Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Pilgrimage



As I headed west across Wisconsin, I was hoping to drive out of the back edge of the clouds and rain that had blown in the day before. Sadly, the seamless gray sky and the off and on showers draped over the endless horizon. A far cry from when I traveled this highway two days earlier going east.

That was a sunny, warm, Upper Midwest spring day. That was the day after I stood in front of 3 generations of the Meath family in a house built by James Jerome Hill. I told them of the exploits of their great, great-great, and in some instances, their great-great-great uncle John Robert Meath. Many learned for the first time of the part he played in the 1910 Wellington Avalanche disaster.



Harriet Meath, the unofficial matriarch of the family was there, of course. After the reading she made sure I was coming out to Hammond, WI the following day to visit “John Robert’s” grave. Apart from the reading, it was the principle reason for visiting the region. Well, that and a journey west to the prairie of Minnesota, but I’m getting ahead of myself.



In true Midwestern fashion, Harriet’s house in Hammond smelled of fresh baked cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies. She had taken down the good cups, saucers and plates and served a “little morning coffee.” Along with the aforementioned treats there were various types of Wisconsin cheese, crackers and naturally, butter.

We talked for a good hour about many things. Harriet’s late husband James was a Meath. Like his great uncle, he was “a talker. All the Meaths are talkers,” Harriet says. “I think the only way you could make them stop talking is to tie up their hands. When you were giving you talk last night and using your hands so much, that was just like how a Meath would have told that story.”

I saw old photos of the original Meath farmhouse where Bobby and his family grew up.

“It’s tore down now,” Harriet laments. “It had nine bedrooms. Not sure why they had to tear it down.”

Then there was the studio portrait of John Robert and his wife, Elizabeth McCabe. Taken, what we think is shortly after they were married, shortly after the avalanche that killed so many of Bobby’s friends. John Robert, with wavy hair parted the left had ever so slight a smile. It was betrayed by the same sparkle in his eyes, the very same described by Basil Sherlock some 50 years later. Elizabeth was stately, an angular face, herself with a serious but pleasant expression.

“Do you think that’s the same person in the picture?” (the cover shot on Vis Major), Harriet asks.

“Oh, I’m sure it is,” I tell Harriet. “I’m certain that’s Elizabeth.”

Harriet takes another look. “I always thought Elizabeth was better looking than that.”

“Well I don’t think she’s bad looking,” I counter. “Just the styles back then and the photo don’t do her justice.” (I don’t think I convinced Harriet.)

Harriet herself is more than just a little interesting. At 87 she still drives. As her niece Linda,, (who was also over for “coffee) tells me, “She drives all of the ‘old people’ in town to their appointments. We caught her up on the roof last winter shoveling snow.”

Harriet tells me she knows little of her mother’s background.

“My mother came west on the orphan train not long after arriving from Ireland. A couple in the area took her and a boy.”

During WWII, Harriet and a gal friend answered a want-ad place in the local paper by the Boeing Aircraft Company. Packing up their bags, the two young women boarded a train and spent the next 3 years in the airplane assembly plant in Renton, WA.

“So you were a ‘Rosie the Riveter’?” I tease.

“Well, I soldered,” Harriet says. “And I worried about those planes. I worried that my solders wouldn’t hold.”

“Aunt Harriet is a worrier,” Linda adds.

“I am that,” Harriet confesses.

But time is slipping away and Harriet has appointments to keep starting at noon. I “convince” her that it would be easiest if I drive, and off to the cemetery behind the Immaculate Conception Parish we go.



Under a budding tree, on a gentle grassy slope is a large, gray marker with the name “MEATH.” Beneath that two names are engraved. To the left is “John Robert.” To the right, “Elizabeth McCabe.”

Bobby was born in 1870 and died in 1934. Elizabeth was born a year later, in 1871 and died two years before, 1932. Both were young, even for 1930’s standards.

“Interesting that Lizzie has her maiden name on the stone,” I comment.

“Well, there were lots of McCabes,” Harriet tells me.



And indeed there were. Directly behind Bobby and Lizzie’s graves is the grand “McCABE” marker, with small stones of the family placed in the ground, stretching far up the slope. Directly behind Lizzie is her sister, Nellie, the second woman in the cover shot. Nellie did not marry, and died well after her sister.

I thought I might get a little emotional standing there, but I didn’t. There was, however, a sense of accomplishment, a sense that a major goal had finally been attained, or at least well on the way to being attained.

At the base of the hill and beyond a row of scrub trees was the old Milwaukee Road mainline from the Twin Cities to Chicago.

“I’ll be darned, the tracks are right there,” I say.



“John Robert can hear the trains whistling through town,” Harriet adds.

And I bet he does.

I returned Harriet home in time for her to get ready for another busy afternoon. She filled a baggie with cookies, and another with a cinnamon roll. Before sending me on my way she gave me a hug and told me, “that’s for Janice.” (We didn’t just talk about the Meaths.) I was almost out the door when Harriet stopped me.

“I need to ask a personal question. How old are you?”

“Well, how old do you think I am?” I countered.

“All of us were talking about it last night. A couple think you’re in your 40’s. You know, farmers tend to age. And a couple think you’re about 60.”

“So what do you think?”

“I think you’re in your early 50’s.”

“57, Harriet.”

She then gave me a final “request.”

“That friend of John Robert…”

“Al Dougherty?” I ask.

“Yes. You need to find out more about him. When John Robert finds him in the snow, well, I liked how you wrote about that. If you find out more about him, I’d like to know.”

My marching orders given, I was on my way across lower Wisconsin to the CRPA conference in Lake Forest, IL.

And now I was driving back west under gloomy skies. Harriet is right, I kept thinking. I do need to find out more about Al. That is where I was now going, through the Twin Cities and out onto the two lane Highway 12. Through the towns made famous by David Plowden’s overnight ride on Train 28, the Fast Mail,…the eastbound version of the train in which Anthony John “Al” Dougherty was asleep at 1:43AM, March 1, 1910.



I had traced Al’s beginnings to Waverly, Minnesota, a town on the old GN mainline and US 12. That he ended up in the St. Mary’s cemetery was not a “for certain.” Three days earlier, Ted Benson had made a quick survey of the site and came up with one “Dougherty,” but the names and dates were all wrong. Still, there was hope. Ted felt there was plenty of cemetery yet to explore.

There was a definite sense of anxiety building as I drove over the mainline on County #8 and up the slight hill to the cemetery. The cemetery road looped in a “U” around the southern base of the knoll, then climbed to the top, with the graves on the northern half falling away towards the lake. At the top of the hill I stopped and got out.

On the south side was a large reddish pillar with “DOUGHERTY.” This was the wrong family Ted spotted earlier. On the north slope, near the road where I was parked, was yet another, but the wrong spelling, “DORERTY.”



I turned an wandered west about 50’. There was a newer stone, with the name “DALBEC” engraved. Directly behind it, barely two feet from the backside of that marker was another large, gray stone with the name “DOUGHERTY.”



I might have gasped. I know for sure my heart started to race. There were no markers in the ground in front, only the newer stone. Odd…I thought.



Immediately my eyes shifted to the left, to an open space well clear of the new stone. There, nearly covered by the spring growth of grass were two small, flat markers. I could see “ANTHO.” I brushed the grass away….and there it was, plain as day: ANTHONY J 1881 – 1910.

I straightened up and for a moment probably thought nothing at all. A great sense of relief come over me…and then it happened….a westbound BNSF freight whistled for Waverly. It was as if Al was telling me, “Yep, you found me.”



I knew I wanted to get a shot of Al’s last resting place with a train passing in the distance, so in spite of the dreary day and bad light, I sprinted for the car. I fired away as two Dash-9’s led a short mixed freight west. That bit of business done, I returned to the graves of Al and his younger brother Daniel, laying side by side.



I took shots of the markers as I found them, and then using my moustache trimming scissors clipped away the grass, exposing the full stones. So into the clean-up duties was I, I somehow failed to hear the eastbound approaching. It was blowing for the #8 road before I got situated, so I had to settle for shots of the grain and tank cars passing below. All the while I couldn’t help but wonder if Al was chuckling….”I could have told you there was an eastbound coming, dumbass. Didn’t you notice how slow that westbound was going?”

Pictures taken, I finally just stood and contemplated who and what I was seeing. Daniel was a year younger than Al, born in 1882 and died a the year before, 1909. And then there was Al, killed a year later. No other members of that Dougherty family were there, only the newer stone with a completely different name.

Were the losses of their two youngest sons in rapid succession more than they could bear? Did they stick out one more crop year after losing Al in the March of 1910, then move somewhere else? Someplace where the memories could be dampened by distance? Or do the two brothers lying side by side have nothing to do with the sudden departure of the remaining family from Waverly? Could it be something as simple as a sudden turn of fortune on the family farm? Maybe it was simple economics that forced them off their land.

Harriet was right. I need to learn more.

The next day, Mary, the pleasant and helpful secretary at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church office listened to my story about Al and his family. She searched the church records. John Dougherty was found, the “Dorerty” record was found, as was Dalbec. Nothing, however was recorded for Anthony J or Daniel. She concurred with my guess; the remaining Dougherty’s left town and the unused plots reverted back to the church to be resold at a later date.

And so I have been thinking what if….

What if I could locate the descendants of Al Dougherty?

And what if I take Harriet at her word and tell her what I find?

And what if, what if I tell Sara Scrimshaw at the Hill House Mansion of a vision I now have…a meeting of the two families at that grand monument built by men like Meath and Dougherty?

What is the point of a pilgrimage if something positive doesn’t come of it? And shouldn’t that positive go beyond just personal fulfillment?

I have a great sense of satisfaction that I was able to tell of the antics of Bob Meath and his friend Al Dougherty directly to the Meath family. I carry with me that same sense of satisfaction and even accomplishment having stood and looked at that simple stone nearly 100 miles west of Hammond, on a grassy slope above the tracks at Waverly. I thought this pilgrimage would bring me full circle, put the final period to this story I call “Vis Major.”

But it hasn’t.

The Dougherty family need to hear the “Turkey Tale” as well.

Harriet Meath gave me my marching orders.

Al Dougherty and Bobby Meath need to reunite one more time.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Centennial




Yesterday, February 27 I went up to Skykomish for the Wellington Centennial observance. The program was organized by the Skykomish Historical Society and was hosted by Bob Kelly, clearly the ultimate authority on the avalanche. Literally, were it not for Bob, "Vis Major" would not exist. It was amazing, nearly 450 people came to listen and talk, filling the gym at the Skykomish school to capacity and then some.

Gary Krist and I were asked to speak. Gary fled the snowbound east coast and did his presentation giving an overview of the event. I did my part by reading the infamous Wellington Turkey Caper, giving the boys their moment of glory.

In the end, there as a somber moment where Gary, Bob and myself read the names of the dead. With the subtle guitar playing Ashokan Farewell, (from Ken Burns' "Civil War" PBS documentary), the names were read. I felt honored to be able to read off the names of a few of the boys I've gotten to know, Anthony John, "Al" Dougherty, the brakeman that was always in on Bob Meath's schemes, Lou Ross, Benny Jarnagan's fireman, Archie Dupy, the southern, tabacco spitting brakeman, and Joe Pettit, the conductor on Train 25 that took his duties so seriously, he died performing them. It was a little hard to read a few of those names, certainly the recent loss of my mother was in the back of my mind.

At 1:43AM tomorrow morning, it will be the official centennial of the moment 96 people died.







Here's a few shots of me doing what I like to do best, tell the Wellington story through the eyes of those who knew best what happened, the rails themselves. Thanks to Bob Harbison for the great photography!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Grand "Vis Major" Tour

Me, on a book tour...can you believe THAT "es?" Well, I am..here's a few places where you can catch my combo one man side show/comedy/lecture/bs sessions:

Feb. 13 Northwest Railway Museum Awards Banquet, Snoqualmie Golf Club 11:00AM

Feb. 18 Monroe Public Library, Monroe, WA 7:00PM

Feb. 24 Lynnwood Public Library,Lynnwood, WA Snohomish County Historical Society 7:00PM

Feb. 26 The Author's Show webcast; http://www.theauthorsshow.com/

Feb. 27 Skykomish Historical Society, Skykomish, WA 11AM

March 16 Lynden Public Library, Lynden, WA 7:00PM

March 22 Bellevue Public Library, Bellevue, WA TVW Author's Hour taping, 7:00PM

March 31 Village Books, Fairhaven District, Bellingham, WA 7:00PM

April 22 James J Hill House, St. Paul MN, 7:00PM

Book your dates now, my calendar is fast filling!

Buy now,buy often!

Amazon.com



Barnes and Noble.com

Back When There Was Snow

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Usually this time of year I like to post some shots of trains running through the snow on Stevens Pass. Not so this year...currently, there's no real snow to speak of. So instead I'll hearken back to years past and put up a few that have yet to see cyber space. Enjoy a little stroll through time and Cascade Cement. We'll begin down at Skykomish with the snow dozer crew getting the machine ready for a day of plowing up the westside of the hill.



I came very close to being destroyed getting this shot, but I knew I was. The second I clicked the shutter, I dove face first into the snow and behind a telephone pole. I got covered, but popped up no worse for wear.



Looking down into my viewfinder and seeing this coming at me at 35 mph is some seriously scary "es!"



Here's an oldy-moldy from about 1975. I'm up at West Scenic to catch a work train meeting a westbound with a C&S unit leading.



And here's the helper of the same train.



Hopping over to the eastside of the mountain, a westbound works up the last mile to the summit and the confines of the Cascade Tunnel.



The snow's still falling as this eastbound, just out from 8 miles of darkness, begins the long descent to Wenatchee.



Let me tell you, it's a long, cold walk up from Merritt to get one photo of a train on the Gaynor trestle in the winter, but looking back, well worth the effort.



Finally I'll end this little winter tour down at "the Slot" west of Merritt. It is a bitter cold day with the temps right around 0 but the sun is out, the sky is blue and Rocky Ridge never looked better.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Look Familiar?

Take a look at this series of photos I took a few years back up at Blossburg, Montana, the summit of Mullan Pass:







Now take a look at the photos on the TRAINS magazine website:

http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6082

Click on the Mullan Tunnel icon and watch the series of photos.

Do they look similar?

Well look close at this photo...you'll see the TRAINS photo Dream Team in action!



Now you know why I never bother to send any of my MRL work to THEE Magazine....