H. J. SMALL

 

H.J. Small, superintendent of motive power and machinery at the railroad shops in this city, was born at Cobourg, Canada, in 1848. His father, Benjamin Small, was the superintendent of the rolling mills at Toronto, and prominently connected with the building of the Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada. He grew up in the city of his nativity, and was taught “pattern-making” in the shops under the supervision of his father. He became an iron-worker in the shops of William Hamilton & Sons, where he also acquired the machinists’ trade. He spent three years in the shops of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad at Chicago, and afterward went to Wyandotte, Kansas, with the “Kansas Pacific Road” (now part of the Union Pacific). After staying with that company two years he received the appointment of chief draughtsman of motive power in the shops of the Northern Pacific at St. Paul, Minnesota. After two years he was called to the Wabash road as chief draughtsman. Two years later his services were transferred to International & Great Northern Railroad, and he was with them when their shops were removed to Palestine, Texas, and when the Galveston, Houston & Henderson was absorbed by the International & Great Northern, he was made master mechanic by General H.M. Hoxie (since deceased) at the time when the gauge of that road was changed to standard. Two years later he was offered the position of general master mechanic of the Texas Pacific road, with headquarters at Marshall, Texas, filling that position for three years. For five years he was assistant superintendent of machinery at Brainerd, Minnesota, for the Northern Pacific system, and in 1887 held a similar position with the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad at Reading, Pennsylvania. He left that position one year later to accept the position which he now holds with the Southern Pacific. Mr. Small was united in marriage in 1880 at Marshall, Texas, to Miss Mary Blanch, daughter of Major E.A. Blanch, who for years was the chief engineer of the original Southern Pacific Railroad. Their family consists of four children, three of whom are girls.