Union Station From Above -- Amazing Discoveries

Up we go!

Architect Mike Sanders wanted pictures of the design details of Union Station, so Ogden kindly loaned him a cherry picker and up we went.

Mike is giving a talk May 10 on the construction and design of Ogden's Union Station, a construction miracle that jumped out of the ground, finished, only 20 months after fire destroyed its predecessor on February of 1923.  Allow for the time it took to tear down the old station, do the design and prep work, the actual building was probably 14 months, or less.

But this was no slap-dash project. Great care went into quality and design. The building was meant to last, and meant always to be beautiful.

Careful brick designs surround a decorative
brick rose that is also an air vent

Mike wanted straight-on close-up pictures of some of the rosettes and brickwork. To do that he needed to get off the ground, so Mike Underwood of Ogden's fleet division came down Tuesday morning with a cherry picker and up we went.

Yeah, we. Underwood worked the controls and Sanders and I went up, and up, and up.

Did I mention high places give me the willies?

Especially when that high place jiggles?

From above Mike and I got a good look at those rosettes, each of which is a different design. When you get close you can see that they are different colors because they artist to created them used different colors of stone, probably marble.

multi-colored marble makes up this rosette

The brickwork is also fun -- interesting patterns and designs. Someone put a lot of work into those.

I was also able to take some fun aerial views of the station. We're hoping Underwood can bring down a taller cherry picker so we can move back and get a good overall shot of the station and its setting.

From way high? Yeah, what the heck. You only live once.

Carefully designed brickwork

Mike Sanders shoots

Multiple types of marble provide colors

Got to get a postcard shot

The inevitable selfie

The Astonishing Stories Simple Things Could Tell

Union Station is all excited at the Big Boy coming May 4-6th, but not just because it's one heck of a hunk of metal.

It's the stories it could tell. That thing hauled loads from Evanston to Ogden for years. Wouldn't you love to have been in the yards when it came through?

At the time lot of folks were, and probably didn't give it a second glance. When you go to the airport do you marvel at an airplane able to carry 400 or more people?

No, but it's pretty nifty.

And 200 years from now folks will look back at that antique and think, "people actually got into those things?"

So it is today. The objects I've pictured here are themselves are fun, but it's their stories that really make you wonder.

My good friend Maurice Greeson has started fixing fountain pens -- he only has half a dozen hobbies already, he musta got bored -- so I dug around and found some of my old thrift/antique store finds for him to practice on.

This one, a Parker, I bought because I like Parker Pens. It didn't work. When I unscrewed the head from the body bits of dried rubber and a long piece of metal fell out. "Oh well," I thought. "It looks cool."

As it turns out, Maurice had no problem.

The bits of rubber were the remains of a little rubber bladder that used to hold ink. Those little bladders are still made, so he ordered one. The bits of metal were what remained of the spring that squeezes the bladder when you push a button on the end of the pen.

Those, too, are still made. A couple of dollars, a bit of loving care, the pen works like new.

I did some digging and found it's a Parker Duofold, made about 1926. Parker had just discovered how to make pen bodies out of colored plastic instead of hard black rubber. This green model, called Jade, was the hit of the season.

Maurice apologized for not being able  to clean the brown tone the body had taken. "Not to worry," I said. "That's brown from thousands of uses by someone. Wouldn't you love to know what that pen wrote?"

Indeed. Typewriters weren't common in 1926, and expensive, so it probably wrote letters, checks, notes, everything. A Parker was a better pen, more expensive at perhaps $7, so a businessman probably owned it. He used it to sign contracts, for certain.

Love letters? Hate letters? Post cards from somewhere exotic? The thing could tell me someone's whole life it I could get it to rewrite everything I'd probably need a gallon of ink.

Same thing with this camera -- everyone knows I have a thing for Leica cameras. This is a very early one, the 64,973rd ever made. It rolled out of the factory in 1931 and was, according to the Leica company's excruciatingly detailed records (they ARE Germans) sent to a camera shop in Berlin.

Wow. Berlin in 1931?  

The Weimer Republic was on its last legs, some mouthy little failure of a painter named Adolph Hitler was rabble rousing through something called the National Socialist Party. Jews were still able to live normally, but not for long. In 1933 someone set fire to the Reichstag, Hitler took power promising law and order, and the rest you know.

Leicas then, as now, were the tool of serious professional photographers and the rich. Was this one owned by some party functionary? A news photographer shooting riots and political unrest? Or some guy who took snaps of his kids parading down Unter den Linden?

We'll never know, but it's fun to imagine.

As you can guess, I have a hard time getting out of antique shops. There are stories everywhere, and don't I wish I knew them.

Cookies for Soldiers Highlights Union Station's 90 Years

As we celebrate Union Station's 90th birthday this year, we're taking special note of one of the station's grandest moments and fondest memories: The Red Cross Canteen during World War II.

Union Station was the funnel through which Weber County's economy flowed, but during WWII the station took on another significant role. As the main connection for rails between east and west, it was a bye-station for millions of fighting men and women going off to war.

As many as 100 trains a day passed through, full of troops tired and hungry, so Ogden women anxious to do their part set up, and ran, a canteen serving coffee, beverages, sandwiches and, of course, donuts. The canteen was located right about where Union Grill's main dining room now sits.

WSU history student Lorri Rands has done a complete study of the canteen and will be presenting about it on May 10 during our observance of the station's 90 anniversary. One of her primary sources was the original Red Cross scrap books and some of the registers that we have in the Union Station Archive.

Lorri didn't just use those, of course. The Northern Utah Chapter of the American Red Cross also has records, and she even went to Washington D.C. Her presentation, about the love and dedication of nearly 200 women from Ogden serving our troops, is a thrill to watch.

So, what I thought I'd do here is pass on some of the recipes that used in the canteen. I found them in the scrapbook in a small booklet about running a Red Cross canteen. If you want to give them a try, keep in mind that they're made to served dozens of hungry soldiers.  In addition to cookies, which you'd expect, who knew that our boys were getting ready to fight on diet of carrot and honey sandwiches?

They must have worked, because we won. At the end of the war, the canteen had served more than 1.7 million troops. One was a soldier who got off the train, looked around and realized he was in his hometown, Ogden, and went and got served a cup of coffee by his own mother.

And some of these yummie cookies? I sure like to think so.

From a list of "Cookies for Rookies"

TOP SERGEANT (top rank for appetite appeal)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white corn syrup
1 egg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped raisins or dates
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped nut meats.
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Cream butter or shortening with white corn syrup, egg, cinnamon and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Alternate adding this to the creamed mixture, with the apple sauce--fold in chopped nut meats and raisins or dates, dro from a spoon onto a greased cookie sheet--bake in 350 oven. This makes 50-60 medium sized cookies.

ATTENTION (These will attract it every time)

3/4 cup butter or shortening
1 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3 1/2 cup hot water
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nut meats or raisins.

Cream butter or vegetable shortening with molasses, brown sugar and egg. adding hot water. Stir well and add these dry ingredients which have been sifted together:  flour, salt, baking soda and ground ginger. Blend well. Add cinnamon and vanilla, also chopped nut meats or raisins if desired. Drop from a teaspoon onto a greased pan, bake in 350 oven until done. Before baking this dough may be chilled slightly, rolled and cut into any desired shape.

OATMEAL COOKIES

4 cups raisins, cover with water, boil 10 minutes, cool.
8 cups oatmeal
8 cups flour
2 level teaspoons baking powder
2 level teaspoons soda
2 level teaspoons salt
4 level teaspoons cinnamon
2 level teaspoons allspice
1 level teaspoon nutmeg
4 cups sugar

Mix dry ingedients. Add four cups shortening. Mix well. Add 12 eggs, 24 tablespoons water from raisins, and raisins. Drop from spoon on greased pan far enough apart to allow for spreading.

SUGAR COOKIES

2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup sour cream or buttermilk
1 teaspoon soda
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Enough flour to make a dough, and roll out.

PEANUT BUTTER AND HONEY SANDWICH

Diluted honey--3 cups honey to 1 1/2 cups hot water, bring to boil, place in jars labeled for use.

3 cups peanut butter and 1 1/2 cups diluted honey. Spread on bread for sandwiches, cut square across to distinguish from meat sandwiches. Use all the bread. Crusts placed so men may see them, when placed on trays, are often preferred by men.


PEANUT BUTTER AND CARROT SANDWICH

5 medium sized fresh carrots, grated, salt to taste, add one can morning milk, 1 large jar peanut butter. Stir smooth , do not beat. Spread as above for sandwiches.

CHEESE AND CARROT SANDWICH

Grated American cheese may be substituted in above for peanut butter. Use equal amounts of cheese and carrot. Add two tablespoons mustard spread.

How the West Was Won: Railroad Ad Campaigns

Everyone knows the driving of the Golden Spike in 1869 transformed the American West, but a lot of folks don't realize how hard railroads had to work to keep that transformation going.

Then, as now, railroads needed to make money. Passenger trains were labor-intensive and expensive, so it was in railroads' interest to encourage people to go by rail.

To that end, railroads went out of their way, and spent a lot of money, to give people somewhere to go and make them want to go there. A lot of the west's most valuable tourist attractions today would not be as big if it were not for efforts by railroad companies to attract business. The Old Faithful Inn by Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park was built by an affiliate of the Great Northern Railway. So were lodges on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park and more.

The railroads publicized those attractions with large travel posters, brochures, pictures and fancy ad campaigns.

Locally, Utah wouldn't have Lagoon amusement park if not for the Bamberger Railroad. The rails for that line were heading north from Salt Lake in the early part of the last century and the owners needed to generate passenger revenue to help break even.

Nobody was excited about taking the train north to look at fields in Davis County, so the company bought, moved and expanded a small lakeside resort called Lagoon to its present location and folks flocked up. Within another year the train had reached Ogden, but the amusement park stuck.

In that light, my sincere thanks, here, to North Ogdenite Bill Bernard, who last week brought Union Station Archives this little item -- a booklet titled "A Glimpse of Utah."

What a gem.

The booklet was published in 1911 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Bernard said he got it from his grandfather, Henry Bremer, who was a traveling salesman. Back then railroads competed for passengers just as airlines do today, so the D&RG put this booklet out to show people how lovely the state of Utah was.

The 58-page booklet is packed with really lovely pictures, lots of informative text, and this really fun poem at the front, which I am happy to transcribe.

A Glimpse of Utah
A passing view --
Of a land that was old,
When the west was new;
Of happy hours,
in shaded dells;
Where all is peace,
And plenty dwells;
Of mountains high --
Whose wavering lines,
Are marked with the shafts,
Of a thousand mines;
Of a city beautiful,
Historic and quaint,
Where a sinner may live,
And yet be a "saint,"
Of a salty sea --
Weird, dead and still --
Where the bathers float,
On the waves at will.
All this and more --
The traveler will see,
When he journeys through Utah,
By the "D and RG."

This little booklet is a valuable addition to our archive because it is part of the history of railroading and how it built Utah. Union Station's 90 years is only a small part of all that, but if you followed the D&RG's siren call and came to Utah, Ogden is very likely where you came first.

Library Bond Part II-- Talk to us, damnit!

James Humphreys, candidate for the Weber County Commission seat currently held by Jan Zogmaister,  had a note on Facebook that he'd been endorsed by the state auditor.

Wow, the auditor?

OK, he was happy, but being concerned about events of late I felt a need to chime in about his feelings on the Weber County Library bond election, which current commissioners Bell and Gibson seem intent on not following.

Statements last week by Commissioner Bell that the election didn't really count because it didn't get a majority of all registered voters raised a storm of scorn, and for good reason. The argument was legally and morally idiotic. If you go to the Standard-Examiner's letters to the editor page you will find a lot of other letters that agree.

In my previous blog on this issue I published the letter  I sent to Commissioner Bell. To his credit he called me, we had a lovely chat. I don't think I changed his mind but I did come away feeling that he is sincere in wanting to do best by his own lights. He said he is willing to talk to people, he answers all calls and emails.

"So don't just announce stuff," I told him. "Talk about things with us before you make a decision."

If the paper's coverage of his stand isn't up to his standards, I told him, the paper is good about publishing op-eds by public officials.  He should send them one, explaining his stands, his goals, his feelings. Heck, send several. They let Brad Dee publish weekly during the Legislature, why not a monthly County Commission roundup.

What we got, instead, was a tirade by Commissioner Gibson in Wednesday's paper covering a speech Gibson gave Tuesday at a public event. You can read it here (click) but essentially he's miffed that he and Bell are having their decisions questioned.

He really ripped the Standard-Examiner, which is odd because the Standard-Examiner has consistently supported his stand on this.  It opposed the bond issue and has urged restraint since. Several editorials, linked in the story, say exactly what he has been saying.

The paper's crime, I suspect, was allowing anyone to criticize Gibson in its pages. Shouldn't it shut that sort of thing up?

So Gibson just peed all over a natural ally.

Commissioner Gibson, can I loan you my copy of Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People"? I suspect "Pee on your allies" is NOT a chapter heading you will find there.

I told Bell that I don't have a problem with the county commissioners studying the bond as it goes out, making sure all projects are bid properly, built in budget, and generally handled properly. That's the commission's job.

I also told him if he needs a better way to get his word out he should get one of the computer-savy guys the county employs to show him how to set up a Weber County Facebook page and start discussing these things with the public BEFORE decisions are made. That way folks feel they have input, he might actually hear better ideas and have his own ideas respected, everyone comes away happier even if they don't agree.

In that vein, as I said, I saw Humphrey's post on Facebook and, feeling snarky, raised the library bond question and he actually answered me. I answered him back, here's our exchange:

• 

  Charles Trentelman how does he feel about following the results of an election?

  15 hours ago · Like
• 

  Charles Trentelman can he take a little criticism from the press and public without having a hissy-fit?

  15 hours ago · Like
• 

  James Humphreys Charles, obviously, in my mind and I think the minds of most we have to follow the results of any election. You are clearly referring to the Library bond. We voted and it passed. The limits of the bond tell us how what properties need to be improved, in what time line and how much we may borrow to the max to accomplish the improvements to those properties. We can and will do them all. Will we borrow 45 million to do them, I am thinking not! From my perspective, we need to look at how we accomplish the goals and vision of the library board at the most reasonable cost. If I were a betting man, I think the size and scope of 1 of those projects will be reviewed.
  
  My positions are public, my website is very clear. Most delegates agree with me, some have not, and so I will not win those votes.
  
  I beleive one can disagree without being disagreeable.

  9 hrs · Like
• 

  Charles Trentelman James, thanks for the thoughts -- I don't have a problem with looking at all the projects on the library bond as long as the long-term needs of the library are met -- the larger project you refer to, I suspect, is the Roy library -- keep in mind that is not only supposed to be a new library, similar in scope to Pleasant Valley in Washington Terrace, but the new headquarters for the library system. These things need room, same as your commission offices.
  
  As to other things, as I told Commissioner Bell the other day, my biggest problem is the apparent attitude of the commission that it can spring decisions on the public without debate or discussion -- the decision by Bell to say that he felt the bond election's announced intentions didn't count because the bond didn't get a numerical majority of registered voters was not only legally unsound but completely out of the blue. I try to keep up on things and had no clue he was thinking that, and there he was saying it was policy. 
  
  Commissioner Gibson's statements in Wednesday's paper at the furor Bell's remarks caused puzzled me. The commission blind-sided the public and is angry that the public reacted as anyone would who has been blind-sided?
  
  You are absolutely right -- we can disagree without being disagreeable. That starts with respecting each other -- and elected officials treating the electorate as intelligent people who deserve to have issues discussed with them before decisions are made is one way you do that.
  
  Thanks for listening.

C-Span Visits Ogden; What They Find Will Astound You

Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell at C-Span press conference

OK, maybe not astound, but that seems to be how you are supposed to write internet headlines these days.

But, seriously, C-Span is visiting Ogden to do a series of stories to be shown via Comcast May 3 and 4. It's part of their C-Span City Tours, an effort to profile small and mid-size cities around the country.

The kickoff press conference today (Monday) In Union Station's grand hall was a fitting start -- much of Ogden's history, economy and culture was developed around the railroad and Union Station. It all radiates out from here.

Union Station Archivist Lee Witten
ready to video record the conference

Mayor Mike Caldwell showed up sans bike shorts to welcome the crew, which will be collecting and taping stories through the week. Union Station Foundation Board Chair Leon Jones said they'd find plenty of grist to mill along "what is surely the most notorious street in all of Utah," 25th Street, right outside the station's front door.

Board Vice-chair Julie Lewis said the station was the funnel through which came "inventors, geniuses, outlaws and crazy people" to Ogden to make their mark for good or ill.

C-Span reporter Ashley Hill said the team will be doing stories on Utah Constructors, the World War II Prisoners of War and the Transcontinental Railroad. They're talking to professors at Weber State University about their work on the Cuban Missile Crisis, homelessness and politics in Utah. Of course they're talking to Val Holley about his most recent book about the town.

Union Station Director Roberta Beverly talks about
the station's long history

They're also interviewing (uh-HUM!) me, for some fun stories out of Ogden's always-weird past. I'm sure I can think of one. Or two. Or three.

So they're going to be around, in clearly marked vehicles, filming and taping and asking questions. I don't need to ask you to be nice to them because Utahns are always nice to everyone.

C-Span van around town

Especially when they ask us about our home.

Can't have a press conference without press. Becky Wright, Standard-Examiner, covers the story.

C-Span reporter Ashley Hill discusses plans

Two-Bit Street Art Opening a Huge Hit

Friday's opening of the photo display by Weber State University's Special Collections history project on 25th Street was a huge hit.

More than 400 people visited the display of photos of Ogden's 25th Street, both historical and current. A lot of them stuck around to hear Val Holley's talk about Ogden's historical rivalry with Salt Lake City as waged by Mayor Harm Peery. Really fun stuff.

Called "25th: The street that never slept," the exhibit is part of a project at Special Collections to record Ogden's history through oral histories and photographs. Students at WSU, and me down at Union Station, are interviewing anyone we can chase down who lived in Ogden in years past and get their memories and photos.

The show will be up through May in the display area just off the Grand Hall of the station. Come in any time. The exhibit is free, although if you want to pay $5 and see the museums at the same time, please feel free.

Here's some photos of the show.

A couple shares memories of 25th Street

Walls of images

A guy with 360 vision checks out the show

Tribute to Joe McQueen

Ed and Cindy Simone pose by
a picture of Ed and Cindy Simone

Sarah Langsdon and Val Holley

Digging Union Station: No tunnels, no ghosts, 90 years of dust

Union Station's business manager Tracy Ehrig said a chunk of one of the original beams holding up Union Station's roof is still down in the basement.

Would I like to see that? Lead on.

Union Station's current building was built 90 years ago. The massive beams holding up the roof were hoisted into place by a crane and pulley system. Apparently they had a chunk of one left over that they just left under the floor of the grand hall.

Tracy Ehrig examines the old beam. Note brick pillar.

After the previous Union Station burned in 1923 it was demolished, the site cleared and the new station built on the foundations of the old. There is a partial basement on the north end with a row of safes used by the various railroad companies, but the rest is just dirt floor that varies from three to six feet below the ceiling.

The area was used to run utility pipes, the crude air conditioning system, sewer and electric and the like. Steam pipes run all over (the station is heated by a boiler), intertwined with telephone, computer and electrical wires, conduit, and who knows what.

The hunk of beam, of course, is way deep in this mess. "Bring a flashlight," said Tracy. "Some areas, you'll need it."

So in we went, hunched over, stepping under and through wires, crabbing on hands and knees, bumping heads on things I tried not to think about. We stooped and crept and crawled, avoiding hot pipes, hoping that dangling wire wasn't attached to anything horribly electrical.

The beam is about 18 inches square and perhaps 12 feet long. I put my cell phone next to it for scale, who knows why it's there. Too hard to remove once they installed the floor of the great hall, would be my best guess.

Old station's foundation stones, repurposed.

I found the pillars holding the interior walls and floors of the station interesting. There seemed to be two types: Older pillars made of large stones around a concrete core, and newer brick pillars.

The older ones, of course, are from the original station that burned. They look as if they were designed to look good as well as do structural duty, so I wondered if, before 1923, they weren't on the exterior of the building somehow. You can see where the top is cut off square and newer concrete (reinforced?) put in the core to hold the new floor up.

The brick pillars are more functional and ugly.

Running down the center of the space is the original air conditioning ducts -- a metal tube four feet tall, with branches connecting to the floor of the grand hall.

Tracy found a piece of grating

The idea was to take cool air out of the basement of the station, pump it through the floor and into the hall. As it warmed it would rise and go out the rose windows on either end of the hall, which were open to the outside air. The fan is a lovely example of 1920s engineering, complete with original maker's plate.

You are wondering: Did we find any ghosts? Tunnels? Neat stuff?

No.

Tiles laid out as if on display

We did find some cool old hexagonal tiles, laid out neat as you please on one of the foundation pillars. No clue where they are from or why.

We found some bits of the grates that used to be in the grand hall's floor to let the cool air through.

We found a lot of junk -- 90 years is a long time for crud to accumulate.

Tunnel advocates will have to look elsewhere. The east wall, facing Wall Avenue, has no opening through which a tunnel could emerge, as ghostly as any long wandering spirits who, if they are still there, kept their distance.

Ancient air conditioning ducts, now disconnected.

Commissioner Bell invalidates library bond election?

I just sent the following letter to Weber Commissioner Matthew Bell who is quoted in today's Standard-Examiner (click) pretty much invalidating the library bond election. He says, in effect, that since it didn't get a majority of ALL registered voters, but just 54 percent of those who showed up to vote, it doesn't count.

Yeah: HUH?

Anyway, my letter says it all. I urge you to send one too. His email is mbell@co.weber.ut.us.


Commissioner Matthew Bell
Weber County Commission

April 3, 2014

Commissioner Bell,

I am very disturbed by statements attributed to you in today's Standard-Examiner. If the reporting is correct -- and I trust the reporter -- you are claiming that the County Commission does not need to follow the intention of the recent library bond because a numerical majority of all registered voters in Weber County failed to approve it.

Seriously?

I really feel you need to reconsider this argument, Commissioner Bell. In one sweep you are calling into question every election held in Weber County since statehood since, I suspect, few has ever had the sort of clear numerical majority you are asking for. That would require, in a close election, a 100 percent turnout.

That would include, I suspect, the election that put you into office. 

You advocate the Constitution, which demands elections. Do you really want to say that elected officials can invalidate any election they want at will? That the public can ignore any elected official who didn't get such a numerical majority?

This is a horrible message and precedent. 

I am also puzzled by your opposition to the Library expansion that the bond finances. Your county web site says you are an advocate of government on the lowest level possible, and libraries funded through local financing, governed by citizen boards, are about as low as you can get. The plan the bonds were to fund was clearly advertised and debated, the votes were counted, the results are in. Everyone on all sides had their shot.

Now you, an official in a higher level of government, are saying it didn't count?

I also don't understand your opposition to the library expansion on a more basic, capitalistic basis.

Utah, and Weber County, have been building civic facilities since statehood, and before, with the specific intention of attracting private investment. Libraries tell visiting corporate heads that a community is well organized, cares about its citizens, supports development, can provide them with workers who are well grounded in the latest educational technologies, and will be a welcome and friendly place for their employees to live. 

Libraries foster development. You don't think Salt Lake County built that huge library downtown just because it likes pretty buildings, do you? Look at the development around it. We want that in Weber County, too.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, Commissioner Bell. Thank you for your attention.

Charles Trentelman
801-394-0239

Union Station's 90th coming down the track

I really love this picture. It's so festive.

So fun. And so real.

No kidding, it really happened. The image may be a bit romanticized, but not much. Real pictures of the event are similar.

Ogden's Union Station burned down in February of 1923. After some initial reluctance, the railroads that used the station agreed to build new and set to it.

A little more than a year later, in November of 1924, they were done. Anyone else think that feat could not be duplicated today for any amount of money?

Me neither.

There was a huge hoo-ha for the dedication, of course. Speeches were made, music was played, everyone partied and, at some point, a steam engine attempting to get to the festivities allegedly got into trouble and needed help.

So some women of the city attached ribbons to the engine and pulled it in.

A photograph was taken, of course. Probably many. One of them was seen by the artist for La Domenica del Corriere, a Milanese newspaper that was famous, until it died in 1989, for its vividly colored front page illustrations of news events.

It ran the picture on Jan. 25, 1925, and its publication in Italy is an indication of just what a big deal the new train station in Ogden, Utah, was back then. Ogden was a major rail hub, nationally famous and important.

And it's also a darn fun picture.

The image is one we're having made into posters for sale at Union Station as part of our 90th anniversary celebration this year. You can already buy it on a tea towel in the station souvenir shop.

We're celebrating the birthday on May 10 so folks don't freeze in a November blizzard, but feel free to come down any time.

If you take this picture and go around back, looking north on the rear platform, you can stand just about the same place where this picture was taken.

We're happy to provide the station.

Ribbons and pretty girls are your job.