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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1909)
2 TIIE SUXDA1 OREGOyiAy. PORTLAXP. SEPTEMBER 5. 1909. ' . PORTLAND'S UNION DEPOT A VERY BUSY PLACE 'SZt 1 ,c -n 1 y-,-yri7P i1 1 Jn' th ' r? . -. -1 -Me s?f tu : ; , , ( . v.i :. . . - : i: ',va a- -W; ' .k o " in ff ip f " '7 1 1 . 1 f J - ; 1 " I ! " .: 1 , - , ; , ..- - . -i I -Hjf 5 V; AS. -L 1&L " --l - ' 1 - 'I SET'j ;,Sti . v4 "V---A, j43 -s. ' ' - J' 77f-A7' - , , . . y t ' i 1 '3 - y ' - ' I f - w: ! - y . - J?w i Hiy - Jf i i Is i , i f - filial1 fl .f 'f:; -Hi 1 - M ' x. - f . ! Y l - , : v 7 - u77;i 11 . ,,1 -iV ..r . . r w f if,. r, "J ' I MVV4 T ' - ' I I - ' . v. ' 1. I t - '- M T'- -7 ' V i j jr . '.jn jf- , , j ' ; . i c 1 1 , , 1 n 7v - tyy fV7 iL ;r KY.-? .i K - 72- V- , I ? t Y Tt ' ' Yi A f,' Ji? f a S v 7 J' . ' n h-7 f- vj: Y ' I,--'" ' " ' - vu VYY Y fee I I p- J ' ' ; -yr 1 '7-1. - -1 '-Y"5 I I V ' ' i!r ilhT.'L ' XS y t ' ,7 7 I 7 & f I 7 ' lts-r. . , ; . I il,-. , 7 - tjPUK". -V7lf 1 T 1 -'Hr; , - M yfc- Y'4pYil I ' JUST uppoee. madam, that every Meased day cf the -week you were expected to arawer something lik W.0OO foolish QuestJoni. ranging from what time the connecting train for the spur line 300 miles east of Podunk station on the Great Saskatchewan leaves the water tnk near the Jones'ffarm In the stata f TVashlnrton. to why the occultatlon of Mara by the moon wasn't visible In South Portland Wednesday night, fired at you with catling gun speed by 20,000 to 23.000 excited. Impatient, Ujed and dusty trav elers And suppose that in addition to this, you h4 to hunt up each day half a dozen or o lost babies which frantic p?pns In the mad rush to get their trains had taken to the baggage room and checked thraugh by mistake, and restore them to their weeping and hysterical maflimas And suppose, moreover, that you had j v different waiting-rooms to visit, that ! you fc4 an emergency hospital to look after, that you had to pick out(poor, helpless . old folks and foreigners from amone the crowds, take care of them and eheer "em up. that you were called upon to settle disputes between mad hus bands and madder wives, and that you even had to play the role of foxy de tective now and then and rescure young girls who had run away from home, give 'em a lecture, and ship 'em back again An then, on top of all this, suppose you were expected ' to smile and looS pleasant and give an Intelligent answer to every old thing they asked you. on pain of having some hot-tempered tou lst call you an Impertinent frump or an officious wretch Wouldn't it fusa you? Wouln't you want to pick up some particularly ag gravating case and snake him till his teeth rattled? Wouldn't you be on a still hunt for Xantippe's laurels as the cham pion acold after about the 27.823d ques tion? Mrs. Carrie Fields is matron at the Union Depot. As matron, she has to do all the things above named, and a few others besides. In her official capacity she is pretty nearly the busiest woman in Portland, and that means on the Pa- ciflo, Coast, as this story will soon go on to show. But Mrs. Fields is not nervous, and she doesn't get fussed. She never even scolds, and she hasn't a grajr hair on her head. Moreover, she is generally smiling as she says herself, she was born that way. All of which 'shows that she Is a remarkable, woman. For 20 years, Mrs.XvFields has been a matron or an attendant -with responsible duties at some one of the big depots, and in the course of those 20 years she has been stationed In almost every large city in th i-mintrv. Yet In all that time, she has never had so much to do as she hasj Hood River, The Dalle? to do right now In the Portland Union Depot and the reason is that this Sum mer the travel to and out of this city has increased so enormously that it Is greater even than that drawn by Seattle with the added attraction of its exposi tion, Is fully one-fourth again as great as was handled here during the Lewis and Clark Fair, and Is taxing the fa cilities of the big depot to the utmost. Now this story will not be about Mrs. Fields. or that Is. only part of it will. It is the story of this great influx of travelers and how they are handled. But Mrs. Fields makes a very good start ing point for the story, inasmuch as she has better opportunities for counting the number of persons who pass through the depot daily than anybody else, lira Fields says that the dally average is be tween 20,000 and 25,000 people. Mrs. Fields ought to know, for about every one of thosa passing thousands stops to askv her a question or so while he or she is In the depot. Best Announcer in West. Some fine morning this monh 'when you have nothing better on hand to do, if you'll rise early and go to the Union Depotj around 7:10 o'clock, you will be In time to see a rather short, heavy-set man with a gray mustasche and dressed In a blue uniform and visored cap with the words "Depot Master" across the front of it, enter the waiting-room and call in sonorous tones that penetrate to every corner of the big station: "O. R. & N. train now ready, for Troutdaln. Bridal "Veil. Cascade Locks, Wasco, .unro. KhjiTilkn. Arlingion, Condon, Jone, liepp- ner. Pendleton, Walla "Walla. La Grande. Baker City. Pocatello. Ogden, Salt Lake, Denver and the Uast!" The man Is Jimmle Dov.il. the h't train announcer west of Buffalo. His friends say he in the best announcer In the country; one who has traveled about much can easily believe it. Every word as he calls it Is clear and distinct. For 12 years, Dowd has been calling trains at the Union Depot in addition to his other duties as depot ntaster, but if the rush gets much heavier, he will have to get an assistant. The train he has just announced is the Atlantie Express, Wter known to train men as No. 12. It leaves at 7:30 A. M., nd with Its denarture begins the first rrush of the vast throng of tourists and other travelers who pass througn tne depot each day, arriving by Incoming trains or leaving on those outbound. Between that hour and 12:15 o'clock next morning, there are 24 more outgoing trains to be made up and announced. And within the 24 hours of the day. 25 other long passenger trains Joaded to capacity and composed of as many coaches as one and sometimes two loco motives can handle, 4 come thundering Into the station. Going and coming and by official esti mates, too the daily number of those who entered and left the Union Station .(Concluded on Page .).