SCOTT BUCKLEY: This is an interview with Mr. Jim Baker on the Sierra Railroad at Jamestown California on April 27^th 1973. By Scott Buckley (1)

BUCKLEY:  Okay, Mr. Baker…

JIM BAKER:  Now my folks come here in 19, 19, 1898. 1898 they  come here come up from Oakdale and started a saloon they had a saloon down there at the old ...... place... the old ...... hotel and he run the saloon for a while and uh he gave that up and went  back to the railroad he worked on the railroad for a long time I had 3, 3, 2, brother but 6 of us all together there was 3 boys and uh 3 girls and we all went to school down here and uh my uh oldest brother he worked for the Sugar Pine ........... up there for quite a while and then he went down to Antioch and worked for the Santa Fe and got killed down there, switching cars. Then my other brother went to work here when he was a kid, for the railroad.

BUCKLEY:  That was Moe’s

BAKER:  yeah that was Moe’s and uh he worked for them for a long time, he fired for quite a while then he went braken then  he went uh a conductor and then he left then and uh went over to the Hetchy well he went to work down for ......... the mine over at quarts the Dutch mine and he worked over there for a long time then he come back to the Sierra Railway and started work with them until he died and I went to work for em when I was a kid we knew the master mechanic pretty well and he’d give me a drop of three months I didn’t go to school I went up there and worked in the engine um uh I mean shop that was around about 1909 and I he put me helping the plumber I carrying the tools around for the plumber and that’s when they had the hotel .... there and we used to go up every Saturday and take care of the faucets and everything down there. And uh so then  in 1912 I got out of school in June the middle of June  well a little before the middle of June then I went to work for Butterfield Mercantile company they come there in around 49 well I worked with them until the 15^th around June they had went to the San Francisco Fair and come back and was around the 1th of June in 1915 and uh they come back and they decided to quit, to close the store down so she tells me if you can get a job get it. So I had Moe’s had been over there working building the Hetch Hetchy Railroad at that time and uh uh the guy was uh the land he was building it I think the  ............  outfit had a contract to build the Hetch Hetchy Railroad city of Frisco and my brother was over there workin and I asked him I said when he come over if they thought they needed any body over there and he said by George maybe he could get em a job firing so in the 15 the middle of 15 1915 I went over there. I went over there and fired at that time we was building the railroad was hauling ties and and rails into build it up well I stood over there and well I went over there and Randy was building the railroad and I stayed there until we finished up the railroad was finishing up the railroad and we used to have to bring the engine here where you could get engines over there and we’d have to bring the engines in here to work on em. So one night we was gonna come in with the engine and uh this Tonaso was the boss down there and he wanted me to fire an engine and take another engine and fire for someone to go to Groveland well. I was firing for a guy by the name of Joe Marshall a little short fella and uh Joe said don’t you fire because you number 1 engine so I told this Tonaso I wouldn’t do it so when we got ready to leave down there he told Joe if he could get a find a fireman up there to bring him down and he’d fire me. So Joe told me we’d come up in the engine and Landy had a big ......... deal automobile he took us back when we went back Joe told me “you wanna be calm or their gonna fire you cuz you didn’t go”  So I went in there I saw the lot of it and I said well I’ll  ....... him I’ll quit so when I went down and we got back that evening I didn’t got my time see so I knew a fella down there uh fella by the name of  worked for the city I knew the city was gonna get some engines So I told this fella uh I forget his name now he uh if they needed a fireman down let me know. So I come on home I stayed there that night and I walked up through Keystone and caught a ride out of Keystone and uh I come on up and I went up and Stine wanted me to come up and work in the shop so I went up and worked in the shop and Joe .......... the engines ... the City of Frisco and so Tom Crownly’s the fellas name that was uh he .... them and said “come on down I got an engine” so I went down and quit the Sierra and went back down there and I stayed we got the good engine from back East and we fired her up and we uh I went up and worked for the City of Frisco and so uh I stayed there till the the first of 1917 and they put me in 1A for the real first world war. So soon as I got my 1A why I  I quit to come on home here and when I come home I  Stine wanted me to come up there and go fire and that was in 1917. So I went up before I got called I don’t know what the ....... I fired out of here worked for Stine so then when they called me I quit the railroad and went to war and I was in the year and I come back and uh the first of 1918 how I got out well in 17 that’s when the war was over they told me I was down there I was down there drivin truck workin in the motor transport truck so they told me that if anybody get a job they get an affidavit and send it in that they’d get out so I sent word up to Stine and he sent the affidavit down to the company that I was in and I knew the fellas that was in the company pretty well and uh I ..................... and in the office where they were where the company was they pigeon holed my affidavit see so I talked I knew guys some guys worked in the office said they told me they pigeon holed you and you aint gona get out so what ya do is you write back and you tell em to send one of division headquarters so I wrote back so Stine sent it to the headquarters and I got out and I come home and I went to work in the shop for oh I guess about week or 10 days and uh workin in the shop up there and this Swanson was an engineer on the Angels branch here ya see and I uh he said “now you go” and uh he had 7 7 7 fireman in one week and he told Swanson if you have anymore fireman your gona go. So I I I says I’ll go wit him but he”ll leave me alone. So I uh went over with him and in that days we was workin 7 days a week see.

BUCKLEY:  And what year was this?

BAKER:  Well that was at around let’s see uh that was around 1917 18.

BUCKLEY:  And which locomotives did they use in the ..............?

BAKER:  Well we was usin the 9 spot and the 12 and sometimes 11 at that time and uh so I went over with him and we was workin 7 days a week and I was single and I didn’t wana work 7 days a week so I knew Stine and I said Stine I’ll go over there but if another job comes up I wana get off it see I didn’t wana work a week and he said that’s alright so while we was I was over there Billy Mokelumne and Al Marino they had a freight they had two freights and uh they went and uh they were coming down that morning and uh they let 3 cars a line run away and you know where the motel is up here? Oh uh you know where you turn off to go to that uh right here the side of Jim Tully

BUCKLEY:  Oh yes.

BAKER:  Well they went over the bank there so he uh so we went along they pulled him off they fired all them well they didn’t fire all em they fired all em but Bill Mokelumne they put him back firing he was front engine so ehh I stayed over, we come over in the morning and get uh pick a train up here which had a caboose and people get to ride it you just go to Tuolumne and back. Bring the freight up and bring them back so we did that for quit a while oh I don’t know just how many months it was it was 3 months maybe and uh they put on another crew and I heard they were gona put on another crew on so I went after Stine and see I says I wana get away from that job 7 days a week I didn’t want it so I was single and so he says alright so they put the other crew on and Swanson he got kinda mad at me he says “you don’t wana fire for me do you” no ...... I don’t want that 7 days a week see so I got off and I left and went to Tuolumne. I went up there and fired for Tom Wally and had 2 crews another 2 more crews another crew besides this you have to go to Tuolumne and then to Oakdale and then the other crew would take it and come through with it. We used to come back on the path ..... I used to come back on the path in those days. Well I stayed up there until they started to build uh Don Pedro Dam when they started to build the Don Pedro Dam uh Stine say you can go down I want you to go down and run the helper out of Cooper’s town at that time we had a crew Mokelumne would pull out 20 loads of rock and we’d give them 5, 6, 7 collards of cement a day and we did that for a while then they put on the night crew and I was the only helper they all stayed in Cooper Town. And uh I uh I was on that helper job I was single and uh it didn’t bother me I only worked 8 hours a day but it was good enough ......... I did one down there and they couldn’t keep anyone on this night job see and  Righty Hall was conductor train master see but he didn’t have no say over us engine crew see he could tell us what to do but he couldn’t hire or fire us see so he told me he says I want you to go on that night job the fella in there was a fella by the name of he was from Nevada god darnet I know I know his name too well anyhow he had trouble down there they run away the cars well at that time they put straight gears on the cars see and you just opposite of the automatic gears see.

BUCKLEY:  They didn’t’ have any automatic at that time at all?

BAKER:  Oh yeah they had automatic they had both but they put on straight gear see that’s different from automatic see you can’t use straight air and automatic the same see you wana keep you gotta keep so much straight air on em all the time see you don’t got it was a 5 percent grade down there see but he was trying to uh he was kinda an old guy and I don’t know if he ever handled one before and he let it run they had a great big long trestle we used to take the cars out and dump the rocks see and they went out there pretty fast and running to beat the devil and uh they get this guy a hard time so uh he quit so then Righty Hall wanted me to uh go down with him I says yeah I’ll go down but I  uh yeah a week or 10 days and that’s all I’m gona stay down there see they wouldn’t give me the job before see cuz I was a young ......... see but I used to help Joe ....... went over there to take the loads over then the 2 engines to pull em out of the hole see so old Joe says to me he says come on down he says let you handle the straight air see so I went over and I got onto the straight air see that’s how Right hall I don’t know somebody must have told em that I could handle em see but they wouldn’t give it to me the job in the first place and Joe told me before when they put the crew they gona put a night crew on but he aint gona give it to you ..... That fellas afraid of you so I says that’s fine and dandy I don’t want a job anyhow I don’t wana work nights anyhow see so I went on there for 10 days and uh I stayed there about 2 weeks I called him and I told him put somebody else on my job see cuz I was comin in see I called Stine up he was the master mechanic up here so he he says that’s alright you go stay home there now so by gosh I got off the job see they wouldn’t give it to me in the first place so I said if I wasn’t good enough for it then then  I aint good enough for it now see I was single I didn’t care see so they put another feller on there a lot of trouble with the other feller they couldn’t keep em on there nobody wanted to work nights ya know but I got along alright with the fellers down there so then I went back on my helper job and I helped out of there till we finished up the Don Pedro Dam see then I come on back into town here and I went and fired for Joe and a helper and I stayed there for well it we stayed there till the depression came on see and then there wasn’t enough for the helper engine then they bought the 38 engine 36 we bought engine 36 and when they did that she pulled more and that threw the helper out of a job see well Stine told me well you can go down to Oakdale so that fine I’ll go down to Oakdale so I packed up and I was married then and I got everything and I went down to Oakdale and I did that with Mokelumne till uh the depre..... well we had a depression come on which I was down there for quit a while where..... then they what they had was a ....and they brought Taylor over from Grass Valley general manager and he come over and he fired everybody he pulled off the jobs and I was in Oakdale and he said brought the engines in and so he uh we come in me and Mokelumne and said Mokelumne you go back fireing you can go to Sonora they had some crews up and out of Sonora 2 crews a passenger train and a freight out of Sonora out of Tuolumne. So he told me he says you can either go over to Angel’s branch with Swanson or you can go night watchin well I said I been here a long time and darned if I’m gona go night watchin so I packed up and I went over to Angels with Gus Swanson workin 5 uh 6 days a week Saturdays well we always worked Saturdays they used to work Sunday before so I stayed over there and then Taylor turned around and he brought us over here and he run us over to Angels and then back here. We did 4 hours a day I think I made 22, 20, 22, less than $22.50 every 2 weeks starving to death well we stayed over we played around with that so they finally pulled the job all together we come in and he said you guys just go hibernate with the bears at that time the pressure was on there was no jobs you couldn’t get a jobs so me and Guz played around here and so by joe Sierra finally did get a contract to raise the dam over to Hetch Hetchy Valley see they raised it up higher see so they took the contract so then we hauled all the stuff up there for that and I went down there and I went down there on a helper job Joe Mokelumne he was had been fired and they put him back from it and he uh he ......... all up at that time and we stayed up there and we finished up there and while I was up there they pulled the Angels branch up they pulled the Angels branch up and I didn’t get a chance to get a job on that and while we was over there they pulled it up

BUCKLEY:  I see.

BAKER:  And then the one of em I uh.

BUCKLEY:  Ok let’s go back a little ways now back to 1909 when you first started uh how old were you then.

BAKER:  Well let’s see 1909 let’s see.

BUCKLEY:  That’s when you started as .... assistant

BAKER:  I was about 11 or 12  years old 11 years old.

BUCKLEY:  Ok the yards that are over at Jamestown were they the same as they are now or are the building different?

BAKER:  Well they had this different uh a different uh ........ of em that one burned down in 19 uh that one burned down when I was a kid too that uh uh office over there burned down well I forget around about then before I well it was just a little before I went to work for em. Well it burned down practically the time I was going to school see. Then they put this other building up there and the hotel burned in 1915, 1915 the hotel burned I was workin well ...... I’ll take it all back it was before a little before 19, 19 no I think it was that because the people that I worked for were down at the fair .......... that it burned down cuz I was down that morning in town and uh the fires the fire whistle blew they.........there’s a fire upstairs so I was down there with another fella and we got a Model T Ford and we picked up the hose cart and we brought it up here and tried to fight the fire up here at the Hotel ...... it was a big, big, big building and then my folks live right down there below the what’s it called and I had to go down there to keep that house of ours from burning cuz there was stuff running all over it because it was dry in June. In June it was pretty dry see so I went down there and uh worked on that and uh but every summer I worked there for them till that time.

BUCKLEY:  And is that the same round house that is there now?

BAKER:  Yeah that’s the same one that at that time well I worked the first 3 months that I worked there it was the old round house it burned down see and they put this other one up this one here that’s on there now see uh

BUCKLEY:  Was the old round house a shape like this one or was it like an ancient house.

BAKER:  yeah it was around this one.

BUCKLEY:  Was this the old one in this view the top one or is that the ones that there now just re-built a little?

BAKER:  Oh this is the same one as this one here.

BUCKLEY:  That’s what I thought. And how was the turn table powered?

BAKER:  No when we was when I was a kid then and they never changed it till Taylor come they put the power on it. Put a whole new table to concrete now what your talking is the old, old one that used to have a big bunch of ............ workin and helpers and when an engine wanted to be turned around we all quit and went out there and turned the engine around see and uh

BUCKLEY:  So which locomotives are on the roster in this time in 1909?

BAKER:  In 1909 well they had the they had a climax.

BUCKLEY:  A climax?

BAKER:  Yeah, and they left and while they had the climax then they let Picker use it up there my brother oldest brother run the climax up there for em ........ well then it was the Sugar Pine Railroad

BUCKLEY:  Yes.

BAKER:  And they had there shops right there you know where the union Rail plant is now.

BUCKLEY:  Yes. Sonora.

BAKER:  Yeah that’s right there they had it there yeah and they had the 2 spot she was a switch engine she was a switch engine and they had the 3 spot then they had the and they had the 4 spot and uh they never had a 5 spot but they had a 6 the 4 and the 6 and the 7 were the same, same engine and they never had no 8 never had no 8 spot ......... but they had a 9 that was uh Hystler that the only one Hystler they had then they had the 10 she was uh she was uh ........ and then they had the 11 and they had the 12 and uh all that. And then they had uh that’s all they had at that time. Then they had the 18 they bought her they had the 18 then I forget just what year they bought the well when we started to build no they bought the 20 before they bought the Don Pedro and then they bought the 20, 20, uh 22 never had no 21 and we ran then for a while until the Don Pedro then they bought the

24 from the Nevada ............. and went over and bought her and brought her over here and the over hauler did a lot of work on her and we run her down on the Don Pedro but when we built the ... Don Pedro when I went down there to run helper I run the one well they had one rented off the SP 1641 then they got another 3200 a small engine that they used too I never run her down there but I run the I run that 1644, 1641 until they got the 24........ then when they got it fixed up then I used the 24 and then I run her I run her on the helper ......

BUCKLEY:  Uh how about locomotive 1 I’m sure it was gone before you ever came here but did you ever hear any stories about what kind of engine it was?

BAKER:  1 spot well no I don’t know what that now that they had that climax. You ever see a climax?

BUCKLEY:  Yes

BAKER:  Well they had that climax and if they had a 1 here she must have been before my time.

BUCKLEY:  Well the books say some books say #1 it was a 440 others say it was 260 and incidentally this 260 was supposedly was sold to West Side Lumber Company at an early date and they converted it to an 060 used it as a switch engine and used it as a switch engine in Tuolumne yards? That’s two stories about #1. So apparently there’s more than one #1.

BAKER:  Well by god it was, I don’t I couldn’t verify that. 1 spot

BUCKLEY:  And the same with #2 the #2 that you’re thinking of was an 060 isn’t it?

BAKER:  She was a switch engine yes ........ she had no pony truck no pony truck she was a 2 spot. They used her well they used her down there sometimes they used her for a helper down in Cooper Town.

BUCKLEY:  Uh huh I seen in one picture there was a #2 which was a 440 there’s a photograph supposedly the first train that went to Sonora.

BAKER:  What was the name what was it?

BUCKLEY:  It was a #2 and it was a 440 and the picture’s taken in Jamestown I guess in 1899 supposedly the first train to go to Sonora.

BAKER:  Well that’s before my time see.

BUCKLEY:  Yes well I thought.

BAKER:  When my folks come here in 98 I was just a year old I was born in 97 down in Oakdale.

BUCKLEY:  I see.

BAKER:  And that was before my time see maybe they did have something but I I didn’t know about it and I was a kid comin up and I didn’t really know what they had till I was got up there and I played around I played all the time when I was a small kid but auto.... engines I never uh really knew what they were but never really knew what they had see.

BUCKLEY:  I think we better stop on this side for right now.

General Information:

Interviewer:  Buckley, Scott

Interviewee: Baker, Jim

Name of Tape: The Sierra Railroad (baker_j_1_0)

When: 1973

Transcriber: Naomi

Transcribed: 1/9/08