Railroad Romance

Every day several log trains passed by the Chapman School house.  School children soon noticed that when one of the trains with a particular crew was approaching, the engineer would blow the whistle loud and long.  Miss Pauline Dickerson would then send one of the children out of class to stand by the track, where fireman Ralph Butts always threw off a note in an envelope.  The children didn't know what the envelopes contained, but some would giggle and laugh about "Miss Dickerson's boyfriend." Near the end of the school year, when one day in addition to the usual note, a bouquet of lilacs was thrown off, and a few days later, a bundle of wild lilies, all doubt was dispelled.  Miss Dickinson and Ralph Butts were married shortly thereafter.

Unfortunately, that was the end of Miss Dickerson's teaching career because married women were prohibited from teaching school in those days.  Ralph stayed with Clark and Wilson Lumber Company, later becoming locomotive engineer on its logging trains running over what is now the Crown Z trail between Pittsburg and Scappoose.