Do you
know that one of the first things that came to my mind was
the different settings of the weather office of the days of
1878 and of those of the present time (1922).
The furniture
consisted of four chairs, a small desk with a cubbyhole side
piece big enough to keep in the daily journal, the book of
letters sent and letters received, it was only a single desk;
then there was a small table on which the single register
stood.
There was
matting on the floor. There was a partition half way up the
height of the room dividing the main room into a narrow room
in which was placed the printing press and type cases. Then
off the main room was a little closet in which there was a
wash stand and pail of water, and in this closet was piled
the coal for use in the base burner in the office. We climbed
up a steep ladder through a small scuttle hole to the roof
where there was an instrument observation; the anemometer
on a solid standard, and the wind vane with the shaft extending
into the office room below where a tell-tale vane was located
to know what the wind direction was. That is a description
of the first office I stepped into as a regular observer (Private
Signal Corps, U.S.A.) and began my work.
When you
look at the six fine rooms I have now (1922) with fine office
furniture, rugs on the floor and all things neat and tidy,
you just stop and wonder what the boys of those days would
think of us with such luxuries as we have now.
There was
the observer in charge, and one assistant, and the printer
on the station. I was expected to take the 6:36 a.m. observation
and stay on until after the sunset observation. On Saturday
nights, I remained until after "Goodnight" after the 10:36
p.m. observation was taken and filed. Then we had about 40
substations for storm warning display, and when we got an
order, we made forty copies of it and filed them at the telegraph
office. When replies were received from the 40 substations,
we telegraphed the Central Office (Washington, D.C.) With
a message something like this, " Storm warnings up received
at 1:10 a.m." After the Central Office was notified, we could
go to bed, but it was mostly about 4:30 a.m. when the last
reply got in and you had to be on the job again at 6:00 a.m.
This was
quite the regular thing during the season of navigation, and
we just went along and did the work required, because we were
soldiers, and to obey orders was the first to consider and
sleep came later. How would our men of today like such conditions?
After taking
the 6:36 a.m. observation you came back and took the 7 a.m.,
then got your breakfast, and went over to the telegraph office,
and got the (telegraph) sheets and began to make the tissue
bulletins, the words then were arbitrary, and no translation
at sight. I made 18 of those blooming things and then acted
as messenger boy and carried them along the docks and to the
produce and commission men, and to some of the more important
places in the business portion of the town. Things have changed
greatly, and a great deal more work is accomplished now, with
comparatively less assistance.
How would
the younger man of today consider such daily work, and get
away with it. Maybe just as we did, and maybe not.
This reminds
me of our dear old Hobbs, of Northwest fame who was ordered
from Fort Custer to Williston to open the station there. Under
contract was a small office building with two small rooms
in it. It was not finished when Hobbs arrived and he was so
anxious to get to work that he receipted for the building
without knowing much about what it was. It was in the late
fall or early winter as I remember it; and all that he had
with him were some blankets. He was married and had a family;
and they were not with him, so he intended to occupy the building
as sleeping quarters.
He got
his instruments installed and then made up his bunk in the
little back room. There was a base burner in the front room,
with poor coal to burn it. It was a bitter cold night and
snowing, and the poor lad was covered with snow that blew
through the windows and cracks in the building. Did you ever
hear him doing any kicking to the Central Office. Not a bit,
he took his little medicine, and did the best he could with
it, but never a whimper came from him. That was the pure grit
of the boys of the early days. I am mighty proud of the fact
that I was associated with such men in those days that took
what was given them and made their way to the posts assigned
to them and got there. Some mighty good reading would be the
many ways they used to get through and still live and have
something to eat.
