‘Automo-bubble’ a part of Deschutes railroad war

SOMETIME IN THE late spring of 1909, at the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company’s ticket booth in Portland, a 19-year-old man named Jim Morrell laid down his last $2 for a ticket on the Bailey Gatzert, the famous Columbia River sternwheeler. Destination: The Dalles.

Morrell was from Colorado originally; just now he was at loose ends, drifting through Portland looking for work. He thought he might find it in The Dalles. Someone had told him about a great railroad war playing out near The Dalles, as railroad magnates E.H. Harriman of the Union Pacific and James J. Hill of the Great Northern scrambled to be the first to punch a railroad line through from the Columbia Gorge into Bend. Harriman’s road was called the Des Chutes (sic) Railroad; Hill was calling his the Oregon Trunk Railroad.

Although still a young man, Morrell had some experience with gasoline-powered equipment, and thought this might be a good opportunity for him.

So he had gambled his last two bucks (roughly 65 in modern money) to get to the scene, in hopes he could land a job.

Morrell didn’t look like much when he arrived. On the journey his hat, a battered brown derby, had gotten split between brim and crown; his hair poked through the hat above the brim, making for a pretty comical appearance. Luckily, his hair was also brown, so it looked OK from far away.

Upon his arrival, Morrell was met by a friend — probably the one who’d told him there was work to be had. Morrell’s friend staked him to a meal and a flophouse bunk, and the next day he wasted no time in seeking out J.D. Porter, who with his brother Johnson Porter ran the construction company that had the Northern Pacific (James J. Hill) contract.

Porter’s first question after Morrell introduced himself was straight and to the point:

“Do you know how to skin a bubble?” he asked. (The Dalles, Wasco County; 1900s, 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-11.automo-bubbling-in-a-railroad-war-627.html)