 Prior to the 20th Century, towns along the railroad lines usually were “company towns.” The depot, the section, and especially the roundhouse, provided most of the employment opportunities in the towns, and peoples’ lives revolved around the train schedules. People with the leisure to do so often “happened to pass by” the depots when the trains were in, and thus were able to later discuss those folks arriving and those departing on any given train.
So it’s likely that most town residents living along the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1890s had made the acquaintance of “Owney,” a celebrity dog who would have been labeled a “hobo” had he been human.
“Owney, a dog without a home, without a destination…in particular, without a purpose…a veritable tramp, passed through Hugo Wednesday en route from Denver to Cincinnati,” reported the Lincoln County Ledger in the summer of 1894.
“This canine is of the Scotch terrier family and rides from ocean to ocean and from North to South over the United States, housed within Uncle Sam’s railway postal cars, cared for most tenderly by the postal clerks to whom he is no trouble whatever. He is not chained, nor is he deprived of his liberty in any way. If he wishes to leave the car at any station, he does so, returning of his own accord when the signal to start is given.
“He is covered with souvenirs from all the cities he has visited and is indeed a curious spectacle. There are many worse dogs than Owney…and some of them never leave Hugo.”
How often Owney visited the towns in Lincoln County, how long he rode the mail cars, and his ultimate fate are not known. But unlike many of his human counterparts, Owney apparently was always a welcome and respected visitor there.
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