My Dad, The Palm Harbor Station Master

Daddy was the Station Master (Depot Agent) at the Palm Harbor Depot for approximately 20 years. It seemed to be the core and heartbeat of a thriving citrus industry when the Atlantic Coast Line stepped in. Typical qualifications for employment as a Station Master were a high school diploma, be 18 years of age, be able to telegraph at least 15 words per minute, and be proficient in the Uniform Code of Operating Rules.

The Station Master Job at Palm Harbor required Daddy to wear at least 3 different hats. Part of the job required him to keep the trains on schedule by notifying the train crews of any problems or unexpected trains that may be ahead of them. This was done via the telegraph by Morse code When Daddy was a teen he learned how to use the Morse code and telegraphing through the Western Union

Research shows that Western Union telegrams were the primary means of communications for the first half of the 20th century. No wonder I always heard the clacking of the telegraph, which at that time seemed like a background noise to me.

At one time, it was the fastest growing occupation in America. The railroads and Western Union recruited thousands of young men for this job. Many were as young as 16 and I imagine Daddy was just about that age because he had to help his widowed mother with expenses. He was the oldest of 8 living children. History tells us that it was a good occupation, paying good wages. In order to keep telegraph operators, Western Union and the railroads offered perks, such as paid vacations, annual bonuses and health care. Incentives such as these were unheard of at that time in history.

Even Gene Autry was a Telegraph Operator before his movie-making days.

It was the Telegraph Operator’s job to warn the other depots up and down the line of such events as a runaway train. Also, telegrams would arrive at the station through the telegraph and Daddy would allow my sister Jeanne to deliver them while riding her bicycle. He instructed her that if anyone asked if it was bad news (it usually was) that she was to say she didn’t know and also if anyone should give her a tip, that would be OK. However, one day, there was a telegram that was to go to the High Hat in Palm Harbor, a local bar. Daddy decided he had better accompany her on this trip, so he took her in our car. He waited just outside and told her not to go inside the High Hat. She did just that and everything was fine and her delivery successful.

Many years ago those warnings would have included such events as Indians on the warpath. One story is told by Railroad Historian Cy Warman of a station agent/telegraph operator stationed at a whistle stop in Nebraska known as Wood River. The only people that lived at or near the depot were the station agent, a settler named Bankers, his wife, their baby daughter, and a schoolteacher named Emma. The depot was little more than a shack that was built with double walls and four inches of sand in between to act as insulation. Inside were the agent's bunk, his telegraph key, a pot-bellied stove and an iron safe. One day, a friendly Pawnee Indian stopped by and warned that a Sioux war party was in the area. The Bankers' and the schoolteacher knew they weren't safe in their cabins, so they hid in a livestock car that was on a siding. They asked the agent to join them, but he refused, saying he had to stay at the telegraph key. He hammered out a warning to Ogallala, 165 miles west. The war party attacked after dark, burning the settlers' cabins and attacking the depot. The agent took refuge behind the iron safe and fought from there. One warrior did climb into the cattle car, but Mr. Bankers clubbed him with a rifle butt. When the battle seemed all but lost, a relief train running without lights arrived with Army officers and Pawnee scouts and routed the Sioux. All of the settlers lived, but the station agent had taken a Sioux bullet that shattered his leg. The happy ending to the story is the fact that later on, the conductor of the relief train married Emma the schoolteacher! (From http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/railroads/job.html)

Daddy was extremely busy. He was not only the Railroad telegrapher for the Atlantic Coast Line; he was also the Western Union operator. This was a separate circuit, and a separate telegraph sounder clacking away. He would conduct the business of his other two jobs while he was constantly listening to two different sounders with a message. That must have taken some skill on Daddy’s part to be able to fine tune your ear for the telegraph, talk to customers and do the other two jobs that I am going to tell you about.

The second part of Daddy’s job was selling tickets for train trips. I would imagine that the most common question he would answer would be” Is the train going to be on time?” The depot at Palm Harbor had a large waiting room for passengers but I guess it was never busy because it was always kept locked. The few passengers that Palm Harbor Depot hosted would just stand around and wait for the train or mull around inside the depot and talk to Daddy. Sometimes teachers would bring their class to the depot and they would enjoy a short round trip train ride from Palm Harbor to St. Petersburg. I think Daddy always enjoyed those times, as he would see how excited the children were.

Some small town Depot Agents were not very busy, but that was not the case, as you will soon see when I describe Daddy’s third part of the job. One station agent in a small town described his primary job as learning "...the art of killing time while being lonely." The high points of the day would come just before the arrival of the morning train and again just before the arrival of the evening train (which would be headed in the opposite direction of the morning train).

Usually, the whole town would turn out to see if anyone was arriving or departing the train. Enterprising farm wives would show up to sell fresh eggs and produce to the train crews and passengers. This was the break in an otherwise boring day for the lonely station agent.

Note - on the even lonelier "whistle stop" locations out on the plains, the long periods of shear boredom could be interspersed with when my grandfather was station agent in Auburn and Brock (Nemaha County). During the depression he made use of this slack time by planting a huge garden for the community on the station grounds. Since this was during the depression, it not only gave him something to do, but it fed many hungry folks, as the produce was free for the picking. He continued this practice until his death in 1953. (From http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/railroads/job.html.) This seems strange to me because I know how busy Daddy was.

The third part of Daddy’s job was the unique task of shipping citrus fruit to other states, particularly the northern states. During fruit season, the whole family was working plus other people that Daddy would employ.

http://www.flheritage.com/facts/history/summary/index.cfm tells us that the growth of Florida's transportation industry had its origins in 1855, when the state legislature passed the Internal Improvement Act. Like legislation passed by several other states and the federal government, Florida's act offered cheap or free public land to investors, particularly those interested in transportation. The act, and other legislation like it, had its greatest effect in the years between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I. During this period, companies owned by Henry Flagler and Henry B. Plant, who also built lavish hotels near their railroad lines, constructed many railroads throughout the state. The Internal Improvement Act stimulated the initial efforts to drain the southern portion of the state in order to convert it to farmland.

These development projects had far-reaching effects on the agricultural, manufacturing, and extractive industries of late-nineteenth-century Florida.

Though I don’t recall exactly what time Daddy went to work, at that time, the typical small town station agent opened the depot at 7:00am or 8:00am, daily except Sunday. After letting the dispatcher know he was in, Daddy would then clean the depot and greet any passengers waiting for trains. If the weather were cold, he would build a fire in the old pot-bellied stoves to heat the depot. Next, he would check the rail cars on various tracks in Palm Harbor, after asking permission from the dispatcher to be out of the depot office. Every time the agent left the depot, he had to obtain permission from the dispatcher. After checking the yard for rail cars, the agent then made out a car report showing the location, time of arrival, and other information on each rail car. During the day, trains would pass the station and the agent would go outside and watch them go by, looking for things that would be a safety hazard to the train, such as equipment dragging, brakes sticking, etc. If anything on the train appeared unsafe, the agent would flag the train as the caboose passed the depot. If the train appeared safe, the agent would give an OK sign ("highball") and then tell the train dispatcher what time the train passed his station and if anything was wrong.

Excerpt from my book, Palm Harbor, A People And Past Remembered (co-author Raymond Hall).

Continued, next week

Francine Larson: franlarson@gmail.com