When railroads were big news

History tells us that we have two entities to thank for McCook's existence: agriculture and the railroad. Each relied on the other to stay in business.

Farmers, stockmen and railroaders had several things in common, not the least of which was being on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week when needed; calving doesn't ever seem to occur when the sun is shining and trains like to run in the middle of the night!

They also had in common the fact that news concerning either was a front page item! In this article I'm going to show examples of what the McCook Tribune printed concerning railroad activity including a train schedule (back when trains ran on schedule) that shows both freight and passenger trains out of McCook.

From the McCook Tribune, August 1, 1890: Engine 157 is out of the shops and Holliday is as tickled as a boy with a new pair of boots.

Engine 109 is laid up for light repairs on account of breaking a rod strap and knocking out a cylinder head.

Engineer Jones departed on Tuesday evening for Chicago, where he expects to drive the iron horse in the future. The "Blawsted Britisher" will be missed from the western division.

The McCook Tribune, April 10, 1891: No. 1 leaving McCook at 12:10 Friday, April 3rd, made the fastest trip to Denver ever made by any train, taking all draw backs into consideration. Engineer Bailey made the run of 143 miles in 3 hours and 15 minutes including 3 stops, which was an average of 44 miles per hour allowing 5 minutes for each stop, which is a low average, the actual time was 48 miles per hour. It is the best run ever made by No. 1 between McCook and Akron. Engineer Bartlett's run of 112 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes was also an extra good one, considering the restriction to making up time on the first 24 miles where the advantage is great owing to down grade. Had he been allowed to make up time over the entire division his average time, including one stop for water, would have been 2 hours and 30 minutes, or 46 1/3 miles per hour after deducting 5 minutes for a stop. The actual time (all stops deducted and estimating 5 minutes for each stop) was 255 miles at the rate of 45 miles per hour. Jimmie Burns and Brakeman Keim held on to the rear end as conductor and 1st mate respectively.

B. F. Wickersham, the handsome and clever roadmaster of Holyoke, was at headquarters Tuesday.

Master mechanic Archibald went out to Denver Wednesday, returning on the Golden Gate special, this morning.

Phil Churchfield, late of the high line, now has a run out of McCook.

Fireman L. D. Reynolds is doing the hostler act, temporarily, at Akron.

Should you have a railroader in your family history, you can easily trace his job movements between the late 1800s through 1912 by doing a search of his surname on the site www.chroniclingamerica.gov. Go to the advance search tab, select McCook Tribune, and place the surname in the "...with all of the words:" search box.

Southwest Nebraska Genealogy Society's library will open this Saturday at 1:30 p.m., 110 West C, Suite M-3. Free lessons on Legacy software will be offered to the public on this date.