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014 - Paddy Miles' Ride · Story of the First Trans-Continental Railroad

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  Speaker 1: Section fourteen of the Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad
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  Speaker 1: by William Francis Bailey. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain recording by Paul Harvey Appendix four Patty Miles's Ride.
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  Speaker 1: The following is taken verbatim from a prominent newspaper of
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine, and as a very excellent illustration of
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  Speaker 1: the style of writing prevalent at that time. Mister Miles,
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  Speaker 1: or Patty as he was familiarly called, was foreman to
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  Speaker 1: the Casement Brothers who laid the track of the Union
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  Speaker 1: Pacific Railroad. One morning, Patty started down Echo Canyon with
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  Speaker 1: a long train of flat cars sixteen in number, loaded
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  Speaker 1: with ties and iron rails for the road below Echo City,
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  Speaker 1: where were then as now the station switches, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: The reader, we'll remember that from the divide to the
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  Speaker 1: mouth of Echo Canyon is heavy grade, no level space
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  Speaker 1: on which cars would slack their speed. The train had
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  Speaker 1: proceeded but a few miles down the canyon, going at
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  Speaker 1: a lively rate, when the engineer discovered that the train
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  Speaker 1: had parted and four loaded cars had been left behind.
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  Speaker 1: Where the train parted, the grade was easy, Hence that
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  Speaker 1: portion attached to the locomotive had gained about half a
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  Speaker 1: mile on the stray cars. But when discovered they were
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  Speaker 1: on heavy grade and coming down on the train with
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  Speaker 1: the lightning speed, what was to be done? The leading
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  Speaker 1: train could not stop to pick them up, for at
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  Speaker 1: the rate of speed at which they were approaching a
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  Speaker 1: collision which shiver both trains, destroying them and the lives
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  Speaker 1: of those on board. There were two men, Dutchmen on
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  Speaker 1: the loose cars, who might put on the brakes and
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  Speaker 1: stop the runaway. The whistle was sounded, but they heard
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  Speaker 1: it not they were fast asleep behind the piles of ties.
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  Speaker 1: On came the cars fairly bounding from the track in
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  Speaker 1: their unguided speed, and away shot the locomotive and train. Away.
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  Speaker 1: They flew on round curves and over bridges, past rocky
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  Speaker 1: points and bold headlands, on with the speed of the wind,
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  Speaker 1: but no faster than came the cars behind them. Let
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  Speaker 1: on the steam, cried Patty, and with the throttle chalk
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  Speaker 1: open and wild terrible screams of the whistle. The locomotive
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  Speaker 1: plunged through the gorge, the mighty rocks sending back the
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  Speaker 1: screams and a thousand ringing echoes off with the ties,
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  Speaker 1: shouted Paddy once more, as the whistle shouted its warning
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  Speaker 1: to the station men to keep the tracks straight and free,
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  Speaker 1: for there was no time to pause. That terrible train
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  Speaker 1: was close on to them, and if they collided, the
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  Speaker 1: canyon would have a fearful item added to its history.
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  Speaker 1: On went the train past the side tracks, the almost
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  Speaker 1: frantic men throwing off the ties in hopes that some
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  Speaker 1: of them would remain on the track, throw off the
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  Speaker 1: runaways and thus save the forward train. Down the gorge
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  Speaker 1: they plunged, the terror keeping close by them, leaping along
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  Speaker 1: almost flying, said one who told us the tale, while
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  Speaker 1: the locomotive strained every iron nerve to gain on its
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  Speaker 1: dreaded follower. Again, the wild scream of the locomotive of
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  Speaker 1: switches open rung out on the air and was heard
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  Speaker 1: and understood in Echo City. The trouble was surmised, not known,
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  Speaker 1: but the switches were ready, and if the leading train
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  Speaker 1: had but the distance, it could pass on, and the
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  Speaker 1: following cars be switched off the track and allowed to
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  Speaker 1: spend their force against the mountain. Side on shot the
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  Speaker 1: locomotive like an arrow from the bow. The men throwing
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  Speaker 1: over the ties until the train was well nigh unloaded,
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  Speaker 1: when just as they were closed to the curve by
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  Speaker 1: which the train arrives at the station, they saw the
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  Speaker 1: dreaded cars strike a tie or something equally of service,
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  Speaker 1: and with a desperate plunge, rush down the embankment some
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  Speaker 1: fifteen feet to the little valley and creek below. Down
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  Speaker 1: brakes screamed the engine, and in a moment more the
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  Speaker 1: cars entered Echo City and were quietly waiting on the
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  Speaker 1: side track for further developments. The excited crowd, alarmed by
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  Speaker 1: the repeated whistling, was soon informed of the cause of
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  Speaker 1: those screams, and immediately went up the track to the
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  Speaker 1: scene of the desert disaster to bring in the dead
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  Speaker 1: bodies of the unfortunate Dutchmen, who were surely crushed and
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  Speaker 1: torn in pieces. When they arrived at the scene of
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  Speaker 1: the disaster, they found the poor unfortunates sitting on the bank,
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  Speaker 1: smoking their pipes and unharmed, having just woke up. The
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  Speaker 1: first they knew of the trouble was when they were
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  Speaker 1: pitched away from the broken cars on the soft green swarden.
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  Speaker 1: The debris of car frames, wheels and ties gave them
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  Speaker 1: the first intimation they had received that something was the matter.
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  Speaker 1: End of section fourteen, Recording by Paul Harvey,