Sunday, August 23, 2020
Monday, August 3, 2020
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: August 1, 1920. Denver Tramway workers go on strike.
Lex Anteinternet: August 1, 1920. Denver Tramway workers go on strike.:
August 1, 1920. Denver Tramway workers go on strike.
Workers for Denver Tramway, the cities streetcar company, went on strike on this day in 1920.
Founded in 1886, Denver Tramway had expanded aggressively and become a monopoly in the city. Its workers founded a union in 1918 and were demanding fare increases in order that their wages could be raised. Denied their goal, they went out on strike on this day.
Cable car barn on 14th and Arapahoe.
The company responded by bringing in strike breakers, with the first street car piloted from the cable car barn at 14th and Arapahoe by strike breaker John "Black Jack" Jerome, whom the company had hired to organize strike breakers. The strike would soon turn violent and up to 1/3d of the cities police reported by August 6 to have received serious injuries. Denver's mayor called for armed citizens to enforce the peace on that day and Federal troops arrived later that day and restored order.
Cheyenne State Leader from August 1, 1920, noting that strike breakers were being brought in.
The net result was that the union was broken and would not be reorganized until 1933. Seven Denverites were dead, all of whom were in the nature of bystanders to the violence.
Jerome, who was born Yiannis Petrolekas in Greece, would go on to have a successful career in his dangerous profession. A poor immigrant to the US who had arrived in 1905, he had first sought his fortune in aviation but in 1917 he changed his name and founded the Jerome Detective Agency. Having worked in the streetcar industry, he offered its services to strike and union breaking, which made him a rich man. His company expanded during this time and at one time even employed Dashiell Hammett, prior to his becoming famous.
He invested in real estate and, during the depression, in horse and dog racing. In 1933 he returned to Greece a rich man, while still retaining business interests in the United States. He died in San Francisco in 1953, his funeral delayed as an undertakers union went on strike in protest over his having broken a strike of theirs in prior years.
Friday, July 10, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: The Big Picture: Stockyards.
Lex Anteinternet: The Big Picture: Stockyards.:
The Big Picture: Stockyards.
South Omaha, Nebraska. 1908.
Same stockyard, September 1916.
Omaha stockyards, 1914.
Kansas City, 1909
Kansas City, 1907.
Union stockyards, Chicago. September 1907.
Union stockyards, Chicago. 1899.
Union stockyards, Atlanta Georgia. January 2, 1909.
Related threads:
Friday Farming: Denver Stockyards, 1939.
Monday, July 6, 2020
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: June 2, 1920. Ships and faraway places.
Note hte engine on the far left:
Lex Anteinternet: June 2, 1920. Ships and faraway places.:
Lex Anteinternet: June 2, 1920. Ships and faraway places.:
June 2, 1920. Ships and faraway places.
Workmen posing before the launch of the USS Neches, Boston Navy Yard, June 2, 1920. The ship was an oiler that would serve for 22 years until sunk by the Japanese submarine I-72 on January 23, 1942.
On the same day a Shia revolt commenced in Iraq. Known as the Great Iraqi Revolt, the revolution would run its course for months before the British were able to put it down. The British would deploy aircraft using air delivered poisonous gas during the war and at least 8,000 Iraqi lives were lost during the conflict, as well as 500 British lives.
The United States Congress rejected the proposal that the country engage in a League of Nations mandate over Armenia.
Friday, May 29, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: May 29, 1920. Good Roads Week.
Lex Anteinternet: May 29, 1920. Good Roads Week.:
May 29, 1920. Good Roads Week.
First East Bay Ship by Truck Tour, May 17-22, 1920, Robert W. Martland, Train Commander. Copyright deposit, May 29, 1920. Not juxtaposition next to railroad. . . a sign of things to come. The five day tour, which included military and civilian trucks, was part of Good Roads Week.
Monday, May 25, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: A Memorial Day Reflection on the Second World War....
Lex Anteinternet: A Memorial Day Reflection on the Second World War....:
A need for an Interstate Highway System, by which is meant a good one, was also noted.
This is one of those things where I'd disagree. It's often stated that Eisenhower was really impressed with the German Autobahn, which was really a massive German public works project during the pre war Nazi years there, and he may have really been. But I think it was the ongoing evolution of the automobile that made the Interstate Highway System come in. It was billed a defense program but that was, quite frankly, a funding charade.
What that does bring up, however, is the massive expansion of government that started with the Great Depression and which kept on keeping on during World War Two and which never went away thereafter. It wasn't until the Reagan administration of the 1980s that contraction of any kind started, and its never contracted to its pre 1932 level. Prior to the Great Depression the nation would never have undertaken a highway construction project on a national level, and not until World War Two would the country thought of trying to pass it off as a defense measure.
That act, of course, lead to the demise of passenger rail in US, so its another thing that had a mixed result.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: Burlington Northern to layoff 130 and to close two...
Lex Anteinternet: Burlington Northern to layoff 130 and to close two...:
Burlington Northern to layoff 130 and to close two maintenance facilities in Wyoming.
The facilities are in Rozet and Guernsey.
The slow down in the economy is being cited for the reason, brought about by the COVID 19 pandemic. Combined with that, the BNSF heavily relies upon coal hauling, which has been in decline with the decline in coal.
Suffice it to say, bad news for the employees and for the state as well.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: Trains, Planes and Automobiles. . . and the Coronavirus
Lex Anteinternet: Trains, Planes and Automobiles. . . and the Corona...:
Trains, Planes and Automobiles. . . and the Coronavirus Pandemic
Unless you have a special interest in them, you probably haven't been thinking much about means of transportation lately.
Indeed, you probably haven't been going anywhere much, for that matter.
But because we have a special interest in the topic, and have dedicated blogs on two of the three title items here, we've been thinking about them a little, and we're seeing some interesting things going on.
Let's take the oldest topic first, trains. We have a companion blog that's just dedicated to that topic. Have the railroad been impacted by the COVID 19 Pandemic? We'll, here's a recent industry magazine headline on what's going on.
So indeed, it would appear so.
Regionally, at least one of the railroads has been furloughing employees. Coal is collapsing, there isn't really anywhere near as much oil shipped by rail as there once was and oil is down anyway, and we're entering what appears to be a pretty deep recession.
Not a cheery scenario for the railroads right now at all.
So what about air then?
Indeed, you probably haven't been going anywhere much, for that matter.
But because we have a special interest in the topic, and have dedicated blogs on two of the three title items here, we've been thinking about them a little, and we're seeing some interesting things going on.
US rail traffic falls off a cliff
So indeed, it would appear so.
Regionally, at least one of the railroads has been furloughing employees. Coal is collapsing, there isn't really anywhere near as much oil shipped by rail as there once was and oil is down anyway, and we're entering what appears to be a pretty deep recession.
Not a cheery scenario for the railroads right now at all.
So what about air then?
Not looking super either.
Air travel has decreased 96% due to COVID 19. That's a whopping huge decrease to say the least.
96%.
Flights locally have been reduced 50%. No need for all of the old ones, and it's not like they were flying out of here every few minutes as it was. Cheyenne cancelled a run to Dallas it had (until they cancelled it, I didn't know that they even had one).
As a minor plus, Cody's airport is going to receive $18,000,000 in the form of a grant, which was a surprise to them, but that is fairly minor in comparison to what's otherwise going on.
Well, all this shouldn't impact automobiles, that old standby, right?
Well there'd certainly be good reason to suspect it wouldn't. Oil is below $20bbl and now at an all time historic low. Prices at the pump have been dropping. Should be great for cars, right?
Nope. Sales of automobiles have crashed. People just aren't going out and buying, and in a lot of places, of course, they can't. And they likely don't want to either.
Hired automobile rides, such as Uber, are also down, not surprisingly.
Interesting times.
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: The Wyoming Legislature 2020, Part Two
Lex Anteinternet: The Wyoming Legislature 2020, Part Two: March 7, 2020
A lot of bills died this past week, some of which died through a parliamentary move of legislative leaders just not assigning a bill that passed the other house to a committee. Stuff like that tends to make the bills supporters mad, but its a long established legislative practice and it demonstrates why a leadership position has real power.
So, as to bills that didn't make it.
* * *
And the House bill that required two man train crews died in the Senate.
A lot of bills died this past week, some of which died through a parliamentary move of legislative leaders just not assigning a bill that passed the other house to a committee. Stuff like that tends to make the bills supporters mad, but its a long established legislative practice and it demonstrates why a leadership position has real power.
So, as to bills that didn't make it.
* * *
And the House bill that required two man train crews died in the Senate.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: March 1, 2020. Railroads Revert To Civilian Control.
Lex Anteinternet: March 1, 2020. Railroads Revert To Civilian Contro...:
On this day in 1920, the railroads, which had been taken over by the U.S. Government during World War One reverted to civilian control.
The country's rail had been nationalized during the war and then run by the United States Railroad Administration as the system was proving to not be up to the tasks that were imposed upon it due to the crisis of World War One. Additionally, concerns over pricing and labor unrest called for the action. Following the war there was some serious consideration given to retaining national control over the lines, which labor favored, but in the end the government returned the system to its owners.
While U.S. administration of the railroad infrastructure was a success, it was not repeated during the Second World War when the rail system was just as heavily taxed by an even heavier wartime demand. There proved to be no need to do it during World War Two.
Not too surprisingly, the news featured prominently on the cover of Laramie's newspapers, as the Laramie was, and is, a major Union Pacific Railroad town.
On the same day a movie featuring Wyoming as the location (which doesn't mean it was filmed here), was released.
Likewise, the reversion was big news to the double railhead town of Casper.
In reality, the sheep wars in Wyoming had largely come to an end by this time, although it was definitely within living memory. The Spring Creek Raid of 1909 had only been a decade prior, and there had been two more raids in 1911 and 1912, although nobody had been killed in those two latter events. The peace was, however, still an uneasy one, perhaps oddly aided by a massive decline in sheep, which still were vast in number, caused by economic conditions during the 1910s. By 1914, the number of sheep on Wyoming's ranges had been cut 40% from recent numbers. World War One reversed the decline, and then dumped the industry flat, as the war increased the demand for wool uniforms and then the demand suddenly ended with the end of Germany's fortunes. Colorado, however, would see a sheep raid as late as this year, 1920.
The novel the movie was based on was by author, Caroline Lockhart, a figure who is still recalled and celebrated in Cody, Wyoming.
Illinois born Lockhart had been raised on a ranch in Kansas and was college educated. She had aspired to be an actress but turned to writing and became a newspaper reporter in Boston and Philadelphia before moving to Cody, Wyoming in 1904 at age 33, where she soon became a novelist. During the war years she relocated to Denver, but was back in Cody shortly thereafter, until she purchased a ranch in Montana, showing how successful her writing had become. She ranched and wrote from there, spending winters in Cody until she retired there in 1950. She passed away in 1962.
The Fighting Shepherdess was her fifth of seven published novels, the last being published in 1933.
March 1, 2020. Railroads Revert To Civilian Control, Caroline Lockhart hits the Screen.
On this day in 1920, the railroads, which had been taken over by the U.S. Government during World War One reverted to civilian control.
The country's rail had been nationalized during the war and then run by the United States Railroad Administration as the system was proving to not be up to the tasks that were imposed upon it due to the crisis of World War One. Additionally, concerns over pricing and labor unrest called for the action. Following the war there was some serious consideration given to retaining national control over the lines, which labor favored, but in the end the government returned the system to its owners.
While U.S. administration of the railroad infrastructure was a success, it was not repeated during the Second World War when the rail system was just as heavily taxed by an even heavier wartime demand. There proved to be no need to do it during World War Two.
Not too surprisingly, the news featured prominently on the cover of Laramie's newspapers, as the Laramie was, and is, a major Union Pacific Railroad town.
On the same day a movie featuring Wyoming as the location (which doesn't mean it was filmed here), was released.
Likewise, the reversion was big news to the double railhead town of Casper.
The Fighting Sheperdess was the story of just that, a fighting female sheep rancher was was struggling to keep her sheep ranch against raiding cattlemen.
In reality, the sheep wars in Wyoming had largely come to an end by this time, although it was definitely within living memory. The Spring Creek Raid of 1909 had only been a decade prior, and there had been two more raids in 1911 and 1912, although nobody had been killed in those two latter events. The peace was, however, still an uneasy one, perhaps oddly aided by a massive decline in sheep, which still were vast in number, caused by economic conditions during the 1910s. By 1914, the number of sheep on Wyoming's ranges had been cut 40% from recent numbers. World War One reversed the decline, and then dumped the industry flat, as the war increased the demand for wool uniforms and then the demand suddenly ended with the end of Germany's fortunes. Colorado, however, would see a sheep raid as late as this year, 1920.
The novel the movie was based on was by author, Caroline Lockhart, a figure who is still recalled and celebrated in Cody, Wyoming.
The Fighting Shepherdess was her fifth of seven published novels, the last being published in 1933.
Friday, February 28, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: The Wyoming Legislature 2020, Part Two: Wyoming legislature passes bill requiring trains to have two crewmen.
Lex Anteinternet: The Wyoming Legislature 2020, Part Two: February 28, 2020
In other legislative news, a bill that would require train crews to be no less than two passed.
In other legislative news, a bill that would require train crews to be no less than two passed.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Former Chicago & Northwester Depot, Lander Wyoming.
Up until now, I've somehow managed to miss putting up a photograph of this former Chicago & Northwestern Depot in Lander, Wyoming, which now serves as the Lander Chamber of Commerce building. That may be because, as these photos suggest, downtown Lander, in spite of Lander being a small town, is pretty crowded in some ways and I missed the depot early on, and had a hard time catching it in a photographic state later.
Indeed, I never really did catch it in an ideal state to be photographed.
Lander was the western most stop on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. The line sometimes called itself the "Cowboy Line" and this lent itself to the slogan "where the rails end, the trails begin". In 1973 the railroad abandoned the stretch of the line between Riverton and Lander, and since then of course it's ceased operation entirely. The railroad, which like many railroads, was the product of mergers and acquisitions and was doing that right up to the late 1960s when its fortunes began to change.
In Wyoming its line ran astride the Burlington Northern's in many locations but it alone ran on to Lander. Starting in the early 70s, it began to contract in Wyoming and then pulled out altogether. The Union Pacific purchased its assets at some point, although its now the case that all of its old rail has been pulled. Indeed, unless you know that the CNW had once run to Lander, you wouldn't know that Lander had once had rail service at all, let alone that it had it as far back as 1906.
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