Then came the work of "booming ties," one of the perilous, daring and strength-testing undertakings in the west. Men were detailed to keep the ties from jamming, and to break jams should they occur. At Medicine Bow, a string of ties fastened together stretched across the stream, and workmen pulled the floating ties ashore and piled them up in great ricks as fast as they came down to this obstruction. A man was here detailed to mark them and two men kept tally of

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

the marked ties. The marks were made by a hammer on one end of which was the letter "S" for identification in the wood. The other end of the hammer was smooth. The two score keepers were selected, one by the Union Pacific and the owner by Mr. VanTassel.

One of these chanced to be John Snodgrass, later identified with the Bay State Company. A wily little Irishman was detailed to use the hammer and as the strokes resounded, the

score-keepers would record -- one -- two -- three -- four -- tally, etc., etc. It developed that about every other tap that the Irishman made, was with the smooth end of the hammer on a tie already marked or next to be marked. So that for a while the Union Pacific was receiving only about half the ties that they paid for. I did not learn whether the Irishman got fired or promoted, but he "sure" was making money for R. U. VanTassel while it lasted.