Photograph of passenger train at Santa Fe with Engineer William (Billy) Gardiner Ruggles

Content Description

8x10 photograph of "Grandpa Ruggles", an engineer with new Santa Fe Railroad. Date and inscription seem confused. Photo depicts a man sitting on the cow-catcher, another man in the cab of the engine and another one standing on the step of the coal-car attached to the engine. Three men are standing on the ground alongside the locomotive and the coal-car. Underneath the photo, on the mounting, handwritten in pencil, "Grandpa Ruggles, age about 21, (born in 1850) sitting on the front of the engine -- Grandpa Ruggles was the engineer and it was the first passenger train that ran into Santa Fe on the new Santa Fe Railroad about 1870 or 1871."; Along with the photo there is an envelope that contains a small gold engine. This has a pin and a clasp on the back, a breast-pin, with a small chain. The headlight and the smokestack is missing and looks as if it had been clipped off or filed. On the face of the envelope, handwritten in pen and ink, "Miniature of the first locomotive that went over the Santa Fe from Kansas City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the first locomotive to enter Santa Fe, 1872, Engineer Wm. Gardiner Ruggles, Captain Billy Ruggles."

Acquisition Type

Gift

Provenance

Frank Madland

Restrictions Apply

No

Access Restrictions

Access to material may be granted upon request, pending assessment of retrievability and potential restrictions. Contact the Photo Archivist to request to view original material.