I Been Workin’ on the Railroad … or … My Argument with the Shin-Hoe
by Rex Eldon Nelson (from an article that appeared in “The Good Old Days” In 1907, I worked as a bridge carpenter for the Utah Uinta Railroad. This was a narrow gauge railroad that ran forty miles up into the Uinta Mountains to the mining town of Dragon. The railroad hauled gilsinite from Dragon, down the mountain, to a loading platform for the Rio Grande Railroad. The Rio Grande ran from Denver to Salt Lake City. The town of Dragon was home for the railroad workers, as well as the gilsinite miners. When I got word that I had the job in Utah, my wife Nettie and I were staying with her aunt in Grand Junction, Colorado. At the time, Nettie and I had one baby [William Earl Nelson] and another in the oven [Oliver Lescher Nelson]. We were both excited about the job, as I had had no work for a few months and we both disliked having to lean on relatives. The job started as soon as I could arrive, so we packed our things and bundled the baby, and were ready to leave in a few days. [...