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Show CORA LEE JOHNSON MARCH 6, 2002 COR: Eventually they lost it. And it was a shame in a way. I remember we left-my father, he came up and he was the first homestead up there-they wanted to know if there was a carpenter, anyone up there that knew how to set handles in the axes and their shovels and anything that took a handle. And my father said, "I do." My father had worked in Canada in a big sugar factory; he was a foreman there. He was a good carpenter, a very good carpenter, as were most of his brothers. And Uncle Wayne taught carpentry in the high school here. So he went down there and when he finished that job they said we need to have some doors hung on the round house, cause that was a main junction. They came out of Salt Lake and then pulled into Thistle and when they got to Thistle, that's where they put the extra engines on to help these big freight trains up and over into Soldier Summit. When they got there they uncoupled those engines because it went on down into Carbon County that way, and then they deadheaded these engines, the engineers and firemen back to Thistle, to service them, getting ready for the next big train. And that was the main route; that was the main going across the United States. So my father worked and finally they said, "We're going to have an open space in the car department." That was inspecting railroad cars. When they would come in they'd go around and inspect them, check those wheels and all to see if there was any hot boxes there that needed repacking or wheels that need to be taken off so they wouldn't run a chance of one breaking and overturn, you know, a lot of railroad cars. He said, "Yes, I'd like that job." He said to my oldest brother, Roy, he said, "Roy, do you understand"they were taking a load of grain down to the mill down here-he said, "this check I have in my pocket is more cash than I've made a whole year on this homestead. Now," he said, "I think what we better do is get out of this homestead and we'll go down into the 14 |
