Calgary, Alberta, Canada In 1902

 

Rummaging in a basket at a thrift store, I found a small tourist pamphlet dated 1902 touting Calgary. Published by the Board of Trade, City Council of Calgary, the little 30-page brochure was such a fun read!

"The country surrounding Calgary has been especially favored by nature in more ways than one." Then all the wonders of nature were extolled. 

"It may be safely said, for the meterological records amply prove it, that there is no place in the western hemisphere that enjoys more bright sunshine the year around than Central and Southern Alberta."

"Free homesteads may be secured within from 3 to 20 miles of the city, and improved farms and ranches can be purchased at reasonable prices."

"The capitalist will find in Calgary an interesting and profitable field for investment; the existing channels for investment are legion."

"The Calgary district offers high wages to good domestic servants. In the city of Calgary, $10 and $12 per month is the common wage for household work."

"The invalid will find in Calgary a gracing and pleasant climate to recuperate his health. The virtues of its invigorating ozone and almost continual sunshine are becoming universally extolled." 

Prices: "Butter, 18cents per pound; potatoes, 1penny per pound; eggs, 15cents per dozen; poultry, 12cents per pound; pork, 6cents per pound; beef, 2 cents per pound." 

No wonder "936 homesteads were taken up and 41,000 acres of Canadian Pacific Railroad Lands purchased during the year of 1901." (The land was purchased for $3.00 per acre.)

Did your ancestor settle permanently or temporarily in Calgary?? Sounds like a wonderful place, no? 

Union Pacific Railroad BUSES??

 

    

Bet you would never have guessed that the Union Pacific Railroad operated passenger buses! But they did, through Union Pacific Stages, Interstate Transit Lines and Union Pacific Railroad of Sun Valley.

Union Pacific bus stages ran between town where the railroad did not connect them. Locally, UP started in 1927 to run a bus route between Pendleton and Walla Walla. Soon routes to Salt Lake City and Portland were added and as decades passed, more routes were added. The route to connect rail lines to Sun Valley was completed in 1939. 

The UP sold its stages (buses) to Greyhound in 1952. 

With Grandma Google's help (:-)) I located a 21-page article, Buses of the Union Pacific Railroad, published in the Mar-Apr 1991 edition of Utah Rails. This article had a good many black-and-white photos of these old buses.

If you'd like to set aboard one of these buses, visit the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Omaha, where they boast "150 Years of Rail History."  Here's the link: UP RR Museum

Did you, or your ancestor, ever ride on a Union Pacific BUS??

Washington Place Names

 

This is The Most Delightful book! Written in 1971 by James W. Phillips, its nearly 180 pages give a bit of history for scores of places in the Evergreen State. For instance:

Cashmere:  Originally known as Mission as a result of early Catholic missions established in the area between 1850s and 1870s. Town renamed in 1903 to emulate in name, as well as fertility and valley setting, the beautiful and productive Vale of Kashmir in India. 

Hadlock:  Originally known as Port Hadlock, the town was named for founder Samuel Hadlock, who built the Washington Mill Co. on Port Townsend Bay in 1870. 

Home: In Pierce County; established as a social reform colony in 1896 on Carr Inlet by George H. Allen and named to demonstrate the group's friendship to all.

Maple Valley:  Named Vine Maple Valley by the first settlers in 1879 because of the maple trees growing along that portion of the cedar River, the name was shortened by postal officials in 1888.

Moclips:  A Quinault Indian word describing a place where maidens were sent to undergo puberty rites.

Monse:  In Okanogan County; original name of Swansea was changed in 1916 to honor Mons, Belgium, where the British fought the first battle of WWI on 23 August 1914.

Jovita:  In Pierce County; Townsite developed by the Jovita Land Co. of Seattle. 

Joyce:  In Clallam County; named in 1913 by its first postmaster J.M. Joyce, who operated a store, a shingle mill and a farm nearby.

Otis Orchards:  In Spokane County; originally a railroad flag station called Otis after an early settler; name amended in 1908 with the establishment of a post office to tie into the area's image as a fruit growing center.

Lots more to come! This book is still available if you want a copy. 

Typical Inventory from 1666 in Massachusetts

 

So often in the 17th century, a will was handwritten and was accompanied by an inventory. This inventory was mandated by law and some of the items might be sold to pay off any debts of the deceased. This was the inventory of Aquila Chase, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, dated 15 May 1666. 

I ask you: how many pages would it take to "inventory" every single one of your possessions? And would there be archaic terms then that were well known today...... like "saw and pillion." What is a pillion? What is an "Apple watch?" An "electric hot pot?" 

And take note of what you don't see: any art, music, crafts, hobbies, things we would call comfort things like fuzzy slippers or teddy bears? Could YOU cook a meal using just the utensils mentioned here? 

                                                                    Eleven swine

                                                                    Twenty sheepe

                                                        Two heifers & three calves

                                                                One steer & three calves

                                                            One feather bed/ bolster/pillows

Blanket & curtains

Wearing apparell

One new curtain

Six paire of sheets

Linen yarne

20 lbs of woollen  yarne

One bed furniture/blankett

70 bushels Indian corne

6 bushels barley

Some wheat, rye & pease

Saw & pillion

2 wheels

Muskett/swort/pike

                                                                        1 saddle/bridle

                                                            3 iron potts/hookes/tramells

                                                            Spitt/fire pan/tongues/peele

                                                        1 fryeing pan/greediron/ 2 skilletts

                                                                        Carpenter tooles

                                                                4 axes/ beetle & wedges

                                                        Pewter platters/basons/potts/spones

                                                                    Box of earthenware

                                                                        Books/ 2 chests

                                                                        Hog lard/butter

                                                                        Grinding stone

                                                                    Cart/dung pott/plow

                                                                    Yoakes & Chaines

                                                                            Old lumber

1 hay boate 

 

 

 

 

 

Saloons in the "Wild West"

 Looking back in those wild west days, we might be astonished at the number of saloons in most towns in the far West. Frontier communities and camps in the mountains (mining, lumbering, etc.) were saturated in alcohol. Much of the color and vitality of life on the frontier was associated with the saloon and so was much of its violence and degradation. 

But the shoot-'em-up tradition of Western history usually ignores the ways in which the saloon helped the urban frontiersman cope with his many pressing problems.  Saloons were meeting places, entertainment centers, refuges for the weary and haunt of the mischief-maker. There has been plenty of words written about the societal aspects of these "places of refreshment." I'd like to share something else I learned about "wild west" saloons.

Leafing through old photos or visiting restored towns, today's tourist will find three types of buildings dominating the rest: the church, the fraternal lodge and saloons. These institutions gave the pioneer something he considered important. The church, the lodge and the saloon might seem different but shared certain characteristics and afforded similar sociality. 

Each of these places strove to recreate the structure, trappings and decor of the same sort left behind "back East." The church had its altar and symbols, the lodge its emblems, and the saloon its bar, games and traditional artwork. Each place had its rituals and distinctive vernacular transplanted directly to the frontier.. Each had is figure of authority: minister, grand master and barkeeper, all of whom dressed in special vestments, set the tone, welcomed the newcomer and served as a keeper of tradition. 

This post comes from a wonderful 10-page article titled Men, Whisky & A Place To Sit, by Elliott West, in the July 1981 issue of American History Illustrated.  Minor moral of this story? Never overlook old magazines in thrift stores! 

The Embalmed Meat Scandal in 1898

 

Today, canning is a convenient and safe way to preserve all kinds of food, but in 1898 and the early 1900s, it was a very different story..... the Embalmed Meat Scandal during the Spanish-American War caused soldiers and all American citizens to lose trust in their government for a time. 

Remember that refrigeration was, in those early days, an innovation not yet perfected. Experimentation in the early 1900s led to risky conclusions. No wonder the Embalmed Meat Scandal occurred.

The average soldier in the Spanish-American War had a typical ration containing 12 to 20 ounces of meat. When soldiers began opening cans of meat and discovering something that smelled of "bouquets of cesspools" they began dumping this meat into the water or eating it and feeling sick. Word quickly spread about this "embalmed beef" which was said to smell like an embalmed human body. The government and military officials tried to get the situation under control; this ultimately led to better quality control for preserving food.

The instigator of the Embalmed Meat Scandal was Major-Gen. Nelson Miles who stated on December 1, 1898, that 337 tons of embalmed beef were sent to troops in Puerto Rico the previous summer. This caused public outrage and a full scale investigation as to what was in the food American soldiers and citizens were eating. 

I had read Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle, which describes in horrific detail how meat packing plants in Chicago operated in the early 1900s. You want a good but awful read? Try this one. 

And think how this situation affected YOUR ancestors, possibly?

Bickleton: Bluebird Capitol of the World

 

 

Did you know that our very own Bickleton in Klickitat County is known as the Bluebird Capitol of the WORLD? It's so called because thousands of bluebirds spend most of the year in the area.  Bickleton has become a bluebird-watchers' paradise.

The area was first settled by Charles Bickle in 1879; he established a trading post and livery stable. Like most early residents, he was also a rancher and wheat farmer. A series of fires in 1937 and 1947 destroyed many of the town's original buildings; the oldest surviving building is the Bluebird Inn which opened in 1882 and still serves guests.

In the 1960s, Jess and Elva Brinkerhoff were picnicking in this small town and put a can in a tree for some birds. This quickly became a local fad and now there are thousands of birdhouses purposely built to house bluebirds. Both Mountain and Western Bluebirds come; the above is a Western Bluebird. 

And "thousands" of bluebird watchers come every year to see these very special birds. Have you been one? Want to be one?

  

Pioneer Pursuit: Good Winter Project

 

Needing a worthwhile way to spend time these housebound cold winter days?

 How about a Cold Case Ancestor research project?!? The Washington State Genealogical Society still has a long list of individuals and families needing to be researched. These would be those who were known to be in Washington Territory BEFORE statehood (11 Nov 1889). There is an index of these pioneers and indigenous families on their website..... take your pick! 

Resources you might use are Ancestry, FamilySearch, Washington Digital Archives, Find A Grave, USGenWeb, Linkpendium, WA Territorial censuses ......... any resource you've used in the past for your own research.

The really good news about this volunteer project is that since it's not your family, just find what you can find, period. If you find lots, great. But only scarce documentation, that's fine too. 

Click to Washington State Genealogical Society and then Pioneer Pursuit and look at the Sample, Hints & Helps, Frequently Asked Questions and Instructions. 

Why not get busy helping to document these wonderful Washington pioneers.......... and before you know it, spring will be here!

Trees: Older By Far Than Your Ancestors Are

 

Today let's talk about the oldest tree in the world and the loneliest tree in the world. And we think our "tree" is old!

"Scientists have examined an ancient tree still growing in a remote part of central Chile's Alerce Costero National Park, claiming it could be the oldest tree in the world. They believe it has survived for more than 5,000 years making it older that California's 4,850-year-old Methuselah, the bristlecone pine.  Known as "Gran Abuelo," or great-grandfather, the Patagonian cypress can be accessed only by an hour-long hike and is patrolled by a number of park rangers to make sure it is not harmed. The tree is 189-feet tall and is 13-feet in diameter." (Bit in Spokesman Review.)

Nestled in a windswept cove on far south end of New Zealand's Campbell Island, is a lone tree that should not be there. A 30-foot tall Sitka spruce has grown into a cauliflower shape rather than the cone-shape typical of the species. How in the world did a Sitka spruce, native to the North American western coast, end up here? Well, according to Google, the lonely tree was planted about 1900 by New Zealand's then-governor, Lord Ranfurly. More than 100 years later, the introduced spruce is considered the most isolated tree in the world. 

The conifer endures not only isolation but also the wild weather of the "Furious Fifties" latitudes. Campbell Island has 325 days of rain per year and gale-force winds for 100 days per year. Surprisingly, the spruce seems to be thriving in these conditions and still growing. 

In many Native American cultures, trees are considered to be ancestors, meaning they are viewed as part of the family lineage and are deeply respected as living beings with a spirit, sharing a connection to the past generations and the natural world at large; this belief stems from the understanding that humans and trees are interconnected and part of the same life force. (AI generated response in Google.)

Mother Goose: We Grew Up With Her

 

"Scholars do not agree about the identity of the original Mother Goose, the legendary creator of nursery rhymes that have endured though the centuries. But the real American Mother Goose was a Boston grandmother named Elizabeth Foster Goose, whose son-in-law, Thomas Fleet, 'was almost driven distracted' by her singing, rhyming and storytelling until, in 1719, he turned her creations into a profit by publishing them in a pamphlet, Mother Goose Melodies. This launched his mother-in-law into immortality. 

"Mother Goose" was born Elizabeth Foster in Charleston, Massachusetts, in 1655. When she was 27 she married Isaac Goose (originally Vergoose) and took over the mothering of the 55-year-old widower's ten children. She bore Goose six additional children.

One of her daughters, also named Elizabeth, married Thomas Fleet, an exiled printed from England who had a shop on Boston's Pudding Lane. Grandmother Elizabeth often minded the couples' seven children and entertained them endlessly with her stories in rhyme. 

"Mother Goose" died in Boston in 1757 at the age of 92 and was buried in the Old Granary Burying Ground. 

I'm sure you recognize this:  "Old mother Hubbard went to her cupboard to give her poor dog a bone. When she got there, the cupboard was bare and so the poor dog had none."

(Big thanks to the July 1981 issue of American History Illustrated  for this editorial bit penned by Peggy Robbins.) 

Thoughts & Quotes

 

I keep a ongoing list of thought-provoking quotes and thoughts. And I find them everywhere!

From Alex Haley, author of Roots:

* When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand, nor can your hand pick up anything.

* When you search enough for something bad, you're just likeable to find something good.

From Frank Herbert, author of Dune:

*Thou shalt not make a machine to counterfeit a human mind.

* To attempt to see the light without knowing darkness cannot be.

* Everything must take its course.

* Every experience carries its lesson.

* Greatness is a transitory experience.

*Respect for truth comes close to being the basis for morality.

From Jane Goodall:

* "You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and your have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

From Geraldine Brooks, author of March:

*"There is only one thing to do when we fall and that is to get up and go on with the life that is set in front of us and try to do the good of which we are capable for the people who come into our path."

I do hope you enjoyed these thoughts from my mind. 

The FRAMEwork Approach

 

EWGS member, Karen Lehfeldt, shared a genealogy book with me that she was studying. The title was what I used above and it was by Sally Romano (www.genealogyspace.com).  The ideas were so good that I HAD to share them with you in hopes that they will spark you mind to better genealogy researching. 

* The FRAMEwork Approach helps identify the key steps on which to focus your research.

* The FW Approach is a guidance process that involves five recurring steps per level.

* F - Focus - identify objective

* R - Records - brain-storm and jot down every to-do idea

* A - Assort - sort and group these ideas into read To-Dos

* M - Maximize - ensure that you're planning SMART Goals:

• S - Specific Goals - what do I want to achieve?
• M - Measurable Goals - how will I know when I've found the answer?
• A - Achievable Goals - can I achieve it?
• R - Relevant Goals - does it help me achieve what I want?
• T - Timely Goals - when do I need to know it by?

* E - Execute - activate your plan, regularly tracking your progress.

The final words to the lesson were these: You cannot manage what you don't measure.

Spotlight: Whitman County WA Historical Society

 

Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington, was formed on 29 November 1871 and named in honor of Marcus Whitman, the missionary killed (along with his wife and others) by the Cayuse in 1847. Washington State University has its home in Pullman which is also the county seat.

Organized in 1972, the Whitman County Historical Society strives to preserve the history and cultural heritage of the region. The society owns two museums, three historic buildings, publishes a newsletter and a historical journal and maintains a growing archival collection. 

WOW, eh?

The Bunchgrass Historian is a periodical dedicated to the history of Whitman County and began publication in 1973. Back issues are available for downloading and an index is posted on their website, www.whitmancountyhistoricalsociety.org.

The society also publishes a newsletter, posted free to the public on their Facebook page and on their website. 

A unique feature offered by this group is the Pullman Business Directory, 1881-1993, also available on their website. 

Another unique project is this: The Lost Apple Project: "If you have an old apple tree whose variety is unknown and that you think may qualify for the Lost Apple Project, contact apple detective David Benscotter. The project seeks to identify and preserve apple varieties in Eastern WA, Northern ID and Oregon that were once thought to be extinct. Benscotter and his volunteers have found over 29 such apple varieties since he discovered the "Nero" growing on Steptoe Butte in 2015." 

Of course you want to know what the Nero apple looked like:

L P

Contact Davi
dbens23@gm

Emerson Andrew DeRoehn: 1890-1925

 Sometimes images just say it all, Spokane Daily Chronicle, Tuesday, January 6, 1925: 

From our Washington Digital Archives:

From the Boston Globe, January 16, 1925:

From Find A Grave: 

Rest in Peace, dear Private Emerson Andrew DeRoehn. 

Velveeta "Cheese:" Love It Or Hate It

 

What American family beginning in the 1940s did not succumb to the allure of Velveeta cheese? Or was it really cheese?

Here's the story: Way back in 1916, Jacob Weisl owned the Monroe Cheese Company in New York and had a problem. What to do with the broken or misshapen bits of cheese from his factory? His helper-genius, Emil Frey, spent two years tinkering and in 1918 came up with a new way to utilize the bits and pieces and turn them into a saleable product. Frey dubbed it Velveeta and it became an instant hit. By 1923, the name was changed to the Velveeta Cheese Company and this "sensationally satiny" cheese was being marketed across America and Europe. 

Kraft Foods bought the company in 1927 and changed the recipe replacing real cheese with the paragraph of chemical elements that still graces the package today. 

No matter, Velveeta fans remained loyal. The New York Times in 1976 declared Velveeta a "worldwide favorite," with sales in America hitting an astonishing 8.75 pounds for every American. Sales figures for 2023 show net sales of about $27 billion. 

Yikes, indeed, for a "cheese product" that, in fact, technically does not contain cheese. 

(Source: Smithsonian Magazine, Jan-Feb 2025)

Hood Canal: Bay, River Or Fjord?

 

Everybody in Washington knows about Hood Canal but how much do we know? 

Named by Capt. George Vancouver on May 13, 1792, in honor of Admiral Lord Samuel Hood, Hood Canal is a fjord-like body of water lying west of the main basins of Puget Sound. It is a natural waterway and not a man-made canal. 

Hood Canal is long (about 50 miles)  and narrow (average width, 1.5 miles), with a mean depth of 177 feet and has 213 miles of shoreline and 42 miles of tideland. 

Formed some 13,000 years ago, Hood Canal was created by retreating glaciers. True fjords are long narrow inlets in valleys carved by glacial activity; hence Hood Canal originating off Puget Sound and the Salish Sea.

This is a proposal to change the name of Hood Canal to Salish Fjord since the feature is not a canal. This name change would also honor the Salish Nation whose peoples have been there for thousands of years. 

Stay tuned on that idea. :-)  

Keechelus: A Lake Or A Reservoir?

 

This is the view of Lake Keechelus that we usually see as we zoom over Snoqualmie Pass, right? But it has a different, more lovely, view:

Keechelus is both a lake and a reservoir in Kittitas County, Washington (approximately 50 miles southeast of Seattle). 

I had long thought this lake was a reservoir for Seattle's water, but not so.  The lake was/is the source of the Yakima River and is used as a storage reservoir for the Yakima irrigation needs. Although a natural lake, Keechelus Lake's storage capacity and discharge is controlled by Keechelus Dam, a 128-foot high earth-fill structure built in 1917.

The name Keechelus comes from the Native American term meaning "few fish," in contrast to nearby Kachess Lake, whose name means "more fish." 

As you zoom along I-90 the next time, take a good look at Keechelus Lake and, being in the know, smile. 

Ever Been To Castle Clinton??

 

If you've been to Castle Garden you've been to Castle Clinton! This monument is a restored circular sandstone fort within Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan in New York City. 

Castle Clinton stands near where Fort Amsterdam was built in 1626; this fort was demolished by 1790 after the Revolutionary War. As war was still on the horizon, a new fort on the site was deemed necessary. Originally known as West Battery, and constructed between 1808 and 1811, this fort never saw warfare and by 1822 the fort was ceded to the city by an act of Congress. The fort reopened as Castle Garden in 1824. 

Between 1824 and 1855, the structure has functioned as a beer garden, exhibition hall, theater and public aquarium. Jenny Lind gave her first U.S. performance here in 1850 with tickets costing the 2023 equivalent of over $8000. 

From 1855 to 1890, Castle Garden was the first American immigration station. More than 7.5 million people came to America here between 1855 and 1890. (The Ellis Island Immigration Station opened in 1892.)

According to the Wikipedia article, "many of Castle Garden's original immigrant passenger records were stored at Ellis Island where they were destroyed in a fire in 1897." That's the sad news; the happy news is that the majority of immigrants processed at Castle Garden were from Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Scotland and Sweden. 

So did your immigrant ancestor come to America through Castle Clinton??? 

P.S. Wikipedia has a dandy long informational article on this place. 

Washington Trivia Quiz & Prize!

 

This is/was SUCH a delightful little book and it will be YOURS.... IF you can honestly take the quiz and send your answers to me. Honestly means no internet searching for answers! See how much Washington trivia you really know! Here goes:

1. List the names of the territorial governors (are 14). 

2. List the names of the state governors (are 23 to newly elected Ferguson).

3. What is the Washington State's official  __________:

Amphibian

Bird

Dinosaur

Endemic Mammal

Fish

Flower

Fruit

Grass

Insect

Marine Mammal

Tree

Vegetable

Fossil

Gem

Waterfall

If you choose to take this quiz, copy and paste your answers in an email to me, Donna243@gmail.com, with "QUIZ" in the subject line, and your mailing address.

 Deadline is February 28, 2025. Have fun!

FamilySearch Mobile App..... Are You Missing Out?

 

Note: The FamilySearch Mobile app is a simplified version of the web version and does require that you are comfortable using and navigating a mobile phone or tablet. 

Have you ever had to fill up some too-long minutes waiting.... at an appointment at Les Schwab, for a prescription to be filled, or for the doctor or for the kids' game to get over?? Here is something to help made that "empty" time productive (and to keep your blood pressure down from waiting). Viola! Try the FamilySearch Mobile App!

The FamilySearch Mobile App consists of three major parts:

1. Family Tree -- is a full featured genealogy app to add, edit and share your family story and use record hints to grow your family tree branches.(You likely have already used this feature.)

2. Memories -- is a way to capture important family events as they happen, to use your phone to preserve photos or documents or to record audio stories from older generations.

3. Get Involved -- is a fun way to help make historical records searchable for free online, to make it possible for people to find their ancestors online, to give back to the community in a simple and easy way and to use your spare time in a meaningful way.  

Here's how to download the FamilySearch Mobile App:

* Open the Apple App Store or Google Play Store or go to www.familysearch.org/mobile-apps.  For Kindles, first download the Google Play app or ta the Play Store for Android.

*Search for FamilySearch

*Once found, download thusly:

    ** Android: tap INSTALL

    ** Apple: tap GET

    ** Kindle: tap GET APP

    ** When the app finished its installation, tap the icon to open it and login using your FamilySearch credentials.

Travel by Stagecoach, Part 2

 

Recently enjoyed a visual trip through Long Day's Journey: The Steamboat & Stagecoach Era in the Northwest by Carlos Arnaldo Schwates, published in 1999. What an eye-opener! This book was "a study of transportation in American life, focusing on the era defined by the steamboat and stagecoach." Boy oh boy did it ever!  

Part 2: Overland Stagecoach Etiquette: "Never ride in cold weather with tight boots or shoes, nor close-fitting gloves. Bathe your feet before staring in cold water and wear loose overshoes and gloves two or three sizes to large. When the driver asks you to get off and walk, do it without grumbling. He will not request it unless absolutely necessary. If a team runs away, sit still and take your chances; if you jump, nine times out of ten you will be hurt. In very cold weather abstain entirely from liquor while on the road; a man will freeze twice as quick while under its influence. Don't growl at food at stations; stage companies generally provide the best they can. Don't keep the stage waiting; many a virtuous man has lost his character by so doing. Don't smoke a strong pipe inside, especially in the morning and spit out on the leeward side of the coach. If you have anything to take in a bottle, pass it around; a man who drinks by himself in such a case is lost to all human feeling. Provide stimulants before starting; ranch whiskey is not always nectar. 

Be sure to take two heavy blanket with you; you will need them! Don't swear, nor lop over on your neighbor when sleeping. Take small change to pay expenses. Never attempt to fire a gun or pistol while on the road; it may frighten the team and the careless handling and cocking of the weapon makes people nervous. Don't discuss politics or religion. Do not point out places on the road where horrible murders have been committed if delicate women are among the passengers. Don't linger too long at the pewter wash basin at the station. Don't grease your hair before starting or dust will stock there in sufficient quantities."

This stagecoach etiquette advice was published in the Omaha Herald, October 3, 1877. 

Travel By Stagecoach & Steamboat, Part 1

 

  

Recently enjoyed a visual trip through Long Day's Journey: The Steamboat & Stagecoach Era in the Northwest by Carlos Arnaldo Schwates, published in 1999. What an eye-opener! This book was "a study of transportation in American life, focusing on the era defined by the steamboat and stagecoach." Boy oh boy did it ever!

The many pictures in the book tell the tale. Here are men in hats, vests and white shirts. Here are women in hats, long skirts with babies and baggage. All are waiting to board a river steamboat heading west. (Pause to imagine this: lots of uncomfortable clothing, no rest rooms or privacy, babies howling, bring all your own food and mud everywhere. Would YOU survive?) Not until the completion of the railroad link in the late 1800s (Great Lakes to Puget Sound) did the trip from east to west become quicker, easier and less dangerous. 

Stagecoach travel was no less daunting by our modern standards. Stage routes did wind from Omaha, Kansas City or St. Joseph and could get you to Salt Lake City, Boise, Helena, Sacramento, Portland or Tacoma. An ad in Denver's Rocky Mountain News in 1864 proclaimed that taking the overland stage route "would take passengers in quick time and with every convenience offered from Atchison, Kansas, to Salt Lake City in "only" five days. Pause to imagine those five days: Packed elbow to elbow on wooden seats, jostling along in a carriage with bad springs, open windows letting in dust and insects (or rain and snow), dressed in way too many clothes and with other unwashed people, smelly babies and men smoking. Potty stops were spare, with no privacy, and no food or water unless you brought your own. There were frequent stops to help get the coach out of the muddy road ruts. And of course there were Indians and bandits. I won't speak for you, but I doubt that I would have survived with my sanity intact and my bowels impacted. 

Part Two next time.... "Advice to Passengers." 

 

Hate Wash Day? HA!

 

Don't we groan when the laundry basket overflows and we've no choice but to do the wash? We've got it SOOO much easier than our ancestors did!!  This bit was printed in the December 2010 issue of The Bulletin (Eastern Washington Genealogical Society). Enjoy.......... and be thankful!

Grandma's "Receet" for Washington Clothes..... Years ago, a Kentucky grandmother gave a new bride the following directions for washing clothes. It appears below just as it was written and despite the spelling has a bit of philosophy:

1. bild fire in backyard to heet kettle of rain water

2. set tubs so smoke won't blow in eyes if wind is pert

3. shave one hole cake lie soap in billin water

4. sort things, make 3 piles. 1puile white, 1 pile cullord, 1 pile work briches and rags (Guess what "rags" meant!!)

5. stir flour in cold water to smooth then thin down with billin water

6. Rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, then bile. Rub collord, don't bile, just rench in starch.

7. take white things out of kettle with broom-stick handle, then rench, blew and starch.

8. spread tee towels on grass

9. hang old rags on fence

10. pour rench water on flour bed

11. turn tubs upside down

12. go put on clean dress, smooth hair with side combs, brew cup of set, set and rest and rock a spell and count blessins. 

When we see movie or TV shows with our ancestors in snowy white SHEETS, I always think "how did they ever.....!"