Horseplay during an inspection trip on the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad (1905)

Horseplay during an inspection trip on the T & G [Tonopah and Goldfield] railroad. Second from left is Col. John T. Satterthwaite, swinging a track maul and doing damage to the end of the tie below him. Charles R. Miller, middle, is lifting the same tie. John T. Overburg is at far right. Miller was an officer of both the Tonopah Mining Co. and the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad, and later the governor of Delaware from 1913-17. Satterthwaite, of Wilmington, Delaware, was one of the underwriters of Tonopah Mining Co. Myrick's caption for this image, on p. 280 in volume 1 of Railroads of Eastern California and Nevada: The Northern Roads, reads "Trains did stop on the desert for a variety of reasons, usually minor troubles. Here the railroad's owners were caught by the camera as they indulged in a bit of horseplay, the destruction more comical because of their patently city attire."