THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY - MORNING, JANUARY 16, v 1921.
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History of the First ;
Carload Lot Shipment of
Railroad Freight Out of Oregon
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SJebJJted to St. Pmul
iStth Oregon mar.
IHE . Oregron mare was a sleek
bundle' of horseflesh that had.
many a time, stepped proudly
through the muddy streets of the
Portland of the' eighties, drawing
the phaeton of John Muir. And
to this animal fell the honor, if
there is. honor among horses, of
being the first carload lot shipment
or "through freight" ever shipped
out of Portland.
Records of the shipment are to
day In the possession of George V.
Hamilton, their author, an early
day railroad "bill clerk" and pres
ent superintendent of The Journal ;
building.
John Muir, owner of the Oregon
mare, was traffic manager at Port
land for the Northern Pacific rail
road, which, in 1883, had just com
pleted the Construction of lines
that, connecting with established
lines in Oregon, gave the North
western empire its first transconti
nental railroad.
Prior to August 28, 1883, Muir
had received orders transferring
him to St.' Paul and he immediately
conceived the novelty of having
consigned to him there the first,
through shipment of freight over
the first through railroad. Hence
the interesting story that Hamilton
tells. "
Short line roads were operating
in the Northwest, but until 1883
when Henry Villard had completed
th Northern Pacific to Wallula
Junction, Wash., where it connected
gation Co. line, stage coaches were,
perforce, employed in Eastern
jour-neyings.
But when it came time to bill out
the first freight shipment con
sternation beset the little 'Albina
freight office over which H. H.
Holmes presided as chief bill clerk.
Seven men (Hamilton was the
eighth member of the bill crew)
contended for the honor, or the dis
tinction of preparing that first way
bill. Hamil'ton, being the youngest
man in point of service in the Al
bina office, could only quietly wish,
but took no active part in the some
times heated solicitation for the
privilege of writing the bill.
There were arguments galore
and warm in the few days before
.that little set of papers was to be
made out and Holmes was near
his' wits end for a solution to the
problem that would not offend his
friendly staff and would still get
the bill out. -
It fortunately happened that on
the final day and at the eleventh
hour f the steamer Oregon, coming
up the river, after .a voyage from,
San Francisco, fired her bow gun
. as4 a' signal. The coming: of th
Oregon or like craft was an event
alon the river, for it was, aboard
such ships that all. newcomers ar
rived in Oregon, unless they elected
the stage : coach travel through the
Siskiyous.
; On this day there was an unusual
list of passengers aboard the Ore
gon, and the bow gun sbe always
fired on entering the harbor
brought out unusual throngs of
spectators to wave and be waved
at. cheer and be cheered. Among
the throngs were the bill clerks
from the Albina office. And
when the reception to the passing
steamer was at its height Holmes
found his troubles vanishing. In
othei words, he saw George Hamil
ton and got an idea from the sight,
it seems.
"Hamilton, come inside. I want
to see you." Holmes quietly an
nounced. "You're the only man in the lot
who hasn't said a word about mak
ing out this way' bill. Set to it
while the boys are out."
i With i great, rounded, readable
letters Hamilton penned the pre-
tentious and portentous bill and
had it in the copy press,5 making
five duplicates, byithe time his fel
tjw workers returned to the office
; and - in-? chorus demanded permis
sion to get at the composition of
the bill.
"You are too late, boys," Holmes
declared. "Hamilton has already
made it and it's in the press."
That started a hubbub that might
have ended in a real wrangle had
not the disconcerted bill clerks ap
preciated the fact that they were
just then the butt of a joke and
decided unanimously to accspt the
situation in good spirit.
On the bill Hamilton had writ
ten the lines above and had also
indicted, "Greetings from the bill
clerks of Portland, Or., to theibill.
clerks of St. Paul." The shipment
was dispatched, together with a .
consignment of Muir's household
goods, in a box car, under care of
an Irishman, who knew horses and
might be trusted to handle the Ore
gon mare with utmost concert? for
its comfort ."nd safety. I
Hamilton had arrived at the Al
bina office seeking employment
only a few weeks before the inci
dent that figures in freight history
hereabouts, and it , was. a double
honor in that day, therefor, I that
he v should be the - author , of a
way bill of such moment that it
was later covered with pen and ink
sketches, lithographed and dis
tributed by the thousands at the
rate of 2 5 cents a copy.
Charles Moore,, a pioneer freight
conductor and brother-in-law of
George Duston. popular passenger
conductor of the present between
Portland and Seattle had
charge of the train thafi carried
the Oregon mare to Blalock,. Or.,
the division point. Every conduc
tor and every station agent who
got his hands on; that pioneer way
bill from the time it left Portland
until the shipment arrived at St.
Paul put his notation on the 'bill
and, it is said, when the paper
reached St. Paul there was pre
sented a first rate puzzle in dis
covering what message it originally
conveyed.
What a remarkable contrast with
the present surrounds the bit of
history of this first carlot 'shipment
of through freight! In this tfltra
modern day carlot shipments go
out by the scores every day and
attract not even the most passing
attention. But the "first" ship
ment what a momentous a.ffair
that was to the little group of pio
neer railroaders o whom Hamil
ton was one.
Where, prior 'to 1883, there had
been only overland stages to carry
passengers to and away j from the
edge of the empire and only miie
stages or pioneer ocean craft to
carry them into or out of Califor
nia, there is today, of j course, a :
.veritable network of transconti
nental and local railroads, tapping
the land of the last frontier as the
roots 6f the oak tap , the soil
- thereof. , , , i ' ,
At St. Ful Muir had the original
- bill framed and hung it prominently
in his office.. Lithographed copies
were sold far and wide by rain
"butchers" and through other,
agencies. Muir, well known to
many who were in Portland in the
eighties, died from the effects of
consumption some years later.
The illustrations that appeared
on the lithographed copy of the
pioneer way bill, pictured here
with, were -drawn by W. L. Dodd,
who made of his drawings a vivid
history of transportation of the
past and of the moderrr day of 1883
and, likewise, he looked into the
future with a greater insight than
was credited to him at the time.
In the' circled drawing Dodd
showed the first through freight
train climbing over the treacherous
Mullen pass In the Rocky inoun
tains, where the road was forced
to make a switch-back to climb the'
grade. Lodd has taken the Oregon '
mare from her car and hitched her
to the engine to haul the train,
over Mullen pass. Beside that pic
ture is shown Dodd's dream of what
was to be the Mullen tunnel that
has done away with the . heavy
grade that pioneer travelers re
member Just west of Helena, Mont,
The past, present and future of
transportation as pictured in Dodd's
own crude way, are, nevertheless,
faithful pictures of fact, though tho
legend that , the Oregon mare was
a skeleton and its keeper a petri
fied man , when. the. shipment ar
rived at St.' Paul Is a bit far-fetched
since the Oregon mare continued at
St. Paul, her proud - stepping be- ;
fore the Mur' phaeton - for many
years. . ';
Hamilton came to Portland early
in '83 from Pueblo, Colo., via Salt
Lake City, with a record of years
of "railroad'ing" to recommend him
for employment here. It is said
that when Hamilton's long Journey
ended at the west side slip of the
Albina ferry he was confronted
with the necessity of "running his
face" for the ride that would, carry"
him to the freight office and pos
sibly employment. His first rail
road Job in Oregon was as a bill
clerk under Holmes, but he later
became an express messenger; run
ning to Helena, 'Mont., over the
Northern Pacific. "
Sometime later he went to Pen
dleton in the employ of the O. R.
& N. company, and finally became
station agent-there. lie remained,
in and near Pendleton,' after hav
ing taken part in the advent of the
railroad .'that - crowded out the
famous old stage Coaches of East
ern Oregon, until he Came to Port
land in the employ of C. 3. Jack
son of The Journal. : '
He was, at different times,
cashier of the Pendleton National
bank, -and the American National'
bank, and for some time was clerk
at the Umatilla Indian agency. Then
he went to ranching and put rail
roading behind him forever.
Early payrolls of the' Chicago &
Alton, the Wabash,' Rio Grande,
Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific
will reveal ' the name . of George
Hamilton, .