FRANKLIN NORTH CAROLINA smoke. I always watched my smokestack.” The tender also held 3,000 gallons of water. According to Dan Ranger, “The difference between a good fireman and a bad fireman is that a good fireman knows when to feed water into the boiler to keep the water level up…and he knows at all times on any portion of the railroad where that water level is supposed to be. That is a trick, a real trick.” Perhaps Lawton Brooks best expressed what it was like to work on the TF. “I had to work 10 hours for a pitiful dollar. Ten cents a hour is all they’d give you. You had to work, too. I mean you worked 10 hours. You worked from the time it got light enough to see ‘till it got so dark you couldn’t see. It was the hardest work you’ve ever done, but I loved it better than any work I’ve done in my life.”
Learn more about our history by becoming a member of the Rabun County Historical Society. Membership and complete information about the Society are available at www. rabunhistory.org. You also can visit us on Facebook. Following completion of an extensive renovation, the Society’s museum at 81 N. Church St. in downtown Clayton is expected to reopen later this Spring. However, the building is open from noon to 3 on Saturdays for people interested in researching county and family histories. The Society is a not-for-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, making your membership dues and donations fully tax deductible. May 2021 - GML 83
