this day, you can go out to Jackson, if you could stop there, you could see the round ground like that, way out south where the powder burnt the ground - burnt what vegetation was there and still left this here piece of ground as a round circle there. That is what the powder done in that explosion. Several cars of dynamite. BJ: Were you near this when it happened? 7 JC: No, I wasn't there, but I remember the time you could hear it and feel it, it was so much. Now whether I was up - Father was up on the hill, on Montello Hill, or whether we was at Promontory. Oh, I know. I wasn't at Promontory. I was up on the hill because there was nothing happening after they started to run the trains across there. That was during the construction days when that happened up there. BJ: That's very interesting. JC: Oh, there was lots of fights, lots of things, lots of carrying on. Denny Smith used to have a big hotel down on 25th Street, and boy, he got rich with people that was out there and came in to stay at their places. Take the money from them, gambling, drinking, and all that stuff... BJ: Can you remember any other incidents you'd like to relate? JC: Oh, there's so many different little bits of items... And, of course, the cut-off was made across there, and they tell me... it was 40 miles saving. And it cut out two sets of helpers helper engines . The helpers can go up the west side of the mountain, and up the east side of the mountain. And them helpers was cut off when they made the cut-off, see. Going across there... That'd be quite a savings to the company. BJ: What was it like living out at Promontory Point or wherever you lived...? JC: Well, Promontory was a little much better. It was closer to town, closer to get in and out to town here. It's 90 miles from Promontory around to Ogden, and it was much closer. Of course the roads are better now than it was then. But it wasn't bad there. People had farms all up along the promontory there. Pretty nice to live, a lot of people up and down. We had the post office at Promontory at one time. Father ran the post office there. 8 BJ: And he was also... JC: He was a first track operator. He wasn't - He was a first track operator... I remember one time my boy, which was a conductor on the road now, the darn scamp, with two more boys, they turned the wye switch, not the wye switch, but the sidetrack house switch. And they couldn't get the lever back over. Closed the switch and left it half open. Along came the local, around or something. I forgot whether the local or main line train went through it, and put the engine on the tracks. Down on the ground there. Pretty near fired my dad for that. Pretty near fired him for that, but they didn't. They let him go to work. BJ: Well, it's been very interesting to hear all your experiences, and you've worked on the railroad for a long time, so you're probably a good authority on everything that has happened. JC: Well, of course I remember the old wreck they had at Gartney, which is years back. I remember the wreck at New Foundland, Utah... What was the train road master's name? And he hollered and talked so much that he lost his voice, couldn't talk no more. Had quite a time. That was a lot of pulling, lot of poles. So they got so at the last time they was trying to load them, they just shoved them over to one side to get the railroad going and let the trains in. Took a long time. I was down there for three days and two nights, and that's all. They'd take the wreckers out there. With the wrecker, they had the cars with them, and the food and the cooks. Cooked the meals and them men while they were working, just so long they could go in and eat and go to bed. And they would get up when the time was up and go back to work, and another bunch would come in on mealtime. And that's where I did my eating, too, down there at that time. This is in Nevada. I was going up the track on my motor car, and round the curve, just as I’m 9 getting into low rain, a great big herd of cattle on the track. And the 102 was coming, which was the overland limited streamline, and I couldn't separate them. They just wouldn't separate for me, so I had to leave the car and go up the track and flag this down. And, as I had turned, stopped it just before it got to the cattle, why they got out. And all the men in the engine and broke the cattle. But out of that, I'm going to say this... I got a nice, lovely letter from the superintendent of the railroad for stopping that train and saving a big wreck right there. So I put that in, see, made it a little bit better. Now, this other wreck down here in Utah, just out of Ogden, about 18 miles... Was Number 5. It went into the back of a, I believe that was the first section of Number 5. It went into the back, then the second section went into the first section. Killed enormous lot of people. I knew at the time, got their son as conductor on the road today... It was a sister that was married to this other man, and it killed the whole entire family. They was in a sleeper in the back car, and it just plowed right into them. BJ: That's interesting. JC: I heard my brother-in-law telling a story that he remembered people hollered, "Pull me out or kill me." It was something. The pain was so great. They wanted something to happen one way or the other. Section foreman there heard Lynn say several times, "Go in and make coffee, one after another, and take out and give to these people." So it was to give them something to drink, something warm. They were cold. But that was quite a wreck. BJ: Can you think of any other incidents or experiences? JC: I remember going down the old line up about three miles out of Lucin... My motor car broke down. It was after night, and all I had was a newspaper. I lit the newspaper and 10 stopped a train, and it picked me up and took me up to Tacoma, let me off. I walked home then. He even loaded my motor car in the baggage car, loaded it up there. I had all the next day to fix it up. Car load of coal breaking away at Banyard from a freight train. A Number 5 was coming in Montello. And they stopped Number 5, and it went down into the head in with Number 5. And we lived at Banyard at that time, and I remember the engine going down the hill and the whistling and the red lights going through the country. He hit the car, but the couplings wasn't right and didn't do any good. So they went down into the train down at Montello. And, if I remember right, they got the passengers out of the part of the train so it wouldn't hurt them. It jarred them, but it wouldn't kill nobody. So that was a car of coal in addition to this car of rail. I remember that one pretty well. BJ: Well, thank you very much for your experiences. It's been very interesting. 11