by kevikens
I just had to put this story out there for UP rail fans. I live in the Northeast and don't get to see a whole lot of UP equipment. I have two daughters out on the West Coast and when I go out for visits I always rail fan the Western lines, UP, BNSF, Caltrain. Amtrak Calif., BART, MUNI etc. Even common sights are a big deal to me. Ant way, one of my daughters, knowing of my interest in railroads bought for me as a X-mas present a whole pile of UP documents dated between 1872 and 1905. They are bills of lading and payroll records and boy is it fascinating to go through them. In 1872 men described as "laborers" received $1.90 a day "foremen" got $70 a month with about half of that sum being taken out as deductions for something. What I found most interesting is that wages in 1905 for the same job description were LOWER than in 1872. I had always assumed that wages had gone up in that thirty year period but at least on the Colorado and Kansas divisions of the UP they had gone down although the take home was higher as there was only one small deduction , about $1.50 for something. Anyway, what a fascinating gift and since I teach history these documents will be plasticized and given to my students to peruse. Already I have put one of them under a large glass picture frame surrounded by photos of the UP I have taken out West. I can hardly wait to get out West again this summer to get some more pictures of the UP.
