THE BEGINNING THE CAROLINA AND YADKIN RAIL ROAD

Transcription

1 I have been asked to record my memories of the Denton Depot of the High Point, Thomasville and Denton Rail Road. That task is entwined in the history of the road, as I know it. THE BEGINNING Captain Milton Jones of Thomasville held extensive interests in both the mineral (primarily gold) industry in Montgomery County and the timbering industry of southern Davidson County. Captain Jones also owned the Thomasville and Glen Anna Railroad. Glen Anna was a small community between Thomasville and Fair Grove. The southern terminus of the road was about where a large drug store now stands just south of 1-85in Tho/'nasville. Captain Jones decided to extend his rail road to Denton, then to Troy. Using brute strength and drag sleds, the line was extended into Denton in The first train into town was a wood fired locomotive with 2 or 3 passenger cars bringing visitors from High Point and Thomasville. Captain Jones offered free train rides to all the locals who wished to ride his train. Many did so. Captain Jones was a colorful character-flamboyant perhaps. Many tales have been told of his methods of obtaining financing, but none of those can be confirmed, thus will not be repeated. He did, however, on at least two occasions, remove the tires from his automobile, place the car on the rail tracks and drive a load of Thomasville visitors to Denton for high school graduation ceremonies. When it was determined that the cost and difficulties of extending the rail line to Troy were more than the line could handle, Captain Jones chose to extend it 8 miles south to High Rock to connect to the newly completed Winston Salem Southbound. Through the Southbound, connections to the Atlantic Coast Line and the Norfolk and Western were possible. The Thomasvilleand GlenAnna Rail Roadwas the re-named. In 1912, it became the Carolina and Yadkin Railroad. Captain Jones had previously expanded into High Point so as to serve the furniture capital of the world. My father, Howell Harrison, has told me many times of the large machinery for the Eldorado gold mines that was shipped into Denton soon after the first trains came our way. The equipment was off-loaded onto sleds and drug to their final destinations.must have been quite a show. THE CAROLINA AND YADKIN RAIL ROAD Regular service to the Denton area began in Mr. B.I.Harrison, my grandfather, became the first Denton depot agent. The road moved quite a bit of timber as well as servicing several local business firms. Biltwell Chair Co. moved many car load lots, and the hosiery mills were regular users of the line. Several local business men, among them Ross Anderson and B.I. Harrison as well as others, became cross tie dealers,

2 buying ties from our local saw millers and reselling them to various rail roads, primarily in the northeast. Cross ties, at that time, averaged about 95 cents apiece. Mr. Harrison had large tie yards on both sides of the rail line extending from about Denton Lumber Co. on the south to the Penry house on the north. In 1917 and 1918, he shippedover 180,000 ties annually. Howell Harrison continued to buy and sell ties into the 1940's, but the volume was low. Even though the volume was low, loading the oak ties onto flat cars, especially the top 2 or 3 courses was hard work. Max Garner, Ronald Tysinger and I can so attest, but many others worked the tie yards before we came along. A depot had been built in Denton when regular service began. It dated to about It was a plain, cold building, heated only by a coal stove in the office area. The depot stood on the south side of Salisbury Street east of the rail road. Railroad Street takes much of the property now. The depot was about 20 feet wide and more than 70 feet long. There were loading and unloading platforms on either side of the depot at train car door heights. the unloading platform, west side, was large enough to hold 4automobiles at the same time. The whole structure was raised some 3 Or4 feet from grade level, unlike some of the drawings I have seen that place the front personnel doors on ground level A picture published by The Davidson Record on May 20, 1965, is included herein which shows the depot, then ageing and in disrepair, at the time the CSX made application to close it and discontinue daily service. Two personnel doors were in the front, a customer counter ran about 10 feet down the office length, the depot agents desk faced the front (north) of the office, two telephones sat on a built in desk on the south wall of the office. One phone was the Denton Telephone Company line, the number of the depot was 20, and the second phone provided "hot line" service with other depot agents on the line. Over one of the telephones, Dad or Granddad had posted a page from The King James Version of the Bible carrying Paul's wonderful words from First Corinthians, Chapter 13, reminding us that love never fails. Files and work tables completed the sparse office furnishings.. A financial depression about 1920 was weathered,butthe linesfinancial conditionworsened. In 1923, a full blown financial depression put The Carolina and Yadkin Rail Road into bankruptcy. THE HIGH POINT, THOMASVILLE AND DENTON R.R. Mr. O.A. Kirkman, Sr. and a group of financial investors bought the Carolina and Yadkin Railroad at auction in The line, which was in disrepair, was rebuilt, and the line was re-named as The High Point, Thomasville and Denton Rail Road. The line was serviced using 4 steam locomotives, three mainliners and one yard engine. My grandfather, Mr. B.I., retired about 1926, and my father, Howell Harrison became the Denton Depot Agent. He was the only agent on the line who worked alone essentially. He would hire temporary help when the work load was heavy. Furman Bisher, Kiffen Penry and Roby Morris are three of the young people I remember working there.

3 Mr. O.A. Kirkman, Sr. died in His son, O.A.Kirkman, Jr., known as The Oak, became General Manager of the line. Operations continued and tonnage picked up as more businesses built with rail line access. The line stayed busy. The advent of World War II brought heavy increases in tonnage. I remember long trains loaded with military equipment moving both north and south during the war years. Steam engines hold a special place in the hearts of rail road men. They were not cost effective, however, and the HPT&D started replacing steamers with diesel locomotives. A small diesel ran into Denton in 1944, and by 1948 the line was 100% diesel locomotives. The numbers were 201, 202, 203 and 204. After the war, Yadkin Valley Chevrolet started receiving automobiles shipped via rail, 4 to a boxcar. Dad was unloading a boxcar of automobiles on December 12,1955, when he fell from the box car,tesulting in a compound fracture and eventually causing infection and other problems. He had the ambulance driver stop at Yadkin Valley Chevrolet enroute to the High Point hospital to get a coca cola and an aspirin, I'm told. Sounds like him. The HPT&D was sold to The CSX who continued to serve the area, as they still do. CSX made application to close the Denton Depot in May, 1965, and the depot was closed later that year. The contents of the depot were auctioned sometime later. Dad continued to deliver Railroad Express shipments for another year or so, even though it resulted in penalties against his Rail Road Retiremnt Pension. When CSX auctioned the depot contents, my brother, John Harrison of Garner purchased the depot safe, labeled across the front CAROLINA AND YADKIN RAIL ROAD. He has it today. He also has Dad's old typewriter. Dad operated it typing with two fingers, the middle finger on each hand. His fingers flew across the keyboard. CSX also sold off the line equipment, most of which did not fit into their plans. Brown Loftin, owner of The Denton Farm Park, recently located and bought diesel engine 202, which had been deactivated by the Yadkin Valley R.R. in Rural Hall, NC. The locomotive had been used by 2 or 3 other lines in the interim, and is not in good condition. Brown says he hopes to repair the locomotive for use on his Handy Dandy Line, but that is a major project. I wish him the best on that project. My son salvaged the old depot agent's desk which did not sell at auction. PERSONNEL People that I remember who worked on the line include:

4 1. Mr. O.A.Kirkman, Jr, the General Manager. A successful lawyer with a good reputation and an ambition to run for Govenor. He and Dad (who loved politics) had long conversations both at the depot and over the dinner table. 2. Mr. Dutton, Supervisor of Depot Agents. 3. Sam Nelson, a Conductor with a winning smile and personality. 4. Cecil Hiatt, a Conductor who is now engaged in writing and publishing a history of the HPT&D. Mr. Hiatt has an office in Thomasville decorated with pictures of all the depots on the line, the yards and the line equipment. His help in this endeavor is much appreciated. He also has a large, clear picture of the Denton Elementary School. 5. Jacob Garner, a Denton boy who was a locomotive engineer for the line.:'jake's mother lived about a half mile north of our home on then NC 109. When Jake pulled his locomotive into town, he had the whistle screaming as a greeting to his mom. Dad, who met the train about 10:00 every night, would look over and say "Jakes on tonight". 6. Grady Grubb, another Denton boy, also became a locomotive engineer and pulled the train into town every third night, if my memory does not fail me. 7..John Hyde of Thomasville was the third engineer. John was supernice. 8. W.H. (Bill) Cody of Cid was the roadmaster. He ran the length of the line on his sidecar looking for potential problems with the roadbed, rails, cross ties, spikes or whatever. 9. Mr. R.G. White, High Point Agency employee, who releived dad or rare occasions. 10. Ray Garner was Section Chief for road maintenance on the southern portion of the road. Ray, a Denton native, father of Vestal, Max and Nancy, and his crew worked out of the tool house south of the depot. The tool house still stands and appears to be in good condition, though covered with briars, poison ivy and weeds. Ray's crew worked oft small personnel carriers (side cars) and pulled another small car carrying their equipment. 11. A number of Denton people were employed as maintenance workers over time. The HPT&D payroll records of include some familar names, as: J.A.Gallimore J.E. Rogers W.D. Bean W.A. Gallimore

5 Harris Yates Finch Morris Claude Garner Workers that Max Garner, his siblings, and I remember from the 1940's include: Elwood Gallimore Jim Rogers Walter Frank Rousie Grice Eudy Owens. Also (;mthe depot complex was a small scale house where cars picked up south of Thomasville were weighed No doubt many residents of Denton remember long waits at the Salisbury Street crossing about 10:30 at night. Police Chief Claudie beck made a point of his exasperation several times. Random memories exist. Primarily I remember long hours of labor for my dad. He typically arose early, went to the depot, came home for breakfast about 7:30, back to work until 5;00 or later. After supper, he would lie crossways across the bed until he heard the train coming south about 10:00. He went to meet the train, often stayijng until 11:30 or 12:00. Sisters Sara Ivey and Jane would, on occasion, be asked to come to the depot and file waybills, dray tickets and perform other chores. I was impressed into work as he needed help. That included most every automobile shipment, shipments of stone monuments for Harvey Snider, and shipments of caskets for Hoover's Funeral Home. Indeed, one night Dad phoned home asking that I come to the depot. A fireman had developed appendicitis, and I was asked to fire the locomotive on the trip to High Rock, thru the shifting there, and on the return trip to Denton. I was most appreciative of training received at Denton lumber Co. by Vernon Peacock, who fired the boiler. Do you remember the water tower located just north of Biltwell Chair Co., on the west side of the right of way? It has been tom down since the 1940's. This would not be complete without remembering Dad's many friends who would come into the depot either on business, to discuss the weather, the baseball pennant races, the political situation or 1000 other topics. They are fondly remembered, as are the many sawmillers who brought loads of cross ties. Many other memories will be recalled, but my steel-trap memory is not in the shape it should be.

6 / I have included herein a copy of The Signal, the HPT&D's quarterly publication. The one chosen is the first publication of 1957, wherein Denton's 50th year celebration is publicized. Look for some old friends therein. Jim Harrison, 16 February, 2007