The addenda to the Letcher Railroad Collection consists of business correspondence of the Southern Pacific Company between Dec. 1887 and May 1889. The majority of the letters are addressed to William McKenzie, Asst. Genl. Master Mechanic, Sacramento, and H.J. Small, Supt. M.P.&M., Sacramento. The letters include daily reports of the operations of the railroad, employee problems, maintenance, and purchases. Of special interest are the three letters by G.J. Perkins, Engineer, about the engine El Governador No. 237, a large engine that Andrew Jackson Stevens, Supt. of Motive Power, was concerned with. A.J. Stevens was born in Vermont Sep. 14, 1833. In 1869 he was hired by Leland Stanford, President of Central Pacific (parent organization of Southern Pacific) as Master Mechanic. He was responsible for many locamotive inventions until his death in 1888. More information about the man and the El Gobernador is available in the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 65, pp 7 - 26.

Dr. Howard T. Letcher worked for the Shasta Division of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1940 and 1941; he was a noted railroad historian and in 1971 was asked by then California Governor Ronald Reagan to serve on the board of directors of the Transportation museum in Sacramento, California.

.25 linear ft.

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