Clearwater Telegraph
December 20th, 1916
Track Work Finally Started on the Clearwater Valley Railway
Sean Ripley, Construction Manager of the Clearwater Valley Railway stated that the construction of the track work has finally started on the line after many false starts in the past few years
Current end of the line
According to Mr. Ripley “we have laid 9 miles of track between Clearwater Creek and Tunnel #1. This is all that will be constructed this year due to a shortage of rail”. When asked about this shortage of rail Mr. Ripley indicated that he was concerned about the shortage of rail on the property before he started construction, but was assured by Sid Slick, Procurement Manager of the railway that more rail was on its way and should be here in a day or two. Mr. Ripley also said that he kept asking Mr. Slick when the rail would finally arrive but kept on getting the same answer that it should be here any day now.
Also according to Mr. Ripley he has not been able to get a hold of Mr. Slick since last Tuesday. Every time he went to the offices of the railway, Mr. Slick was no where to be found. Our attempts to contact Mr. Slick have also proved to be unsuccessful. According to Mr. Newby, General Manager of the railway, “Mr. Slick is being investigated due to a substantial sum of money that is missing and complaints from suppliers that they have not been paid for goods or services received. We are presently looking for another Procurement Manager so that construction can continue in the spring. Right Now Mr. Slick is nowhere to be found”
According to Mr. Ripley, workers will be paid till Christmas as they were promised work till then. When told about the disappearance of Mr. Slick, Mr. Ripley said “maybe he ran afoul of a black bear”.