It was raining when
George Wyman arrived in Ogallala, Sunday evening, June 7, 1903. The locals told him it was a very wet spring
and had been raining for nearly two weeks.
He was near the half way point of the first motorized vehicle journey
across America, which started in San Francisco on May 16. With mountain ranges and vast deserts behind
him, he was eager to complete the journey and reach his final destination of
New York City before July 4th.
Wyman awoke early the
morning of June 8. After a quick
breakfast, he departed at 6:45 am east along the road out of town, which
followed the tracks of the “Transcontinental Railroad” built some 35 years
before. Wyman was using the Union
Pacific RR tracks for navigation, referring to the station guide to mark his
position and distance from San Francisco.
When the roads became too difficult, he would often ride his motorcycle
along the tracks.
The road was very
muddy and it was a struggle to ride his 1903 “California” motorcycle through the ruts. Its 90cc, 1.25 horsepower motor propelled him
along at 10 to 20 miles per hour over firm dry roads. But, riding 10 miles of slugging through the
mud and sand he switched to the railroad ties.
After going another six miles it began to rain heavily. The gusty winds and torrential down pours of
the thunderstorm made riding almost impossible.
Dismounting, he walked his motorcycle another three miles along the
tracks.
Around 9:30 am, the storm forced Wyman to seek shelter in
the Paxton Depot. Built before the turn
of the century, the architecture of the Paxton Depot was typical of all small
stations along the Union Pacific RR line.
Wyman parked his motorcycle under the shelter of the freight holding
area near the Express Office and went inside to dry out. He was a skilled mechanic by trade and would
always take great care to make repairs and adjustments to his motorcycle. Waiting for a thunderstorm to pass was an
excellent opportunity to give the machine a going over.
Shortly after noon, the storm had passed. Wyman departed the Paxton Depot returning to
the road. As the sun came out, he motored at a good pace until reaching a
stretch of sand, which caused him to walk the bike for about two miles. Wyman made the 31 miles to North Platte,
where he stopped for gasoline. He continued another 16 miles to Maxwell and checked into the hotel for the night.
Wyman chronicled his daily adventures along his route from
San Francisco to New York City. These
accounts were mailed and sometimes telegraphed to the Goodman Company in New
York City. It printed his daily reports
in five articles published in “The Motorcycle Magazine” and notes from the
field in “The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review.” Below, in his own words, is his account of
his seeking refuge at the Paxton Depot and his overnight stay in Maxwell.
“It is now the time of the heavy rains, cloudbursts and freshets that
devastated so much of the Western country during the month of June. It is my
luck to be right in the particular great basin where the waters flow most
copiously. At Ogallala, Nebraska, I was told that there had been nothing but
rain there for the last two weeks. The roads were in terrible condition, I
know, when I left there at 6:45 o'clock, on the morning of June 8. After 10
miles of heavy going through the mud, I struck sand, and then took to the
railroad track once more. After going six miles over the ties it began to rain
so hard that I had to get off and walk three miles to the station at Paxton.
There I waited for three hours until it stopped raining, and set out again at
12:30 o'clock. From there it is just 31 miles to North Platte, and as the sun
had come out, I returned to the road. I found it good in places and sandy in
spots. There was one stretch, two miles long, so sandy that I had to walk it.
It was like being back again in the deserts. I got gasoline at North Platte and
pushed on 16 miles to Maxwell, which made 70 miles for the day's travel.
Maxwell
is a little bit of a place, and I had to take accommodation in a room that had
three beds in it. A couple of surveyors were in one of the other beds, and at
midnight, a commercial traveler was ushered in and given the third bed. I was
fortunate in having a bed to myself at all the small places, for "doubling
up" is quite the common thing where accommodations are limited. One more
cyclometer was sacrificed on the ride from Ogallala to Maxwell, snapped off
when I had a fall on the road. I do not mention falls, as a rule, as it would
make the story one long monotony of falling off and getting on again. Ruts,
sand, sticks, stones and mud, all threw me dozens of times…” George A. Wyman, “Over the Rockies and the
Great Divide to the Prairies”, The
Motorcycle Magazine, (Goodman, New York, August, 1903)
Today, the Paxton
Depot has been given new life. Opening
in September of 2015 as Anne Marie’s coffee and gift shop, the “Depot” as
locals call it, is now a refuge for those seeking a good cup of coffee, good
company and the opportunity to browse for things of the past.
Even though the newly renovated Depot was
originally located across the tracks on East 1st Street, its
historical significance warrants the Paxton Depot being designated a Wyman
Waypoint. We are grateful to Leah Fote,
owner of the Paxton Depot, for joining The George A. Wyman Memorial Project as
a hosting organization.
We hope the
historical footnote of Wyman’s passing through the Paxton Depot will spark the
interest of those visiting Anne Marie’s.
Mrs. Fote’s renovation of the Paxton Depot building, giving it a new
life in the community, exemplifies our Project motto, ”Linking the Past to the Present to Enrich the Future.”
