Riders lampooned the Rogue River Valley Railroad, a 6-mile line joining Medford and Jacksonville Oregon, and its owner Bill Barnum. What follows is a song from 1909, written to the tune of “It’s Just the Same Old Moon.”
“In dark ages since many years have passed,
Six miles an hour was considered pretty fast;
But now in nineteen hundred nine
That’s some speed on Barnum’s line!
Same old wheezing engine and car
Starts for J’ville with an awful jar;
Foxy Barnum rents his whole depot
And makes us wait out in the snow.
It’s just that same old train that is running
In just that same old jerky way;
No wonder we are always kicking
At the price we have to pay;
Oh won’t you tell me when we’ll get there?
Oh won't you use a little more wood?
Railroad c’mission comes to Jacksonville,
Calls in Barnum; also John and Will.
Asks them questions, tells them what to do;
Goes away, thinks its labors through.
They didn’t mind the old c’mission,
They go right on the same old way.
Same little Station, folks raising Cain;
Same busted schedule; same old train.
Source: Unattributed newspaper clipping in the Rogue River Valley Railroad Vertical File at the Southern Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Medford, Ore.
