Roundup: September 12, 2018

Almansor Court – 700 S. Almansor, Alhambra, CA.
Social Hour: 5:00 PM
Dinner: 6:00 PM

Our Speaker: David R. Gunther, with almost forty years with the Santa Fe Railway and a life-time of travels around the world
His Subject: The Santa Fe Railway

Our speaker will tell us interesting things about the history of the Santa Fe Railway and from his extensive experience with the company, using materials such as passenger train literature, books of instruction, timetables, etc. to illustrate his comments. He will touch on the impact of the rail industry on the development of the American West.  I have been told on good authority that David is a bona fide raconteur, so we can expect to be entertained as well as informed by his presentation.

David Gunther has a wealth of experience in management and in operations with the Santa Fe Railway, later merged with the Burlington Northern and now known as the BNSF. In operations, he served as a brakeman, conductor and certified Locomotive Engineer.  In management he served, among other positions, as a highly successful educator of railway personnel, achieving extremely high passing rates for students taking qualification exams and very low injury rates for new employees who took his training.  He is particularly noted for his work in safety, training and rules.

David has also traveled extensively, once circling the globe in only 46 days and taking exotic trips like driving the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan and China and traveling by rail from St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea in Europe to Vladivostok in Siberia on the Sea of Japan.

David has also contributed significantly to industry professional organizations and to community not-for-profit organizations.  For example, he was a docent at the Autry National Center for eight years and currently serves as President of the Governing Board of the Zamorano Club.

Posted by Jim Macklin, Deputy Sheriff

Future Los Angeles Corral Events

October 20, 2018
Rendezvous
Saturday afternoon at the Workman & Temple Homestead Museum

November 14
Roundup
Paul McClure on Country Dances

December 12
Roundup
Phil Brigandi on Reservations, Removal & Reform: The Indian Agents of Southern California

Dinner Fees, Reservations & Meal Choices

The Roundup Dinner Fee is $40 including ample, convenient and free parking. The dinner choices for this Roundup are beef, chicken and vegetarian.  The beef will be grilled sliced top sirloin slow roasted with a savory mushroom sauce.  The chicken dish consists of a boneless chicken breast lightly floured with spices and sautéed in fresh garlic, Marsala wine, butter and wild mushrooms.  The vegetarian dinner will be what the chef, attempting to make the choice sound appealing, calls a “bouquet” of fresh vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, grilled zucchini, peppers and potato.  An unfortunate few may make this choice.   Luckily, they will get the same dessert as the rest of us.  In this case, it is a universal favorite called Chocolate Royale, a baked chocolate souffle style dessert.

Please choose your entrée and make out your check for $40 to “Westerners, Los Angeles Corral,” or submit your payment online as EARLY AS YOU CAN but no later than one week before the Roundup date.  Just log onto our website and go to the Members Only tab.  Click on the Roundup Store option and follow the instructions.  Walk-ins can be served, but entrée choices will be limited to what is on hand.  The “late price” is now $45.00.

If you are paying by check, mail it to Ms. Therese Melbar, Registrar of Marks and Brands at 549 South Aldenville Avenue, Covina, CA 91723-2909. Late reservations or questions may be addressed to Therese via Email: tmelbar@cpp.edu or by telephone (661) 343-9373.

Travel Assistance to Our Fellow Members 

Please keep in mind that some of our members can no longer drive or are uncomfortable about driving on the freeways at night.  If there are such members living in your area, please get in touch to see if they would come with you to the Roundups.  Call Michele Clark, our Sunshine Wrangler, at (626) 822-1522 if you need a ride.

Contribute to the Branding Iron

John Dillon, the Corral’s Publications Editor, has also taken over the responsibility for book reviews in the Branding Iron from Abe Hoffman. (Thanks, Abe, for all those years of riding herd on our book reviewers!) Doing book reviews is one way any member can contribute to the intellectual product of the Corral, even if you live in the far corners of the country like Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Texas or Pasadena! We all read history books about which other members would like to hear.  On the Corral’s webpage, John will maintain a list of recent books that have come in from publishers from which you can choose.  But, of course, you can choose your own book. Just give John a call at (818) 384-5951 or an email message at john.dervin.dillon@gmail.com, so he can get one of the listed books to you or you can discuss your own choice. (You get to keep the book!)  Four titles now on his list are as follows:

Rani-Henrik Andersson, A Whirlwind Passed Through Our Country: Lakota Voices of the Ghost Dance

George Bristol, Glacier National Park: A Culmination of Giants

Emily C. Burns, Transnational Frontiers: The American West in France

Janne Lahti, ed., Soldiers in the Southwest Borderlands 1848-1886

Contact Jim Macklin, Deputy Sheriff, at 1221 Greenfield Avenue, Arcadia, CA 91006-4148, at  jhmcpa@earthlink.net or (626) 446-6411 with any questions or news items.

Rendezvous 2018 Auction

Art

To view the items included in this year’s art auction, click here.

Books

To view the items included in this year’s book auction, click here.