Notes on a Western Tour

Notes on a Western Tour taken by W.B. Wilson, Jr., Mrs. W.B. Wilson, Jr., their seven children and nurse, Willie R. Miller, all of Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Left Rock Hill, S.C. June 6th, 1890

Returned to Yorkville, S.C. July 26th, 1890

Left Rock Hill, SC today 3:30pm Numbers of our friends at depot to bid us farewell and not a few tears shed, especially by me, for I felt we might never return, I was sick and low spirited besides. Weather awfully wet. Reached Charlotte 4:30pm where I spent an hour most pleasantly at the Wilkes. Saw many other friends. Ran across Walter Roberson from Birmingham, Alabama at the depot. Martin Lyons & Bruce Beard met up on the train with us. Arriving at Salisbury 6:30 this afternoon. Went up to Mt. Vernon Hotel. At about dusk to a stroll up through the town. Not much impressed - ugly old place. Shall take sleeper at 1:55 tonight.

None of us slept at all last night scarcely - all up by 5:00 raving over the scenery as we began to climb the mountains. It is a sight to make an old man young. Several of us began to “feel the trip” about this time, but a breakfast at Asheville revived us considerably and when we reach Hot Springs, about 9:00, we were fully prepared to enjoy our day there. I scarcely recognized it as the same place I had see in '86 - the grounds particularly have been highly improved. The children were wild with delight and there is certainly much to see and enjoy in the beautiful farms, marble baths, swimming pools, handsome parlors, ballrooms. At 7:30p.m. We took the train expecting to go through to Cincinnati and stop over a day or so, but missed connection at Knoxville and here we are for the night.

After a fine night's rest at the Palace Hotel we left Knoxville at 8:30 this morning. We made the train by “the skin of our teeth” as the buss left us and we had to dash wildly for the depot on foot. Fortunately it was only 3 blocks off, but with 7 small children to drag and our hand baggage consisting of 3 large valises, a ponderous [unknown]† strap, 2 mammoth lunch baskets, and 2 grips, we must have presented a spectacle in truth. After a tiresome hot ride of 3 hours on a miserable old “accommodation” train, we reached a little station called Keathley to find the schedule had change only that morning and our train had passed by 2 hours before. We could have howled with rage. After camping out on our luggage an hour or two, we finally decided to spend the day at a new town 1 ½ miles distant. Harriman is a most wonderful town - only 2 or 3 months old - it has cut its wisdom teeth most decidedly - has 3,000 inhabitants, electric lights, dummy line of cars, handsome business houses and residences, and a $100,000 hotel going up. We met people there from Michigan to Florida. And they continued to pour in. The place is entirely surrounded by majestic mountains and skirting their base, making the valley a peninsula, is a lonely little river Emory. The discovery of coal and iron in the mountains has caused the impetus. A land syndicate was formed, an auction advertised for March 23rd. And in 2 days times $600,000 worth of land sold, lots going from $60 to $275 a front foot. The place has been built from the ground up since that date. It is called the Temperance City for by some reason in the deeds to land spiritous liquors can never be sold here. Our experience here has been a most novel one and we have really enjoyed our day. We take the train at 8:30 tonight.

†View on image file pag4.png

When we awoke this a.m. we were passing through the rolling, blue grass section of Kentucky. I was disappointed in this state. From my estimation the grass does not compare to that of the Virginia valleys. There was a lack of general prosperity about the country. We reached Cincinnati for breakfast. The delays we had met with prevented our stopping over, but in being transferred from on depot to another we saw some of the business portion of the city. The Ohio here is spawned by many magnificent bridges. The one on which we crossed is 270 feet high. A man only the day before lost his life by attempting a foolhardy leap from it. The ride through Ohio and Indiana was perfectly lovely. The land in the latter state more highly cultivated than any I've seen. Beautiful fields of wheat and other grains, truck and stock farms, neat, cheery farm houses and mile after mile of prairies covered with the most luxuriant grass. Tons of hay are destroyed every year to make room for the new crop. The land is as level as a billiard table and rarely a tree to be seen. We dined at Logansport, Indiana. Reached Chicago in a dismal rain at 5 o'clock this afternoon and are at the Gault House near the depot.

Utterly wearied out we retired directly after supper last night. This a.m. the whole party took the car for Lincoln Park, which lies right on the shore of Lake Michigan. It is the loveliest spot imaginable. Everything man can devise to delight the beholder. The animals and flowers handsomer than in any park I ever visited. After dinner we went for a drive. Michigan and Wabash Avenues, the chief streets of interest. The handsomest building in Chicago is the Auditorium, comprising the Theatre (which was opened by Patti† December last), Hotel, Towers, offices and various public and private, the entire cost $3,000,000. We procured a guide and were shown over the hotel from cellar to dome. The office and parlor floors finished up in Mexican onyx $25.00 per block. Ceilings in dining rooms hand painted in sporting scenes. Cafe, banquet hall, parlors, etc. elegant beyond description. $1,000 portières in latter - 25,000 electric and 25 miles water pipes in building.

The splendor positively dazes one. We had a grand view of the city from the Towers. Went up 17 stories on the elevator - climbed 2 more to reach the balcony. We drove by the Libby Prison but were disappointed to find it entirely enclosed by a high and modern stone wall and tower and an entrance fee of .50 charged so as we were not particularly interested in war relics and our time limited, we hied away to the Eden Musee where we spent remainder of the afternoon. This is a facsimile of the one in New York and was, of course, of intense interest, though my flesh crept at the sights in “The Chamber of Horrors”. I shall dream of them for weeks. The most revolting and yet strangely fascinating scene was that representing the discovery of Dr. Crown's body in the sewer pipe. Bottled up in the most frightful manner the face, back, shoulders and arms could be seen squeezed into the opening while a horrified workman, spade in hand, crouched before the hole.

It has been beastly weather all day - a few ray of sunshine only at intervals. We leave tonight at 10 o'clock.

† American opera star Madame Adelina Patti

We had a wretched time getting off from Chicago last night - pouring rain and the children paralyzed with sleep - I was wretchedly sick all night, scarcely slept a wink, and I had to keep my berth most of today. The country seems very interesting. We are on the Wisconsin Central - said to go through the worst section of the state, but our connections where better on this route - lumbering is the chief industry - all the rivers blocked with immense logs, each bearing at the end some peculiar mark of the owner and it is a penitentiary offense to touch another man's timbers. We reached St. Paul, Minnesota at 3 o'clock p.m., crossed the Mississippi just before the celebrated falls of St. Anthony. These falls, so noised abroad for beauty, struck us as extremely insignificant, indeed we all took them for a mild dam! They are simply immense hulks of water rushing over an inclined plane - while the banks are crowded with mills and the stream desecrated with rafts of logs. At Minneapolis we changed to the Northern Pacific and were fortunate enough to secure the drawing room and “annex” in the vestibuled sleeper, in which we were as private as at home. We take our meals in the dining car, where all the delicacies of the ocean can be gotten.

All today has been spent passing through Dakota. The state is principally a rolling prairie - extremely uninteresting - vegetation sparse and dingy colored and the land apparently good for nothing. It is scarcely inhabited at all, containing for miles not a trace of main to be seen and the few habitations we passed were mostly “adobes” - rough huts built of upright poles covered with earth. The most miserable, dejected looking set of people live in them, of how they exist is a matter of speculation, for a cultivated field or garden is never seen. At one of the stations a man told Brother B. they only made a crop about every 5 years, that misfortune generally overtook them in the shape of a prairie fire or hail or 100 mile an hour winds. A stiff, cold wind prevails nearly all the time, and we were so cold, even on the cars, wraps had to be gotten out. The children were enchanted at watching the prairie dogs - hundreds could be seen from the car windows and every little while a prairie dog town. The little fellows resemble a flying squirrel more than anything else, and are generally seen posing on their hind legs or top of the mounds under which they have their holes. At Bismark a forlorn settlement, seemingly about the size of Fort Mill, were we crossed the Missouri River, the most turbid stream I ever saw. Bismark is furnished with water from this river and though it passes through 3 filters, it is a miracle the people live after drinking it. The Missouri is very wide here and much grander than the Mississippi at the point we crossed the latter. At Mandan, a little station farther on, we enjoyed a 20 minute airing on the platform and were much entertained at an Indian Bazaar there. The most beautiful collection of Indian work of all kinds; rugs and furs just grand everything awfully expensive though - a tomahawk for instance $2.50. We saw the Sioux indians camping near this place (the indians that killed General Custer) and some where at the depot in all their hideousness, paint, feathers and horribly savage looking.
The country is very mountainous after this point and we passed for the rest of the day through what is know as the “Bad Lands”. There is no water at all along here and then land is a succession of the most peculiar cones and dome shaped mounds - some almost mountains - the side showing brilliant colors in strata, appearing often times to have been painted in actual designs. The effect is most fantastic and an imaginative mind can picture all sorts of grotesque figures in watching them. These mounds look as if they had been formed by the actions of water and almost a substantiation of the supposition is the fact that the land is saline and no trees or vegetation for hundreds of miles. The people who have been brave enough to settle out here live in “dug outs” - holes dug out sides of hills and more wretched looking faces cannot be imagined. One is moved to devout thankfulness that his lot is cast elsewhere in passing through God-forsaken country. The winters are are said to be perfectly awful - all along the R.R high fences have been erected to break the sweep of snow from the hills and even then the trains are frequently blockaded for days. I don't think I have seen a half dozen women in passing through this whole state.

Shortly after entering Montana we struck the Yellowstone River of Glendive and followed its winding for miles. It is a most beautiful and limpid stream down the mountains become very grand and the snow capped peaks begin to loom up. Down in the valley where vegetation was abundant we saw large herds of cattle attended by the cowboys in their typical picturesque costume and lassoo. At Livingston we attempted another little airing at the depot, but the wind sweeping down from the snowy heights above, pierced like needles and soon drove us back to the car. It was intensely cold even wrapped up in the train and I could not but picture the contrast between us and our friends at home sweating beneath a June sun. Livingston is the nearest point on the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Yellowstone Park - 40 minutes on a branch road or 12 miles staging reaches it. The scenery along this section beggars description - it surpasses all imagination. The mountains with their great rugged snowy peaks cut in bold relief against a sunset sky; the mellow reflection glinting the waters of the beautiful Yellowstone at their base, is a scene, which the English language with all its boasted resources, is too meager to describe. Words fall inestimably short - ejaculations are out of order - and one can simply gaze in enraptured silence.

At Gallatin we crossed the head waters of the Missouri. The Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers meet and the great Missouri rolls off, gathering force as it goes from a multitude of little streams from the mountains. We reached Helena, Montana - about 3 p.m. Where we had an hour to stroll around, but it was too cold to be pleasant. It is the highest point on the road - over 4,000 feet above sea level.

When we awoke this morning we were running along the banks of a most exquisite lake - the mountains still hemming us in - Lake Pend d'Oreille is in Northern Idaho and is far famed for its beauty. It is a veritable enchanted spot - by far the most beautiful picturesque point of our whole journey. I think we kept by its side for miles and finally passed over a wide arm of it on a most frightful looking trestle, which we afterwards heard had been condemned by the Governor 3 years ago. We live to tell the tale though.

I notice about 10 o'clock this a.m. We reached Spokane Falls in east Washington! We are all heartily glad to regain our freedom, having been on the train 3 days and 4 nights. We will spend a day and night here. This place is wonderful even for a Western town - what is termed out here a “rustler”, and it truly deserves the word. Not 10 years since it was a tiny village it has 30,000 inhabitants now, elegant business blocks magnificent residences and cable, electric and horse cars. The natural location of the place is grand - mountains all around and the Spokane River with the loveliest falls - far larger and more beautiful than St. Anthony - right in the center of the city. I never tire of watching them - they were within a stone's throw of our hotel. This morning we took the cable car and went out several miles from the city - went up some frightful grades. Views just grand, and down in the valleys could be seen the indians camps which, viewed from a distance, are most picturesque. This afternoon took a drive over the parts of the city not traversed by the cars. Saw some of the most exquisite homes, don't think human device can make any more beautiful. Spokane has a great future - so thought. The resources are so varied. Washington is a great mining and lumbering section, wheat is raised in immense quantities. The falls furnish 30,000 houses power, while at present only 6,000 is taken up. I hardly think we had a conception of the meaning of the word “boom” till we saw this place.

We took up the “line of march” again this a.m. at o'clock. Don't think I ever had a more disagreeable day in my life. The country soon after leaving Spokane, until the Cascades are reached is virtually a desert. For hundreds of miles we passed through a horrible, dusty, sandy valley - known as a “coolie” - supposed to be the bed of an extinct river at places, very narrow, then widening beyond sight - bounded by immense high hills, where beyond it is said to be fertile. In the coolie no vegetation is seen except a dingy bunch grass and a peculiar sage - not a breath of fresh air by any chance ever strikes one and the heat and dust is intolerable. The few miserable little towns we passed, were a collection of huts and rickety shanties, nearly all bearing signs of saloons. In a town of 12 stores, we counted 8 bar rooms, but I don't wonder at the wretched people needing something to sustain their “spirits”. We passed over the Cascades at night, much to our regret. They are said to be even more grand and wild than the Rockies and we were tempted to spend the night out of bed, but in time weariness overcame even our love of the beautiful and so we turned in our berths and the Cascades were left behind unseen.

We reached here this a.m. at 5 o'clock in a nasty, cold rain - just 10 days since we left Rock Hill. We found every hotel crowded as is usually the case - but at last recured 2 rooms at Hotel Fife which has no cafe attached and we have to go 3 blocks for our meals which is highly inconvenient especially in this horrible weather. The people here are wearing seal cloaks and the heaviest newmarkets. We find it difficult to keep warm in wraps of flannel! Tacoma counts 35,000 by this census and is certainly one of the most beautiful places in every respect I ever saw. Rising up in a succession of hills from the Sound and Commencement Bay, it has a background of magnificent mountains and only 25 miles distant looms up the highest peak on the Pacific coast - Mt. Rainier - or Mt. Tacoma as the people here insist upon calling it. It towers like a might giant 14,440 feet. The other mountains dwindle into pigmies by comparison, it is perpetually snow covered and the summit cannot be reached from the north side at all on account of the glaciers. It has never been scaled but a few times. The mountain takes its name from Rainier who lost his life in the attempt. It is positively frightful in its sublimity - worth a trip out here to see it alone.

We have been here five days and in that time only seen the sun once. It has poured most of the time so we have been about but little. We took a drive one day, but it was too cold and rainy to stay out long. We are delighted with Tacoma in many ways - it is live and the buildings very handsome. The loveliest residences we have seen anywhere and the society is far ahead of these Puget Sound cities generally - an older place, for one reason. Educational advantages here are splendid. Annie Wright Seminary, Tacoma University and St. Luke's Memorial Church (Epis.) all built by a Mr. Wright in memory of his daughter. Bishop Paddock resides here and has built a splendid memorial hospital. Brother B. and Blackburn went up to Seattle one day by water - 28 miles distant but came back disgusted with the horrible weather and the rowdy element that has overrun the place since the fire last June. He met several gentlemen from South Carolina - all told him twas only a place to make money and very undesirable in every other place, no social advantages and terribly wicked. Our plan was to reach a furnished house or get private board either here or at Seattle but we have scoured both places and can find no desirable place and then the weather has been so wretched we are only too glad to leave. Then too the prices are so high they are “giddy”. We went to the theatre last night and never enjoyed a play more in my life. Fair Wm. H. Crane as “The Senator”. The theatre is a grand building and a perfect gem within. I can't get straight here as to the time. We are 4 hours behind - or in other words, when it is 12 noon at home it is 8 o'clock in the morning here. The nights are very short here at this season - not dark at 9 and day begins to break at 2 a.m. I have improved so much since I “struck” cool weather. Am sporting a double chin and getting up a color - Bravo!

We arrive here yesterday at 7 p.m. - left Tacoma at 11 a.m. It was a lovely ride. The forests are magnificent - all of fir, spruce and hemlock and the trees are tall and straight. We are at Hotel Gilman European Place. Portland is said to be more like an Eastern city - not so rushing and distressingly new. Has 60,000 inhabitants - Mts. St. Helens and Hood near here - latter compares favorably with Mt. Rainier. Went to a lovely Episcopal church this morning, very fine music. Sermon an attack on an article on agnosticism in the “Oregonian” - the most influential paper of the northern Pacific coast. Took the cable car this afternoon and went out on the “Heights” where we had a grand view of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Dr. Willie Bratton - surgeon in the Marine service - called tonight. He is an old friend from South Carolina and the first familiar face we had seen since leaving home, so we were delighted to meet him. He thinks Portland full of malaria and fever, so we will not tarry long.

We went out this a.m to Mt. Tabor, about 3 or 4 miles east of Portland. The motor runs every half hour there and land owners are forming property wonderfully out here. Every few hundred yards are enticing advertisements of lots going at wonderful rates; each set forming an “annex” or addition as they are called and each classifying superior advantages. Portland is amusing. The rivalry between those different speculators - every train is met by free carriages and you are taken for a long and lovely drive over these lands while the agent discourses eloquently on his own, and abuses every other agent and land, to his hearts content. In the afternoon, in spite of a very nasty cold rain, we took the cars and went about 6 miles out of the city in another direction. We went over some of the most frightful gorges and trestles I ever saw but the city lying below with the beautiful Willamette and stately ships upon it bosom, gleaming in a stray sunbeam now and then, presented a spectacle I shall never forget. There is a beautiful park at the terminus of this line of cars

We went this morning for a drive over the resident portion of the city - some lovely homes, though the style of architecture not altogether as modern as in Tacoma, but of course this place is a much older one. We went to the handsomest Japanese Bazaar I ever saw, afterwards. But as goods were so high we purchase but little. The duty on their goods is 65% which accounts for prices. We left Portland at 4 p.m. for San Francisco, a run of 2 nights and a day - we had a terrible rush for the depot, indeed we would have undoubtedly been left but the agent telegraphed and held the boat that ferried us across the rivers which enabled us to make the train. I had the good fortune of finding in Portland a $5 gold piece which of course could not be identified. I shall keep it for “seed money”.

We arrived here this a.m. at 7 o'clock after a most delightful trip. The scenery from Portland here is exquisite and all yesterday we were kept in a continuous exclamation of delight. The forests are grand, the water courses lovely and the mountains beyond description. The climb over the Siskiyou Mountains was simply wonderful. The curves and grades were frightful - at times, the train, wild almost seems to be going to stand on its head - or rather its two heads for there were two [unknown]† engines drawing it. It was not infrequently that we saw two, three, and even four tracks. Of course it was intensely cold on the summit of the range, but we could not resist being out on the platform nearly all the time. Siskiyou is the highest point on the road and is ____ feet above sea level.
About 2 o'clock we came in sight of the most noted peak of the California mountains, Shasta. We ran along the base of it the whole afternoon and while it is not quite too high as Mt. Rainier, it struck us more forcibly because we had so much nearer view of it than the latter. It is simply the biggest, highest, grandest heap of earth my eye ever gazed upon, perpetually snow covered and said to be of volcanic nature. It terminates in three peaks and the papers are full of a report now that last week a fourth peak disappeared. The settlers here assert that the mountain has assuredly changed shaped when view with a glass, but it may have been only one of the many glaciers exist out of sight. Mt. Shasta has numerous namesakes - town, hotels, business houses, brands, etc. Just as in Portland so many vehicles, signs, etc. bear the name and picture of Mt. Hood, so Mt. Shasta is the monarch of California, Mt. Vesuvius of Italy, the Jung Frau of Switzerland. We followed the Sacramento River all the afternoon and night - from the time it sprang from the hills - a veritable laughing, babbling, mountainous stream full of little surprises and eddies (like “the water that came down from Lodore”) till we were ferried across it at Sacramento this morning where it looked a young sea.
We stopped at Oakland where we are charmingly fixed at Tubbs Hotel, a family resort. Many people come over here for the summer from San Francisco which is only 6 miles across the bay - a 45 minutes sail. It enables the gentlemen to attend to business in the city and spend the evenings with their families here. There are lovely grounds and amusements for children here and I have never seen as many little ones congregated at any one place. Brother B., Sister B. and Arrah Belle went over to San Francisco this morning while I stayed for rest and writing. I must not omit a mention of a most beautiful point on our trip from Oakland. It was Soda Springs in upper California. There was a beautiful bank cliff over 100 feet high I suppose covered with a most brilliant green growth resembling moss but with a longer fiber while from behind it burst little waterfalls enveloping the entire bank in a soft spray. The water gushed out every few feet with a force as if muffled by something and fell with musical splashes in the Sacramento River beneath which was though at that point a mere noisy eddying brook. On the opposite side from the falls were the springs which are very strongly impregnated with soda and the waters much sought after by invalids, dyspeptics especially. The train stopped several minutes and we all dashed out with dippers, cups, bottles, for a taste of this wonderful water. Sister B. who had been suffering with indigestion all day was entirely relive by a draught of it.† View on image file Page 41

This is Saturday night and we have had a quiet day of it - about the first one we have spent since leaving home. Yesterday morning we went over to San Francisco. I was charmed with the sail over there. Double deck steamers ply between the two cities every half hour. The bay is a lovely sheet of water, with hundreds of vessels from all nations anchored at the docks and all descriptions of smaller crafts floating about, it is certainly a scene not soon to be forgotten. When we reached San Francisco we left Brother B. at the Palace Hotel to hunt up his friend Lieutenant Stoney, while we took the children on to Golden Gate Park. We spent several hours in this most beautiful place admiring the exquisite scenic effects in gardening and flowers. There is everything to delight one and one portion set aside particularly for children with every imaginable amusement provided. There is a beautiful place representing a grotto with stalactites and mosses and water trickling down through it all in a way that is charmingly natural and cooling. We passed many beautiful residences in going to the park. Flowers are a special feature of San Francisco. They grow in the most charming profusion. The walls, fences and porches positively groan under their fragrant burdens. These are great hedges of callas and geraniums, clematis in every variety and mammoth proportions, heliotrope and fuchsias assume the dignity of trees and cover the whole end of a house or envelop the roof of piazzas. The trees on the sidewalks are generally of unusual varieties. Many Australian species particularly the eucalyptus, said to prevent malaria and drive off mosquitos. Though we have not been troubled with these pests at all here.
Brother B. went down to San Jose today. San Jose is about 3 hours ride from here and is the county seat of the most fertile county of California, Santa Clara Valley. The Lick Observatory is situated here and it is also an educational center of much note. It is delightfully cool here in California.

Last Sunday we had made up our minds to go to San Francisco to church but we were too late for the boat, so had to content ourselves going here. The church we stayed with was a very ordinary one and the minister a foreigner with a most ludicrous accent, so I am afraid we were more amused than edified. In the afterwards Sister B., Brother B. and the children went out to a suburban park. I did not feel well and afterwards rejoiced at remaining behind, as they go into a most dreadful set of people out there. They were dancing and gambling and singing and nothing generally.
Turning the Tables.
[From Racket.]
Customer: “Is it customary to fee the waiter here?”
Waiter: “Yes, sir.”
Customer: “Then hand over your fee. I've waited for you nearly an hour.”

San Francisco was the typical Western Sunday crowd and nowhere on the continent is the day observed less than here. It is a Godless community. Sure, yesterday I was sick enough to have to remain in my room all day, which I spent writing and reading. The others all went over to spend the day at Golden Gate Park and reported a delightful time. When the waiter (a white boy - the dining room help is all white at these Western places, while often servants are chiefly Chinese) came to bring my lunch he espied my guitar and was evidently so delighted I found he could play. I gave him permission to try it and he played perfectly charmingly. Some of these waiters are really well educated and they all dress well and are quite gentlemanly in manner. In many of these hotels and restaurants girls wait upon you they are generally pretty and stylish too. Last night there was a party here for the children. They danced and “shied” around the parlor and it was quite an interesting study to watch their coy maneuvers. Ice cream was served and by 10 o'clock they were all tucked in bed. This hotel makes a specialty of children. They are “first, last and all the time” as the proprietor says. There are over a hundred people here but they are nearly all Jews. They are a very refined and superior class of Jew though, several millionaires among them and they all dress a great deal and in good taste.

Today we had the loveliest trip in a place several miles beyond San Francisco on the coast called Sutro Heights and Cliff House. It is the pride of San Francisco and I am sure mortal man could not conceive a nearer approach to a paradise on earth. There are 50 acres in the tract owned by Adolph Sutro, a millionaire and a German Jew. He has bestowed a boon on the people of San Francisco for the grounds are free to all. The grounds, trees, grass, flowers, statuary, residences, conservatory, cliffs - everything to delight and refresh one - while to the right the beautiful Golden Gate, to the left the broad sweep of the Pacific with the breakers sweeping over a most exquisite beach - while just in front, not a hundred yards distant from they shore are the famous Seal Rocks, where since time unknown thousands of seals have sported, not even fearing the march of civilization, now it has approached so near even since they have learned nothing is allowed to molest them. I could have spent the entire day in watching their antics. They are very restless and active and the rocks at a little distance appears to be a mass of squirming animal life. As no words can do this place justice I will not enlarge further for I bought a book of views of the grounds which is a vast improvement on anything I could write of them, though nothing but an actual sight of the place can bring its beauty into true appreciation. The cars that take you out here run every half hour. The road follows the line of the cliffs and at places is exceedingly dangerous looking. Ten years ago this place was a stretch of barren sand and rocks. The cliffs here are several feet high. They have been cut in terraces and beautifully ornamented with statuary, etc. We spent the day out here and I never enjoyed one more.

This morning a large party from the hotel went over in the buss to the Alameda baths. Alameda is a place adjoining Oakland separated only by an arm of the bay spanned by bridges. A fearful accident occurred at the bridge we crossed over a few days since. The engineer rushed his train in before the bridge had quite come together after having opened to let a vessel pass and 3 coaches went down. 13 lives lost, many injured and worst of all he escaped. Some of our party went into the surf others into the hot, salt baths. I tried the latter and found the sensation quite agreeable.
This afternoon Brother B. got a carriage and we drove all over the resident portion of Oakland. Some lovely houses - many magnificent ones - drives lovely, specially the one by Lake Merritt just about twilight when the water looked like a sheet of shimmering quicksilver. Tonight the children had another dance - the Italian band here - music very pretty, but not the best.

This morning we left the hotel at an early hour for San Francisco to go through one of the most interesting quarters of the city, Chinatown. We got off car at the corner of Dupont Avenue† and Jackson Street walking for squares through the most densely populated region swarming with “Celestials”. We went into their stores filled with most gorgeous articles, household ornaments, embroidered robes, copper and inlaid work, ebony and mother of pearl, china, etc. One only begins to realize the ingenuity of this nation after seeing such a display. Their work is so substantial, also nearly everything handwork. There goods are expensive as the duty on them is heavy, 65%. The men at the cash stands have the most peculiar machine for counting money - balls strung on wire in a frame, which they slide back and forth with the most astonishing rapidity. They all speak pretty good English and it is the rarest thing (if) a Chinaman cannot read and write. The markets and fruit stalls attracted our attention next. The meats were prepared in most peculiar styles. There were yards and yards of little “dak” of meat that were suspiciously like rats though we did not dare ask as they are very sensitive about this feature of their diet. The display of fireworks was beautiful it being the day before the 4th - many stores were confining themselves to the sale of fireworks exclusively. In passing through the streets I jotted down on a card a few of the names of business houses, each as Hop Yick, Chu Ku, Choy Zee Long, Chong Tai, Quang Wo Chong, Sang Yune, Wig Fah Cheong, Tie Wo Houg, etc.

At every street corner the most miserable looking creatures, the [unknown]‡, the maim and the blind, the diseased of course where stationed to entrap a penny from the passers. I gave them a wide berth as the leprosy is very common among them. We lastly went to the Chinese Theatre which was a revelation in itself. It was crowded to its utmost capacity - a wooden building and every man in the building smoking. We were taken up on the stage and given seats as all visitors are and the guide interpreted the play. The female character actors were all represented by men dressed as women as it is considered a disgrace for a woman to appear on the stage. Their orchestra sat behind the actors on the stage and made the most barbarous and deafening noises by striking together great brass disks that made the air fairly tremble. We had to clap our hand to our ears and hold them there during the music. Their fiddles looked like croquet mallets with two strings. They think our music horrific and say our musicians are not smart because they study notes all the time. Theirs comes by inspiration evidently. Above the stage were hung all kinds of charms and devices to keep off evil spirits. They are so extremely superstitious they can be brought to do almost anything by working on them through this channel. The costumes were perfectly gorgeous; we were taken behinds the scenes and examined many of them. Just a mass of exquisite silk embroidered with little bits of looking glass. Set in their shoes were works of art. Their head ornaments were so, and indeed everything, resplendent in color and embroidery. We heard the star singer, a man who got $5,000 a year for stalking about the stage making the most horrible nasal sound - a cross between a caterwauling and an owl screeching - which judging from the delighted faces of the audience was highly appreciated. The private boxes were filled with Chinese ladies and children of the aristocracy, apparently, their hair most elaborately arranged and decorated, and lips painted a brilliant carmine. We left highly satisfied with our experience and heartily glad to breathe pure air again. There are at least 20,000 Chinese in San Francisco and as they live on the merest pittance (5 or 10 cents a day) and get never less than $1.00 a day for labor, it is estimated they send out of the city $25,000 every day. They never invest in real estate or otherwise in this community and send all their earnings home - a most deplorable fact. We have had our washing done by Chinamen and find them very reasonable in charges. My clothes though were badly done and I was obliged to return a dress to be ironed over. When I asked him to let me have it by the next day, he replied very indignantly “Chinaman get mad, Chinaman iron slow” but it came back all right nevertheless.

† When California came under the control of the United States following the Mexican-American War, the street now called Grant was named Dupont Avenue, in honor of a Naval admiral from the USS Portsmouth

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Yesterday was a gala day here. The 4th is made over in all this country extensively. Decorations everywhere, fire crackers and explosives began at 5 o'clock in the morning and lasted all day ending with a grand display of fireworks last night. Our hotel was beautifully decorated, both the building and grounds. The gentleman contributed most liberally and every child was given as many crackers, torpedoes, etc. as they could get away with and at night we had magnificent fireworks witnessed by several hundred people who lined the sidewalks and yards around. One piece alone representing “Good night” in beautiful colors and rockets, cost $25.00 and it was as beautiful and varied a selection as I ever saw. The Italian band played all the afternoon at the hotel and after the fireworks a dance was had in the spacious dining room.

This morning I went down in the business part of Oakland and found some beautiful stores, but goods very much higher than with us out East. I spent a most pleasant evening with one of the ladies here at the hotel. A Mrs. Vhitfield who is a Virginian and whose husband is a German of noble family and himself a very talented and scientific man - writes on scientific mining and is interested in mining in California, Nevada and Utah. Mrs. V is a charming woman has traveled everywhere, been to Europe 16 times and across the continent 8 times, is quite an artist, and has her rooms filled with sketches of her travels. She is an Episcopalian and has a lovely little girl who is quite a friend of Fannie's. Her nickname is “Chee Ra” which is Spanish for Darling. There are some very pleasant people here and I have made a good many friends among them. They are mostly Jews, but a high class of them and seem well educated, accomplished and many very rich - indeed millionaires. They dress beautifully.

Last Sunday we went over to San Francisco to Trinity Church to hear Bishop Wingfield. He is a grand looking old man but we could not well understand him. We were disappointed in the church though it was quite handsome and the singing delightful. We could have counted the people in the building - but that is not unusual out in this part of the world as religion is the least thought of feature of life, sad to say. We afterwards went by the Palace Hotel and took in the lower floor. It is quite handsome and the court beautiful and unique, but I was much disappointed in the place after hearing so much of its grandeur.
Monday I spent in be as I had been rather overdoing myself sightseeing. Brother B. and the other went over to Alameda and went in bathing reporting great fun. That evening we started over to San Francisco to the theatre but were too late for boat so Brother B. and Sister B. went downtown and unexpectedly to the Oakland Theatre. The children at the hotel were having a party and about nine o'clock Arrah Belle came to me and said Oscar was not to be found. After a thorough search all over hotel I notified the proprietor and soon everyone in the hotel was aroused - searched the premises with lanterns, went to all the neighbors, notified all the police in the city had a general big excitement and finally after 11 o'clock here Sister B. and Brother B. came quietly walking in with Oscar whom they had picked up two squares from hotel and taken to theatre, never once remembering we were not aware of the fact and we would of course be alarmed when we found found him absent. It was a very thoughtless thing in his parents to do and they realized it after seeing the disturbance it date. It completely unstrung me for I felt the responsibility of the children rested on me whey were away.
Tuesday night we went to San Francisco to see “The Old Homestead” in the new California Theatre. The play is too well know for any comment. The theatre was a perfect gem, beautifully finished in Lincrusta-Walton and oak panelling. We had intended leaving for Salt Lake City yesterday but could not secure berths in sleepers. We will leave this evening, though - a two night's and day's run. I had a nice trip downtown this morning and found a lovely Japanese store where I made quite an impression on the old Jap. Bought several things and he then presented me with a small doll baby and a peculiar Japanese coin.

We left Oakland on the evening of the 9th about 7 o'clock. We had the drawing room section and one berth our sleeper. We took breakfast at a little station called Truckee next morning. This very near the Nevada line and the station to take the stage line to Lake Tahoe a lovely resort a little south. We passed through a very barren section all day, sandy and dusty and no vegetation. It is what is known as the great desert but it is said the land only needs irrigation to be very productive. Humboldt, the dinner station is a perfect oasis and proves the truth of this supposition, for I never saw greener grass and more beautiful trees than these. Water is bought there from the Humboldt River. On the morning of the 11th we reached Ogden, Utah for breakfast and decided to spend the day. It is a very beautiful and fertile valley - has 19,000 inhabitants and going right ahead. Brother B. was more enthused over real estate here than any place on our trip. We went all over the town. They had recently had a Mardi Gras and the decorations, arches, etc. were still to be seen.
We left about 4 o'clock in the afternoon for Salt Lake City a run of 2 hours through the most fertile valley I ever saw and the snow capped mountains hemming it in on all sides. As we drove to the hotel the Mormon Temple and Tabernacle could be seen standing out as enormous sentinels over the city. Most wonderful and peculiar structures - both of them. The next morning we left on the 10 o'clock train for Garfield Beach a bathing resort on the Great Salt Lake, 22 miles distant. Great crowds go down every day. The trains running every half hour. It is a lovely place and the first glimpse I caught of the lake sent me into raptures. It is the deepest indigo in color and the most exquisite sheet of water I ever beheld. The mountains - some still white with snow, rise up from the very shores almost. The rocks on the shores are almost black and the glacial waters stretch as far as the vision reaches, while beautiful little boats and vessels rest peacefully around. We procured bathing suits and all went in the water from Brother B. down to little William. I never enjoyed anything so in my life as the 3 hours we spent in splashing and floating, etc. in those waters. It is impossible to sink unless by strangulation and we would just be back on the water and float off like corks. Our neck and arms got so thoroughly sunburned the skin all came off afterwards. We spent some time on the beautiful pavilion where there was a grand band and lovely floor for dancers. We reached the city about 4 o'clock in the afternoon when after taking drives we went for a walk. Tried to get in the square enclosing the temple but found it after the hour for admission. So we took the cars and went all over the city - saw the “Lion” and “Bee Hive” house - the latter where Brigham Young died. In these 2 houses he kept 17 of his wives - on the Lion House he put 10 gables, one to represent each wife in that house. The Eagle Gate is a beautiful piece of masonry and surmounted with an immense bronze eagle. Saw also the Gardo House - house of the President of the Church and the Amelia's Palace - built by Brigham Young's favorite wife, many other handsome residences, theatre, etc. The streets are 132 feet wide and streams of running water on both sides. This city is famed for the beauty of its streets and the quantity of foliage which latter is not a usual feature of Western cities, but just at this time everything is very dusty and not so attractive looking as later or earlier in the season when the rain washes things things clean and bright.
After dinning we went out again for a ride on the street cars to different parts of the city where we found much to interest us.
Upon returning to the hotel we found a very spirited meeting in progress. The occasion of it was an election which was pending which would decide in whose hands the schools of the territory were to be left, whether with the Mormons or Liberals (Gentiles). Utah is the only territory that has no public school system. It is through the very poor schools under Mormon control that the latter manage to disseminate there vile doctrines. Since the confiscation of their property by the Government and the prohibition of polygamy they realize that their only hope is in keeping the management of the young. The Liberals on the other hand appreciate how important it is for them to establish good schools so their enthusiasm ran high. We listened with great interest to speeches from Judge Judd, Governor Thomas and other prominent men. There were similar meetings held all over the city. Today (Sunday) we went first to an Episcopal church where we heard a very poor sermon and 3 little boys behind us behaved so scandalously we could not have been edified by the finest one ever preached. After have lunch we started off for the Mormon Tabernacle where service is held from 2 to 4:30 pm every sunday. I will not attempt an account of the building as I paste an article from the news paper with better description than I could give. We were much struck with the general dejected air of the men. They are certainly a hard looking set of people. They had communion with bread and water (which they have every Sunday) and sang some really beautiful hymns and an anthem. After prayer and reading several very “hot” speeches (not sermons) by Heber J. Grant and other “headlights” of the church, were made on the school question. However, their efforts will be in vain as the Gentiles have the majority as proven by the registration books.
This after all the others went out to the Park, but I was feeling badly and remained at the hotel. The fare at “The Continental” here is the very best we have struck yet. Though the house is rather old and dingy, beautiful shade trees and piazzas specially recommend it for families however.

We reached here at 7 this afternoon and are at the Glenarm, a nicely appointed and delightful hotel. We left Salt Lake City rather unexpectedly on Monday morning at 10 o'clock. Almost dinner time we passed the famous “Castle Gate”. While the description I insert is a fine one, nothing but an actual sight of those grand colored rocks can give one the faintest idea of their beauty. We were put to the inconvenience of changing cars at Grand Junction at 12 that night, where we were fearfully crowed on the narrow gauge sleeper. From this point to Denver is the only time we had to ride on the narrow gauge and the road is now being changed to a broad gauge one. At 5 o'clock next morning we passed the “Black Canyon” and “Curecanti Needle” but we were all asleep but Lis Belle who is perfect owl it appears. This trip of 2 days and a night from Salt Lake is graphically described by Stanley Wood in “Over the Range to the Golden Gate” which I insert giving only a few notes of our particular journey. This considered the finest scenery on the Continent specially along about Grand Canon to Marshall Pass. We began climbing the mountains about 6 o'clock by 8 a.m. reached the highest point of the pass nearly 11,000 feet above sea level. There is only one pass in the United States higher. I experienced a dreadful pain in my side and strange surging in my side which the conductor said was from the extreme altitude. Nearly everyone suffers in some way at this point, many faint or are effect about the heart. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the observation car was put on and we passed through the Grand Canon of the Arkansas, stopping right on the “swinging bridge” and gathered some rocks from the “Royal Gorge”. This was the very cream of our trip. Imagination cannot conceive of such scenes as those wild rocks towering from 1,000 to 3,000 feet skyward and it is then only that we realize the greatness of The Almighty Creator and our own insignificance. I could write a book on this feature of the trip alone, but must close now and leave space for sights yet to be told of.

We have crowded a great deal in these two days. First, yesterday morning Brother B. went out to hunt up Jim, his brother who has been west for 4 or 5 years. Luckily he was in the city and after luncheon we spent the entire day in riding over the city shopping on 16th Street, the fashionable boulevard and sightseeing generally. Denver is a grand city, built entirely of brick and stone, beautiful broad, shaded streets, magnificent public buildings. The finest opera house (Tabor Grand) in the state. Sitting on an elevation of 5,000 feet a beautiful level table land, and a population of 20,000. The state capitol, post office, opera and court house are as handsome buildings as can be erected. In the post office building 7 different kinds and colors of stone used, nearly all native and blending perfectly. The Denver Red Stone, about the color of brick, is much used in trimmings, etc. In the court house square is a magnificent spring of strong iron water, and at all times can be seen scores of people with buckets, pitchers, etc. carrying it away and they consider it almost the very elixir of life. We went to a charming opera at 15th Street Theatre last night. “Said Pasha” a Turkish and Indian play. This theatre is built after an old Spanish Theatre, pyramidal in shape and is a most peculiar looking structure. I spent this morning in letter writing, and after lunch we all (12 including Jim) went out to Elitch's Gardens, a few miles from the city. Twenty-five cents at the gate admits you to a most beautifully appointed park, zoological gardens, etc., etc. and to a large theatre where a most excellent matinee is played every day at 2 o'clock. We enjoyed it all immensely and did not return to the city till quite late after getting the children all settled off after dinner Brother B. and Sister B., Jim and I started off for a nice long walk. Denver is a brilliant by electric light. We leave tomorrow 8 a.m. for Fort Worth, Texas - a run of 2 days and a night. It is very warm and we are suffering with the heat for the first time since we got out of Harriman, Tennessee.

We reached here at 8 o'clock this morning after one of the most exhaustive trips it is possible to have. The journey from Denver to the panhandle of Texas was not to be complained of. We were passing through pretty, diversified country and had nice people on board specially a young Mrs. Reeme whom we saw a great deal of. But it was very warm and next morning we woke up at a blazing place and were informed that a bridge over a ravine had been burnt and would be delay us 12 hours. The news was overwhelming as the thermometer was 107° in the shade and supplies on the sleeper low. We backed to the nearest station (6 miles) and there spent the day. Childress is a miserable collection of shanties, saloons, etc. set right in the midst of a boundless prairie, nothing in the shape of a tree as far as the eye could reach and only prairie dogs to divert ones mind. We spent some time over at a rough shanty pretentiously called the “Hotel” also took dinner there and were much amused at the lady of the house, always speaking of her husband as “The Jude” - a great lank, gaunt man with pop eyes and an air as if he had never been outside of a cornfield in his life. However, Judge and Mrs. Campbell contributed much to our comfort and we were only too glad to be amused with anything that long, sweltering day. The children stood the heat much better than we did and went wild over chasing prairie dogs in the broiling hot sun.

The water in that part of Texas cannot be used at all (gypsum) and that afternoon it all gave out on the cars and for 9 hours we were without it. I never suffered so in my life and it was 12 o'clock that night before we reached a station where any could be taken on and ice gotten. We became very friendly with “our companions in misery”, specially pleasant found a William Chamberlain, worth $6,000,000, of Denver and Mr. Downes of Boston who are stopping at the “picnic” with us. We just went to the Mansion House this morning upon arriving, but had such poor attention and fare we left after dinner and came over here where we are much more comfortable. Have 4 rooms, but it is so so hot and the mosquitoes are perfectly awful. This evening Mrs. Reeme, who is stopping at the Ellis House, came to call and we made her stay for dinner and then all took a walk by electric light.

The 3 days and nights spent here have been like a taste of the hereafter. None of us have slept for the heat and mosquitoes and our only comfort would be to sit up in the window most of the night fanning and eating ice. Sunday night Sister B. had a very severe attack of colic and all yesterday sick from effects. Brother B. went down to Cleburne yesterday on business reaching home about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. I did not get my trunk till about 12 o'clock yesterday being 36 hours in this heat without it. I spent most of the day in my room trying to keep cool and to keep the children away from Sister B. Went out shopping after dinner and paid a short call to Mrs. Reeme and met her husband, an insignificant little Jew while she is a bright, pretty little Gentile. The inconsistently of this world! After tea I took several of the children out for a walk and we also went in to get soda ice cream and see and see the picture of the burning “Spring Palace”, an exposition building that had been burnt while thousands of people were in it last May. In 7 minutes the whole building (a frame one) was in flames and yet only one man was killed in escaping. It was wonderful. While looking over a directory in a drug store I found the name of my old schoolmate Fanny Talbot whom I remembered had moved from St. Louis here several years ago. I took her address and early this a.m. started out to look her up. Her mother met me at the door and when I made myself known was lovely to me and after telling me that Fanny had married the winter before and lived near made an engagement to take me to drive that afternoon. I then went to Fanny's (Mrs. Burnsides) and nearly surprised her into a “conniption” fit by appearing perfectly unannounced. I had not seen her in 10 years and of course we had lots to talk about, so spent the morning. Met her husband too.
At 2 o'clock Fanny, Mr. and Mrs. Talbot - a lovely old couple, called for me in a lovely little turn out and drove me all over the city. The “highlands” around are lovely and some magnificent residences, etc. out there. Fort Worth has abut 30 or 40 thousand people and booming right ahead. My friends urged me to stay over and spend a month with them, but of course I cannot accept. Some friends of Brother B.'s (Mr. & Mrs. Ross) called this evening and took them out dining so we have all had a good view of Fort Worth. We leave this evening at 6:40.

On our way to the depot in Fort Worth we decided to come via New Orleans and a most beautiful trip it has been. All day yesterday we were delighted with the beautiful scenes along the road side. After passing Shreveport early in the morning the growth began to become very luxurious and then we came to the beautiful sugar cane and rice plantations with their beautiful old homes surrounded by a nest of negro quarters, and old fashioned farms and cribs all painted white and showing up so beautifully against the dark green field of waving rice and sugar cane around. We saw many sugar refineries and swarms of the blackest most genuine negroes with their white teeth gleaming in friendly recognition of the passengers as the trains would stop at the statins. I went into ecstasies over the forests of magnolia trees, palms (fan palms), beautiful grey moss festooning the trees for miles and making them look so mournful and graceful; and the luxurious, wild undergrowth around and in the lagoons and bayous. We were ferried across the Mississippi about 5 o'clock p.m. in a hard rain. It only took us 9 minutes to cross while we were 45 minutes over the Columbia river so we were disposed to think the Mississippi a very insignificant affair.

We stopped at the Hotel Vanderbank and after going out to a restaurant for supper were only too glad to retire and rest after our day and nights journey. This morning we started out bright and early, but by the time we had gotten through with breakfast at the restaurant it was raining hard and continued to pour all day. We took the 3 older children, got on the car and went through the old French Market, one of the greatest sights of the city. None but foreigners keep this market and the jargon is like a Bedlam. It is highly interesting though and display very fine especially fruits, which are very cheap. We stocked an elegant lunch basket here.

We then went to the French Cathedral, a magnificent, dim painted, old affair, then to Jackson Square, just opposite. Here we saw bananas and oranges growing, japonicas, oleanders, etc. blooming and were extravagant in our admiration of the poised statue of Jackson. It is considered a most wonderful piece of work. The bronze horse on which Jackson is seated is plunging and poised in such a way that it is marvelous that the equilibrium is maintained. It is said it cannot be duplicated.

We then went to call on some old friends of ours, formerly of Raleigh - Messrs. Peter and Ed Pescud, who were lovely to us, took us out to their home on one of the most beautiful streets in the city. We were delighted with Mrs. Peter Pescud and the kindness shown us. New Orleans is a very distinctive city - narrow streets, high antique old buildings and slow old mule cars instead of the bustling cable and electric cars we have been seeing.

We left the city at 4 p.m. and barely made our train. We have apartments on the Mann Boudoir Cars. They are perfectly elegant.

Home again! After leaving New Orleans we passed over a trestle 22 miles long, then over 6 miles of Lake Pontchartrain where in one direction land was entirely out of sight. The country east of New Orleans is not near so interesting as on the other side. We reached Birmingham about 3 o'clock and were so sleepy we took a room at the hotel opposite and slept the 4 hours we had to lie over here. Then on to Atlanta in a pouring rain which we reached that afternoon at 3 o'clock. After taking dinner at a restaurant we took a car and went several miles out on Peach Tree Street. Then we shopped on Whitehall Street and left Atlanta about 7 o'clock that afternoon. Atlanta did not seem at all booming after the western places we visited. We reached Blacksburg at 2:30 this morning and took the noon train for this place. Brother B. got a buggy and took us up on Mount Whitaker and Mr. Marshall called and went to depot with us at Blacksburg. We found the whole family here to meet us and there is great rejoicing over our return. I feel improved in body and mind by my trip and it will be a never ending source of pleasure to recall it by reading this dear old diary.