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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1952)
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRnTflTE HOT EQ wiu mem mumi mi sum EM OF $1 Yd Passenger Trains To California To Be Cancelled Scenic Route - Succumbs to Speed Since 1887 the throaty whis tles of the Southern Pacific passenger trains threading their way over the tortuous curves of the Siskiyou route have been familiar to southern Oregonians. But Tuesday the dream that pioneer railroaders fought so hard to realize will become his tory and the only rail passen gers who will enjoy the wild cenery of the route will be those who ride the rods under freight cars. Seldom Patronised The SP announced it can no longer carry the dead weight of a service so seldom patron ized in a day when speed is desired more than scenery. Be ginning Wednesday the line will carry its passengers from the Rogue valley by bus to Duns muir where they will transfer to trains travelling the more profitable rdute east of the mountains. The announcement of the end of the service has brought forth a rash of memories about its beginnings. The road was finished and ready for the first trains in 1887 when builders working up from Redding and south from Roseburg met at Ashland. The tieup completed an engineering and financing feat that bad be gun in 1853 with route surveys north from Redding through the Pitt river country. The rails these pioneers laid between Ashland and the Cali fornia line were 99 per cent curves 139 of them but they made the trains the arrogant monarchs of west coast trans portation for decades. Though it meant a slow trip over grades as steep as five per cent and more, the service was popular and every rococo coach was filled with passengers. The line spelled the end of Jacksonville's boom, transfer ring Its prosperity to Medford. It figured prominently in the "Rogue valley's growth as a lumber, fruit-growing and tour ist center, linking it with the port of Portland and with the markets and railheads of Cali-. f ornia. " Had the service been cancelled in those days, it would have dealt a death blow to the val ley. But that was before fast highways were built through the mountain entries and before Ore gonians abandoned the trains for planes and cars. Now it ap pears the two trainsone in and one out of the valley each day will be missed by an av erage of only 15 persons daily. Tor that is the size of the pres ent patronage, according to SP records. Officials claim they have been losing more than ; .Vac mt r."i N-; ;:, - -'yy- v. j 7. -i N.;;:'vj':.;;:1 i) . r' 2 "". 1. '.tT-.V-f-V-r-t'. 1 - i shown here In a picture taken at the Medford depot Is, left to right, E. C. Blevins. engineer Roy Smith, fireman; H. E- Bls mark, braketnan: R. W. Herndon. brakeman; Alfred Miller, lounge car attendant; M. C Hamilton, conductor, and Bob Coke, baggageman. . (Brainerd photo) LAST CREW FOR 327 Shown here beside the engine of the Southern Pacific's train 327 to Dunsmuir is the crew that will take it on its last trip over the mountains Tuesday. They will be moved to other parts of the SP system where passenger travel is heavier but the scenery not so spectacular. The crew , $1,000 a day on trains 327 and 328 for a total of $392,812 a year. When these figures were pre sented at a hearing before the California PUC last fall, Med ford and Ashland interests charg ed that a better earn-loss picture could have been achieved if the SP had modernized its service and renovated the worst sec tions of its Siskiyou roadbeds. They admitted the deteriorated "Scoot" could not hope to com pete with air and highway transportation in its present con dition but would more nearly support itself if it compared with its competitors in comfort and convenience. The SP demurred and pro ceeded with plans for abandon ment They proposed to concen trate on fast, luxurious streamliners on longer runs where they hoped to have a better break in their race with the air and bus lines o capture the west's passenger business. Healthy Freight Business The creeping death of the Sis kiyou run began in 1927 when the Natron cutoff line gave the SP a speedier route over the Cascades and east of the moun tains. Since that time, the road south of . Eugene via Medford has been a half-forgotten step sister, tolerated only because its freight business remained healthier than that if its glam orous relative to the east. t?ii-tt-OMAlfgA The freight phase of the SP's service has been improved be cause it is a paying proposition. Long, diesel-drawn freights now rumble over the steep, cork screw grades in a fraction of the time it tock the straining steamers and the shipping time between Medford and California points has been drastically re duced. The speedup has already been felt in the livestock in dustry here, making possible cattle shipments to and from Bakcrsfield that are larger than any the valley has ever seen before. Trucks Used It still, however, la faced with an increasing tendency on the part of some fruitmeo to ship pears to distant points by re frigerated trucks. And even the United States malls, tradition ally a rail-borne cargo, now are carried more and more by speedier, and far cheaper, trucks. But that does not mean that Medford and the Rogue valley are indifferent to the loss of their rati link with the south, and with the past It was In a Siskiyou tunnel that the D'Au- tremont brothers in 1923 staged their daring train robbery and murdered three of the train's crew. It was over the Siskiyou line that valley families once travelled to the watering resort t Colestin or to Weed for vacation In the shadow of Mt Shasta. But the proud Shata Limited has become the "milk train." It will end it coUriul history Tuesday with a final clattering run into Dunsmuir, Its two shabby coaches once again nearly full, but this time with passengers with a sense of history and the nostalgia of the occasion. MODERNIZE YOUR REFRIGERATOR i CALL 00-000 TODAY FOR FREE TRIAL! i w I . mm1 1 If II II I Krl;. SJI I Monday Morning Wonderful assart me at itKhseJiftf wM color Iroadclotiis, Orfandy Woven Saawckf , Per cale Prints, Clumlrrays, Cotton Sfceon. SPECIAL Ms.?e. SSc Yard Modernize year present rafrlgerafer end end mossy defrosting troubles with me sensational Paragon do-froshlll Plvfl H In, set It and forget H. It will safely, outoma!ica"!y defrost your refrigerator at the rim you choose. Try it out by phoning us or coming m today.' 101 So. Rivniss Pa 2-4112 995 0EEB0OD Sanforized - Morcorisod COTTON HUE Utty tftisM and Jtca sanforised. Past ' Spscitl 4rv yd. D D (aX-eZ?QOr G00 Sixth ft Central toecUoul sia Stanford, Cal CUM A Stan ford university biologist has gone on a fishing trip to try to catch whatever fish there art swimming around five miles un der water In the South Pacific Dr. Rolf Bolln Joined a group of II other scientists aboard the Danish ship Calathea, a deep sea fishing vessel with special equipment Police Training Classes Scheduled Here During March Medford has been selected as one of 14 cities throughout the state In which advanced profes sional training for police officers and law enforcement officials will be offered between March S and 31, It was announced Satur day. Officers from Ashland, Grants Pass and other Jackson and Josephine county cities are expected to attend the classes. ' Sponsoring agencies The twice-a-week classes will be sponsored here by the Med ford police department, the Ore gon Association of City Police Officers and the Oregon State Sheriffs association. Cooperating agencies Include the Federal Bu reau of Investigation, the depart ment of state police, the state de partment of vocational educa tion, the League of Oregon Cities and. the University of Oregon's bureau of municipal research and sen-ice. Class subjects will include public relations and conduct of an officer, essential police rec ords, investigation of check oper ations, narcotics, traffic enforce ment and changes in the law and records available in the secre tary of state's office, criminal law, investigation of a case in preparation for prosecution, and preparation of a case for trial by Jury. Those participating in the classes will receive a certificate of completion awarded by the Oregon Association of City Po lice Officers and the Oregon State Sheriffs association. PRIMmC WAT BEST Georgetown, Ky. (U. When Joe Gains heard an opossum In his chicken house he got his pistoL Gaines fired six times, at the animal, missing every shot Not giving up. he grabbed a club and killed the intruder. COP BURNED VP Winoosklt, (UJ3 Police Lt Joseph Sprano thumbed through a routine directive to be on the lookout for "torchy" sweaters. As a gag, be doffed his own new pullover and touched a match to it Whoosh no sweater. 111 OUT A HVOff 13 CU. FT. PHI LCD HERE AT 10 FOOT KUCE! """niiirrr nu I Several 1951 Models Still available at Savings up to $100 Plus Generous Allowance ' en your old refrigerator. itsi ruiico MODUS FIOM SI 99.95 EASY TERMS YOUNGER'S APPLIANCE 31 NORTH BARTLETT STREET W?nnJ Jlu A j & is 1 ssssj, sy dC 'gso ijf'" fzMmiB cf No Place for a Heavy foot ! Tea'd fa4 it avt, ta mik or so, even if we failed r tall you. 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