OCR Text |
Show The Final Chapter Is Written The first decade of the century saw the beginning of a new chapter in Tooele's history. It Itegan with the first train that tooted its way up Vine Street, through town and east to the site of the sprawling new International Smelting and Refining operation. The coming of the smelter and its Tooele Valley Railway (TV), was to have as much impact on this little valley as di(T the coming of the pioneers themselves and the later erection of an Army Depot. Each episode meant that life here would never lie the same again. And now, the few final words of that chapter are aliout to lie written for the short line railroad. As soon as word comes from its parent company, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) the TV will be no and president, taking care of other duties at the same time. At one time or another, most little boys have dreams of growing up and becoming a railroad engineer. Boys who live in railroad towns can dream these dreams at first hand. Along with the rest of the boys, Don Lee hooked rides on the rails, usually dropping off undetected, at the edge of Tooeles New Town. But unlike the rest of them, he never dreamed of becoming an engineer. With his childhood chum, Joe Lee, Don used to watch the train's progress through town. While they both loved trains, they differed on future plans. Like other boys, Joe stoutly maintained, "When I grow up, Im going to become an engineer. Not me," young Don Lee would respond, No way. But as is the way with life, Joe Lee grew up and went into radio broadcasting. It was Don Lee who ended up in the engineers seat on the Tooele Valley. When he graduated from high school in the late 39s, he was still not looking for an engineers job. He worked in the mines at Bauer and then, as did so many others in Tooele, began working for the International Smelting and Refining Co. It was there that the opportunity came to switch to the railroad. When he started working for the railroad, Don never dreamed that he would one day become its president. "You just dont know what is going to happen to you over the years," he pointed out. His advice to youth and to everyone is that "you should always do the best job you more. The passing of a veritable institution such as the TV will come with a wrench to many hearts and not a few tears will lie shed at the final word. Although the railroad has not been in operation for almost two years, as long as the big diesel was still there with its attached caboose, as long as the station was still open there at its Broadway location and the tracks still made their straight course down the middle of Vine somehow the TV was still a part of city ' In 1975 he moved into the office, and the next year he became superintendent have a secret desire to ride on or perhaps even drive a locomotive. It fulfills some desire for adventure and excitement. But to those who work on the rails, the job is just routine. Trying to push the train through a heavy snow is not an adventure, but part of the days work. There was the night we went to Warner to get a train in the middle of a snow storm, Superintendent Lee said. There were just four cars, but we couldn't get them through town. We went back to Warner and dropped off one car, but still couldnt make it. W'e dropped off another and finally had to go back and drop off the last. W'e tried again with just the caboose, and we barely managed to make it through town to get the water that is needed to keep a steam engine going. "It took half a shift to do that, and we didnt accomplish anything, he said. The roughest times were in winter with snow, ice and blowing wind taking all the romance out of the job. "It is just a job that you work at every day. Like any other job, some days were good, some days were bad. The next best thing to being an engineer yourself is having a dad who is. Memories of the old TV mean a great deal to the Lee children. For Robert Lee there are memories of many nights spent "helping his father fire up the huge furnace in the old steam engine kept as a backup to the newer diesel, listening to the railroaders swap stories of pranks and close calls and basking in the of the crew members. Not many little girls can tell their children that they had a train engine for a play house; a play house where she could get dirty without ever getting into can. trouble. But Vicki Bradley can. Before he went to work for the railFor the Lees such adventures were road, he had had no training. Succeeding . ... t part of growing up. takes determination, he said. "It is sur' n ' if what can a accomplish person prising Many residents will remember such he just puts his mind to it. incidents as the time the train was marIn spite of his progress to the top, ooned in stack-higsnow for two there have been difficult years for Don. or the time the train was derailed days, by ice Strikes, curtailment of smelter operaon the tracks and tipped on its side. tions, or economic situations such as we remember tales of the runaway have today, cut him off from his job. train loaded with brick that roared back During those times he found temporary down the hill and rocketed through still his family, but he ways to support town, miraculously without injury to on the railroad. retained his life. And as long as Don Lee, TVs president and superintendent sat at his desk in the big old station, all was right with the world. But now Don Lee will be leaving his job. It is not so much that he is retiring as that the railroad itself is retiring. Actually the last car of freight rolled up the track in July of 1980 with a load of newsprint for the Transcript Bulletin. The office has remained open since that day, but there has not been any business. Superintendent Lee has been there, sitting at his desk, an island of limited activity, in a sea of empty desks, in a room which once buzzed with life with as many as six employees handling paper work for the busy little railroad. Now, the big room houses just one man who waits for a decision to be made by the powers that be. The decision will mean the abandonment of the Tooele Valley Railway after almost three quarters of a century. There are many in town who could relate tales of life on the TV - the old timers and the timers. But if of knows the workings of the litanyone tle spur, it is Don Lee. During his 40 years, he held every job possible on a railroad from engine repairman, section hand, and fireman, finally graduating to engineer. com-rader- , h Old-time- rs rights Perhaps the most difficult time for him was when the smelter closed operations in 72. At my age - the age I was then 1 didnt know what was going to happen. He stuck with Tooele Valley to later become its president. To those of us looking in from the outside, railroad work seems pretty exciting. There are few of us who do not not-so-o- ld -- anyone. However, pulling a heavy load through the city swarming with unpre- dictable automobile and pedestrian traffic was one aspect of railroading that was never routine to Don. I always used to hold my breath, praying that nothing would happen, that there would f be no accidents, he said. When Superintendent Lee began to ie Empty Desks Surrounded by empty desks and ghosts from the past, Don Lee sits alone in the old Tooele Valley station. His chair will toon be empty too as he finishes his 40 year career with the railroad, and the beloved old TV passes out of existence after of a century. nearly three-quarte- rs work for the TV, the little railroad was still in its heyday, traasporting copper through the old Elton Tunnel, hauling ore to the smelter, and smelting products to Warner to be shipped around the country. There were four steam locomotives with four crews every day and sometimes five, hauling the ore and smelting materials or handling freight for stores in Tooele or hauling passengers from Warner to Tooele or to the smelter. There were four trips to the smelter each day and four tripsback, including the three shifts of smelter employees. It was a busy schedule. In the mid 50s, the TV switched from ' steam to diesel. What a change that brought about, both to the railroad and to the town. "The diesel was clean and smooth, and the work easier. It was more efficient, hauling more tonnage with just one crew than it had with three and alrandon the railway, plans already afoot to transform the old station house and the property surrounding it into a museum of TV memorabelia, will go into action. Don will be on the museum committee working with others. The old place would not be the same without him. Ive enjoyed it all, he said of his Each different job has been an experience. The more things you know, the better off you are. As the chapter entitled Tooele Valley Railway closes, a new chapter begins for Don Lee, a chapter full of more things to work. leam. - steam. As for the town, those who lived along Vine Street werent sorry to see the old steam engine go. The cinders created havor with fresh hung laundry, gardens, rooftops and complexions. They filled the air, rained on housetops, rolled off roofs, to be crunched under foot and tracked into houses. There was also the noise of the steam engine itself and the whistle which split the air and eardrums several times a day. Many of those cinders are still there, buried under the black top along the roadbed, Don said. Over 40 years worth of them. But all that - the steam engines, the treks through the snow, the diesel are now part of the past. It is quite a thing to start out as a young man, Don said. You work everyday, not conscious of the years passing or of others getting older around you. All of a sudden, you realize that you have been on the job 30 years, then 40. Suddenly for Don, the todays have become yesterdays, and it is Farewell Old 12 steams its way east on its last trip to the smelter. The old Oquirrh Hotel (now gone) appears right. all over. The Tooele Valley Railway will soon y pass completely into history. The right-of-wa- and the property on which the station house stands at 35 North Broad--. way will revert back to the city. The tracks on Vine Street will be torn up, and the road resurfaced. All traces of the historic short line would vanish from sight except for the efforts of some enthusiastic TV lovers who plan to keep its memory alive. As soon as the decision is made to The Wreck Crews dig out old y; 3r5J ip"ii 1- 12 after the locomotive and cars lost out to a blizzard in the 30s re - Last Trip 2? 'i ?r Rare Sight Historic moments include this trip of three locomotives pulling a ifc3ky lTcar train of JL X liifffiry. ore through town and up to the smelter. Nineteen years ago this month, old 11 made her last run. On May 30, 1963, the crew for the final trip posed in front of.the old locomotive. In front are Ellis Parks, who was superintendent at the time; William J. McKenna, vice president; ' back: Donald Lombardi, fireman; Roy Snyder, engineer; Ferris Rydalch, brake-man- ; Ralph Daly, conductor; Ernest Weyland, brakeman; Don Lee, hostler. |