At age 20, Jack Cartwright emigrated to Nebraska in 1870. He already had years of experience working on railroads in the north of England, so he and his brother Ed became railroad until 1877 when they headed west. They arrived in Walla Walla by a train headed to San Francisco, and within three days went to work for Dorsey Baker on his brand new but already famous Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad.

Jack came to be involved in virtually every chapter of the launch and development of railroads in Eastern Washington for at least 30 years. A lively conversationalist, he developed cordial relations with both Baker and the man who bought out his rail line, railroad magnate, stock market wizard, and fellow immigrant, Henri Villard. Although much has been written about this pioneer railroad, Jack’s many and detailed memories of those years provide the only hands-on account of its birth and operation. He will be visiting Fort Walla Walla Museum as a time traveler from 1912. In his later years, he enjoyed recalling the surprising and often humorous happenings of his exciting youth for the benefit of newspaper editors and any other interested listeners.

As portrayed by retired Whitman College faculty member Clark Colahan, Cartwright will spin lots more colorful and vividly remembered Casey Jones-type stories about a career on the rails, some of them reportedly made of wood and held together by rawhide.