McGee's Boy

Where Mark Twain had his Mississippi River, Fred Causley had Old Highway 66--known widely as, “The Mother Road,”--and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad. Twain’s mighty steamboats, churning the water with wide paddlewheels, held no less magic than the majestic San Francisco Chief roaring through a crossing at eighty miles an hour.

The characters that colored the towns and docks and decks of steamboats were no more wonderful than were the engineers, brakemen, and track repairmen to a kid growing up literally on the railroad tracks. Hispanics, American Indians of several tribes, and black children helped young Causley to mature almost oblivious to the evils of prejudice based on the color of one’s skin.

People traveled from all over the world just to see the magic land that was Arizona, home to this railroading family. The Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and the red rocks of Oak Creek Canyon were but a few of those places. These were just some of the benefits of a life spent as—McGee’s Boy.