The sad part about oral history

Oral history interviews have become an important part of my research into local history. There simply is no substitute, especially for subjects that didn't get covered in the newspapers or other media, to hear about the past from someone who was there. In my interviews I hear some amazing stories, and hopefully get to use some of those stories in history books and articles. And if I don't, maybe somebody else will. Even when an interviewee doesn't tell the truth, the story they do tell can be illustrative of their values, their ideas, and their opinions.

The down side is that oral history interviews generally involve interviewing people who probably aren't going to be around for much longer.

One of the first people I ever interviewed was Jack Davis. Unlike more recent interviews, where I used a digital recorder, Jack's interview was pencil and paper, jotted down notes in the busy entrance lobby of the Railroad Museum, and a few follow-up remarks. I wrote about some of Jack's childhood in Sacramento in Sacramento's Streetcars, including his early jobs as a soda jerk and delivery boy in Sacramento's drugstores, and his education in local schools.

Jack was an engineer for Southern Pacific--not the sort who drove the train, but a civil engineer who planned right-of-way and gave the trains something to run on. He volunteered at the Railroad Museum for many years, giving tours and relaying his enormous knowledge of railroad operation.

Jack died the other day. He was a heckuva guy. I'm glad I got to know a little bit about him. I wish I had had the time to do more interviews, with a recorder. Of course, one assumes that he wouldn't have minded sticking around longer either...

Oral history interviewing is one of the crash-priority parts of history. Get the interview now; tomorrow they might be gone, and learning about their life becomes much harder, if not impossible. It's also a saddening thing to get to know these people, just regular folks with lives of success and disaster and routine, and then they're gone. But that's an inherent part of working with senior citizens, and the pain is more than compensated by the opportunity to learn about some of the richness of their lives--and being able to share some of those lives with others, through writing.

My books aren't best-sellers by any means, but I'm glad that maybe a few more people got a chance to meet Jack through his words in my book. Plenty of people will remember him, from friends and family and the other Railroad Museum docents to the thousands of people who went on his tours. If a few people meet him by way of my introduction, I figure that's a big part of my mission, as a writer and a historian.

'Scuse me. I've got to go get my recorder and make a few calls.

I've been indexed!

My good friend Paul Trudeau, of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association, and also the person who provided me the most help in assembling Sacramento's Southside Park, has created a comprehensive index of names, places and businesses mentioned in the book.

Due to the page limits of Arcadia books, they only allow one-page indexes, and then only if a page of photos and text is sacrificed. Because I like to include a bibliography at the end of my books, I chose to not include an index. Paul, with some help from several of the people mentioned in the book, went through and created a 20-page index document.

http://groups.google.com/group/southsidepark

The surprising part is that there are connections between different parts of the book that I didn't spot when I was writing it--and also some inconsistencies. I can only hope that sales of Southside Park. are brisk enough that I'll be able to do a second edition--and issue some corrections! Perhaps the next thing I should do is produce an errata page...

Sacramento Preservation Roundtable

School has again eaten my brain, making updates unpredictable. There are some neat things coming up, though, including this:

THE SPRING 2008 SACRAMENTO PRESERVATION ROUNDTABLE

Date: Saturday, March 8th – 9:00 a.m. to 12 Noon
Place: Towe Auto Museum – 2200 Front Street
---Continental Breakfast * $5 donation---

AGENDA:
9:00 Welcome
9:05 Preservation Roundtable reorganization,
establishment of Steering Committee—Kathleen Green
9:10 Preservation Issues & Update:
– Sacramento Heritage Grant program update—Red Banes
– State Parks Update (Indian Heritage Center project update;
Railroad Technology Museum update; and State Park
closure issue)—Pati Brown, State Parks; and
Kathy Daigle, CSRM Foundation
– Update on the Railyards Development
& National Register Nomination—Linda Whitney
– City Preservation Office update—Roberta Deering
– City’s General Plan—Karen Jacques
Questions & Answers welcome on all issues.
11:00 —Break—
11:20 Speaker: Native American Heritage Council—Randy Yonemura, Dir.
“How we can work together -Historic Preservation & NAHC ”
Questions & Answer session
11:50 Announcements
–SOCA’s very special behind-the-scenes Spring tour
12:00 ADJOURNMENT
Sponsored by: Sacramento Old City Association
Sacramento Bungalow Heritage
Next Preservation Roundtable meeting is Saturday, June 14, 2008

Sacramento's Streetcars, Part 6: Northern Electric

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, electric railroad technology produced a new form of transportation, known as the electric interurban railroad. These systems provided a middle ground between the big, continent-spanning Class 1 railroads and local, city-serving streetcar lines. One of the advantages of electric railroading over steam railroads is lower cost of operation, especially for shorter trains. Steam locomotives pulling only one or two passenger cars are less cost-effective than the same locomotive pulling a long string of cars, but local service often does not require that much capacity. An electric interurban car is more flexible: like modern light rail, a single car can work during off-peak periods, but in situtations of higher demand trains can be made of multiple cars, controlled by a single motorman.

Electric railroads also carried freight. While electric freight motors were not as powerful as steam locomotives, they were fast, and did not need to stop to take on water or coal. This made electrics ideal for perishable and express cargo, less-than-carload freight, and short-haul deliveries.

Electric interurbans sprung up around the country. California was home to some of the largest and best-known interurbans, including the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles and the Key System in the Bay Area. Sacramento's first electric interurban was the Northern Electric, founded in Chico. Their system extended through Marysville/Yuba City, with branches to Colusa and Oroville, and reached Sacramento in 1907.

Another advantage of electric interurbans over steam railroads was the relatively small and non-noxious equipment they used: while steam trains used noisy, smoky locomotives and cars were large and bulky, interurbans were very quiet and the cars were smaller than steam railroad cars. This meant that interurban trains could literally run through the middle of downtown, very convenient for passengers.

In Sacramento, Northern Electric's mainline entered the city at 18th and C Street, next to the Blue Diamond almond grower's co-op, turned down D Street, and zig-zagged to Fifteenth and I Street. The train turned left on Eighth and I to Northern Electric's original station on 8th and J Street. The main line continued down 8th Street to M Street, and across the river on the M Street Bridge, predecessor of the Tower Bridge.

In order to secure permits for interurban operation on city streets, Northern Electric had to meet two conditions: First, freight trains could not run through town, and had to take a separate route around Sacramento's city limits. Second, Northern Electric had to provide local streetcar service in Sacramento, in addition to interurban trains.

Next time: the Northern Electric's streetcars in Sacramento.

Railyards update

The latest news on the Railyards in the Sacramento Bee is that Thomas Enterprises has agreed to trade two of the seven Shops buildings to the state of California for use as the Railroad Technology Museum:

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/553781.html

There is also an editorial on the costs of the project:

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/551957.html

The Bee characterizes the land transfer as a "donation," but it is actually a trade. In return for the land for the RTM, Thomas Enterprises receives two parcels of land. One is at the northern edge of the railyards, in the area where the American River once ran, intended for the Bass Pro Shop and a park. The other is along the waterfront, where Thomas Enterprises wants to build a pair of hotel towers.

There are strings attached: the Boiler Shop will be transferred immediately, and thus restoration and repair of that building can start very quickly, but the Erecting Shop won't come into possession for three years, by which time the museum has to show they have money for restoration and 25% of the funds for exhibits. Considering that the RTM is currently 85% funded, and they have many of their intended exhibits sitting out behind the Boiler Shop, that shouldn't be much of a problem at all.

This Tuesday will be the final City Council meeting about this issue, and the Council will vote on whether to adopt the Railyards EIR, and approve other various measures that boil down to a big "go" flag for the Railyards project.

There are other issues, of course. The National Register of Historic Places Historic District has not yet been established. National Register designation will be an important factor in soliciting grants, loans, tax credits and other funds for historic preservation and restoration of all of the Shops buildings. Issues like access, infrastructure and the remaining million other details still have to be worked out, and then of course there's the big question of whether the state is willing to cough up the hundreds of millions of dollars that Thomas Enterprises wants to bankroll infrastructure.

But we're one step closer.

Some preservation items

Instead of another giant rant, here's an announcement about a couple of local history and preservation events:

This Saturday, December 8:

THE SACRAMENTO
PRESERVATION
ROUNDTABLE
WINTER 2007

Date: Saturday, Dec. 8th ­ 9:00am to Noon
Place: YOUNG LADIES INSTITUTE; 1400 27th Street
Continental Breakfast provided; * $5 entrance donation
12/8/07 AGENDA:

9:00 Welcome
9:05 Hollow Sidewalks PowerPoint Presentation---Bill Burg
9:10 Preservation Issues & Update:
­ City Preservation Office Update---Roberta Deering
­ Meet the New Director of SAMCC (Sacramento Archives and
Museum Collection Center)---Marcia Eymann
­ Sacramento Heritage, Inc Update---Red Banes
­ State Parks Railroad Museum; Governors Mansion;
Sutter's Fort, and Stanford Mansion Museums---Pati Brown
­ Railyards Development Historic Nomination Update---Linda Whitney

10:45 Oak Park Proposed Historic Districts -PowerPoint
Presentation---Paula Boghosian and Don Cox
11:30 Announcements
Next Preservation Roundtable meeting ­ Sat., March 8, 2008

And this Sunday, December 9:

(from the Sacramento Old City Association website)

DO YOU KNOW THE TOWN OF SAMA?

The Southside Park Neighborhood Association is inviting everyone to their
monthly meeting to learn more about who was here before the gold seekers, the downtown merchants and what we see every day.

UC Davis Professor Sheri Tatsch, PhD, will tell about Sama, a Nisenan town of perhaps 1200 to 1500 inhabitants that was on the site of the current Old City Cemetery.

Sunday evening, December 9
5:15 to 5:45
Southside Park Clubhouse
6th & U Streets

Zazz in the Railyards

I noticed this article in today's Sacramento Bee, and it got me thinking about what sort of things are planned for the Railroad Technology Museum that would fit the requirements put forth in the article and some of the comments after the article.

The gist of the article is, how do you draw people with a railroad museum? In my mind, you do it by making the story modern as well as historical, by varying exhibits, and by giving people things to do.

The RTM plan, despite at least one Bee commenter's comment and the rather sketchy outline described by the Bee, is very much a developed plan. The original Railroad Technology Museum was supposed to be built in the mid-1980s before state budget crises delayed its construction at Front and R Street. The current RTM plan was started in 1999, when the plans to move it from Front and R Street to the Shops buildings was first put forth, and backed by the recommendation of the Sacramento City Council. There is not only a full, feasible proposal, it is also fully funded and ready to begin as soon as title to the buildings can be obtained (unlike Thomas Enterprises, who are depending on the city and the state for the vast majority of their funding.)

The two-building plan is based on a fairly simple concept: the Boiler Shop (the tin building nearest the freeway) would retain its current use as a restoration shop, while the Erecting Shop (the building next to the Boiler Shop) becomes the display area, with the transfer table in the middle to move equipment easily.

The boiler shop is a gigantic, working garage where railroad cars, locomotives, and other railroad equipment would be transformed from rusting hulks into museum pieces. This not only serves the purposes of historic preservation, it also continues the tradtion of the Shops as a site for locomotive repair, and provides educational opportunities for vocational training in fields from mechanical engineering to welding to woodworking to painting. By making the restoration operations part of a visitable museum, the public can come in and see the work in process. Instead of seeing static museum pieces or seemingly abandoned hulks, the public can see machines being worked on and specialists at work.

The erecting shop is far better suited for the formal museum than the boiler shop: made of brick, it can more easily be heated and cooled, and is aesthetically a lot prettier building. Displays planned for the erecting shop include cutaways of locomotives, a locomotive boiler (weighing tens of thousands of pounds) suspended in mid-air on one of the shop's heavy cranes, a high-speed rail locomotive (to point at where the future of railroading is going, assuming our government gets its act together) and other modern equipment (maybe things like the Green Goat, a hybrid diesel-electric locomotive that is more fuel-efficient than some large pickup trucks.) Interactive displays include locomotive cab simulators, where visitors can do more than just look at stuff: they can try out things firsthand.

The transfer table, in between the shops, has a very important role. It is used to move equipment between the bays of the shops. Having the transfer table means that the Railroad Technology Museum can do something that the existing CSRM can't do: it means that exhibits can very easily be swapped in and out, to add variety and interest. In the main Railroad Museum, most of the locomotives are fixed in place. Engines like the Gov. Stanford, CP Huntington, Sonoma and Empire were put inside the building before the floors were built, and the track taken up behind them. The million-pound Cab-Forward locomotive certainly can't be moved. The Roundhouse area has some movable exhibits, and several of the center stalls are occupied largely by equipment that can be changed out easily, but cars like the dining car and mail car can only be moved with great difficulty and extensive preparation, and the Pullman sleeper car, with its piston assembly (that simulates car motion), can't be moved at all.

But the RTM, with the transfer table, won't have that problem. A fully functioning restoration shop means that equipment rehab and exhibit preparation can be done constantly. The transfer table and track within the Erecting Shop means that moving and re-locating exhibits is as easy as pulling them out of one stall and moving them into another. More variety equals more interest.

Modern railroad companies have a vested interest in promoting railroad museums: with railroad freight traffic at an all-time high, and many cities turning to rail to relieve freeway congestion, railroads need employees. And most of those employees (and I know many) started out as kids that fell in love with trains and just never fell out when they grew up. I know not many people believe it, but railroads are in our future. Those who claim it is "19th century technology" somehow fail to understand that cars are 19th century technology too, and the way things are going, cars may not be as ubiquitous as they were in the last century. Many folks who commented remarked that we have a long way to go to catch up with railroading in the rest of the world: a railroad technology museum, which teaches how railroads affect our lives and where the technology is going (as well as where others have led) can help prompt us to catch up! At least one manufacturer of high-speed railroad locomotives has already pledged their support to provide a HSR locomotive for the RTM.

Feasibly, thanks to the planned rail reorientation, there will be a direct rail connection between the Sacramento Southern (CSRM's tourist railroad) and the Shops, and there's no reason why either a rail shuttle or actual trains couldn't be used to go between them. How cool would it be to take (for example) a gas motor car or other lightweight rail equipment from the Shops to Old Sac?

Oh yeah, about the "one building" idea: Because the Boiler Shop is made of tin, it is not feasible to add air conditioning or heating. Effectively, you'd have to strip off the tin, build an internal structure inside the building, then put the tin back on. In the process, you'd lose a lot of the building's chunky, industrial aesthetic appeal (a look that could be restored, despite how run-down the building is now) and dramatic views of the internal building frame. Worse, they would lose the Boiler Shop as a restoration shop space. Restoration operations would have to be set up at State Parks' property on Front and R Street.

One thing I think people forget is that trains are BIG. The Shops buildings are massive buildings because they were intended to construct entire locomotives. A railroad museum is not intended to hold little things, or pictures. Railroad museums hold BIG things, like the last Cab-Forward locomotive left on the planet, or the massive Santa Fe 5000-series freight locomotives. Equipment for whom the term "it weighs a million pounds" is not an exaggeration, but, in some cases, an understatement. The RTM needs two buildings because this equipment just doesn't fit in a small space--and because the two buildings will fill very different roles.

Sacramento has the potential here to become the home of the finest railroad museum in the world. We are already home to one of the finest railroad museums in the country. Adding the RTM would make us the home of a museum in the class of the Field Museum or the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, or the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington DC. Why a railroad museum, some might ask? Because Sacramento is an enormously important place in the history of railroading--and thus the history of California, the history of the United States, and, yes, world history. And we're still an important economic place for railroads--and thus the economy of California, the economy of the United States, and, yes, the world economy.