Eric Sevareid

Hobos and tramps could be found congregated together alongside railroad tracks in encampments nicknamed "jungles." These communities provided food, shelter, and company but required newcomers perform chores—like begging food from the local town—to be admitted. At night stories would be exchanged around the campfire. Eric Sevareid was a writer who grew up in Velva, North Dakota. As a teen he rode the rails and passed through many jungles during his travels. In the following excerpt from his autobiography, he discusses the jungles and the dangers he encountered on the trains. Eric Sevareid later became a respected journalist and author.

Iawoke before dawn from a bed among the damp weeds by the Union Pacific tracks at Sparks, the division point near Reno [Nevada], and found an "empty" in the long freight train making up for...