Re: LIttle Mudhen

Wade:

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend hours visiting with and/or corresponding with a number of D&RGW men who worked with the Lathrops. The incidents in the books and articles generally are true. What irritated these men is that the Lathrops wrote themselves into situations where they were not even present in reality. These men felt that they took credit for things they did not do and did not give due credit to those who did.

Lathrop recounted a story of a runaway on the Crested Butte branch and took credit for stopping the cars. In fact, he was not even there...

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November 22, 1907, Friday
Four Freight Cars Make Wild Run
A really remarkable run was that of four wild freight cars which started from Crested Butte at 3:05pm Saturday, having got away from one of the coal chutes near there and chased the Gunnison train, catching up with it only four miles out of town. Frank Hoel saw the wild cars come thundering down the track behind. He signaled engineer Estes, who then timed the train so that the cars made an automatic coupling behind the passenger and were brought in safely.

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I purchase "Little Engines & Big Men" in the 1950s and was also fascinated by the stories and it was a factor in my love for the D&RGW. He could have done the books just as well by giving credit where due. All these men are now gone, so it doesn't really matter I guess.

Jerry Day