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Seely House (Signal Maintainer’s House) [Column_Cisco Townsite]

: site of Seely House

aguilera_01.jpg: Seely House in the backgorund, Lucilo and Marie Aguilera in the foreground. courtesy of AJ Rogers, Manuel Aguilera

I’m trying to duplicate the whole town of Cisco, Utah in N scale. This post introduces one of the structures in the town.


On the north side of Railroad Street/US Hwy 50 & 6 along the town of Cisco existed several railroad facilities constructed by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad(D&RGW). One of the facilities, a signal maintainer's house is identified in the 1971 movie Vanishing Point. The west elevation of the structure is barely seen in the movie.

1952 USGS aerial photo shows the particular structure. The same structure appears in a map attached to the Cisco Gravity Base Station sheet, researched in 1967 and printed in 1971, as RED BRICK HOUSE[1]. The same structure appears in a map representing Cisco in the late 40s as Seely Red Brick House[2]. ICC valuation map drawn in 1919 and revised in 1949 measures this structure as 25'×44'.


CTC(Centralized Traffic Control) system of D&RGW reached Cisco in 1944[3]. This structure was constructed the same year[4]. William J. Hawley Seely(1916 – 2001), who was a D&RGW signal maintainer assigned at Green River since 1943, moved to Cisco same year[5,6]. At that time when J. Hawley, his spouse Carolyn Sarah Beebe(1913 – 1985), and their son George James(1939 – ?) moved to Cisco, the construction of house wasn't started yet, forced the family to live in an outfit car[7]. Daughter Susan Jane "Sue"(1945 – ) was born shortly after they moved to Cisco[8].

While Hawley worked for the railroad, Carolyn contributed to the community as School Board and Justice of Peace: she also ran a Red Cross First Aid station at the house and regularly checked the Cisco’s drinking water brought in by a tank car[7].


James Monroe Noblitt Jr.(1926 – 2000) of Green River succeeded Seely in 1958[9]. His father James Monroe Noblitt Sr.(1892 – 1967) was the D&RGW section foreman at Cisco and retired same year[10]. But James Jr. and his spouse Betty Lou(1926 – 2013) kept living in their house at Green River[11].

In 1960, successor Noblitt Jr. was transferred to Helper, Utah due to the Signal Department reorganization: the whole district between Ogden, UT, and Dotsero, CO, came to be controlled from Helper since that year[4, 12]. That was also the last use of this house. But the house itself survived into the 70s, at least until June 1974 according to the USGS aerial photo.
revised, Aug. 5, 2021
revised, Apr. 18, 2023

[1] Cook, Kenneth L. (1971) Gravity base station network in Utah, #92, Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey Bulletin
[2] Hepperle, Mary L. (2004) "Memories of Cisco", Canyon Legacy, vol. 51, Moab Museum;
[3] Sep. 8, 1955 Green River Journal;
[4] Mar. 31, 1944 Daily Sentinel;
[5] Apr. 1, 1943 Times Independent;
[6] Jan. 21, 1944 Emery County Progress;
[7] Jordan, Kathy "‘Uranium King’ Charlie Steen started out in Cisco tar-paper shack", Mar. 24, 2011 Daily Sentinel
[8] May 8, 2018 Daily Sentinel;
[9] Feb. 6, 1958 Times Independent;
[10] Apr. 13, 1967 Times Independent;
[11] Feb. 27, 1958 Times Independent;
[12] Aug. 25, 1960 Times Independent;
 
 
ユタ州を走るD&RGWの沿線にある/あった、Ciscoという町を紹介している。今回紹介する建物はUS Highway 50 & 6とRio Grandeの線路の間に建っていた「Seely House」である。現在は何の痕跡も残っていない。

記事のタイトルにもあるように、「Seely House」はCiscoにおけるRio Grandeの施設のひとつである。1944年、CTCの導入と同時に建てられ、当初はJ Hawley Seelyという信号保守掛の一家が駐在していた。もっとも彼の赴任に建物が間に合わず、一家は貨車を改造した事業用車両への仮住まいを余儀なくされたようだ。Seely氏の妻は学校の役員を務める他、赤十字の救護所をこの建物で開設し、貨車で運ばれてくる飲料水の水質検査も担っていた。

1958年にSeely氏を継いだJames Monroe Noblittは、近くのGreen Riverに家を持っていたためか、この建物には平日のみ寝泊まりしていたようだ。そのNoblitt氏も1960年にはHelperに転出、以降この建物に住まった人はおらず、詰め所・倉庫としてのみ1970年代半ばまで長らえていた。

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