published 1998 (now out of print)
Excerpts from interview with Robert Glines–(just a small portion of what it was like in Auburn when PG&E was called Drum Division after Frank Drum who was elected Pres. Of the company in 1907).
The yard in Auburn was very small, so the departments were scattered all over town. The warehouse was behind the present PG&E building on High Street; the Hydro Dept was in the rear of the building and Engineering was where the present Auburn Journal is now and the gas pumps were all there. The trucks were kept on Washington St. in Old Town Auburn on the west side of the former Shanghai bar and restaurant (now Ale House). After the PG&E moved out, this area was used for the Gold Rush Celebration for the Helldorado, which was then moved to the Gold Country Fair grounds. The truck drivers would get 15 minutes overtime to bring the trucks out and line them up on the street before the general public got up. We would stand on the sidewalk across from the office on High St. at the lower entrance that used to be Montgomery Wards, now the Gold Country Mall. We had to park our cars up and down the side street where the old Union Ice Plant was (now the Bank of America).
The PG&E Water Dept. was in an old livery stable to the north of Burn’s Drug store (now a pizza place). If we needed water, we would go back up the street and into the half circle drive of the Union Ice Company. Each truck had a numbered canvas bag and they would chuck a 25# bag of ice out to us and we would chop it up with an ice pick.
For poles we would go to Borland Ave. All of the poles and pole dollys were there because they came by rail. Each crew would take turns unloading the poles. You had to hand jack the railroad cars back and forth to line them up with the right size poles.
We had heavy duty, slow moving FWDs manufactured in Canada and when we would go up the old Foresthill road., it would take 45 minutes to an hour to get there. .That road in particular was not much more than a wagon road. In fact, many of the roads were so narrow, we were only allowed on the road at certain times of the day, particularly between Auburn and Cool because of the school buses. We had to get to Cool at a certain time or had to wait at the Cool store. . . .
When I went to work, the old timers would tell how the did everything with horsres and bocl and tackle and had to assemble the derricks on the truck. Now everything is hydraulic. . .