Keeper Of Depot Clock Tower

(From The Billings Gazette.) Every Friday, Glen Garrett climbs the wooden ladders that lead to the top of the former Union Pacific depot's clock tower. As he reaches one floor, he unlocks the door of a small gray room that houses the clock's mechanics.

When he cranks the handle to wind the clock, he triggers a mechanism that keeps the clock ticking for another week. The effort keeps alive a symbol that has connected Cheyenne, Wyoming residents through the century. Garrett, 56, is the keeper of the clock. The Cheyenne native is an architect who is fascinated with the history of buildings. He's been the principal architect on the depot restoration project. His weekly volunteer treks to the depot to wind the clock and make sure it's in good shape have become second nature to him now.

Garrett does the job as a tribute of sorts to late friend Francis Daellenbach. Daellenbach led the efforts to restore the clock after it had been stopped for a while when the Union Pacific Railroad moved out of the building. Garrett also has a keen interest in the past and views the task as a public service.

"It's a lesson in history," Garrett said. "This is the part of the building that has been this way since the day it was built and hasn't been remodeled. You can really feel the age of the depot here." An engineer once asked him why he didn't hook a motor to the timepiece to eliminate the need for winding the clock.

No way.

"My thing is this clock has functioned for 116 years and it's still within 30 seconds a week, and sometimes within two seconds a week. o why change it? It's pretty incredible," Garrett said.

He sets the clock according to the International Space Station time. Each week, he determines how close the clock has come to keeping accurate time. Some weeks, the clock doesn't lose a second of time, he said. "It's accurate to within 30 seconds a week," he said, which is the standard he strives to meet. Railroads historically wanted to keep clocks accurate

to within 30 seconds.

Christie DePoorter, director of development for the Cheyenne Depot Museum, said she's watched the process to keep the clock working. The job takes more than turning a lever. DePoorter said it also means dealing with weights and gears that need to be set. She said Garrett adjusts the clock and tries to make it as accurate as possible.

The former Union Pacific depot tower has been an important part of the landscape since Cheyenne was a frisky pup with more brio than brains. The clock likely was added to the tower around 1890. The clock became the city's main timepiece.

"Everybody would set their pocket watches by the tower clock," Garrett said.

The trip to the top of the tower remains much the same as when it was first built. Garrett climbs a set of stairs until he reaches a series of ladders. One ladder leads to a dark floor where the clock's weight drop is located. The reassuring tick of the clock breaks the silence. "It always reminds me of a heartbeat," he said.

A second ladder reaches the clock mechanism room, while a third ladder opens up into a bright room filled with four clock faces made from thick pieces of opaque glass. The clock's numbers are made from wrought iron, and its hands are made from wood. Still another ladder leads to the top of the tower, where open archways offer an unequaled view of Cheyenne and the plains. "Coming across the Plains from Nebraska or the West, that spire on the tower was a real landmark," Garrett said. "It signified you were getting close to Cheyenne. It could be seen for miles."

Garrett said he's been fascinated with clocks since he was a youngster. "I'd tear them apart and pieces would fly all over the place and I could never get them back together," he said. "My mom was real tolerant."

Daellenbach taught him about the intricacies of the tower clock. He came to Garrett's office several years ago with a request to restore the clock. "I was kind of his apprentice," Garrett said. When his friend died in 2002, Garrett became the logical successor to care for the clock.

Vicki Lavach of Cheyenne said she often looks at the clock. "Anytime I'm down here, I always look to see if the time's right," she said as she walked downtown. And it is right, she added, although she didn't realize someone had to climb the tower to keep the clock working but commended the effort. Her husband, Steve, said they'd always liked the history of Cheyenne, and wanted to make sure the clock kept kicking, with or without Garrett. "If he calls in sick," Steve Lavach said, "call me."

Posted: 02/10/05