Buy this book on-line

MARY A. CRAWFORD : 1915 HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT TRAVEL DIARY AND LOG BY A MOTHER TAKING HER SON FROM OHIO TO ALASKA BY WAY OF THE SAN FRANCISCO WORLD'S FAIR EXPOSITION AND CANADA

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. On offer is a detailed handwritten manuscript travel diary by Mary A. Crawford, [Feb 13, 1864 in Pittsburg, PA - Oct. 16, 1939]. This is an impressive travel log detailing travels to the West Coast, including Alaska from Ohio in 1915. The diary identifies the author through a newspaper article slipped between the pages; "Mrs. Mary Crawford and son Springer of Plymouth Avenue are planning to leave Dayton June 21st, for Alaska, and all western points of interest. They will be away for several months." Sixty-three pages of entries that talk about their trip on board the train, sailing on steamships and viewing the sights and sounds of the West. They also visit the World's Fair Exposition while in San Francisco. Itinerary included: Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Paul, Banff Canada, Lake Louise, Sicamones, Prince Rupert, Vancouver, Skagway, Caribou Y.T., Carcross Y.T., Atlin B.C., Discovery Mine on Spruce Creek, Sewellyn Glacier, White Horse, Skagway, Treadwell Gold Mine, Victoria, Seattle Washington, Portland Oregon, San Francisco California, Del Monte California, Coronado Beach California, Santa Barbara, Spokane Washington, and back home. There are overviews that Mary filled in such as her itinerary which consists of two pages, hotels stopped at (one page) and people met (two pages). After that there is one page that she also filled in, titled "Incidents." It looks like on this page she wrote down a few things that happened worth noting, such as; "June 25, Left Cincinnati in a rush and almost missed the train. Couldn't find R.R. tickets and almost were put off train…July 20th, At Victoria, B.C. We reluctantly part with our traveling companion, Miss Linton….July 22nd, We miss our boat for Frisco by 15 minutes and have to wait 48 hours…July 26th, We meet Miss Linton on the Zone in San Francisco….August 8th, Receive nervous shock at seeing Miss Linton once more….August 8th, lose our baggage…..August 11th, Met Jack Dwight, old Newman fellow….Aug. 19th, Everybody sick on board ship." "June 26th, Arrived here at 10:00 a.m The people in the station were mostly foreigners. Meet a gentleman from Marcus Iowa. Lord knows where that is, I don't. Geo. Coburn is his name. In the afternoon went out to Minnetonka Lake. Longest trolley ride I ever had for ten cents. It wasn't worth two. Came back by way of Minneapolis. It's a pretty good town. So far I haven't seen anything wild or wooly about the west. It's fairly civilized here." "June 29th, We are traveling across North Dakota and southern Canada today. The country is flat as a table top. Haven't seen a tree since yesterday afternoon. There are no towns. Once in a while we see a farm building. The weather is hot even this far north. We will cross the Canadian boundary this evening. The days are long. It is light after nine o'clock at night." "July 3rd, Spent the day in seeing the town. The Hotel Vancouver, being built by the C.P.R. is the finest we have seen in the West. Left Vancouver for Alaska aboard C.R.R….S.S. Princess Alice at 9:00 p.m. N.B. There is a war tax of 10 per cent on R.R. or S.S. tickets in Canada." "July 4th, The boat stopped at Prince Rupert for about an hour this morning. Price Rupert is the western terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific, transcontinental, railroad. There is an interesting Indian village here. Also totem poles." "July 7th, The boat landed at 9:00 this morning. We immediately took the train for Caribou. The railroad was over the summit of the White Pass and along Bonnet Lake, running alongside the old trail taken by the gold seekers of 98'-99' most of the way. We arrived at Carcross, Y.T. at 3:00 p.m." "July 8th, There is an Indian settlement and school here (They are in Carcross). The only industry is hunting and trapping. We took the S.S. Gleaner at 7:00 p.m for Atlin." "July 12th, White Horse in Yukon Territory is at the head of navigation on the Yukon River. The White Horse rapids, where so many of the gold seekers of 98'-99 lost their lives and fortune, is just above the town." "July 14th, We stopped at the Pullen House managed by Mrs. Pullen. One of her sons, Ian Pullen, captained the army football team in 1913. The Pullen House is noted for serving fresh milk in the pans." "July 15th, Skagway is the main entrance to the gold fields of Alaska and Northern Canada. In the early days it was ruled by "Soapy" Smith the desperado who was shot by Reid the sheriff, who was himself fatally wounded in the fight. We left Skagway at 7:00 p.m." "July 21st, It is predicted that within the near future Seattle will rival San Francisco as the principle port of the Pacific Coast. It is a large live city, just like any eastern city. P.S. We reluctantly parted with our delightful fellow traveler, Miss Lucile Linton, at Victoria. She met 6 or 7 cousins of hers from Georgia and decided their company was more congenial than ours." "July 26th, (They are now in San Francisco at the Exposition) Visited the Ohio Building, the Zone and Palaces of Liberal Arts, Varied Industries, Food Products, Education, Transportation, Mines and Metallurgy, etc. Band concerts in the evening. The architecture and lighting effects are said to eclipse those of any previous exposition. We ran into our old traveling companion Miss Linton this evening on the Zone." "July 28th, Visited the Ohio Building, the Palace of Machinery and Canadian Building. The Ohio Building is almost a joke. It's the deadest place in the exposition." "July 30th, Visited the Foreign Building today. There are no official exhibits on account of the war. The exhibits shown are those of private firms or individuals." "August 6th, Took the 175 mile "Orange Empire Trolley Trip" today. Started at 9:00 a.m and got back at 7:15 p.m. Visited Redlands and the Mission Inn. Took a drive up Smiley Heights and picked oranges off the trees at 5 cents a piece. The Mission Inn is a hotel owned by Frank Miller, copied after the early missions." "August 10th, Went swimming in the warm salt water tank this morning. Haven't found much life around as yet. Went over to see the San Diego Exposition in the afternoon. It was very beautiful, but different and not nearly so large as the one at San Francisco. The exhibits are not very good. The place seems almost deserted." Some of the diary pages are loose from the binding. I would say that the first 9 have pulled away together and then the rest of the pages are all attached together but pulling away from the cover. The cover itself is worn and on the inside of it there are ink stains and foxing. It measures about 4" x 6". Also found, a very interesting newspaper clipping in this diary other then the one mentioned above. The article is dated July 9th about a $40,000 gold nugget, which was the largest pure gold nugget found in the Atlin District of British Columbia at that time. It says the lump was lying loose on the hanging wall of a quartz vein and at the time the article was written the prospector's name was not yet known. She and her son were there in Atlin on that day and visited the Discover Mine while there. Not sure where the nugget was found but it proves to be rather interesting.. Book Condition: Good+

Autograph

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.