Klamath Falls, Ore. rancher takes on Union Pacific over dead cattle, saying he’s stubborn -- in a good way

A legal battle between a Klamath Falls rancher and a railroad over 24 dead cattle has ended because the rancher believes his opponents realized he was “too old to know the meaning of quit.”
Reached by telephone Monday, Bruce Topham, 71, said he received a settlement two weeks ago on the eve of a trial. He wouldn’t say for how much. When the cattle were killed, Topham valued them at several hundred thousand dollars.“Damned if I was going to walk away,” he said with a laugh. “They didn’t know who they were dealing with.”As part of the settlement, he said, Union Pacific didn’t admit to any wrongdoing. Aaron Hunt, the railroad’s director of corporate relations, issued a statement saying the company “acknowledged settlement of the case,” adding the railroad is an important part of the state’s economy and remains “committed to the safe and efficient operation of our network.” The strange case began more than two years ago when Amtrak’s northbound Coast Starlight plowed into cattle that had escaped from a field and climbed onto an elevated portion of the track. Union Pacific, which owns the track and leases running rights to Amtrak, notified the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office as required by law. The problem was that these were not just regular cattle.