The Harris Centennial
Harris --The past 100 Years
Railroads
Page 48
An Era of Railroad Service Ended in Harris
When the first railroad office was
established in Harris, the agent was Harry Tripp. The second was
Ernest Beam and the third was Homer Richards.
Then the railroad started to add more to its passenger and
freight service. In 1912 they had four passenger trains a day and
two local freights. One passenger train arrived from the East at
7:25 a.m.; another from the West at 8:25 a.m.; the third arrived
from the West at 3:25 p.m.; and the last from the East at 7:05
p.m. One local freight was due from the East at 10:00 a.m., and
the other from the West at 2:30 p.m.
During this era two agents served at once. The first was A. D.
Curtis and the second was Jim Heppler. One served from 7:05 a.m.
until 3:55 p.m., and the other from 3:05 p.m. until 7:05 a.m. The
town was also serviced with a stock train special every Saturday
night. Two full section crews were maintained. One worked on the
track east of the depot and the other west of it.
Then in 1932 the first major railroad strike came, cutting the
depot force down to one agent, A. D. Curtis, and taking out one
section house.
The section crews were bossed by Foreman R. H. Halverson and John
Hillman.
The station agents in succession were Barney Horswell, Jim Price,
Sam Campbell and Ed Daries.
The passenger trains were finally discontinued and a passenger
coach was added to the local freight. This was later taken off
and the freight went West one day and came back the next.
The depot has been torn down and the local section crews
abolished. At the present time, one freight runs West in the
morning and the other east at night. The servicing agent is from
Ocheyedan and the servicing section crews are from Lake Park.
- Written by Lester Heppler – 1964
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Update by Committee – 1989: Ronald Ernst should be added to
the list of station agents. 1989 update notes that only grain
trains travel through town.