The reigning American botanist during the first quarter of the 20th century was John Burroughs. Fisher went to visit him when Fisher was a young man, and they developed a close friendship. Mr. Burroughs numbered among his good friends Theodore Roosevelt, the poet Walt Whitman, and the greatest naturalist of the American west, John Muir. That was this kind of company that Clyde Fisher kept on his many visits to see Mr. Borroughs at his home in upstate New York.

"When he first entered the service the telegraphic messages were received by tape form in code and they were translated and delivered to trainmen and others receiving messages.

"The engines were the wood burners and employees and trainmen would reload with wood and fill the tanks with water at various places enroute along the line.

"The old watering pond, some miles south of Botkins, played a very important part at that time, and a storage of wood for engines was nearby."