In August 1936, a casket containing a sheepherder's body was loaded on a baggage car headed east for burial as a dog of collie strain watched with anxious eyes. He came to meet every train year after year. By 1939, conductor Ed Shields pieced the dog's story together, linking Shep with the body shipped that August day. Once the real story was known, Shep became famous. Many well-intentioned offers to adopt him were gently declined because his friends knew his sole aim was to keep his vigil. Shep died on January 13, 1942, when he slipped on the tracks before an incoming train. His passing was mourned by all who knew his story. He was laid to rest atop the bluff above the depo, and hundreds attended his funeral, where Reverend Ralph Underwood used Senator George Graham Vest's Eulogy on the Dog as a tribute to the faithfulness Shep exemplified.