The Agent's Office was the heart of the depot.  The Station Agent was the manager of the property, and often had one or more employees to oversee - usually a clerk and perhaps another to handle baggage and the loading and unloading of freight.  In many cases, the agent was also the telegraph operator, and this task had the highest priority because it often involved the safe movement of trains.  The telegraph was used to communicate with the dispatcher, who controlled train movements throughout his assigned territory.

As with many jobs of the era, the agent had a mountain of paperwork to attend to and keep current - tickets, waybills, telegraph messages, ledgers, tariffs, express forms, receipts, placards – the list was nearly endless.  The multitude of cabinets and drawers held the items necessary for the business of passengers, freight, and express items.  The atmosphere in the room often changed suddenly - from eerily quiet to incredibly busy and everything in between. 

That being said, a station agent often held favored status, especially in the smaller communities where the railroad and telegraph were connections to the rest of the world.  Like many positions in railroad service, the agent's job was transitory in nature since those employees at the top of the seniority roster had the first pick of assignments and could "bump" those with less seniority out of a desired location.  The effect trickled down to those of lowest seniority, who could be left without an assignment and either wind up on the "extra board" (working irregular hours at various locations as needed) or on furlough (unpaid leave).   Before an employee built up enough seniority to avoid furlough, the first few years could be rough, and some left the railroad service in search of more stable employment.  For those that stayed on, however, the railroad often provided a rewarding career and better than average pay.

Station agents at Eagle Lake Santa Fe Depot included:

1911 - 1912 C. S. Durham;  1913  F. L. Bass;  1915 - 1917 F. W. Stoldt;  1920 - 1927 Wm. C. Arnold;  1928 - 1945 H. W. Graves;
1948 - 1952  C. W. Barger;  1955  J. D. Adams;  1956 - 1957  B. H. Tolliver;  1958 - 1970  J. A. Reese

The following are listed as agents in Eagle Lake after 1970 when the Santa Fe stopped using the depot, but they were actually located at Lakeside.

1970- 1972  J. A. Reese;  1974-5  J. A. Mathis;  1978 - 1980  M. A. Wienecke; 1981-2  B. L. Wolfe. 

There may have been others, and their names will be added to the list as information is received.

 

Above:  The train order typewriter (covered).

In early typewriters, the lower case L [ l ] was also used as the number one.  To avoid confusion, train orders were typed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.  Therefore, "train order" typewriters have no lower case letters.

Two sounders and resonators (receivers) [the tall items], two keys (senders), one "jack hole" box on the right, and one peg board on the wall.   There were two sets of telegraph equipment on this desk until at least April 1, 1925 (perhaps later - see the GC&SF Timetable page),  one set for the Santa Fe and the other for the San Antonio & Aransas Pass. 

The 2-arm resonator at the left is in the exact spot as the original - the square impression and screw holes lined up on the desk top - and was most likely the Santa Fe sounder.  In offices with more than one telegraph sounder, a tobacco can (Prince Albert, in this case) was often used to change the tone of the sounder(s), so that the operator could audibly differentiate between them.  The tobacco can lid could be opened more or less to adjust the tone further.

Both telegraph keys in the center of the desk are also located where they were originally.  The key on the left was used for the Santa Fe circuit and the key on the right for the San Antonio & Aransas Pass.  

There may have been a scissor-phone on this desk after the 1920's.  Employee timetables through the 1920's differentiated between Santa Fe offices that were telegraph only or had a telephone line to the dispatcher.  After that point, the timetables only indicate "communication" offices and don't specify the equipment.  Eagle Lake was telegraph only at least through 1926 - the last GC&SF timetable I've seen that differentiated between telephone and telegraph equipped stations.

See the "Telegraph Information" section of the GC&SF Timetable page for more information on telegraph offices on the Matagorda District.

RIGHT:  1911 Train Order from the Santa Fe issued at Wallis, TX.  Courtesy of Rosenberg Railroad Museum. These orders were issued by the train dispatcher and sent via telegraph to the operator at the depot, who would in turn hand write (or possibly type) the order and deliver it to the train crew.  The operator usually had to make 5 copies of the order - one for the conductor, engineer, fireman, head brakeman, and one to keep on file at the depot.