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- Oct 8, 2006
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Ive tried to pump my father about his days riding the rails. It wasnt quite like pulling teeth. But I got information in dribs and drabs.
He immediately thanked me for not saying he used to be a bum. To those who lived the life, hobo was the preferred term.
He grew up, and began his travels, from Cleveland, Ohio.
I asked him what he took with him. Did he carry a bindle?
He said I always kept a blanket with me. That was important.
I asked, Did you take anything else?
He said, Not much.
I asked, Didnt you carry a knife?
He said, Sure. You had to have a knife.
I said, Id think youd need at least a water bottle. Especially out west.
He said, Well. Sometimes.
He also told me, Looking back, Id carry more with me than I did. I was just a kid.
Hes finally written something about those days in his blog. Enjoy.
Our house on 116th street was a couple of miles from the railroad yard. The trains were coming and going all the time. It is a big yard. There were passenger trains but the biggest part of the yard is freight trains with the box cars. At night I would hear the train whistles when they were moving from track to track. I would imagine faraway places where those trains went.
I remember when I was about 12 years old my Mom was out in the yard stretching the curtains. In those days when you washed the curtains you stretched them while they dried. A kid that was "on the road" showed up and my Mom gave him something to eat. Her advice to him was to go home to your Mom.
When I was going into the 10th grade I was about 15 years old. I had a little problem with my father. I knew I was probably going to get beat on. I don't remember what I did. So I decided rather than go home and face him that this was the time I would go and ride a freight train. I talked it over with my friend that was the same age. He was actually a relative that lived a dozen blocks from us. We used to go camping and lots of places together. I told him I was leaving but I didn't tell anybody else. So I headed for the freight yards. I didn't know anything about catching trains or riding the rails. I had to find out in a hurry, which I did. I got into a box car and pretty soon we were off. I was off into a world that I hadn't experienced before and into the unknown. I don't remember now the early part, where we went.
I had to learn how to catch a car. At that time there were a lot of hobo's on the road because it was the tail end of the depression and a lot of people were using the rails as a way to get from one place to the other. At that time there were single men, a few single women, and families riding the rails. i was not alone. There was always somebody that could tell you what to do next. I learned how to get on a box car. You had to get on the train after they were moving because there were railroad detectives trying to keep the people off the trains. You had to get on while the train was going slow enough. There were different ways to climb on. There were ladders on the side. You had to run along and grab one of the rungs of the ladder and pull yourself up. Riding the rails can be quite dangerous. When you swing up on the ladder you could swing between the two cars and fall back on the track and under the wheels. The old hands knew how to do it. I didn't realize that and I didn't find out until sometime later when I was traveling that the railroad companies put out a schedule. There was a train schedule with the times and directions and tracks.
I traveled around for a while. There were times when I hitchhiked as well. That could very interesting. That is how I started driving. I was riding with one fellow and he said, "here, take the wheel." You meet all different kinds of people.
Then there was a problem of your meals. All I had was a pocket full of change. The thing I found the most satisfying was a bowl of chili. I could go in a restaurant and have a bowl of chili for a dime or 15 cents. I had to stretch out what money I had. Then I would have to try to find some kind of work. The work that was most available and obvious was in the restaurants washing dishes. I did a lot of that. I had to learn how to use a dishwasher. It takes a certain amount of caution because the water was so hot you could burn yourself. There was one restaurant that I went in and I worked but didn't have a place to sleep. The owner let me sleep in the basement. That is what I did. I tried to find cardboard and I had acquired one blanket and I slept on the floor laying on top of cardboard and newspaper. It was the cold time of the year so this was better than being outside.
There were times that I slept in the boxcar. If you took your shoes off and laid them next to you somebody might take your shoes. So I would put my shoes together and tie the laces around them and use them as a pillow. There was more than one night where I would go to the police station and ask if I could spend the night there. These were small stations in small towns, usually. They would let me come in and sleep in the cell and in the morning they would let me leave. There were also flop houses where they had beds. It cost 50 cents for the night. This one place the room was separated with wood petitions and wire mesh. After I was laying there for a little while something was biting me. There was one light hanging on a wire from the ceiling so I turned it on and picked up the pillow and the bed bugs were crawling all over the pillow. So I got up, put my clothes back on and I went out to the office where they had rented me the bed and I told them they had bed bugs, give me my 50 cents back. No argument. He gave me my 50 cents.
For eating money I did try to get jobs which would be temporary. Washing dishes was one. But then when you get a little bit farther out west I went door to door to see if they had wood to chop or anything I could do. Sometimes they had jobs to do. Sometimes the housewife would give me a little something to eat.
There were times in the smaller towns there was an area next to the tracks where the hobos cooked their meals. There were tin cans that you could cook in. There were times when some of us would get together and scatter out and see what kind of vegetable meats we could come up with and bring them back to the Hobo Jungle and in a five gallon can with the top cut out make a Hobo Stew. It was always different because it depended on what ingredients could be collected. That is one way we got to eat and work together as a group. This was usually on railroad property, usually outside of town away from the yards. If the railroads knew about the Hobo Jungle they often left them alone.
Farther out west there were places at the water towers because in those days it was the day of steam. Coal was shoveled into the boilers. The water towers were to refill the water on the train. Some of the water towers were rigged so we could take showers. There was a faucet with a stream of cold water. It is pretty hard when you are traveling, especially in the soot from the trains to keep clean but that is one way that we did it. It was very refreshing to find a water tower like that.
We did carry with us a bindle which was a blanket and a few cooking utensils so when we went to sleep we had something to cover up with. The nicest way of traveling was in a box car because you were out of the weather. We would put our shoes under our head and were pretty comfortable. They were a little harder to get in when the train was moving. We rode in various different kinds of cars to get from one place to another.
When we got to the next town we had to get off before the station because the bulls were waiting to roust the hobos. So we would then go to the other end of town to get back on the train as it was pulling out.
I traveled as far west as Wyoming. I was in Gillette Wyoming and walking down the street when a car pulled up and asked if I was looking for work. I said yes, I am. He was a ranch owner and it was time for the harvest. I went out to the ranch. He paid me a dollar a day plus board. I worked there for about two months. There was one other hired hand. We ate with the family. But there was a bunk house. The other hired hand, who was an old timer, slept in the bunkhouse. We would go out and shuck wheat, which was hard on the hands. We would fork hay on the wagons. They had horses for the equipment. They pulled a buck rake that picked up the hay and pushed it ahead. There was another contraption that lifted up the loose hay and made it into a haystack. The horses powered this contraption as well. I did drive the team but it was very difficult. The horses were half wild as they on were only used to harnesses. He was out where there was no electricity. He had a generator and in the evening he would start the generator and there would be lights. It was a pretty remote ranch.
When the harvest was over the man drove me into town and I had enough money to buy myself a pair of shoes. When I headed back east it was on a train that had refrigeration cars. In those days the refrigerator cars had a compartment (reefer) on each end of the car and that is where the put the ice to keep the contents of the car from spoiling. These particular cars were empty. We couldnt get into the main part of the boxcars. So we stayed in the reefers.
When we got close to Chicago I left the train and I did stop at a used clothing place and bought myself a suit coat and then I went into town and close to the tracks there were some businesses. I put the coat on and the fellow had his hand in my back and he took me up to a mirror and the coat looked pretty good. I wasnt looking for the fanciest coat. It was really to keep me warm. Then after I left the shop the coat was too big for me. He had gathered the extra material in his hand. Once I left the shop I was stuck with the coat.
I became acquainted with the owner of a sign shop. He put me up for the night. I started doing little jobs for him. In addition to signs he would pick up little painting jobs and I would do that. He had a pretty large building. It was set up with the boards where he could put his signs on it was convenient to letter the signs. As time went on I watched him letter and I thought I could do that. When no one was around I would open up the little paint cans and practice my letters. When he finally saw what I was doing he was allowing me to letter some of the rough type of lettering that the grocery stores used to put the prices on. I still couldnt do the fancier work. I spent a few months with him. I was living in the shop and he was giving me enough spending money so I was able to buy my meals. For recreation I went to a place where they did roller skating. I bought myself a pair of skates and I even met a girl there. I was really starting to settle in. Then my boss decided to in partners with another painter and my job was gone. I went back on the road again.
He immediately thanked me for not saying he used to be a bum. To those who lived the life, hobo was the preferred term.
He grew up, and began his travels, from Cleveland, Ohio.
I asked him what he took with him. Did he carry a bindle?
He said I always kept a blanket with me. That was important.
I asked, Did you take anything else?
He said, Not much.
I asked, Didnt you carry a knife?
He said, Sure. You had to have a knife.
I said, Id think youd need at least a water bottle. Especially out west.
He said, Well. Sometimes.
He also told me, Looking back, Id carry more with me than I did. I was just a kid.
Hes finally written something about those days in his blog. Enjoy.
Our house on 116th street was a couple of miles from the railroad yard. The trains were coming and going all the time. It is a big yard. There were passenger trains but the biggest part of the yard is freight trains with the box cars. At night I would hear the train whistles when they were moving from track to track. I would imagine faraway places where those trains went.
I remember when I was about 12 years old my Mom was out in the yard stretching the curtains. In those days when you washed the curtains you stretched them while they dried. A kid that was "on the road" showed up and my Mom gave him something to eat. Her advice to him was to go home to your Mom.
When I was going into the 10th grade I was about 15 years old. I had a little problem with my father. I knew I was probably going to get beat on. I don't remember what I did. So I decided rather than go home and face him that this was the time I would go and ride a freight train. I talked it over with my friend that was the same age. He was actually a relative that lived a dozen blocks from us. We used to go camping and lots of places together. I told him I was leaving but I didn't tell anybody else. So I headed for the freight yards. I didn't know anything about catching trains or riding the rails. I had to find out in a hurry, which I did. I got into a box car and pretty soon we were off. I was off into a world that I hadn't experienced before and into the unknown. I don't remember now the early part, where we went.
I had to learn how to catch a car. At that time there were a lot of hobo's on the road because it was the tail end of the depression and a lot of people were using the rails as a way to get from one place to the other. At that time there were single men, a few single women, and families riding the rails. i was not alone. There was always somebody that could tell you what to do next. I learned how to get on a box car. You had to get on the train after they were moving because there were railroad detectives trying to keep the people off the trains. You had to get on while the train was going slow enough. There were different ways to climb on. There were ladders on the side. You had to run along and grab one of the rungs of the ladder and pull yourself up. Riding the rails can be quite dangerous. When you swing up on the ladder you could swing between the two cars and fall back on the track and under the wheels. The old hands knew how to do it. I didn't realize that and I didn't find out until sometime later when I was traveling that the railroad companies put out a schedule. There was a train schedule with the times and directions and tracks.
I traveled around for a while. There were times when I hitchhiked as well. That could very interesting. That is how I started driving. I was riding with one fellow and he said, "here, take the wheel." You meet all different kinds of people.
Then there was a problem of your meals. All I had was a pocket full of change. The thing I found the most satisfying was a bowl of chili. I could go in a restaurant and have a bowl of chili for a dime or 15 cents. I had to stretch out what money I had. Then I would have to try to find some kind of work. The work that was most available and obvious was in the restaurants washing dishes. I did a lot of that. I had to learn how to use a dishwasher. It takes a certain amount of caution because the water was so hot you could burn yourself. There was one restaurant that I went in and I worked but didn't have a place to sleep. The owner let me sleep in the basement. That is what I did. I tried to find cardboard and I had acquired one blanket and I slept on the floor laying on top of cardboard and newspaper. It was the cold time of the year so this was better than being outside.
There were times that I slept in the boxcar. If you took your shoes off and laid them next to you somebody might take your shoes. So I would put my shoes together and tie the laces around them and use them as a pillow. There was more than one night where I would go to the police station and ask if I could spend the night there. These were small stations in small towns, usually. They would let me come in and sleep in the cell and in the morning they would let me leave. There were also flop houses where they had beds. It cost 50 cents for the night. This one place the room was separated with wood petitions and wire mesh. After I was laying there for a little while something was biting me. There was one light hanging on a wire from the ceiling so I turned it on and picked up the pillow and the bed bugs were crawling all over the pillow. So I got up, put my clothes back on and I went out to the office where they had rented me the bed and I told them they had bed bugs, give me my 50 cents back. No argument. He gave me my 50 cents.
For eating money I did try to get jobs which would be temporary. Washing dishes was one. But then when you get a little bit farther out west I went door to door to see if they had wood to chop or anything I could do. Sometimes they had jobs to do. Sometimes the housewife would give me a little something to eat.
There were times in the smaller towns there was an area next to the tracks where the hobos cooked their meals. There were tin cans that you could cook in. There were times when some of us would get together and scatter out and see what kind of vegetable meats we could come up with and bring them back to the Hobo Jungle and in a five gallon can with the top cut out make a Hobo Stew. It was always different because it depended on what ingredients could be collected. That is one way we got to eat and work together as a group. This was usually on railroad property, usually outside of town away from the yards. If the railroads knew about the Hobo Jungle they often left them alone.
Farther out west there were places at the water towers because in those days it was the day of steam. Coal was shoveled into the boilers. The water towers were to refill the water on the train. Some of the water towers were rigged so we could take showers. There was a faucet with a stream of cold water. It is pretty hard when you are traveling, especially in the soot from the trains to keep clean but that is one way that we did it. It was very refreshing to find a water tower like that.
We did carry with us a bindle which was a blanket and a few cooking utensils so when we went to sleep we had something to cover up with. The nicest way of traveling was in a box car because you were out of the weather. We would put our shoes under our head and were pretty comfortable. They were a little harder to get in when the train was moving. We rode in various different kinds of cars to get from one place to another.
When we got to the next town we had to get off before the station because the bulls were waiting to roust the hobos. So we would then go to the other end of town to get back on the train as it was pulling out.
I traveled as far west as Wyoming. I was in Gillette Wyoming and walking down the street when a car pulled up and asked if I was looking for work. I said yes, I am. He was a ranch owner and it was time for the harvest. I went out to the ranch. He paid me a dollar a day plus board. I worked there for about two months. There was one other hired hand. We ate with the family. But there was a bunk house. The other hired hand, who was an old timer, slept in the bunkhouse. We would go out and shuck wheat, which was hard on the hands. We would fork hay on the wagons. They had horses for the equipment. They pulled a buck rake that picked up the hay and pushed it ahead. There was another contraption that lifted up the loose hay and made it into a haystack. The horses powered this contraption as well. I did drive the team but it was very difficult. The horses were half wild as they on were only used to harnesses. He was out where there was no electricity. He had a generator and in the evening he would start the generator and there would be lights. It was a pretty remote ranch.
When the harvest was over the man drove me into town and I had enough money to buy myself a pair of shoes. When I headed back east it was on a train that had refrigeration cars. In those days the refrigerator cars had a compartment (reefer) on each end of the car and that is where the put the ice to keep the contents of the car from spoiling. These particular cars were empty. We couldnt get into the main part of the boxcars. So we stayed in the reefers.
When we got close to Chicago I left the train and I did stop at a used clothing place and bought myself a suit coat and then I went into town and close to the tracks there were some businesses. I put the coat on and the fellow had his hand in my back and he took me up to a mirror and the coat looked pretty good. I wasnt looking for the fanciest coat. It was really to keep me warm. Then after I left the shop the coat was too big for me. He had gathered the extra material in his hand. Once I left the shop I was stuck with the coat.
I became acquainted with the owner of a sign shop. He put me up for the night. I started doing little jobs for him. In addition to signs he would pick up little painting jobs and I would do that. He had a pretty large building. It was set up with the boards where he could put his signs on it was convenient to letter the signs. As time went on I watched him letter and I thought I could do that. When no one was around I would open up the little paint cans and practice my letters. When he finally saw what I was doing he was allowing me to letter some of the rough type of lettering that the grocery stores used to put the prices on. I still couldnt do the fancier work. I spent a few months with him. I was living in the shop and he was giving me enough spending money so I was able to buy my meals. For recreation I went to a place where they did roller skating. I bought myself a pair of skates and I even met a girl there. I was really starting to settle in. Then my boss decided to in partners with another painter and my job was gone. I went back on the road again.
