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Show oo AARON Y. ROSS IN NEW YORK CTY Aaron Y. Ross, when he was In New York about two weeka ago attracted at-tracted considerable attention, so much so In fact that In tbo last Iasuc of Wells-Fargo .Messenger the following fol-lowing appears: Tho wonderful progress New York has made duiing the past half centur;' was dul.v appreciated by Aaron Y. Ross, ono of the oldest eniploes of Wells Fargo & Co. express In the west, who paid a flying visit to that city, on buslneflK, ono day during the latter part of August, Mr. Ross had every icason to be observing, for this was his first visit to the gi eater citv since JS57. On his previous visit. 6.S ears ago, Trinity church had thrum its lofty spire far above the roofs oi the surrounding buildings. Mr. Ross was amazed to find that the old church opposite Wall street is now wcll-nicii hidden by tremendouslv tall buildings, which, in the visitor's mind, almost seemed to "scrape" the sky. Mr. Ross has been In the service of Wt-lls Fargo & Co. express for lo years. He became an employe of the companv long before the railroad reached out into the mountainous regions re-gions of the west. For a time. In tho good old davp, he dioe the stage coach, and when the railroad came and staging became "bad," as he expresses ex-presses it, Mr. Ross fitted himself In with the new order of things and subsequently sub-sequently served in nearly every capacity ca-pacity as an expressman, first as a messenger, station agent and In other positions. He has had many exciting cxporlencea during his life, but his remlnlscenceR during Ms forty-five vears of service .will be saved for oroe future issue of the Wells Fargo Messenger. Mr. Ross now lives in Ogden. and Is employed chiefly as a special messenger, messen-ger, guarding, vajuable shipments between be-tween his own city and San Francisco an other Important points. He did not oxpect to reach New York whn started from "Frisco" to Ogden In charge of 342 bars of silver, which were eventually to be shipped to England, Eng-land, but his plans were changed en rout The value -f his precious cargo car-go ran well ovr a half a million dollars, dol-lars, and he was not a little ielieved when It reached its temporary destination desti-nation in New York. At Ogden, Mr. Ross found It necessary to accompany accom-pany his valuable charge to Omoha and from there lo Chicago, whence he was called upon to complete the Journey to the East. In this way he paid his very brief visit to New York, arriving there at ten o'clock In the morning and catching the "No. P." the special Wells-Fargo train which leaves Jersey City over the Erie rail- road at eight o'clock for Chicago. Mr Ross carried with him an old Winchester Win-chester rifle, which he said had killed several "hold-up" men in years gone by, though he wasn't the man who pulled tho trigor Indeed, Mr. Ross, who Is a tall and stalwart man, would provo a formidable opponent to any lobber, even at the present day. It took him about six days to come across the continent, and he spont less than ten hours in Now York, seeing see-ing as much of the "sights" as he could in that brief space of time. He was heartily welcomed by the officers of the compauy and everything was done to make his visit one that he would remember That the old expressman ex-pressman enjoyed himself thoroughly and the new world that he was visiting, visit-ing, was quite evident. He traveled across the river in the pilot-house of a ferryboat: had his first experiences n the suhwa.v ; spent many hours n gazing at the'hlgh buildings; took an express elevator to the thirty-fifth story of one or the very highest of these; made many acquaintances, and then got ready for his return. The "skyscrapers" of New York seemed to Impress him most, for the seventh story of the city hall in Sacramento, Sac-ramento, Cal., was the highest he had ever seen. Imagine the difference, when Mr. Rosa was brought up to the twenty-fourth story of the Park-Row Park-Row building and then climbed up three more stories to the tower! It was the nearest to heaven he had ever gone, Mr. Ross said, and at first he refused to look down upon the city, where people hustling for their homes during the busy afternoon rush looked more like Insects or pigmies pig-mies than human beings It was indeed in-deed a wonderful sight, he said. And Mr. Ross was liberally provided with pictures and souvenir postcards, post-cards, so the folks at home might believe what he said when he told them of the wonders of New York, and what he bad seen. Before the train left Mr, Ross had a chance lo see the comprehensive system adopted for handling packages and freight shipments received In Pier No. 1. Jersey City, where both thft Wells Fargo special trains. "No, 9" and "No. 13," aro loaded up everv evening prior lo departure for points to Ohlcaeo. |
