My Genealogy Hound

W. C. Sanford, who has been identified with the Pontiac, Oxford & Northern Railroad for a period of 20 years, is general superintendent of this system which since his incumbency of that office has never failed to pay a dividend. He is a civil engineer by profession, but has been engaged in railroad work nearly the entire of his active career.

W. C. Stanford studied civil engineering and after the close of the Civil War went to Louisiana, where he spent five years in the construction of levees between Natchez, Mississippi, and the Arkansas State Line. In 1874, following the advice of his uncle, Gen. James Craig, president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, our subject entered railroad work under George Olds, now retired, at that time general freight agent of the Kansas City & Council Bluffs Railroad. He had fine advantages in becoming familiar with the workings of all departments, subsequently filling various positions with the Hannibal & St. Joseph, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads. In October,1883, he became first auditor of the Pontiac, Oxford & Northern Railroad Company, which was owned by Joseph P. Hale of New York, who was also one of the large piano manufacturers of the country. The road is still owned by his heirs. The road is 100 miles long, passing through the richest agricultural district in Michigan, Caseville, on Saginaw Bay, being the northern terminus. Since 1893, Mr. Sanford has been general superintendent and in every department there is to be noted a marked improvement, the road and equipment being pronounced by the railroad inspector to be in first-class condition. Much of the success in recent years has been due to Mr. Sanford and his progressive methods. The car shops and locomotive repair shop at Pontiac have been built up during his incumbency, and are thoroughly equipped for building and repairing cars and locomotives. F. H. Neward is the master mechanic in charge of locomotive and car repairers. This road carries from 1,000 to 1,200 carloads of vehicles annually from Pontiac to all sections of the United States, many of the local manufacturing plants being located along the line of the road. They have a daily schedule of two passenger trains and two freight trains each way, and in various seasons are forced to run additional trains to handle the large traffic. Mr. Sanford is a regular attendant of the Passenger, Freight and General Managers’ Association meetings.

Mr. Sanford united in marriage with a daughter of Colonel Brown of Ashland, Kentucky, of which city she was a native, and they have three children: W. C, Jr., who will take up the study of mining and electrical engineering in the University of Michigan; and Catherine and Edmund, aged 14 and 13, respectively, who are attending school. Mr. Sanford maintains a summer cottage on Saginaw Bay, which he built several years ago, and there his family spend the warm months in the enjoyment of outing pleasures.