Stephen
Uren, general foreman of the blacksmith and rolling-mill department of the
Central Pacific Railroad shops, Sacramento, is a native of Cornwall, England,
born September 10, 1837, his parents being William and Bethsheba (Sincock)
Uren, the father a blacksmith and machinist by trade. He was reared and
educated at his native place, and learned his trade in the shop of which his
father was foreman. In 1857 he came to the United States, and spent a year in
the copper mining district of Ontonagon County, Michigan. Having decided to go
to California, in 1858 he proceeded to New York, and there took passage on the
steamer Constitution for Aspinwall. Crossing the Isthmus, he resumed his sea
voyage on the steamer Golden Gate, and arrived at San Francisco, October 15,
1858. He came on to Sacramento County,
and worked at his trade about Folsom about two years; thence he went to El
Dorado County, where he mined about a year. After this he spent three months in
Virginia City, Nevada, and from there came to Sacramento, where he became
engaged in the construction of the State Capitol building. In 1869 he obtained
employment in the railroad shops as a blacksmith, and four years later he was promoted
to the post of assistant foreman, under A. F. La Shalles, foreman. In 1875 Mr.
Uren was promoted foreman of the blacksmith shop, succeeding George Genshlea,
who had occupied the position about fourteen months. When the rolling mills were added to the shops that department was
also placed under Mr. Uren’s authority, and the first bar was rolled out under
his supervision, in July, 1881. The mill turned out 11,000 tons of material in
1888. In November of that year 500 men were employed in the rolling-mill and
blacksmith departments, but the number is less at this writing. The heaviest
steamboat forgings for the steamer Piedmont were made here. Mr. Uren has added
in a vast degree to the efficiency of his departments through the introduction
of his own inventions. There are many of these applied here and in such shops
generally, though he has only had a limited number of their patented. Among
these may be enumerated the following: Device for forming car-links, patented
April 27, 1880. Previous to the
introduction of this device, links were made by hand. The cost of manufacture has been reduced
one-third. Process of utilizing scrap for the manufacture of nuts, etc.,
patented October 6, 1885. Scrap was
never used for the manufacture of nuts before. Large bridge-nuts have
heretofore been hand-made. This machine produces them at the rate of one per
minute. The ordinary method requires a half hour for each nut. Wrought-iron
brake-shoe, patented December 1, 1885. This invention is used on the cars of
nearly all roads on the Pacific coast, and is in great demand. Mr. Uren
manufactures about 500 tons of them annually in the railroad shops. The
advantage over the cast-iron shoe is in the ration of 5 to 1. A patent on a
method of utilizing scrap cast-steel. By this invention it is composed into
ingots, and rolled down into bar steel. His latest patent is on a slotting
attachment for a bolt heading machine. It is the only machine in existence that
will head a bolt and slot the key-way at the same time. This machine, or even
the idea, had never been thought of before, and Mr. Uren considers it one of
his most valuable inventions. It was patented May 28, 1889, ¯ No. 404,235. Mr. Uren
was married in this city on the 9th of September, 1865, to Miss Mary
Welch, a native of Ireland. They have seven children, viz.: William, Edward,
Minnie, Stephen, Walter, Grace and Nellie. Mr. Uren is a member of Union Lodge,
A. F. & A. M. In politics he is a Republican. He has made his own way in
the world by attention to details of his chosen trade. He was always of an inventive turn of mind,
and some of his inventions have already revolutionized methods always before
used in the best shops in the world. As the head of one of the other
departments expressed it to the writer of this article, “Stephen Uren is one of
the most useful men the Southern Pacific Railroad Company has ever employed.”
Transcribed
by: Marla Fitzsimmons
An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California.
By Hon. Win. J. Davis. Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 307-308.
© 2004 Marla Fitzsimmons.