I have been absent for a while , running the roads again . Old friend Beaver squeezer ask me if I remember about a trackside memorial in the central tier states. It was for a little boy who was ill and he would go to the track and wave at the engineer for a while( months). The engineer found out he passed on when he did not show up trackside. So in time he built that memorial to honor the little guy. Does anyone know if this is still there and the location of that. This all happened in the 1900s I think.
Respectfully, Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Welcome back Cannonball
I'd heard the story myself Cannonball, so I went into the archives here at the "Fortress Firelock" and pulled out my copy of Freeman Hubbard's "Railroad Avenue" The story is told in Chapter 16, "Roadside Graves."
I won't go into the whole story, but in a nutshell a brakeman on the Chicago and North Western in the 1880's named Bill Chambers used to exchange waves with a boy between the ages of six and twelve. This was on the run between Tracy MN and Redfield SD. No one is sure whether they ever met face to face but Bill used to look forward to seeing the boy on his runs. It's said Bill felt sorry for the youngster who obviously didn't have any other kids around to play with.
One day the train passed the spot where the boy used to be, but there was no boy there. Just a newly made grave. Bill found out the boy had died of smallpox and knowing he was dying asked to be buried "where the train goes by and the man waves."
As Hubbard says, Bill took the loss hard. He marked the spot with a rectangle of stones and placed a rough boulder at the head and vowed he would take care of the spot as long as he lived, which he did until he was just too old to continue. While he would occasionally visit when he could he passed the job onto others and as of Freeman's writing of the book (1945) the grave tending was being done by Bills sister Lydia and his daughter Mrs. Vince Ford.
Bill died in 1931. His friends said he'd "gone to join the little fellow."
Hubbard himself saw the gravesite in 1914.
I don't know if the site is still there. If it's not by all that's holy it should be.
FIRELOCK76, thank you ever so much for the return EM. I don't know if the site will ever be found. Like you said " it should be". Times were simpler back then.
You're welcome Cannonball! Possibly someone with a bit more knowledge than I've got can Google Earth that old C&NW line between those two spots in Minnesota and South Dakota and maybe, just maybe, with a good satellite view find the spot if it's still there.
I forgot to add Bill the Brakeman never met the boy's parents. They'd left the area not long after the boy's death.
I thought this sounded familiar. I just read about this a few years ago. Here's the PDF file at the South Dakota State Historical Society website about it with a lot more information and some modern info.
http://www.sdshspress.com/index.php?&id=1700&sub_action=1&qkyyxkcl=qkyyxkcl&action=960
Trains covered this several times including nice write ups in the May 1947 issue and the March 1990 issues (Which is what I likely read).
And here's some recent pictures found via a search.
I like that a short stretch of track was relaid adjacent to it on the old right of way.
Reading the PDF, it says the "bunk car" he and his parents lived in was 1.75 miles west of Elrod. Using Google Earth, I see evidence of a RR ROW in the area and it crosses a lake that is labeled as Stewart State Public Shooting Area. The middle of the lake is 1.75 miles west of Elrod, but at 1.54 miles west of Elrod I see a square area with a white "item" centered in the southern edge. The coordinates are:
44°53'15.50"N, 97°36'17.82"W
It is similar in shape to the fence shown in the middle photo above, but I don't see the white stone outline of the grave itself and there is no evidence of a track section there now like the middle photo shows.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Leo and Semper, thanks for your postings! I was curious myself as to whether the site was still there. Anyway, I suspected it might be but in a neglected state. Happily that doesn't seem to be the case.
I did a little bit of searching myself last night and suspected that old C&NW line might be abandoned now. That was between reaching for tissues after reading that sad story.
The Topo Map (as accessed on Acme Mapper) shows a grave at that location.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Leo, thank you for taking the time to research this site. After all these years it is still a fitting tribute to the little rail fan . I hope whoever has taken care of this site can continue to do so. My friend Beaver Squeezer will know of this.
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