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Fredrick Bloom the Operator
Frederick Carlton Bloom left for World War I (The Great War) at the age of 18. Since he was at such a young age, he listed his father as his closest living relative. Returning home from the Great War, he left his town in Minnesota. He went to work for the Railroad as an Operator in Minnesota.
Ten years before Frederick became an operator, there were about 1,738 miles of track in Omaha. By the time Frederick became an operator; the Minnesota railroads were the parent of the Omaha railroad.
In 1920 when Frederick became an operator, there was a struggle with Omaha Railroad. The railroad was suffering from the control of Federalization under the U.S Railroad Administration. This ended quickly in March 1920, but left the industry in awful condition. The operating costs of the railroad were higher and the wages of the employees increased one hundred per cent while the cost of supplies rose to sixty per cent.Â
While living in St. Paul, Minnesota, there was a new train that traveled through St. Paul to Spooner. As a operator for the Railroad he was most likely operating this train. An official from the Northern Pacific inquired the Omaha Railroad official about a newspaper article that mention the train that Frederick operated from St. Paul to Spooner.