Muhlenberg County Kentucky
Local History: D
Former Muhlenberger Tells of Early L&N Railroad Days at D'Boro Depot
In a letter to his nephew, Sports Editor Bobby Anderson, Clifford Skipworth of Johnson City, Tenn. tell[s] of his early days as Louisville and Nashville Railroad agent at Drakesboro and of the Lake Malone area of half a century ago. Excerpts from his letter follow.
“I was very interested in the article appearing in the Oct. 27 issue of The Times-Argus with a picture of J.H. “Pete” Newman and the depot at Drakesboro. These 2 pictures, especially the one of the depot, bring back many fond memories as well as some few unpleasant ones.
“I was the depot “flunky” under the late N.E. Sparks who was agent at Drakesboro around 1910. Our working hours were from 7 until we got through which was around 7 to 10 p.m. and my main job in addition to building fires and sweeping the office and waiting rooms, was to carry the mail from the Post Office to the depot and back to the post office. At times I'd have almost more than I could carry. Bud Kimmel, the postmaster, would always meet the evening trains but would never offer to help carry any of the bags.
“Also after the local freight trains filled the platform with freight, it was my job to check the freight out to the customers and what was left at the end of the day to drag it into the freight room.
“However, this is getting away from what I started out to write. I was soon promoted to agent at Elk Valley. The depot consisted of two box cars, one for the office and waiting room; the other for the freight room. If I remember correctly Pete Newman was working in the mines and came to my office at Elk Valley and asked my permission to study telegraphy and agency work. The exchange for my help in teaching him he agreed to help out in the work. The enclosed picture shows the office where “Pete” got his first training, and the man who taught him telegraphy and station work.
“The work at the mines became slow and the Elk Valley office was closed. I was not permitted to “bump” any other agent even though I had seniority rights. W.P. Howard was then superintendent of the O&N Division and he informed me in no uncertain terms that there was no union on the L&N Railroad, and my desire to exercise my seniority rights caused him to feel that I was a union man, and therefore suggested I seek employment elsewhere. Incidentally, I have the first “19” train order I ever copied over the telegraph.
“Pete Newman is one of my very good friends and I congratulated him most heartily on his 50 years service with the L&N Railroad.
“It is my intention to come back to Muhlenberg before Lake Malone is filled up as it will cover territory with which I am thoroughly familiar and I would like to see the country again before it is covered with water. As a child my family lived half way between Clifty and Rocky Creek, not more than one half mile from the McPherson Cemetery. I went to school and church at Mt. Vernon.
“I was amused a year or so ago when I saw in one of the Muhlenberg County papers an article, saying among other things that the waters of the new lake would cover land upon which probably no human had ever set foot. I believe as a boy I tramped over every foot of the land which the lake will cover. I hunted ginseng, possums, coons, quail, fished and just plain roamed the whole countryside from Cooksey's old mill to the beginning of both Rocky and Clifty Creeks. The Sulphur Springs, the “Blue Hole,” Bear Cliff, the Indian Cave, and other places along both creeks are almost as vivid in my mind as if I had visited them yesterday.”
Source: The Messenger [Central City, KY], 8 Dec 1960.
Updated July 14, 2022