Genealogy Jottings

For some time, my husband/tech advisor and I have pondered traveling by train. We took a half-day trip many years ago, and we kept thinking we might enjoy a longer rail journey. Last week we had the opportunity to try it when he needed to attend a conference in San Francisco. We seized the chance to take the train to get where we needed to go, the same way our ancestors used to do.

We caught Amtrak’s California Zephyr at Union Station in Denver. This line runs daily from Chicago to San Francisco. They say it offers one of the most beautiful rides in North America. We loved the scenery during our two-day trip. Highlights included the Rocky Mountains, the Moffatt Tunnel, scenic canyons, and Donner Pass.

We also loved the pace of train travel. We had a roomette with large, comfortable seats, a table, and big windows. As we rolled along, we relaxed and caught up on reading, napping and conversation.

The train served three tasty meals a day in the dining car. There we had the opportunity to share a meal with fellow travelers. At night, a steward converted our seats into upper and lower bunk beds.

During our trip, I found myself thinking about my forebears who had traveled on the train to new homes. The Bentsen ancestors caught the train to Culbertson, Montana after traveling across the ocean from Norway. My great-grandmother Laura Riddle went by train from Michigan to Nebraska when she began her life as a homesteader. For them, train travel represented the state-of-the-art mode of transportation.

In the mid-twentieth century, my grandmother Grace Reed preferred train travel for her journeys. She took her young children on the train to visit her family. In later years, she traveled from Colorado to Wyoming to visit her grandchildren. I remember her disappointment when the railroad discontinued passenger service on that route in the 1960’s. After that, she took the bus for her visits, but she really missed the comfort of the train.

On our own trip, we learned that we like train travel. Others seem to like it, too. Several of the passengers on our trip spoke of their goals to take all the rail lines in the United States as a way to see the country. Next time we need to travel somewhere, I think we would consider booking another train trip.