from the journals of Rebecca "Becky" Gillespie and Marion Emerson.
Copyright 1998 by Rebecca P. Gillespie.
First and second (print) edition by Frank R. Jennings, East Falmouth Massachusetts, printed at New Wave Printing, Falmouth Massachusetts by Todd Souza.
Electronic version (july 2019) by Tom Jennings.
27 july 2019
until this disclaimer is removed, consider this a work in progress. it probably has many errors. if you see any glaring errors let me now (see CONTACT ME on the home page.)
this electronic document was pieced together from ancient ClarisWorks files and a printed copy of the first edition. Frankie originally created this book on an Apple Macintosh with a ZIP drive as mass storage. i received 3.5" floppy disc copies of some unknown version of the book, after 2005, and some time in the next decade copied the contents to hard disc (therefore to a maintained filesystem). in 2018 i "discovered" that open-source LibreOffice was able to read .CWK/Appleworks files, though the formatting was not preserved.
with the print book (mine does not have Marion's letters) i was able to recreate the sequence of the 50 or so individual files, and place the images more or less where they were in the printed book. the dynamic nature of HTML precludes greater precision.
there are probably many errors here.
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be happy there are images here at all! these are the best quality available. i assume that the files are the result of scanning Becky, Marion and Jayne's original chemical prints, postcards, clippings, notes, etc. i certainly do not have access to those original materials.
today the size of even a low-res phone snapshot by far exceeds the capacity of a 1995 floppy disk. so scans are .GIF format, small, and extremely low resolution. never mind the practical complexities of chemical prints by young women on an 8000 mile road trip nearly 100 years ago. never mind the foresight to save all of these materials into the 1990's. it's amazing these even low-res materials have survived the technological changes of the last century.
This book is gratefully dedicated to Frank R. Jennings for initiating the idea of bringing my letters to print and for seeing it to completion. Without his enthusiasm, thoughtful suggestions and hard work it would never have been done.
-- Becky Gillespie
Father and Mother
Horace Clendenin "H.C." Gillespie
May Hannah (Henderson) Gillespie
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Gypsies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Trip Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Original Packing List . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Letters: Marion to Becky . . . . . . . . 7
Letters: Becky to Home . . . . . . . . 11
~ Letters ~
Marion to Becky
~ Letters ~
Becky to Home
In the summer of 1930 Becky Gillespie and two friends gave up their jobs to spend two months traveling across the country in an open-topped Ford. They traveled for 57 days through fifteen states, covering 8677 miles on mostly dirt roads. Early on Becky abandoned her attempt to keep a trip diary. Instead, she put all her effort into these letters home. These letters are her story of that marvelous summer.
She was twenty years old, four years younger than her two companions. All three worked at Wykeham Rise school in Connecticut. Jayne and Marion were teachers and Becky worked in the office. Jayne had a job lined up in California to start in the fall. Jayne's brother had a Ford dealership: why not buy a second-hand car and spend the summer driving across the country? Becky and Marion could find jobs when they get there to earn the money to come home the following summer. When Becky brought the news home Father balked. He didn't like the idea of his little girl going west. He preferred to keep the family close. Mother was all for it from the start and Father soon came around. Once he accepted the idea Father joined right in—charting the route, planning the mail stops, building two big storage boxes for the car (along the running board and on the back) and generally getting things ready for a successful trip. The mail stops were frequent and well planned. Letters went in both directions keeping Becky and home in touch.
What is captured in these letters is an America as it was seen by real people -- someone like you or me. It is a journey through everyday experience -- countryside, people, houses and shops -- a geography lesson at ground level, experienced at a pace that left time to stop and look around. They traveled in an open Ford, and it was a matter of pride to them to only put the top up in the worst of conditions (not to mention it made the interior stuffy and difficult to see out of). They saw the sights, felt the sun and rain, smelled the fields and factories, heard the voices of strangers and the wind in the trees. It was a time before airlines and interstates -- in many ways a quieter nation, less hurried.
The purpose of the trip was adventure. They camped out all the way -- in National Parks, farmers' fields, municipal camps and on the side of the road. They felt the mists off Niagara Falls and picked cherries in Canada. They saw Old Faithful, boiling mud pits and bears in Yellowstone; hiked 18 miles through the wilderness of Glacier National Park; slid down a glacier wearing "tin pants" at Mt. Rainier. They drove through the Badlands, saw the Black Hills, talked with real cowboys pushing a herd of horses, and later, joked with a bunch of dude cowboys spending the summer on a ranch. They stopped at Crater Lake in Oregon, the Redwoods in northern California, Lake Tahoe in Nevada and the Sequoias in southern California. And they saw sights that will never be seen again: Mt. Rushmore with only Washington's head, the Golden Gate without a bridge, Mono Lake before it was all-but-drained to feed a hungry L.A., and even the Pacific Fleet in Oakland Harbor, sailors filling the streets, early aircraft carriers and seaplanes on the water. And the little things: schools and factories and country side -- the changing landscape from east to west. These letters capture an America that will never be seen again.
What truly makes Becky's Journal significant is its completeness and honesty. An intelligent, curious and articulate young woman seeing the country first hand, trying to capture it in words for the family back home. From the very first you feel the excitement and are swept up by the sense of adventure. These are letters written on the side of the road, under difficult conditions. Twenty letters cover the entire two month trip. They are presented here as they were written. Sixty-eight years later they still excite, still seem fresh, still communicate the zest for life that is Becky Gillespie. I am glad that I can call her my friend.
Frank R. Jennings
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August 1930. Marion Emerson, Jayne Warren and Rebecca "Becky" Gillespie. Sitting on the running board of "Ed," at the Hales in in Oakland, California. |
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"Becky" Gillespie, Warren, and Marion This photograph taken at Becky's house in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the 1971 annual meeting the A-toP Gypsies. |
Why would three sensible young women give up good jobs at a prestigious Connecticut girls school to spend an awful lot of money to travel across an awe-full vast country on the chance of finding jobs out west? Why, for the adventure -- Like any sensible young person!
Mix: one old open-topped Ford, three young women, traveling through fourteen states over 57 days, covering 8677 miles, and you get one adventure for a lifetime. Such is the story told in these letters written home by one of the participants: Rebecca "Becky" Gillespie. She was twenty years old -- four years younger than her two companions. All three were working at the Wyckhan Rise school in Connecticut. Jayne and Marion were both teachers. Becky worked in the office. The two older women hatched. They approached Becky to join them to share the cost, and the adventure. Jayne had a job lined up in California to start in the fall. Marion and Becky could find jobs when they got there. Becky quickly agreed and the adventure was afoot!
At first, Father balked. He didn't like the idea of his little girl going west. He preferred to keep the family close. Mother was all for it form the start and Father soon came around. Once he accepted the idea he joined right in -- charting the route, planning the mail stops, building storage boxes for the side of the car and generally getting things ready for a successful trip.
The population of the U. S. was less than half what it is today, 122 million. Herbert Hoover was president and struggling with the economy. Everywhere money was tight. "Black Friday" had occurred the previous October, fore-shadowing the great Wall Street crash to come a few short years later. A young J. Edgar Hoover was making headlines battling gangsters with his F. B. I., created in 1924. Gangland warfare was at its peak. The gruesome "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place the previous summer, but Al Capone would not be locked up for two years yet, and then for tax reasons.
Great adventures were being had all across the globe. Just three years earlier Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic, and he did it single-handed. "Lucky Lindy" became a hero to the world. During the summer of 1930 he was off charting air routes with his new bride, Ann Morrow, daughter of the ambassador to Mexico. It would not be until two years later, in 1932, that the horrific kidnapping and murder of their infant son would cause a media circus and grip the nation for months. Admiral Richard E. Byrd had just flown a plane across the South Pole. His Antarctic explorations were chronicled in a movie, out that summer and traveling the nation like our three adventurers.
And women were in the news, too. Amelia Arrowroot -- a social worker from Massachusetts -- was the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an air plane in 1928. Ann Morrow was flying with Lindbergh as an equal partner. They and many other women pushing the limits were constantly in the news. Although women won the vote in 1919, it was not until 1930 that they received equal voting rights with men.
It seems big things were happening before and after the summer of 1930. Nineteen-thirty seems a quite interlude between great events. And we need to remember that these great events were exceptions to everyday life. What is captured in these letters is America as it was seen by real people -- someone like you or me. It is a journey through everyday experience -- countryside, people, shops and sights, back roads and byways -- geography at ground level -- experienced at a pace that left time to stop and look around. They traveled in an open Ford, and it was a matter of pride to them to only put the top up in the worst of conditions (not to mention it made the interior stuffy and difficult to see out of). And they were driving on dirt roads! Automobiles were barely thirty years old and the transportation system was slow to catch up. Only the centers of towns and cities were paved. 8000 miles of dirt roads! What guts!
The purpose of the trip was adventure, and an adventure it was. For 57 nights they camped out -- in National Parks, farmers' fields, municipal camps and on the side of the road. They saw Old Faithful, boiling mud pits and bears in Yellowstone; they hiked 18 miles through the wilderness of Glacier National Park; they walked on glaciers and slid down a mountain on "tin pants" at Mt. Rainier. In Wyoming they drove through the Badlands, saw the Black Hills, stopped and kidded with real cowboys pushing a herd of horses. Llater, they joked with a group of dude cowboys, rich kids spending the summer on the Hathway Ranch. They saw Crater Lake in Oregon, the Redwoods in northern California, Lake Tahoe in Nevada and the Sequoias in southern California.
And they saw sights that will never be seen again. Mt. Rushmore with only Washington's head, the Golden Gate without a bridge, Mono Lake before it was all-but-drained to feed a hungry LA., and even the Pacific Fleet in Oakland Harbor, sailors filling the streets, early aircraft carriers and seaplanes on the water.
And the little things: schools and factories and country side -- lots and lots of country side. Becky notes the changing scenery and climate, the differences in vegetation, houses and farms.
What truly makes Becky's Journal significant is its completeness and honesty. An intelligent, curious and articulate young woman seeing the country first hand, trying to capture it in words for the family back home. These are letters written on the side of the road, under difficult conditions, written in a rush. From the very first you feel the excitement and are swept up by the sense of adventure.
[Envelope, Postmark: Manchester, N.H., 8 AM, JUN 25, 1930; To: Miss Rebecca Gillespie, Wykeham Rise, Washington, Conn. From: M. Emerson, 290 Prospect St., Manchester, N.H.]
June 18, 1930
Dear Becky:
I hope you noticed how I spelled your name. It looks rather lame, doesn't it? I shouldn't make you jealous by telling you that I had all my money put in traveler's checks to-day and I ordered my cot and have given my blankets an airing. I imagine your father has enjoyed attending to most of these things for you.
I bought some large sized blue canvass-like notebooks, but as we now have our typewriter, we'll just have to turn them into scrap books. I also had my flash fixed. A small hall near the linen closet upstairs is just filled with things to take. I'll have to begin to eliminate before I go to Grafton. Mary and Jack P. will come down to Grafton with us to see us off from there. Would it be all right if it is possible for her to do it to have Burt come down to say good-bye at your house? She is in New York now and I guess thinks I'm to be there.
Richard was graduated last night from High School and is all excited about Dartmouth next Fall. Just think -- when I see him next he will be entering his Sophomore year! People still ask me what I'm going to do next year and encourage me by saying they're sure we'll find something. And we will Becky! Only 11 days before we see you.
Love,
Marion.
[Envelope: Postmark: Manchester, N.H., June 19, 9AM, 1930, 2 Cents;
To: Miss Rebecca Gillespie/ Wykham Rise / Washington/ Conn.]
Tuesday
Becky -- I've had this clipping all set to send for some time -- but now I expect you'll eat up its every word -- since there's probably nothing to do but sit and think of the west.
Went down with Mary and her sister and brothers to Grafton Sunday to get Max. I sure was glad to see Warren beaming again and it won't be long before we will be driving in on you.
A week from today we start for Dot's -- Can you imagine it? Miss Kirk and Dot have been perfectly wonderful to arrange our food problem for the summer. Tell her I tried Hormels' canned chicken on the family and they O.K.'d it immediately. I took a sandwich to Jayne Sunday and she liked it too. The Sunday we stay in our tent and rest we'll have that Becky to celebrate.
I'm becoming more or less of a collector -- of addresses -- mostly of people to look up. If I keep the elderly cousins straight in my mind I'll be doing well.
Becky I have my cot -- a $2.98 one from Sears and Roebuck finally. If your father would send the mailing list to 290 Prospect St. I would be ever so glad for I want to make copies for my friends.
Love,
Marion.
| [Note: This clipping cannot be the one mentioned in the first paragraph because it is clearly from after the trip. Becky could not remember to what the original referred.] |  |
July 1st
Leaving the Gillespies with smiles on our faces and hands waving, we drove through the New Haven highway into the Connecticut hills. The road spun along and our luggage which surrounded us withstood the ride valiantly. In spite of the uncertainty of sudden showers we kept our top down until forced to set it up. This we did, three times! Our year spent in Connecticut endeared the rolling country to us and we are loath to believe that any of the broad county we are about to cover will surpass it. Crossing over the state line to New York the change in the country was quite evident. The hills changed to mountains removed from our almost always straight road. The land was well toiled and the farms we passed appeared prosperous. Instead of feeling we were apart of the wooded country with its up and down hills as in Connecticut, we now felt apart, sitting back and looking at the fresh land with its river in the valley.
Our first real stop (discounting the times when the top was put up or down) was at Henderson where we had lunch with Marjorie Otis at the St. Charles Hotel. Driving off once more, we headed for Albany and Schenectady. At Albany I called up Bobby Fearey and managed to see her before we left the city. We drove through the Albany park and through a few of the business streets noting the capital, state education building. We agreed with the opinion that the capitol was not constructed very beautifully architecturally. Schenectady proved to be a prettier city and its attractiveness was added to by our most enjoyable visit with the Goods.
July 2nd
So we officially started off leaving our friends in New England and New York who had done so much to make our trip a perfect and successful one on July 2nd. I went over with Dot to say hello to Olive's friend while the other were putting up a lunch. Our first camping day had arrived. We had decided that night to call our our "Ed" -- for Education. Thence the change in route started. We wanted to see Cornell and Watkins Glen. Starting out of the city on the wrong road seemed to be the keynote for the day, for we managed to drive the most round about way everywhere. Sohohanna Trail which we followed more less proved to be beautiful and we were glad we did what we did. In lthica we drove about the college grounds and walked all through the gorge right next to the school. The triple-stepped waterfalls were lovely. The campus overlooks Lake Cayuga, the third Finger Lake and doubtless seeing all its beauty prompted us to go seven miles out of our way to camp for the night. It was in Toughannoc State Park where we pitched our tent that first night and right on the edge of the lake, At Toughannoc -- after camp was made and our first camp dinner eaten -- we followed a trail for about a mile through a cool, piney forest to a gorge and waterfall. The moon which showed us our way added to the attractiveness and coolness of the spot. You can imagine that such a walk after a day of traveling finished our day perfectly and we slept peacefully until five the next morning.
July 3rd
With one accord we arose early and got started on a day which proved both full, long and exciting. Watkins Glen was our first stop. I thoroughly enjoyed recalling different turns in the way up the trail and reminiscing on the time I had been shore before. The turns in the walk up the mountain brought us to clear rapids and singing waterfalls and we climbed up and up in places seeing more than one waterfall at the same time, one above the other.
Leaving Watkins we followed Seneca Lake -- a Finger Lake -- up the Canandaigua where we picniced at the end of the Lake. Our stops were short end our spirits high for we planned to reach Niagara that evening. Our drive through Rochester gave us a favorable impression of the city and we agreed it would be a fine piece to live, Taking the shore road to Fort Niagara we caught glimpses of the lake which were so lice the ocean -- big and rough. At the Fort we stopped at the chateau which they have been renovating, modeling it on the original outlay, plans having been found in the archives at Paris. The castle was interesting with its dungeons and looks. It overlooked the Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Niagara. The ride down the Niagara was very pretty and doubtless made us rather disappointed in the city of Niagara, where we couldn't find a quiet spot to lay our heeds. Finally we gave up looking ant fled to the Falls themselves. It was amazing to see the speedy and powerful onflow of the river in its approach to the falls. we had read Becky's geology book enough to know that the falls had worked their way back through the centuries from Lewiston seven miles above Niagara. Some people believe that they now work away two feet of stone each year, while others three or four feet a better estimate, Standing beside and over the American falls gave us that impression of intensity. unending power and striking beauty which we did not get with such a striking force when we went to the Canadian side. A better view on the whole of the Horse-shoe Falls could be seen from the American side. Proximity also brought a volume -- waters tearing over this height of three hundred feet -- which was not present at some distance.
Agreeing that the night before the fourth wee not the time to find a quiet place to sleep, we determined to risk a night's lodging in Canada. We went up the Niagara to Niagara-on-the-Lake and going into a farmhouse about Solon miles up He found we would be welcome to stay right there. Pitching our tent in record time and eating a speedily prepared dinner we started off for the Falls to see the great lights. Mr. Cooper. the part-owner of the field where we camped, asked to go along and he proved himself quite a character. He and his father and his grandfather before him had lived right there in Queenston and he modestly told of the feat of his grandfather who had stood on the scaffolding of a high tower -- General Brock's -- which are we climbed the next morning. He was full of and finally managed to find the garage where we could leave cur car in safety and for nothing. We walked by the park to the Falls, and were amazed at the men and boys who stopped us to say, "Got a lodging for the night? Want to eat? Etc." Everyone seemed anxious to find a hotel or rooms for you. Funny idea of good Business I should think. Anyone with good sense would immediately strike in the opposite direction. We ignored them at course and were glad to cross the street where you soon forgot everyone about you end lived in the beauty radiated by the spectacle of the Falls. They used red, white and blue lights on them alternately moving from one part of the falls to another. The Maid of the Mist was taking one of its trips and that slowly moving on its destination amidst the twinkly of the spray made the whole scene like a picture book story, real but far away impression, almost too wonderful to be real. We wondered just what emotions and sensations the first man to discover it had had. We were to stop the next morning so we left to return to camp some seven miles away. Bed was the right spot all right, for we slept until late the next morning.
JULY 4th
We broke camp in our leisurely fashion, climbing one of Mr. Cooper's cherry trees and thus getting our fruit for the next day or so, and taking pictures as Well. Our first stop on leaving Queenston was at an electrical plant open to the public. We entered the door of the large stone buildling, simply designed and ware net by officials in white trousers and blue coats (doubtless collage boys). We happened to finish the assigned number of a party so went immediately, to overlook the plant which was impressive in its cleanllness as well as its electrical structure. Most of the data we dldn't comprehend but it was very wonderful. Leaving the plant we drove through General Block's part and monument, which we climbed (223 steps around and around) with an excellent view of Canada at the top.
We took considerable time seeing the Falls and taking pictures of it. When leavlng as we drove down in front of the Canadian Falls the spray actually come over the road we were on getting us quite wet as It was. One woman we saw was truly drenched having stood by the wall in the midst of It for several minutes. The ride to Buffalo was lovely, for we followed the rlver all the way. We were surprised not to find the water good for swimming when we stopped for lunch. We, of course, rode over Peace Bridge and into Buffalo, driving up one of its pretty streets and through the park. We were quite disheartened at the streets in the business section and the exit, so we were glad when we struck the highway again and were on our way to Ohio.
Being one of the hotter and more disagreeble days as to temperature we were anxious to find camping grounds on Lake Erie. All the parks were mobbed and as we sought a quiet spot near the water none of them appealed. Jayne had the bright idea that a Y. W. C. A. camp which we passed mght give us a bit of ground to camp on. We went in and found it was against the rules for outsiders to camp there -- but since it was the Fourth of July we could do It. Were we pleased? They were very nice to us. One of the councillors came up and talked to us while we were unloading and it seems that she and a friend had made a simillar trip last summer out to Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. Her name was Esther Todd and she was In the class of '21 at Mt. Holyoke. She was most attractive and gave me the name of a Y. W. C. A. person in San Francisco to look up about a job. It was pretty interesting to hear about her trip and to realize that we were going to do all the thrillling things she told us of. Before dinner we went for a swim in Lake Erie and it was perfect. Being hot on our return we had a cold but delicious lunch, wrote letters and went to bed.
JULY 5th
We left the T. camp where we had spent a very pleasant evening about nine o'clock. We rather looked forward to having a few letters at our first mall stop, Silver Creek -- but Becky waa the only lucky one. We stopped to have our car greased and the oil changed, so shopping and letter writing was in order. Our ambitions were high that day, for we conceived of the great idea that to make Michigan and Edith Hyatt's home that night to stay for the weekend would be great. It meant some stiff driving, through cities at night. The fact that we could get get somewhere near a lake for cleanup and rest for awhile was too strong, so we bravely set forth from Silver Creek at 11:00 A. M. We now passed through the vineyards of Northern New York whore Welch grape juice is made. Just as we found cherries everywhere above Niagara, now we found grapes. The ride through Plum state was short. Coming into Ohio we found long straight roads and were rather disappointed in Cleveland. The pretty park on Lake Erie and the residential section Lakewood raised the city in our standards. We took the shore route to Toledo and at the intervals that we saw the lake, we liked it. Sandusky was the first big town we came to. It was rather late when we arrived there and we wondered whether we could make Maniton Beach, especially as we couldn't find it on the map. We stopped to ask therefore and our information was bried and to the point, taken down by Becky in shorthand. We bought groceries while hamburger sandwiches were being made for us and were surprisingly refreshed to start out on almost another hundred miles.. Toledo is only fifty and we made it in an hour and a quarter. We liked that city. It had a beautiful new art building. We got through the city with scarcely any trouble, stopping to send a wire to Edith. The road from Toledo has comparatively straight, making square corners rather than gradual curves. Asking where Rome was, the town where we were to turn, they answered, "You're on it now." Well, Maniton Beach wasn't far and we only went by the house about a mile. We were very glad to turn into Edith's gate and she had just received our wire so was out on the porch to meet us. We were pretty tired and must have looked like tramps after that three hundred forty mile drive. It was 11:00 P. M. to pitched our tent by moonlight and were ready for bed. When it was done. Our plans for the morrow were, washing, letter writing, cleaning up, and swimming.
July 6th
What a wash day our first Sunday out proved to be. We spent the morning washing clothes and car. Jayne and I washed our much bespotted shirts In gasoline. We had dinner with the Hyatts. They certainly are a splendid family. Young George full of it and is a fine balance for Alfred, who Is quiet but nice indeed. Edith and George play and work with the boys as if they were all the same age. Sunday night they discussed how two cows were to be taken care of which were to be shipped and the boys knew what to do with them and how to care for them as well as George. They had a tennis court outside their pretty little brown cottage which was set back from the road. The hollyhocks or "jollyhocks" as Edith called them were in bloom and were everywhere. lnside the dining room looked out on the late and the living room was one large, comfortable room with a gray stone fireplace at the end. I played tennis with the boys and their father that afternoon nod then we all went swimming. Sunday night after supper George and Edith took us for a ride around Round and Devil's Lake. The sky was a beautiful hue, pinks and blues as the sun set. We found out how to differentiate the grains we had seen -- wheat, a soft golden color, barley, a waving, fluffy top of green, and oats, a darker green and straighter stem. The only letters that had been written that day were a few notes I had written before getting up -- so we sat down to serious business and wrote what we could before bed time. I was certainly glad we stopped to see Edith and her family. We all had a wonderful time.
July 7th
Monday we took one of our side trips to Flint. We planned to return that night so felt better about making the trip. Jayne had a friend at Flint she wanted to see and Becky and I were glad to see Michigan. We drove through what they call lrlsh hills but what appear to us more like hummocks We stopped at Ann Arbor to see the University of Michigan. The campus was lovely and the buildings more of the old type of stone rather than new. They were having summer school so we saw the campus somewhat as it really is. We had stopped In Jackson some miles before we got to Ann Arbor and found it to be one of the other pretty towns we went through.
Getting north we found the country to be more Industrially used than agriculturally. We had previously passed through wheat fields and were now coming into the towns recently built up for manufacturing cars. At Flint the town showed the effects of its rapid growth due to the Chevrolet, Fisher Body and Buick factories there. The country was flat and bare; the houses homely and wooden. When we at last arrives at the home of Jayne's friend what did we discover but that she was at Round Lake only eighteen miles from Edith's. In spite of traveling two hundred miles to see someone eighteen miles away we were very glad we took the trip up into Michigan state, one of the greatest of agricultural states in the country.
We went back by way of Dr. Frost, arriving there about closing up time, so we saw the city in full swing. We quite liked it. We saw the Ford and Buick factories and met cars (five or six of them at once) being loaded and taken away. We would have liked to stop to look into one or the other of the two attractive looking art buildings which face each other just before one arrives at the business section, but we had to hustle on driving through Dearborn. We looked in vain for Henry Ford and his home and also missed the airport.
Sand Lake proved to be on our route home so we stopped to see Jayne's friend. She stayed there for the evening, while Becky and I drove back to Edith's. Becky drove for the first time and did right well. She is rather too fortunate in having all lights turn green when she approaches, but has truly developed into a great driver. It was as if we were returning home home to get back to the Hyatts. We washed up and Edith served tea and bread and butter and jam which was delicious after our hot ride. We played "pounce" (for the first time) with the boys, than went off to bed. Jayne came in later and we wore off for our last sleep protected by relatives.
July 8th
Having had a little trouble with our gasoline stove (it had biased up and tried to start a fire the fires time we used it at Edith's) we found out how to use it from the garage man. It had worked perfectly up to that point so we were rather disturbed until we found we hadn't given it time to generate. Our breakfast this morning was cooked on our own stone, contrary to the previous morning when we had to rush to cook things in the kitchen so we could get off in time. We hated leaving Maniton Beach and most of all my new found relatives. We are even planning to return that by way of Michigan.
Maniton Beach to Dunes State Park
Our road lay quite directly West to Chicago. As on the day before we went by many small lakes. They are the nature spots of Michigan. We came by rivers in Indiana which was flat uninteresting country until we arrived at Lake Michigan for our night's stay at Dunes State Park. We had to pay ten cents a piece to get in and twenty-five to stay there but it was worth it. There were many people camping there. After settling camp and eating we usually stop the latter part of the afternoon to buy our groceries so we are ready when a camp comes in view. That night we took a walk to the lake, following a trail in the right direction. which took us through the woods to the dunes themselves. They were high and big dune. twice and three times the size of those at the Cape. Children were having a joyous time sliding and rolling down them. Turning a corner In trail brought us in view of beautiful Lake Michigan. It was like seeing the Atlantic Ocean, so wide and long and full of waves. People were having beach fires all along the beach. The sand was like our ocean sand and in abundance. Being twilight the scene to us was real gypsy like. We sat on the beach watching the sky and the water for some time. Then getting back to bed we spent our first night in a park with other campers and amongst mosquitoes. We fared fairly well, however, and were ready for the morrow.
July 9th
Leaving Dunes Park after our exhilarating swim in Lake Michigan we went on our way to Chicago.
Dunes Park to Belvidere
The lake road gave us scarcely a view of itself until we arrived at the city limits. Industrial towns, rather uninteresting ones at that were on our routes. Crossing the line into Illinois didn't bring us to the doorstep of Chicago even if it went by that name. It took us over thirty-five miles of road before we were at the centre of the city. We planned to leave our car to be fixed while we took a bus about the city. It was hot and we were finding our very about right wall, so we wont to the Soldier's field where many ball games are played. In the same parkway was an Art gallery and a no. Aquarium. We went through the latter and were amazed at the variety of colors, sizes, arid shapes of the fish. The building itself was an arched shape one, white atone and impressive looking.
One of the things that impressed us more than anything else was the proximity of swimming resorts and all that goes with them to the apartments and the business section of the city. As we stood by the Aquarium the panorama consisted of below, men fishing off a cement wall in the Great Lake. children and people to swimming and bathing and on the beach, the boulevard with an attractive centre parkway above and apartment houses on the other side, and tall business buildings looming high above all. Somehow we had never thought of Chicago as anything else but business buildings and we were surprised to find beautiful parks and water so near. We drove through the business section of the city to gain a good impression of it. We then drove out of the city on the shore road where we were again faced with this new impression of the city -- a sport one. Tennis courts, volley ball, baseball on land and bathing, canoeing, and sailing on the water! It made one feel that Chicago was a little more normal and human I think.
The towns were attractive and particularly Evanston, which we went to see for its university. Northwestern is right on the lake and has a moat inviting campus. We had luncheon at the drugstore and started off again striking south and then directly west. Before finding the Western route, we took a usual detour of up and down traveling. The road was straight, the country flat the fields full of grains with plenty of corn fields. Becky was driving as one of us by then. It was a great place for her to drive, because the roads were good and straight.
Leaving Evanston we started in on our detour trick or going up and down and around. It got later and later and hadn't found a place to lay our heads. Finally we arrived at Bellvidere, Illinois and rode around the country trying to stop at farm houses or fields but everything was fenced up or filled with signs. Driving casually into the State Park we were surprised to find it was free, so we camped for the night shore in spite of our trouble to find a place and having moved from one we had half settled.
July 10th Belvidere to Dalhi, Iowa
Broke camp at 8:00! Drove through flat country all morning. Stopped for lunch in a pasture by the road and started off again. It was our first bit of long, straight, tiring roads. Suddenly, however, we came among sloping hills. At Gallena we went up to see General Grant's home. In it were interesting pieces and mementoes of his and the time he lived. The snaps end pictures of him and his associates hung on the walls, also & cannon ball of which Grant's head is
The country up to Dubuque, Iowa was comparatively hilly. When we arrived at the Mississippi River (it was muddy but wide) just before we crossed the bridge into Iowa we were able to see two other states besides Illinois in which we were -- Iowa and Wisconsin. At Dubuque we took the first street to a Ford Service station to have our valves ground. We were fortunate to have got as far as we did without any trouble. The grinding was to take three or four hours so we went to the movies for lack of anything else to do. Roaming the streets was quite awful -- it was so hot and people seemed to like to look us over -- either our hats or our beaming red faces were too attractive. The movie "Redemption" was quite good. It was queer to see ad news reels of the very ones I had last seen in Manchester. The manager opened the theatre for us even if we were a half hour early and we eagerly sought the empty room and its electric fan. We had lunched upon a wall overlooking the city. It was quite an industrial centre in its valley by the Mississippi.
We called for our car, waited and finally set out to buy groceries and leave -- being glad that the car was fixed as well as of the advice of the garage man to use Ethyl gas on hills, 100% improvement as is shown in the next day's mileage. We were quite thankful to leave Dubuque -- where people seemed so amused at us -- was it the hats or the burned but beaming faces?
Silver Lake, Dalhi, Iowa sounded like a very cool place if out of the road seven miles, so we drove eagerly towards it. We found that State parks do not allow you to camp, that the water in the lake was dirty and as hot as any bathtub water, and that (as we camped on the roadside, sleeping on our cots with mosquito netting over us) people around that country either drive all night, stop by the lake to look at the moon or fish. Becky discovered that even dogs can look like coyotes or wolves and we were all pretty glad when the moon went down and the sun came up.
July 11 Emmetsburg to Schoolhouse out of Mitchell, S. D.
One or the hot days again! But we made good time. The roads were wonderful and we made speed with our car fixed and the Ethyl gas. We stopped at Clear Lake for luncheon, driving about the lake until the road ended. I went into a cottage there to ask where we might find a place to swim and picnic and the kind lad, said anywhere on her property. The water was good with a sandy bottom. Our lunch was had on the hillside before we journeyed on. Iowa has many lakes in the northern part of the state and we took routes so we would see all of them. We've been following our route fairly well since we left Chicago and always finding out about roads before we change.
Perhaps you'd be interested to hear about our accounts. We have been trying to live on $5.00 a day for car, food, and extract -- and our average per day when last taken was $4.37. From now on we rather expect to camp in tourists camps and spend our $.50 but it is worth it to have no responsibility as to being in the wrong place and as to cleaning up.
It was three o'clock in the P. M. when we drone into Emmetsburg having traveled two hundred and eighty miles on a hot day. We drove into the State Park,
threw out poncho and pillows and tried to rest a bit. In some parts of the state it was 118 degrees that day. Do you wonder we found ourselves too hot and tired to rest? Exertion helped us in the end. After driving all over the outskirts of town for a more secluded spot and after finding that the road ahead was a dirt one we came back to the place in the park we started from, put on the kettle, got out our dirty clothes, and washed, cooked, and went swimming. It was the best thing we could have done.
JULY 12 Emmetsburg to Schoolhouse out of Mitchel, S. D.
To get half way across South Dakota was our aim that day. We drove up into the Spirit Lake Country, get our mall and went on up through Great Lake Country into Minnesota. Following along the southern part Or that state we enjoyed much the same scenery plus lakes, on one of which we lunched. Over the line to South Dakota, we drone into Sioux Falls our only remembrance of which is "all garages, no apples, and people dumb." Not liking the country we decided to drive after having dinner. We drove into the side of a wheat field and cooked our beans and brown bread, (it was Saturday night). We left Mitchel looking and looking. A farm house looked lnviting but there proved to be no one home. We were in South Dakota now, where the only trees are near a house and then only a few tall ones. For miles and miles nothing but fields and a dirt road which really was a good one. Then the schoolhouse of some little town had its gate open and could see no reason why we should not camp under its two or three trees in the yard. We asked the gas man next door and we tried to ask a selectman up the road, and there we stopped any way. We hadn't put up much of the tent or made much of the dinner when two or three men stopped in an old Ford on the road -- walked through to a shed beyond us and then went back. Were they bootleggers, were they people who had to do with the school and what did they want? They said, "Good evening" and we should have thought no more of it if the old car didn't stay in the road, men in it, hour after hour. It was all quite silly to fear harm, but we stayed up playing cards to avoid any such. Then we slept that mysterious moonlight night.
[Page 30 of Marion's Journal is missing.]
carved. His chair and smoking stand which he used is there as well as an old trunk, saddle and hat box. It was the first museum sightseeing we had done.
We were amazed at the good time you could make on the dirt roads which were everywhere in South Dakota. However, it took us forever to get anywhere; the road went on and on, seeming not to ever end. The towns were small, the houses between the towns so far apart that for lack of seeing the few trees which were inevitable about a house and no where else. The land was desert-like and barren. One or two of the to the were real Western story-like-looking -- broad main street, fat as a pan cake, ramshackle houses. We were heading for Rapid City a more 300 miles trip. We arrived at Kodoka, brakes needed to be fixed and by the time we were on the road again a shower came up -- just, by the way, as we were to enter the road to the Bad Lands. The road is of clay, and when it rains it is likely to be quite slippery. The showers came down in torrents and we sought shelter by turning into a half built garage at the corners. In fifteen or twenty minutes the clouds blew away, but we still were in a quandary as to what to do -- go over the road., after waiting an hour to dry, into the Bad Lands; go to Rapid City by the other uninteresting but safe route or return to Kadoka for the night. We did the latter but hear what happened first. Several passer-bys had stopped asking us about the road thinking we had come from the Bad Lands, as our car was turned away from it. They were as puzzled as we, so we discussed the matter and passed the information we had had from a party that had come from the Interior. Then we tried the car. It was in clay, all this while and wouldn't budge. We brought out the chains, the wheels whirled and still then we were having had discussed for the last hour our intentions down this road or that and the oar had no thought of taking us. Our last effort -- aided by the fact that the brake had been on all the while -- brought us out of the rut, starting forward spurting clay and up an embankment in a rush. Anyone would have thought we hod been all over the Bad Lands road by the looks of the car and our clayed shoes. We went to a tourist camp, cleaned out the car, packed and repacked (we did it often), took showers and washed our hair and went contentedly to bed. We've learned I think that it doesn't pay to do too many things in the late afternoon, You don't appreciate them.
July 14 Kadoka to Rapid City via Bad Lands
A bright sunshiny day was ours to drive over the Bad Lands road, selling our first real West. Most of the camp had departed when we left but it pays to be leisurely. You can get more done and done normally. For almost twenty-five miles there was nothing to see. The farms were shacks if there were any; we curved round and we swerved. Then the wonder of that country began to be seen. Out way across the flat, barren fields and weird stones would loom up, cut peakedly at top. Coming near you noted the different strata of clay. A line was often of red. But this was one bit in a far away field. We came up more and more of them, great huge weird masses of clay and other substances in the midst of bad lands, nothing growing. We stopped when the mess-like formations were on both sides of us, got out and climbed up the side of one. Here are some of the shapes of the tops . A man had driven into camp the night before to tell us of the country there and to show us specimens of the prehistoric stones found there -- teeth of animals, crystals, turtle backs, and other equally unbelievable things. We looked for fossils as we climbed the steeps. Becky did find some kind of a bone. We drove slowly through this great country -- with its millions of variations of structures in size and color and shape. There was a camp in the middle of the Bad Lands -- Cedar Pass. We stopped for information, cards, etc. The man there was kind, telling us all he knew of the geological formation of these queer rocks. The whole country was there once covered with water 200.000,000 years ago. These forms were made by the water of many years. Although the sides crumpled under our feet the high peaked tops wore hard as lead and were still withstanding the rain and storm. For miles around these wonders arose. In the store at Cedar Pass were specimens of a few fossils, and of some sand crystals which are to be found no where else in the world. They took shapes like this , the last one being the most valuable. The stones seemed carved under a sculptor's knife -- but the Great Sculptor was Nature.
An Indian tipet with a covered wagon was in the field across the way. The Indians waved to have us come over. Not having a quarter to waste, I just snapped a picture from where we stood and we drove away, half fearing an arrow might be sent our way for our impertinence. It was all like an Arabian Nights Tale to drive through that prehistoric land. We had already seen specimens considered to be 200,000,000 years old, turtle backs, teeth of prehistoric animals and funny shaped stones. The road took us on and on through such country. Once in a while we would see a farm with corn planted, scarcely able to live itself, and would marvel at the courage of the family there. The tops of the stones seem to become rounded off as we went away. Sometimes they were even covered with grass. We stopped once more for fossils (and Exercise) climbing one of the hills of clay.
Scenic, the little town at the end of the real Bad Lands, was a typical Western town -- saddle horse Indians, flat, large street, gray ramshackle buildings with one of our weird
formations looming high as a background. We had been traveling through Indian reservations. Why such a country which can only be used as a geological and beauty spot should be turned over to them who need good land to work with is incomprehensible. There was a tiny museum worth seeing at Scenic. The man had collected his room full of things within a radius of fifteen miles and had many valuable things -- one, the head of a prehistoric animal with an arrow shot in it, shells which we, beautifully marked in black end white as in curls (again 200,000,000 years old), snake skins, teeth of all kinds of animals, big and little, and beautiful quartz rose and other colors. I even found a stone like one I had picked up but do not as yet know its value or geologilcal formation
The road was most uninteresting when we left the town. 'We had been fortunate to have a good day -- to be able to see the shadows on the wild rocks. Finally we caught a glimpse of the Black Hills, set low in the horizon. Rapid City was the entrance to all this -- a busy town full of people from everywhere, garages a plenty and rather good camping grounds. We stayed at one of them ath the foot of a pretty hill. Shopping and having the brake examined took some time, but we made camp early. We climbed the mountain for the view -- slept.
July 15. Rapid City to Custer Srate Park (Camp Galena)
After a vain attempt to get pictures at the post offices where they ought to have been sent days ago, we went over to the Museum of Mines. It had specimens of not only all the fossils and stones found about this country, but many things of the other states and countries. They had a motor of that original Dinosano Tyrannosaoras which is the New York Museum -- the teeth of which are three to six inches long and often two inches wide. It is the largest flesh eating Dinosan there is -- only 47 feet long and 18 1/2 feet high. That was one type of specimen they had. Along with it goes the Oreodon which looks something like this.
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They also had an oreodon skeleton with twins, the only existing such.. One case was filled with a seemingly conglomeration of bones. They were bonus of a rhinoceros the first of its species to have horses and very different from the type we know of now. The bones were found in exactly the same positions in which we was them under a sex inch layer of rock -- a burial ground for many rhinoceros.
As early as 1847 fossils were first found in the Black Hills. Since then it has proved to be a most interesting country primarily to the geologists who searched the region. Since the early 1920's, fossils and specimens have been on display to the public Besides the aforesaid specimens there were many kinds of rocks and crystals -- colored and otherwise. A huge door was opened to us concerning the country we were in. We planned to visit Wind Cave in the afternoon so the real thing of which we had seen a small portion would be shown to us. Up on a hill just outside Rapid City (one of the first things we saw as we entered) was a huge letter M. It might interest Richard to know that the. Freshman at the Mining College each year go up, bearing cement and pails of water, the hill and cement an added section of the M. It really is effective but the poor. Freshmen if it is a hot day!
We left the city and set out for Game Lodge where ex-President Coolidge always stayed In the Black Hills. Entering the State Park we came upon the Grace Coolidge Creek on top of which I am now writing (needless to say I am sitting on a stone). We followed the Creek along till we reached the lodge which is not quite so. impressive looking as its picture but quite attractive. We drove into Camp Gelena a short distance. beyond where we set up camp and had lunch. After an hour of writing, we started for Wind Cave not wishing to go over steps, we started to go one way and came back another. The way down. proved to be a road they were just cutting through as we saw the southern section of the Black. Hills in their ruggedness. Every once in a while we come upon the queerest kind of a bridge, a gate. opened only to one car under which were ten or twelve pipes with nothing in between each pipe We to not know yet the why and wherefore of them. It took us ages to get on to what is termed the. Coolidge Highway and then we came on another detour. We reached the cave quite out of patience,. for we had not seen a sign since we left. However, we were fortunate for we drove into the cave. grounds just as they were calling, "Last call for the cave tour." It was the last that day for a tour when you could have your choice of routes. We hurried right in, bought fifty cents tickets and started for the starting off room which was filled. with lanterns and candles. Our guide came down a little later lit our lanterns, and announced we were catching up with the two o'clock group and we could judge for ourselves what that meant. Every third one of our party of five was handed a lantern and I drew one being last. The door was opened -- and the wind blew. It was quite a gale too, sending our skirts around and up as we descended the steps. It was a dark, wierdiing, and cool passage way with rocks surrounding us. We went through what they call Pop Corn Alley because the shapes of the stones or the walk are like pop corn, Rouge pot because the wall was a red surface which rubbed off at one's touch, and various shapes turned into the exact image of common things by the water which had once been. there and formed. We reached the other party with only a few bumps of our heads (Jayne's especially) because the caverns would suddenly lower
There the lanterns were handed in. A huge cavern presented itself even when filled with people. Our guide called the room to order to tell us about the two different routes to be taken from then on. The room was lit by the lanterns and when any particular portion of the cavern was pointed out, the guide lit a piece of a magnesium roll which was as good as day light. The chances were one -- long and difficult, and one -- short and easy. The latter to the Garden of Eden. You probably know already which we took. It was a smaller party naturally, fourteen of us, and consequently more informal. The Garden of Eden group started off first with some twenty or thirty people.
The hole, scarcely ten inches in diameter is the only natural opening to the cave. The wind at the entrance is a strange phenomenon, caused by atmospheric pressure outside. I can do no better than to quote the description made by the Department of the Interior. "One is ushered into rooms and corridors of amazing variety, an underworld of spongelike aspect. The crystals forms are too varied and too numerous to permit description here. Boxwork and frostwork are theng the more common forms. The boxwork is composed of crystal fine arranged in structure to resemble a bee's honeycomb. The frostwork is formed of tiny needle-like crystals that hang in clusters from ledges and ceilings. It's usually pure white, and in some places it is superimposed on a delicate pink background -- Wind Cave harbors practically no animal life, even insects being seldom found." In connection with this last statement, however, it is interesting to know that one of the caverns was called the Zoo and in it one saw a rooster, goat, eagle and many other animal which the water thousands of years ago had formed.
The different caverns were named for organizations of all sorts -- Elks, Teachers of South Dakota, DeMolay, Red Cross, Boy Scouts. One of the caverns was the Blue Grotto and the stone gave a bluish tail as well as a nose. Another, one of the last and the most beautiful was the crystal cave, where exquisitely fine crystals, colored too, made a network fine as a dream. The guide Oscar was a good one, jolly and informative. The feature of one of the caves was to turn out all the lights. Everyone sat around in complete darkness. I had always heard and only half believed the saying "You can't see your hand before your face." And sure enough, here, one can not. We talked and sang for some time and to finish the effect, Oscar said he would count ten and then a drop a pin and if we were silent we could hear it. Well, he counted and he dropped -- a bucket -- and we heard it with an echo. It was a perfectly wonderful experience and I wished Dick had been along.
From the caves we drove back to camp via Mt. Coolidge. We drove to the top, a rough winding road but again it was worth it. The view was fine. We saw the face of Washington which has just been carved (Lincoln, Jefferson, and Roosevelt are being constructed). The noted sculptor Gutzon Borglum was working on this largest memorial in the world on Rushmore Mountain. We also saw Hacney Peak, the highest this side of the Rockies, the Needles and the Bad Lands. It was good to return to a tent already erected with only dinner to get. Warren changed a tire while Becky and I got dinner. After dinner I made a wood's fire and we toasted marshmellows and talked till the yawning became too evident. Seeing wild deer in the road and hilside finished our night in western style.
July 16 Camp Galena to Spearfish
This day was a grand one. We were in the hills and we were soon in the most beautiful part of them -- the Needles Highway (7,000 feet high). The rock formations here were so tall, pointed, and straight. One place we stopped was at the Needles Eye and it was one truly. Two or three times we passed through tunnels of rocks. Then there were the Cathedral spires. Twin Rocks, and an Elephant's head with tusks. It was a thrilling experience to be right among the great formation.. We got out to explore end found many places to climb and to see far off the horizon miles away. Another glorious hot day, but we could not bear to have our top up, so we baked in silence. However. we were rewarded by the nearness of the marvels before us. Just before we turned a corner, we found ourselves at beautiful Sylvan Lake. It is as it sounds. Swimming and a picnic across the lake suited all of us. The needles could be seen here giving a very Switzerlandic atmosphere. The swim was a glorious one for the lake was cool, there was an island to explore and the surroundings perfect. Writing letters after lunch, we were startled by the song of a cornet - and the player himself was startled when he saw us sitting calmly on a rock. Ho began talking incoherently and immediately about his playing, an echo and himself as a pianist. He was a queer one all right but he answered us. The flies were not so amusing so we stood up and left. The view continued to be lovely as we left the hills. We were headed for Lead, Deadwood, and Spearfish. Lead was our first stopping place -- the "Mile High" city of the Black Hills. The Homestake Mine at Lead is the largest gold mine in the world and we felt it was worth our while to see how It became that way. The town was a typical mining town, the mine buildings being on two hills opposite each other. Our guide, a young Lead girl we gathered knew her little piece by heart and led us on rather a merry chase for a hot day from one hill to another. Three people backed out one third the way through. It was interesting to see how they crushed the stone with iron pounders, then with stones (imported from France) and so on until the little grains of gold got small enough and separated from the stone to be sent through many waters and finally put together in bricks. The gold bricks, by the way, are sent immediately from Lead to Denver, Colorado where the gold and silver are separated. It was rather a blow not to see the final act of the gold business but we have seen the largest gold mine in the world. The mine itself is operating day and night employing 1700 people end la as wealthy as it ever was.
Deadwood was very much like its name -- another town though more prosperous looking than we expected. Deadwood Dish who built it up died just recently so the tourists' interest there has wained. Spearfish is by creek of the same name and is a great fishing country. We found a camp right beside the creek and have been lying out on its bank all evening. The rush of the water is a joyous sound to campers and we intend to sleep soundly because of it.
July 17 Camp Spearfish to Buffalo, Wyoming
It seem that my sleeping on a little rise last night caused great trouble In camp. Every time I moved Becky and Jayne thought there as an earthquake. Guess they did not sleep very well, for I, being able only to sleep on one side was rather up and down myself. Over-sleeping again but we did manage to leave camp at nine. We went up to the U. S. fish hatchery across from camp where we saw beautiful trout, all sizes. Then we drove up the Spearfish Canyon road. That was lonely. We went by many camps in the woods -- which were doubtless homes of fishermen, for it is a great fish country. The road was closed about seven miles up so we got out and walked. There was falls ahead somewhere and we expected them at every turn in the road. Jayne went back to the car after awhile, but Becky and I determined to turn corners until we found them. We finally did come to some of the falls, The Bridal Veil Falls and we were pleased to see them.
We were still in the Black Hills for several miles until we came into Wyoming and there we found the country changing and weird. It was hilly and very curvy at first arriving at a point by making almost a circle to get there. This was true as we entered Carlisle. The Devil's Tower, a National Monument, we saw from miles away and we looked forward to having lunch near it, judging it to be only two or three miles out of our way. It was twelve miles away when we got to the town. Our mistaking the amount of mileage by sight had begun. So we ate along the road side.
Prairie land -- desolate, sandy, dusty road (it felt like an inch of dust on you) and hills like roller coasters. For miles there was not a house in sight. It was getting to be a little too much for us when we rounded a curve and what did we see? -- horses, herds of them, being driven down the road by cowboys. The camera was brought out and we snapped and snapped. Two of the boys came right up close. We gave them water to drink and asked questions. They said there was a mere 1OO0 in the herd at but brought the story down to more truth, 150. We got one of the boys in action and a tiny horse looking quite cocky. They thrilled us and quite made up for the bare land we had been through. We watched them for some time for it was pretty interesting.
Then the country did come to look a little more inviting for the Big Horn mountains came into view. The looked far away and would you believe it there was snow on all the peaks. We saw pictures of the mountains in
[Note: Becky began writing letters to family back in Massachusetts on 5 July, omitting mention of the first few days of the trip. To remedy this upon her return home from the trip, months later, she wrote up the following summary "log". Her letters follow this "log" writing. Though it was written later it is included here to keep the time line consistent.]
7/1/30 Tuesday
Route - As indicated with exception of Great Barrington-Albany road. At Great Barrington we turned west to Hudson, N. Y. and up the river to Albany.
Mileage - 168 mi.
Expenses - $2.17
Night - At Dorothy Good's in Schenectady
It was a beautiful drive up the Naugatuck Valley through the Litchfield Hills into the Southern Berkshires in Massachusetts and New York. We realized that New England scenery was not to be scorned or perhaps even surpassed.
Occasional showers made it necessary to put up the top three times in which feat we acquired great agility and speed. In Hudson we met Marjorie Otis at the St. Charles Hotel and had lunch with her. Catskill Mts. were now fainly perceptible. In Albany instead of being routed around the city as tourists, we boldly took the main streets and saw the city. The general impression was one of disappointment in the state capital, but certain sections of the city gave us a feeling of permanence. We arrived in Schenectady in rain where we found the Goods' quite easily and had a very enjoyable evening talking of the west and looking at pictures.
In a business conclave we decided on a name for the Ford -- Ed, to stand for Education.
7/2/30 Wednesday
Route - Entire change of schedule to go [to] Ithaca and the Finger Lakes. Route 7 (Albany to Binghamton road) to Bainbridge and then across country to Ithaca.
Mileage - 200 mi.
Expenses - $7.25
Night - Taughannoc State Park on Cayuga Lake.
After a leisurely breakfast, we left the Goods' at 10:30 A.M. for our first day of real camping and touring. We drove around Schenectady with Dorothy as a guide seeing Union College, the General Electric plant, and the bridge over the Mohawk river. We started the day wrong by leaving Schenectady on the wrong route and later in the day had some difficulty in keeping to the route we had planned, but felt repaid by the wonderful country we saw. The first route was called the Schokanna Trail which took us up hill and down through beautiful, prosperous-looking farm country. Each turn in the road brought a new vista.
At Ithaca we drove through the campus of Cornell and stopped to walk down the gorge by the waterfall at the entrance to the campus. It is a gorgeous campus up on the hill overlooking Lake Cayuga. We started then for Watkins Glen but as we struck a detour and it was getting late, we went to Taughannoc State Park instead, where we camped amid the shale and willows on the very edge of the lake. We thoroughly enjoyed cooking our first supper and making our first camp. While we were still preparing for the night there was a beautiful sunset over the lake and as the moon was bright, we walked up the glen, through shaded parts to the waterfall. It was lovely in the moonlight.
7/3/30 Thursday
Route - From Taughannoc State Park to Watkins Glen, north on Geneva road to Pen Yan, then West up the shore of Canandaigua Lake to Cananadaigua and to Rochester west on Route 31 to Wrights Corner, then north to Olcott on Lake Ontario. Along the lake to Fort Niagara, south to Niagara Falls and across to the Canadian side.
Mileage - 247 mi.
Expenses - $7.41
Night - On farm in Queenston, Ontario.
Making an early start from Taughannoc, although we must have taken two hours to get ready to start that second day, we came into Watkin's Glen. It was beautiful -- following up the mountain side by the clear water which rolled over rapids and falls at intervals. Our day was started with beauty and we continued to find it along the shore of Canandaigua and up to Rochester. We picnicked on the lake and planned the rest of the day's voyage which was to end at Niagara Falls.
Rochester we quite enjoyed as a city by all of us. Starting out on the straight roads again we followed the lake shore route which on the straight gave us glimpses of Ontario every so often.
Fort Niagara was at the end of our straight and narrow path so we decided to stop. The chateau there we found being repaired and it was interesting to note its historicity. A battle was fought there in 1759 between the French and English. Renovation was being made on the original plans found in the archives of Paris. The castle was situated at the mouth of the Niagara River overlooking Lake Ontario.
We enjoyed thoroughly our drive down the Niagara River, but were quite disappointed with the town of Niagara as a possible place to camp. Seeing Niagara Falls from the American side impressed us because of the proximity with its power, its beauty, and its glorious sprays. Crossing to Canada, we gloried in looking at that superb panorama - The American and Horseshoe Falls. Driving up the river again we at last found a farm overlooking the river where we could pitch our tent in safety and solitude. Mr. Cooper, our host, drove to the falls with us that night to see them with the lights playing upon them. Awe-inspiring -- superb -- glorious -- and still.
7/4/30 Friday
Route - From Queenston south to the Falls, continuing along the Canadian side of the river to the Peace Bridge at Buffalo. From Buffalo south to a point near Silver Creek.
Mileage - 82 mi.
Night - At Buffalo Y. W. C. A. camp on Lake Erie. Farnham, N. Y.
Awakened by chickens and the toot of the Toronto boat, we arose at 7:30 after a good night's rest. Mr. Cooper visited us early and brought a bouquet and invited us to pick some of his cherries which we found to be excellent. We didn't hurry in our preparations for departure and it was 10:30 before we started down the river for a last look at the Falls. We stopped at Gen. Brock's monument, ascended 223 steps and viewed the surrounding country. (Our way of celebrating the Fourth!) Apple trees, Lake Ontario, the Niagara River, and the general flatness of the country were the outstanding features.
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| Marion and Jayne picking cherries with the advice of the very cordial farmer who visited Niagara Falls at night with us. |
Progressing southward, we next stopped at the electric power plant and went through and came out wishing we knew something of electricity. The spick and span plant was what we were able to appreciate. At the Falls we stopped opposite the American Falls and then went down to the Horseshoe Falls. The sprinkling was very acceptable, for by this time it was very hot. We watched the "Maid of the Mist" make a trip up to the Falls. It seemed almost unbelievable that the Falls had worked their way back from Lewiston, now seven miles down the gorge.
The drive from Niagara to Buffalo followed along the bank of the river with just a strip of grass and a line of willows between the road and the river. Many people were celebrating the Fourth by picnicking along the way. We watched for a place to swim, but decided the river was too dirty, although it looked blue and pretty, and finally stopped just for our lunch.
In Buffalo we drove all around the city. It was not long before we knew that it really was the Fourth of July. Buffalo has a pretty park and many lovely homes in that section, but the entrance and exit of Main St. were not too distinctive and very bumpy. Ed developed some fine squeaks and rattles.
It was so hot and the roads so full of holiday merry-makers that an early camp seemed advisable, and after a little difficulty were taken into the Y. W. C. A. camp "not because it is allowed, but because it is the Fourth." One of the secretaries, Esther Todd, a Mt. Holyoke graduate, had made the trip we were taking to Glacier Park last summer. We found that we are doing things the right way. After making camp, we donned bathing suits and went out for a swim in Lake Erie. A peculiar sensation to have anything as big and with waves not to be salt!
Finally we really had to write one or two of those letters we have been raving about and after another look at Lake Erie from the foot-path along the edge of the bluff we climbed onto our canvass cots.
Route - Along the shore of Lake Erie to Toledo, north on 127 to Rome and west to Round Lake.
Mileage - 340
Expenses - $6.43
Night - At Marion's cousins, the George Hyatts', at Manitou Beach, Michigan.
Determining to arise early, we woke up long enough to turn over for another sleep and it was after 9:30 when we finally left camp. At Silver Creek we hoped for mail, but Becky was the only lucky one. We got the car greased there and sat up on the rack and wrote letters home. It was eleven o'clock when we left there with Cleveland as our objective. As the day wore on we decided that we would like to get to Marion's cousins in Manitou Beach, Mich., and there take a rest on Sunday. The idea grew on us as we sped along the Ohio roads. At first we drove through grape country and then got into a stretch where there were many roadside stands and gasoline stations, making the drive rather tiresome. Some of the towns were very attractive and gradually we worked into a manufacturing district. Cleveland seemed like a very long city for we got into the suburbs while we were at least fifteen miles from the center of the city. Euclid Avenue, which is supposed to be the best avenue in the city, petered out and we were disappointed in the city until the central square where a tall office building rather took the center of things. Just over the bridge was a very pretty park, right on Lake Erie. We then drove through a lovely residential section known as Lakewood.
From Cleveland we sped to Toledo, taking the route along the shore. During the morning we were disappointed in seeing so little of the lake, but after leaving Cleveland the ride was much prettier. In Sandusky we stopped at a gas station and found the location of Manitou Beach and directions for going there. Soon after leaving Sandusky we got onto our first straight roads through squared-off country. The roads are fine for making good time.
We got through Toledo and from our brief view of it, thought it a very attractive city. The Art Museum was lighted and was a very attractive building.
It was dark when we left Toledo so we saw little of the Michigan country through which we traveled, but the straight, flat roads and the seemingly farm-lined highway gave us some idea of the character of the country.
We went by the Hyatts', but after a little inquiry found them quite easily, drove the car onto their lawn, and pitched our tent by the light of our headlights. They gave us a very cordial welcome, especially when the warning that we were coming, a telegram from Toledo, arrived about half an hour before we did at 11 P.M.
Needless to say, we were ready for bed after our long drive.
7/6/30 Sunday
Spent the day at Manitou Beach, Michigan, with George Hyatt and family.
Expenses - $.35
Remarks
Although we have been on the road only five days, we have acquired an immense amount of dirt, and by general consent, after a good night's rest, we fell to cleaning up. First the dishes and pantry were put in order, and then the tent and suitcases were cleaned up. Finally Becky and Marion did the company's washing, while Jayne cleaned up Ed. Cheated out of a second swim before dinner by a severe shower in which Timmy Tent proved to be weather proof, we dressed in our best "uniform" and went into the house for dinner. In the afternoon we enjoyed playing tennis and ball and swimming with the boys, Alfred and George.
After supper, Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt took the three of us for a ride around Round and Devil Lakes. It was just sunset and the lakes were beautiful. They seemed especially pretty in contrast with the bigness of Lake Erie which we had been seeing all the day before.
Telling each other that we approved of a stop-over Sunday primarily to write letters, we did accomplish a little in that line late in the evening. The moonlight in out tent that night was beautiful.
7/7/30
Route - From Manitou Beach north to Jackson, east to Ann Arbor, north to Flint, southeast to Detroit and on to Manitou Beach.
Mileage - 280
Expenses - $5.87
Night - At Manitou Beach, Mich.
Remarks
Combining the circumstances that we hated to leave Manitou Beach, Jayne's wanting to see a friend, and wishing to see something of Michigan, we conceived the plan of taking a circular day's route, unencumbered with baggage, and return to Manitou for another evening and night.
The ride from Toledo up into Michigan Saturday night was made in the darkness so we had little idea of the country we were in. Our host told us that it was the richest agricultural country in the United States. All along the road there was one farm after another with its fields of wheat -- winter wheat which was just ripening and we watched it being bound into shocks -- oats, clover, and barley. Most of the hay fields seemed to be back from the roads. In the particular vicinity of Round Lake, and in fact in nearly all the Michigan country we traversed, there were countless little lakes and these are cut off from each other by what Michigans call the Irish Hills, but which seemed to us scarcely worth the name.
Jackson was the first town of any size that we went through and we found it very attractive with broad streets and many trees, as well as up to date business and civic buildings. We stopped there and did some necessary shopping.
At Ann Arbor we drove around the University of Michigan quite thoroughly and got out and walked through the main campus. The buildings are not of one type of architecture and are spread out a good deal, each subject apparently having a separate building. Summer school was in session so there were a good many students about.
From Ann Arbor we went to Flint. As we went north the country became less agricultural and more industrial. Flint itself was very hot and treeless and showed the effects of its rapid growth due to the Chevrolet, Fisher Body, and Buick factories there. Jayne did not find her friend in Flint, but learned that she was at Sand Lake, about seventeen miles from Round Lake, where she stopped off to spend the evening.
In Detroit we drove down the two main streets right at 5 o'clock when the office workers were pouring forth, so we felt we saw not only something of the city, but a good portion of its population. We went by one of the Ford plants and wondered if Ed came from there. The Art Museum -- in two buildings in sort of a public square -- was the most beautiful building we saw, but all in all we put Detroit on our list of approved cities.
Coming out of Detroit we came through Dearborn, but did not see Henry Ford, nor his estate, nor any of his civic enterprises. We seemed to also have missed the Ford Airport.
Becky and Marion got back to Manitou in time to teach the cousins "Pounce," while Jayne was brought back later.
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| We three at the Hyatts' in Parfitt made pajamas. | The Hyatt Family |
Today we had a little trouble with the gasoline stove and in spite of wishing to show our independence, we were finally induced to cook our breakfast in the kitchen. We have a vague feeling that the Hyatts wonder how we manage with no one to look out for us!
[Letters to home begin here.]
Saturday at Silver Creek, N. Y.
July 5, 1930
Dear Relatives,
We are having a marvelous trip! The day we left home it showered at different intervals making it necessary to put our top up and down a number of times. Good practice for us. We arrived at Hudson about 12:20, a little early for our one o'clock luncheon engagement with Otis. Sounds pretty swell, what? She was awfully glad to see us, even if we did look as though we expected to go on a picnic instead of to a hotel. She has been having a lot of trouble with her teeth since she has been home. Well, we left her and drove on to Albany. Went all through the city. Weren't particularly impressed with it. We met a friend of Emerson's -- an awfully nice girl. Then we arrived at Schenectady at about 5 o'clock. We certainly did enjoy our visit with the Goods! Mrs. Good is awfully nice. Both of them were very cordial. Good gave us about 8 jars of jellies and jams to take with us. We also made up our lunch there. We didn't get started until almost 10:30 and then we did the awfullest thing. Dot pointed out the wrong road to get out of the city and when we returned to the spot where we had left her, she was still waiting for a trolley car. Then we ducked behind a trolley car and kept behind it until we had gotten well past Good. I don't know whether she saw us or not. But it was an awful risky thing to do. We changed our route as I told you in the postcard I sent you from Watkin's Glen, and went down around the finger lakes. Went through Cornell -- that is the campus. It certainly is an attractive college. Being up there on the hill at Ithaca it has a marvelous view, especially of the lake -- Cayuga Lake. On the campus there is a very lovely waterfall and stream. A perfect thing to have on a campus I think. That night we camped on Lake Cayuga at Taughannoc State Park, which was very nice. We got up at 5:30 the next morning, Can you imagine that? But we didn't get away until 8:15. It certainly takes a lot longer to "break up" camp than it does to make it. That day we went to Watkin's Glen by way of Mecklenburg. We walked all through the glen which was perfectly lovely. Then up to Penn Yan -- which was a nice little village. The farming country in N. Y. state is certainly beautiful. There were hills on all sides of us for both days -- Weds. & Thursday -- and they were just covered with the best-looking farms. They all looked prosperous. Connecticut certainly has beautiful hills, but they were not cultivated. Both these two states we have enjoyed very much. From Penn Yan we went over to Rushville and then up Lake Canandaigua to Canandaigua, in the vicinity of which we had lunch. (Just a trifle late according to our schedule!) Then we went along to East Bloomfield and up from there to Rochester via Ionia and Pittsford. Rochester is a perfectly lovely city. Warren has decided to get a job there next year! We followed route 31 out of Rochester as far as Wrights Corner and turned up there to Olcott where we had our first view of Lake Ontario. By the way, we thought we were on the Million Dollar Highway all that time and found out later we weren't at all. That was south of the road we took. Lake Ontario is just like the ocean as Lake Erie is -- you can't see the other side at all.
We have just finished having the car greased and are on our way to Cleveland and Lake beyond to an aunts' of Emerson's where we are going to spend all day writing.
Will write more tomorrow. Received mother's letter here at Silver Creek. Was the only one honored.
Love
Rebecca
Manitou Beach, Michigan
July 6, 1930
Dear Relatives,
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| The American Falls from the bridge |
I think I last wrote you about the trip as far as Niagara Falls. We certainly were impressed with that visit. I think they are really very marvelous and beautiful. One thing that struck me was the silence with which the American Falls go over the brink. You stand there on the side and hear practically nothing as all that water goes over. The river above the falls on the American side is very lovely, I think. You know I don't think it is fair to compare the American and Canadian views of the Falls. The American side is right along side of the American Falls so that you can't view them from any distance and you can hardly see the Canadian Falls at all. While from the Canadian side you see the American Falls as well as the Canadian Falls from several different angles. It is like this:
In fact, I think you have to see the Falls from Canada to really appreciate them. They certainly are a magnificent sight. The amount of water that goes over is quite amazing to say the least. The Canadian Falls are simply marvelous, I think. We drove up to them in the car and just about drenched everything from the spray. We never could see the center part of those Falls as the spray was too thick to see through. We came into Niagara at about 6 o'clock and went over to the park along the banks of the river just before the Falls. Then we walked down a little way and saw the American Falls go over. We couldn't see the bottom of them as it was too close to the top. We had already been looking for a place to camp and had not found any that weren't overcrowded with people so we decided to try our luck in Canada.
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| Canadian Falls from the Canadian side. |
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| Cooking breakfast on the farm where we spent the night after a long search for a camp. |
Tuesday Afternoon, July 8, 1930
Dear Relatives,
We are waiting for our potatoes and beans to cook in a state park in Indiana, halfway between Michigan City and Chicago. Nearer Chicago, I think. Tonight we are having string beans, mashed potatoes, pork chops, and applesauce. For dessert we are having something of what is left from a jelly roll we had for lunch. Quite spiffy, what? This morning we got up at 7:30 and took a swim in the lake at Manitou Beach. We are having two swims a day now. That is, we have had them since we arrived in Manitou Beach last Saturday evening. It is right near, or fairly near, Adrian, Mich. These cousins of Emerson's, the Hyatts, live on a farm across the street from the lake. Round Lake is its name. It is quite small. Well, we ate our lunch on a lake before we arrived at Michigan City. I have a map now and find that it was just outside of Sturgis, Mich., on Klinger Lake. We went in swimming then, too, so we feel quite clean. This camp we are in now is on Lake Michigan. We haven't gone in swimming this evening as we haven't finished our "work" in time. We may go in tomorrow morning. We can't see the lake from where we are as we are in a woods and behind one of these sand dunes. There are people camping all through these woods. However, we haven't any one very near us.
What do you think? I drove for almost two hours this morning and then I drove part way home last night from Sand Lake, which is about 20 miles from Round Lake. This morning I drove at different times at almost 45 miles an hour. Pretty speedy, don't you think? Only when we were on a nice straight road and when there weren't any cars in sight. When we got into small towns I drove so slowly I got all the lights when they were green. You see, I would get past a green light and then go slowly enough to let the red light ahead change to green. They invariably alternated the colors at each corner. I am afraid I don't like to stop and shift gears very much. So now I will have my turns at driving each day. Won't that be fun? I sent a card from Manitou Beach this morning talking a little of what we did yesterday. We have had a real good time at Hyatts' for the past few days. As Warren was anxious to see this friend in Flint, Mich., we decided to leave our things there at Manitou Beach so we could make better time. We went up through Jackson where we mailed some letters. It was an awful Job finding that P.O. Jayne had gotten out at a Sears Roebuck store to get some tent pegs and Marion and I had driven off in search of the P.O. It was finally found on a little side street. We got back before Jayne had finished her shopping out of that place as she had decided to get a blanket to keep her warmer. So I paraded down the main street of Jackson -- it is quite a city, too, and located a 5 and 10 cent store where I bought aprons for Marion and myself. Well, when we got out of Jackson we headed for Ann Arbor. We parked Ed and walked all through the campus. The buildings don't match at all. However, there are lots of trees all over the campus and it is quite attractive. There are loads of summer students there. All of them were in classes practically. Now the way I know is because we saw them all sitting in the classrooms paying strict attention to business.
We hunted around for the athletic field and finally saw part of it, but most of it was behind a wall that was too high to see over. So that wasn't very satisfactory. There are lots of attractive homes there. I always had an idea Ann Arbor was on a lake. I certainly have learned a lot of geography. We get such definite ideas of places on a trip of this sort. We have learned a lot about Michigan, having spent a whole day driving around in it.
I am now writing this at breakfast time the next morning. Last evening we decided to take a walk down to the lake. We took a trail down to it that was awfully pretty. These sand dunes certainly are funny things. Great hills made mostly of the loveliest sand. There were lots of children running and sliding down them. We almost did it ourselves. There were a number of fires along the beach which made everything bright and cheery. The beach is exactly like that of the ocean's. In fact it is awfully hard to believe it is a lake at all and not the ocean. It has been that way with the Great Lakes, too. We have seen three now -- Ontario, Erie, and Michigan.
7/10/30 My goodness. I seem to be taking a long time to finish this. Right now we are in a theatre in Dubuque, Iowa, at the movies. That is we are waiting for the movies to start. They don't begin until 1:30 and it is one now. We are having Ed fixed. It seems to thump or something. The valves need grinding according to the garage man. It will cost us about six dollars. However, our average amount spent each day is just below $5.00 so far, so we think we are doing pretty well. The job will take almost four hours so we think this is a pretty good way to spend part of the time. The picture is "Redemption" with John Gilbert. I have my doubts about the value of it, but it is the best in town, I guess. Dubuque is smaller than I expected -- not having any definite ideas about it before; and not very attractive. We crossed the Mississippi at about 11:30 this morning. Of course it wasn't very wide up here and it looked rather muddy, too. And then to add to it, we had to pay a toll of 35 cents to get over it.
We got up at 6:30 this morning, which is pretty good for us. It has been hard to get up in the mornings because we haven't been getting to bed so early. We got started, with me driving, at about 8:20. It certainly takes a long time to get ourselves fixed in the morning. It is a lot easier to unpack than to pack we have found. We camped in a free camping park in Belvidere, Illinois. It was real pleasant with a pump nearby, tables, trees, and a river. We were quite pleased with it.
Yesterday was awfully hot and we were ready to stop before we did but of course we had to get our mail and then we had to find a place to put ourselves for the night. At a garage where we stopped to get gas this morning, the man told us that it had been 113 degrees there yesterday, and that some place here in Iowa the hottest day on record happened yesterday. Was it awfully hot in New Haven, too? I expect so.
Yesterday we drove through Chicago and didn't get out to take a bus as we originally planned because we thought it was too hot. We went to a park on the lake, Grant's Park, where the Field Museum, Soldier's Field and the Aquarium, which isn't quite finished. It is the first one I have been in and thought it was very interesting. We didn't go in the museum because it cost 25 cents a piece and we decided we would rather spend our money for something else. However, we looked all around it and think we would know it if we saw a picture of it! Then we drove along the lake to Evanston. The beach of Lake Michigan certainly is a fine one. Yesterday, being so hot, the beaches were crowded all along the way. Chicago has quite a skyline. The high buildings all seem to be along the lake front as if they wanted to show them off! There were lots of hotels -- quite elaborate ones. At Evanston we saw Northwestern University. It is quite attractive. There are a number of new dormitories which were real good looking. Evanston is quite a city. There are some lovely homes there. In fact, all the way between Chicago and Evanston there were beautiful places. The stores in Chicago were quite attractive. I don't think they compare with those of Detroit, though. We certainly did like that city a lot. I am now writing in the Ford salesroom while we are waiting for the car to be fixed. We enjoyed the picture a good deal. It was about some gypsies living in Russia. My pen went dry and this is the color of ink they have in this place.
We arrived here in Dubuque about 12 o'clock. After leaving our car in the garage we walked the streets in search of a place to eat. Finally, we found one on the side of a hill. We then started looking for a movie place. It was quite cool in there. We went in when the skies looked rather overcast and came out with the sun out in full force. It certainly is hot now. Hope the car gets fixed pretty soon so we can get cooled off a little bit by riding. We want to get to a state park about 33 miles from here this evening and it is 4:45 now.
I am going to begin on another page for our events preceding the time I began this. I think I left off with Niagara Falls. It seems impossible that we just saw it less than a week ago. We have seen so much that I can't believe that it has all happened in a little more than a week.
I haven't finished a page of the part I have started so will keep it until I do. Hope you get this soon.
July 13, 1930
Dear Relatives,
To continue on from our trip to the movies last Thursday -- I think I had better settle down to yesterday and today as we haven't it written up in a log book yet and it is awfully hard to remember the things we see in these states that are all so similar. We had camped Friday night in a state park on a lake by the name of Medium Lake. [Terrible sentence!]
I am now writing this up having finished my part about tomorrow! I am getting behind times and finding it hard to remember and so will take it from the log. Thursday was hot and when we came out of the theatre we decided not to drive much longer. We went to Silver Lake State Park only to find that we weren't allowed to pitch our tent there and so we decided to stop along the lake just on the side of the road. It was so hot we thought we wouldn't put up the tent just sleep out of doors. We had quite an exciting time getting undressed! The moon was full when it came up and I guess a lot of people thought we had a pretty good view of it because they stopped right near us to see it themselves. Then some people were fishing near us, too, so we didn't relax very much that night. We got up Friday morning about 6:30 and started off at quarter of eight. The thing that impressed us about the farms we saw that day was that they were well taken care of and had sort of a contented look. They (the houses, I mean,) were set well back from the road, all protected by trees surrounding 3 sides of them. As you looked across the plains you would see all these bunches of trees and a house inside every group practically. We passed through part of Minn. (which calls itself the bread and butter state) and it was very good looking as to farms and farm houses. Whew, but that day was certainly hot. We stopped at Clear Lake for lunch and then started on for what we hoped would be Spirit Lake. But by two o'clock it was so piping hot we decided we couldn't go any further and so stopped at Municipal Park in Emmetsburg. We lay down and tried to cool off but weren't very successful as we couldn't get cooled off. We thought there was going to be a State Park at Emmetsburg but there wasn't, so we contented ourselves with the municipal one. We drove around the lake trying to find a place we thought we might camp at but finally had to return to the M. camp. Then we made up our minds to do some washing. It turned out that that hadn't been such a bad idea as we had quite a collection. After we had been there a while a car came and parked next to us that had come from California. Crazy people, though. A man and his wife and his little nephew and niece. He was quite the talker. Not so much to us as to another man and his wife (who turned out to be from Waterbury and were foreigners -- Italians -- I think.) They were on their way to Calif. too and had their camping down pat. They were quite nice. Got up early the next morning and were on their way quite a time before we were. In spite of the heat we slept in our tent!
You have received a letter telling about Niagara Falls and our trip to Buffalo by way of Canada on the Fourth of July -- by now, haven't you? I'm sure I wrote one.
I weighed myself in Evanston, Ill., where we stopped and I found I weighed 112 lbs. Marion only weighs 103. Has lost more weight. She isn't a very good sleeper, I am afraid.
We got up this morning at about 8 o'clock.
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We ate our lunch almost on a hay stack. The grasshoppers out here are awfully thick and as neither Jayne or I have a great liking for them, we ate in the car. I had put up the lunch and had had an awful time cutting the bread as it was fresh and our knife isn't very well fitted for the purpose. As a result, the pieces were rather thick and we decided at lunch time that we had become Italians. Did I ever tell you that Jayne's mother had suggested we call ourselves the "A-to-P Gypsies"? Rather cute, don't you think? Yesterday -- I am now writing this Monday evening at a camp -- Hollywood Camp -- right outside of Rapid City -- started out beautifully and then toward three o'clock it got black in the west, with some of the clouds sort of hanging down close to the earth making it look as though a tornado was coming up. At Kadoka we had to have our brakes looked at, which took a little while. That town looked quite Western, with no trees and dinky little buildings. Also, quite a few men walking around with these gallon or ten-gallon hats. When we left Kadoka we decided to start for Rapid city by way of the Bad Lands. Just at the place where we would have left the sand road and gotten on the clay road which is supposed to be a little tricky in wet weather, it started to pour. So we stopped in front of a place that would eventually be a gasoline station and is now being built. It rained hard for quite a while but we were protected all right, as we had turned around and driven into the driveway, making it look as though we had just come from the Bad Lands. So we had a number of people stop and ask us if we thought it safe for them to go on the road through the Bad Lands. A number of cars started on the clay road only to come back again and go off on the dirt road. We had a good laugh a number of times at the people who thought they were pretty good and then would have to turn around and come back. You see we were just at the part of a hill where they would start and we could see them go up to the top and slip around and finally decide to come back to safety. Well, in a little while the laugh was on us all right. As I said before, we had parked on the side of the road, in the clay of course, and we had already found how slippery and sticky it was just from walking in it. The stuff all sticks to your shoes and is the very dickens to clean off. We had quite a conference in the to-be garage trying to decide whether to go back to Kadoka to camp, to go on to Rapid City on the safe road or to wait for an hour or so and then try the Bad Lands road. Finally we decided to go back to "Camp Joy" on the outskirts of Kadoka. Then when we tried to move, old Ed wouldn't budge but went sixty miles an hour in one place.
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| Jayne and Becky "on" the Bad Lands. |
I am not going to start today as it is pretty late now and I want to read up on the Black Hills before we start off. We are all enjoying that book a lot. I had almost lost it yesterday. When we stopped at that gasoline station I had taken the book with me. Then when we were half way back to Kadoka I realized I didn't have it with me and so we had to go back again. Oh, well.
Will mail this in Rapid City tomorrow morning. I like driving a lot. Went up and down hills and around sharp turns today. Getting real good!
July 16, 1930
You are carefully saving these, aren't you? I haven't been writing up things any other way.
Dear Relatives,
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| Jayne |
So we paid our 50 cents and were given lanterns to light our way. When the guide pushed open the door to the cave we were greeted with a rush of wind. That wind at the entrance is quite weird because it is the only place where you have it. The man who discovered it, a McDonald, I think, happened across the only natural opening to the cave -- a hole about 10" in diameter when he was out hunting for deer. He was attracted to it by a strange whistling noise. The hole is right near the door through which we entered. We went down a number of stairs and then the wind was all over. It was quite cool and refreshing down there. The guide told us the temperature was about 48 degrees. The lowest you get is 600 feet below the ground. We went along the winding paths sometimes having to bend way over so we wouldn't bump our heads on the rock. Jayne, as it was, banged her head too hard three or four times. Then once in a while we would come across what they called chambers. There were about eight of them and they have all been dedicated to some organization. Some of them are Elk, Mason, De Molay, Red Cross Nurses. Also the Garden of Eden, the Capital and the Fairgrounds. There were some perfectly lovely white crystal formations with a pinkish tone to them in one place. It certainly was a beautiful thing. Throughout the cave we would come across what they call Box Work. It was brown and looked a lot like honey combs. Just the same formation. Most of it was on the ceilings of the different chambers. Our guide was very nice, we thought. The Fairgrounds was the largest chamber in the cave. We stopped here long enough to have him put out our lanterns and then we could realize just how dark it was down there. I've never been in such a dark place before. He said he would show us how loudly things would echo by dropping a pin when we were all perfectly quiet. Then he dropped the little pail he was carrying his candle in. Of course that created quite a laugh. We all tried hard to think of something to sing while we were there and the only success was "Its a long, long trail a-winding" -- suggested by our guide. You see there were only 14 of us so we were a little timid! No, Mother, we didn't see any animal life in the cave at all. Never even once thought of any as it seems as if it would be impossible for anything to live there. However, the guide told us that a monkey had once been seen there. That was in connection with the Valley of Lost Souls, though, and may have been just a story. Something he was given to telling. There were lots of guides there and they all looked very nice. In fact three or four of them were rather good-looking. Our guide wasn't as young as some of the others. He wasn't 30, I think, but the others all seemed quite young. Oh, well.
The trip through the Cave lasted for 3 hours anyway because we didn't get out until it was almost six. There are two routes -- the long and short one and we took the long one to show how husky we are! On our way back to Galena we got more into the hills and the drive was perfectly lovely. We went up to the top of Mt. Coolidge on a rather narrow and winding road, naturally, and had a wonderful view of all the Black Hills and the Bad Lands. We saw Mt. Rushmore on which is being carved the monument by Borglum. We could only distinguish one head -- that of Washington's -- and were rather disappointed in it. I think it is a waste of money and effort. The faces are all pretty well down at the bottom of the mountain and we couldn't see them very well from where we are. It doesn't seem as if enough will be gotten out of a thing of that sort to warrant the expense. At least that is the way I fell about it. Mt. Rushmore is not a mountain in the real sense (that is -- my idea of the word!) It is all stone with no trees on it at all. Rather high but of no length or breadth. Just sticks up into the sky. There are a lot of rocks like that here in the Black Hills. By the way, they certainly are well named. The fir trees give an awful black impression as you see them from a distance. We got down from Mt. Coolidge all right and went our way to Camp Galena. By that time we were well protected from the sun by the hills and we enjoyed the ride a lot as it was perfectly beautiful. We saw about 10 deer and one little deer -- I don't know if they have a special name or not -- on the side of a hill on our way. They heard our car and all stood as still as statues. We stopped and watched them for while and then they went on eating. It was an awfully pretty sight. Of course it was well wooded which added a lot to the picture. We were awfully sorry that we had left the camera back at the camp. Wasn't that a dumb thing to do?
It was nice to come back to camp with everything ready except supper. After supper, which consisted of some dumb cold meat I had gotten at a store here at camp, mashed potatoes, canned lima beans, salad and iced cocoa, we made a fire and toasted some marshmellows, which was fun. We didn't go to bed until almost eleven.
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| Where Jayne and Marion went in swimming. |
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This evening we are camping at a municipal camp at Spearfish. We are right on Spearfish Creek. Last night I awoke two or 3 times and thought it was raining hard only to realize that it was only the brook. Expect it will happen again tonight. We had creamed eggs. string beans, cucumber salad, peaches and angel's food cake. Sounds pretty good -- don't you think?
Have to go to bed now as I have to get get up to get breakfast tomorrow morning. It's a tough life! We are taking 2 days to get to Cody and will stop there. Planning to go into Yellowstone Saturday morning. We let our P.O.'s we miss know the next stop we expect to get mail. Loads of love.
July 17, 1930
Buffalo, Wyoming
Dear Relatives,
Here we are right at the foot of the Big Horn Mts. They have snow in patches on the top of them. Imagine the snow not melting in this kind of weather. It certainly looks funny. From a distance they created quite a picture. We have had a day of variety all right. Got up at about seven and didn't leave until 9:30. We drove through the Spearfish Canyon which was perfectly lovely. It certainly was nice to see some green trees. This drive took us through some thickly wooded places with a brook running by our side all the time. The sides of the canyon were practically covered with green trees and foliage. As the road was being repaired part of the way in, we got out and decided to walk as far as Bridal Veil Falls, even if we didn't know how far it was. After a while Jayne gave it up and went back to the car to read about Yellowstone. So Emerson and I saw it by ourselves after walking for more than a mile. It certainly was pretty. We saw some men who were working on the road and they told us it had dried up a lot and that it wasn't as pretty as it had been. It was nice and silvery though and we took a picture of it. Then we went back to Spearfish and started off for Buffalo, which we had decided to be our next stopping place. On the way we saw the Devil's Tower -- which loomed up all by itself. Still there were a few hills around it, but it was the only one without any vegetation on it. The country we went through was the oddest looking I have ever seen. I can't describe it at all. There were lots of mountains and hills but they were the funniest shape and had the most unusual color combinations. There would be some fir trees scattered over the side of them with grass the shade of moss, sort of grey you know, and then red clay banks every once in a while. We would get up on top of a mountain and see this strange looking country for miles. After a while there were no trees and the hills looked pretty bare.
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Another thing that was fun was keeping tabs on a Calif. car that had been next to us at camp at Spearfish. There were the mother, father and two sons. The boys had put our top up for us the night before, so we felt like old friends when we came across them. Then we stopped for the horses and after they took a picture of them they drove on. We passed them again and then stopped at a town (?) for gas. They passed us then only we passed them a little later. We were both in the same camp here at Buffalo last night. They hadn't left when we went this morning.
I am mailing this here in Buffalo. Tourist stop.
Lots of love.
Rebecca
July 20, 1930
Yellowstone Park
Dear Relatives,
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Cody is a funny place. Before we get to that though we had fun dodging a thunderstorm for about 2 hours. We did get a hard shower for a while but we always seemed to turn just at the right time. The wind blew hard and we thought we would be driven off the road by it. All along the sides of the road for quite a ways we had seen these irrigation ditches filled with water. The country right around Cody is awfully funny. Most of the day we had been driving over this vast amount of waste country. It certainly was a strange sight to see the rolling hills all practically bare except for a sort of grass that looked a lot like moss. The country around Cody, however, looked quite fertile and there were a number of farms there. You don't see the town of Cody at all until you are practically in it as the country all around it is on a higher plateau, sort of, and it is down on another level. As it was rainy when we got into Cody, we decided to buy our supper so we left the car at a garage to have its oil changed and went to a cafe for our supper. We saw quite a few cowboys -- that is people dressed as cowboys -- but they weren't very exciting looking! As we didn't like Cody very well for a camping place, we decided to go up to the mountains -- the Rockies, if you please -- and find a place to spend the night. Just as we left Cody it poured cats and dogs. Pretty soon we struck the Shoshone River which was a muddy color. We found out that all the water from the mountains -- in that vicinity anyway -- was like that. We enjoyed the trip up the Shoshone Canyon a lot. The mountains were certainly lovely. When we got to the dam -- which was a feat of engineering -- we stopped and got out to see perfectly beautiful waterfalls which seemed to come out of the rocks. On one side of the dam we had to go through a tunnel to get to the other side where the lake was and that was quite exciting, too. On the other side, when we stopped, we were greeted by a young man who tried -- and finally succeeded -- in selling us some pictures of Yellowstone. They are awfully nice and fine for our scrap books. The natural photographs, you know, that look just like the ones you take yourself. However, as they were better and cheaper than the ones would cost which we would take ourselves, we decided to get some. When we
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The wind blew it away, however, right for the lake. The young salesman rushed heroically after it at the risk of getting soaking wet and falling over the bank into the lake. From where we were it looked as though the bank went down very sharply so we were scared stiff when we saw him go down. However, he recovered it and told us when he got back that the bank went down rather gradually. Were we relieved to see that $5.00 bill and the boy again! Soon after we left the dam, it cleared off ahead of us, although it was raining quite hard back of us. So we saw a beautiful rainbow end at one point in the lake and at the other point end on top of a mountain.
We finally stopped -- at about 8:30 -- at a free government camp just inside the National Forest boundary. It certainly was a lovely spot with mountains on all sides of us and lovely trees scattered all around. After we had pitched our tent, two rangers, who had the charge of that camp among their duties, brought us some wood to build a camp fire with and stayed and talked a while. That is, one of them talked. The other one was younger -- about 18, I guess -- and didn't say so much. The older one told us that he couldn't live in the East for anything. There weren't enough open spaces! They were really very nice even if they didn't stay so awfully long -- for which we were thankful as we wanted to go to bed. That night it poured and the few clothes Marion and I had washed just got wetter. We didn't get up until about 8:30 and didn't get started until almost twelve.
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We camped at Old Faithful last night and nearly froze all night. It certainly was cold! Didn't even get our own breakfast! We saw Old Faithful erupt at night but they didn't play any light on it for some unknown reason. Just as we arrived at Old Faithful people were all going in one direction so we stopped at a store to ask what it meant. The girl told us that one of the ranger was going to give a lecture on the bears. So we parked our car and followed the crowd. Only had cupcakes for supper and it was now 8:30 o'clock (really). However, we were glad we went as we learned a lot as well as laughed a lot. This ranger was old in the game and I guess he knew what he was talking about. He sat on a horse in front of the bears feeding counter as they call it and told us about the bears as well as several different things of interest about the ranger's life, during the winter as well as summer. After that we looked for a place to pitch our tent and finally stopped on the road to the Bear's Feeding Ground! There were just loads of people there. I've never seen anything like it. The land north of Old Faithful is all divisioned off for camping, with little streets sort of. There are fir trees scattered all through it which made it quite attractive. One nice thing about the park is that all the stores and gas stations are made of logs, so that everything fits in very nicely. There is quite a little city of cabins, stores, an inn, etc., around Old Faithful.
Must stop. Can't believe this is Sunday, July 20th already. Marion and I are getting scared about jobs!
Sometime the whole Gillespie family simply must tour this U.S. Description simply doesn't do it justice.
Am sending a card to Bobby now.
Lots and lots of love,
Rebecca
I do wish you were here to see all these sights.
We expect to be up in Glacier Park over next week-end -- probably until Monday. Will let you know further directions. We want to get up to Canada -- see Lake Louise. There is probably a general P.O. at Glacier, just as at Yellowstone.
Am writing this at a store -- at Old Faithful -- sort of a stationary place.
July 21, 1930
Yellowstone Park
Dear Relatives,
This has been a day of rest -- that is we have stayed here at West Thumb all day. However, we have done a pile of washing. You don't realize how things accumulate until you go to clean them up. Whew, but it was a job! One nice and very unusual thing was that we got all the hot water we wanted -- out of a hot spring. There are a
number of them around the lake here -- Yellowstone Lake -- and we were
told that we could use all the hot water we wanted. It was quite an
experience to go dip boiling hot water out of a pool. It certainly
was an opportunity, too.
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We didn't leave Old Faithful yesterday until almost 10:30. Went over and took a last look at the bears who were eating as usual. Then we started over the Continental Divide. That is the road that crosses over the C. D. several times. There are thick forests on either side and we looked hard for wild animals. However, the only ones we saw were bears and they were all down on the road or along side of it. At first we were quite scared as we thought one of them might jump in the car but all of them just gave us the once over and let us pass. We did stop twice to take a picture of them. One of them was the second one we saw and the other was a picture of a black mother bear and her two little cubs. The cubs certainly are the cutest things. They stick together all right.
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| Our first snow in the Rockie Mountains. |
Yellowstone things cost a lot. We thought they might so got stocked up with sugar cereals, etc., before we came in. They don't have fresh milk at all here at this camp.
I never finished about the Tetons. Jayne wasn't feeling very well and the road was terrific so when we were about 18 miles from the park entrance we decided to turn around. We had seen already some beautiful sights and views of the Tetons and we thought maybe it was just as well to come back to camp here and rest. So we got back here about 4:30 and slept for a while. Then we got supper and made a camp fire in front of our tent. We wrote letters a while. I wrote Mrs. Hyatt, Marion's cousin in Michigan -- where we stayed, you know -- and Aunt Josephine. It is an awful job to write letters on this trip. That is to find time to write them.
We are going to a lecture now. It happens at 9 o'clock which seems pretty late for us. I don't know what it is going to be about as the ranger (not an exciting one) I asked didn't either.
This afternoon one of these 4 ⁄ day tourist parties stopped here. I guess there were 15 trucks, I mean busses, with about a dozen people in each. Quite a party. Real nice looking people -- a lot better looking than the tourists we have seen who have been camping. They have been disappointing I am afraid.
May mail this on our way to lecture or tomorrow morning. Am mailing it this morning. We haven't left yet and it is after 11. Are going to Mt. Washburn, I think.
License no ___
Conn. 86-457 - in case
you have mislaid the
card I sent it on before.
July 23, 1930
Mammoth Hot Springs
Yellowstone Park.
Dear Relatives,
Were we glad to get here and rush the P. O.! We got here just before the thing closed and we were almost nervous wrecks for fear that it had. We all got lots of mail. Think we must have relieved the P. O. considerably. You see we didn't go to Edgemont at all and so it was a pretty long stretch between mail stops.
First of all I want to say that I haven't kept any diary -- for two reasons. I don't seem to have the time at all and then I've been thinking that these letters were taking the place of that. That was why I said something about keeping these letter a few days ago. I think maybe there is an old looseleaf notebook upstairs in the attic that these could be kept in.
I am awfully sorry that it is such a long stretch between my letters and cards. I think I don't realize how long it takes to get a letter home, and I am awfully glad to get those air mail stamps. I have been writing you practically everyday but of course the further away we get the longer it takes a letter to get home.
As for the heat -- we all thought it was pretty bad but also just thought it was summer weather in the plains. Never dreamed it was anything unusual. We did notice that the farmers had all stopped working as we went along, and decided that we were not the only ones who thought it was hot. I can remember only two days that we felt particularly tired and uncomfortable. And then one day we did stop at 2 o'clock. That little spell was just a test of endurance! I didn't think any of us actually suffered from the heat so awfully much. Of course it wasn't much fun, but it didn't hurt us at all. One night Jayne had a headache and took things easy but she had been driving into the sun for some time and she thought it was from that. That is the only "sickness" we have had on this trip.
Daddy, you ask about traffic conditions. We haven't been bothered by them at all. The only congestion we got into all was at Buffalo coming from Canada, and then most of the traffic was going the other way. I think probably one of the reasons that we haven't been feeling so tired is because traffic hasn't been an item we have had to contend with at all. [Doesn't that sound pretty good?]
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We had one funny experience last Monday night. We had gone to the lecture given by the ranger there at West Thumb on Yellowstone Lake. When we came back two young boys came up and asked us where in Conn. we came from. I told them New Haven and one of them said his home was in Meriden. He has had quite a life, recently that is. Last September he was in a sanatorium, whether working there or as a patient we don't know, but anyway he decided to run away and so got a job on a steamer going down through the Panama Canal. There were a number of places it stopped at on the way, Phila., Baltimore and some place in Georgia before entering the canal. Then he stopped at San Pedro for quite a while. He gradually worked his way up the coast to San Francisco, where he stopped for a while and got a job. How he got connected with Yellowstone I don't know but he said he came along -- oh yes, there are some sort of headquarters in San Francisco and he got it that way -- and got a job to come out here as a painter the 6th of May. He said it was awfully cold and that he cried all the way to Thumb it was so cold. He didn't seem very enthusiastic about being at Yellowstone for so long. Thought it was awfully "dead." He certainly wasn't anxious to leave us. Took a "notion" to Marion, I think, even if he was only about 17 or 18. She is awfully natural with everybody. I certainly do like her a lot.
We camped on the shore of this lake and enjoyed it immensely. Built a fire that evening.
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That lecture we had at Thumb (West) was quite interesting. The ranger told us of the different animals in the park -- deer, bears, elk, moose, and a herd of buffalo. We have seen all of them except the moose and elk. That is we haven't seen the herd of buffalo but today we went and saw five of them that are in a coral near Mammoth here. We have been warned incessantly about not feeding the bears out of our hands. As if they need worry about our doing a thing like that! We have seen a lot of bears and quite a few little black and brown cubs. They are the cutest things. The first night (we spent 2 there, you know) at West Thumb we were awakened by a bear. We said boo -- and go away and other rather gentle admonitions before I dared to sit up. The poor thing I guess was wondering what kind of funny noises these were that were issuing from the tent. He stood looking in at the door for quite a while and finally at my last "go away" he turned deliberately around and walked off. You see, the table on which our things were was right near the tent, of course, and so we heard him quite distinctly when he decided he wanted to know what was up there. However, we had all the food that he might like in the tent with us so everything was O.K. The bears can easily be chased away. The only time you have to worry is if you should get between a mother bear and her cubs. She doesn't seem to like that very much. So far we haven't had any trouble at all and as we are leaving the park tomorrow I guess we won't have anything to fear of Yellowstone bears, anyway. There was a boy camping with some there at West Thumb who could make a noise exactly like that of a ferocious dog and he certainly scared one poor bear. He went chasing it all over the camp and it was a frightened bear that went for the woods.
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Am enclosing some pictures we have. I am not sending any more now as it costs like the dickens here in the Park -- as everything else does.
Will write about the canyon tomorrow. It was the loveliest thing we have seen in the Park. It is about 10 and we are getting up early as I said so good night.
Lots and lots, Reb.
Yes, Mother, I did get the money-order o.k. Found out here at Y.P. that we would have to get it cashed within a month. We sort of didn't want that much money yet as on the road.
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| We camped on the shore of this lake and enjoyed it immensely. Built a fire that evening. |
July 26, 1930
Flathead Lake, Montana
Dear Relatives,
is now just about ten o'clock A.M. and we still have things to do before we depart. It is a lovely spot and we aren't filled with any wild desire to leave it. Yesterday morning we left Deer Lodge almost in the rain. There is nothing like a threatening thunderstorm to get you up, we discovered. You see, we didn't want to get our tent wet just before we left so we got up in a hurry and put the tent in the box on the back so it would be dry at least.
I might as well begin with the beginning of our departure from Yellowstone Park. Marion succeeded in getting us up at 5:30 -- thanks to a bear that was wandering around just at that time I really think so that we would be off bright and early. You see we planned to do over 200 miles and thought we had better get started as we hadn't done that for some time. We ran around shivering and bemoaning the early hour that Marion had made us get up at but were we soon thankful that we had gotten up early! It was just getting light so we felt as though we were going on a trip of some kind. We got out of camp in record time, though, because it was a little after 6:30 when we left. That was because we had everything ready the night before. Well, when we were about 3 miles from the northern entrance we heard a thump, thump in the vicinity of our back right tire. Of course it proved to be a flat and did we work over that thing. You know the whole wheel comes off when you change a tire now so that it isn't supposed to be much of a job. But one of the nuts holding the wheel on just wouldn't budge for a long time. We finally did get it, however, but it was 7:15 before we got to Gardiner. We stopped there and had the tire fixed that had gone bad on us and so it was 8 o'clock when we left that town -- very quiet so early in the morning.
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Oh, by the way, we (Jayne and I) also bought some riding breeches -- corduroy (?spelling?) mine are dark blue and hers are brown. They cost $3.95 each, but we think they are worth it as we expect to use them a lot in Glacier. I still have a lot of courage to get up before I decide to ride a horse, but I may do it, and also we are going to take a lot of hikes through it, as that is the only way to see it. The description of the park in the little book is a lot more enthusiastic than the one of the Yellowstone so we are looking forward to our trip there with a lot of excitement.
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We started to write letters when we had finished, but we were too sleepy and the fire didn't make quite enough light. So we went to bed thinking that we would get up early this morning and write. Well, we are writing now, but Marion didn't succeed in getting us up until 8:20, which can hardly be called early. She said she was going swimming, which didn't attract me at first at all, but finally I decided to try it and so put on a cold and wet bathing suit. However, the water was nice so I am glad I did it. Jayne finally got up the courage to do it, too, so we all had our morning dip! Marion had made a fire here on the beach (made of pebbles) and had breakfast almost ready, so everything went off very smoothly. The fire is still burning and we only have the tent to take down before we are ready to go. The lake is awfully rough right now, the waves being almost as high as we have on rough days on the sound. There are white caps all over it, too. This place certainly isn't my idea of Montana. All around us are these high mountains, making it look a lot like Conn. Our drive from Polson to this spot reminded us a lot of Conn. About 10 minutes ago a mountain sheep appeared on the scene -- right down in front of us. When Marion moved to get her camera it turned around and beat it. It was an old looking animal and I wish we could have gotten a picture of it, but we didn't.
Well, I'm going to stop and start on the tent. Did I ever tell you that we have seen cars from every state except 3 -- Maine, Delaware, and Miss. We have been keeping a record of it.
Hope to hear from you at Glacier. I didn't get any mail at Deer Lodge so want to get to Glacier in a hurry.
Take it easy all of you. Is it very hot in New Haven? Nice here now, only cold at night!
Lots of love. Rebecca.
July 28, 1930
Cut Bank Chalet
Glacier National Park
Dear Relatives,
Well, of all the cock-eyed places to be! I never saw anything like it! Well, I'll begin with the beginning of this day. We got up (me first!) at about 8:30 not having decided just what we would do. Last evening Marion had found out that the horse-back ride over Cut Bank Pass was rather difficult and the one to Iceberg Lake,
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To go on with our hike today. We climbed and climbed for hours and hours it seemed. We were ready for a rest all right at lunch, which we had about 2 o'clock right near a lovely lake. The lakes here in Glacier certainly are beautiful. They are real deep and take on the deepest blue from the sky. If I had seen them in a painting I know I would have thought the artist exaggerated things a lot. But here they are right before us so we have to believe they are real. After lunch, and a rest, we met a man who told us that we hadn't much further to go before we reached the top or "Pass." It is called a Pass because it connects the range of mountains all around here. They seemed to be all terrific high things and the Passes aren't much lower. So we felt right up on the top of things when we finally did get there. I don't see how people really ride horses up to it. I know nobody could pay me a fortune to do it. However, I am awfully glad we did it by foot, because the result was well worth all our efforts. At one point on the Pass we could see no less than 8 lakes down in the two valleys. One on our left and one on our {right}. They were all the deepest blue, too, and they certainly formed a lovely picture. Then we started down on the opposite side of the mountain that we had come up. This was where I put in a nay, nay, but Marion couldn't see going back over the same route. You see, we were always getting further and further away from Two Medicine, where we had camp and it was now 3:30 or more. They -- Jayne and Marion -- were for going to Cut Bank Pass Chalet and trying to hitch a ride back to Two Medicine. Well, we arrived at this Chalet (hotel -- small) at about 8 o'clock. Here to find out that it was 7 miles from this place to the main road and then 22 miles to Two Medicine. Well, I couldn't see trusting to any kind-hearted person for a ride this time of day. The optimistic members of the party thought there would be tourists here at the Chalet on their way to Two Medicine. What would they be here at this time of day if they were on their way to Two Medicine tonight, I didn't know, but that is what the cheerful belief was. Well, anyway, here I am and Jayne and Marion have started out to the main road, to get a ride and expect to return for me this evening. Of course they won't get back here before 11 or 11:30 which won't be so hot, but my feet simply wouldn't let me go another step. I mainly crawled the last 4 miles here so I felt ready to stay. Here's hoping they get back in time. If they don't out comes a little $2.50 for the night here, which won't be so hot! I think they were a little bit cracked to think of doing this on such a short time. We walked 18 (hard!) miles to this place and so I didn't feel like walking any 30 miles back. You see we came over the trail, which is a bit shorter, but nothing to do by dark. I'll be glad to see them drive up here in Ed all right. If they can't get here by 11:30 they will drive up in the morning. That will mess things up a lot. We are planning to take a boat trip up St. Mary's Lake tomorrow and we have to get there by 11. Oh well, we will just have to wait and see how things turn out. It will be a day we won't forget very soon, anyway, which will be rather strange because we are apt to forget things that happened!
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Sunday we got up in the awful cold and started out for Logan Pass. That was some of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. We went first though these beautiful and magnificent trees, seeing a lovely brook -- its falls every once in a while. Then we started to climb. By the way, we had left all our camping stuff inside our tent so we didn't have much of a load when we started out and that helped us a lot in climbing. The road went up one side of the mountain and we rose up above the valley we had been in. We certainly had to hand it to the engineer of that road. We went all the way up the mountain in high which we marveled at when we got up to the top and looked down to the little brook we had come from. We parked our car at the end of the road -- it isn't completed -- I expect they will finally get the road all the way across the Park. I don't think that -- I know it because I read it in a pamphlet we have read from cover to cover. One of the government pamphlets, you know. When we had parked our car we started out walking for Holden Lake. Was I ready to stop when we finally got there! Whew! I have never been so tired in my life. When we got there we certainly did feel repaid for our efforts because the lake was beautiful all right. The blueness of these lakes is remarkable. Another thing about this park is the flowers. We have enjoyed them so much. The variety of them is astonishing. Most of them we have never seen before, of course. The color combinations formed by them are very lovely, too. This country is marvelous all right.
We weren't bothered by many people on the trail there, but when we finally got back to Ed we found him surrounded by cars and picnickers. So we got out of there P.D.Q.! Well, we had a "friend" on the way back. A boy from Illinois, was a hitch-hiker -- all the way -- and had decided he didn't want to ride back with the people he had come up the Logan Pass with so he deserted them. I guess he had rather hoped for a ride from us. But we didn't do that sort of thing. Except we expect people to do it for us it seems from today's experience! We told him we were staying up there for lunch and then we decided to go down in hopes of finding a better place to eat. So we passed him on the way down. Heaven knows what he thinks of us! What do we care? We did find a lovely spot for lunch, however, and so we had a lovely view of the valley and the mountains on both sides of it. Then we started back to our camp -- which was at the entrance to Logan Pass. When we got back there we found that there were a crowd of people all around our tent. It seemed to be some sort of Elk luncheon -- picnic -- on Sunday imagine -- and it seemed as if there must have been from 50 to 75 people there. Using our table and everything. The nerve of them! Well, we got out of there P.D.Q.! We decided to go down to Bolton and up around on the eastern side. We had been told at the Lake McDonald Hotel that there wasn't much more to see up above Logan Pass so we thought it best to try the Eastern side. Well, when we got to Bolton Jayne thought we had to go to a junction of two roads, one of which we took to come into the Western side. She thought we had to take the other one to get up the Eastern side. Well, after riding that 12–13 miles we found out that we weren't supposed to take take that road at all. So back we went to Bolton and took the road I thought we were supposed to take. Nobody quite like me, I guess! Believe it or not! As we drove along the southern boundary of the Park we got into the plains of Montana. We hadn't seen them before as we had been too far west all the time. They were just like the ones in Wyoming. Isn't that strange. Ha! Ha! We have seen enough plains to last us for a while. The ones in Wyoming were awfully interesting though and I enjoyed them a lot. They had so many different colors on them. We missed the cowboys and horses of Wyoming by avoiding the plains. However, we like the mountains a lot. And they aren't so hot either. I would like some hot weather right now. The weather is sort of getting cock-eyed now. We have plenty of heat during the day but too much cold in the nights. Whew, it isn't supposed to be so cold at the end of July. I can't believe that we have been gone only a month. It seems that we have been "on the road" for quite a long time, to say the least. Last night at camp we met a woman whose home is in California. She said she didn't think Los Angeles was the place to go -- too crowded. She and her husband own several ranches, however, which may account for it! Don't you think so, too? You must! Heaven knows how we are going to be able to get jobs there! Maybe Marion and I will land in the Poor House or something like that. Oh, well! However, she did say that it was an awfully nice place, really, and that the country down there was very lovely. We shall see.
Here it is ten o'clock and it seems as if it ought to be later. I've been writing this while there are people in the room. There are two girls and an older woman, who came from Two Medicine on horse this morning, and an older man who is traveling, too. I couldn't stop writing because the man was such a constant talker and I thought if I looked interested he might begin at the beginning again. I was talking with one of the girls for a while. They came from N.Y.C. and are doing it by train, taking these horseback trips now and then. They are on their way to Lake Louise, too, but I doubt if we shall see them there as they can't arrive until about the 5th of August. They will finally get to a ranch in Colorado that one of the girl's family runs. They can have their fill of horses then, I guess!
No more now!
Tuesday evening at Many Glaciers. Everything turned out O.K., of course. Jayne and Marion appeared on the scene at Cut Bank Chalet this morning at about 10:30. They had gotten back to camp at Two Medicine about 11:30 having gotten 3 different rides and walked about 10 miles, which is just exactly 10 miles more than I could could have walked after our 18 miles. Whew! We went on up to St. Mary's Lake and just caught the boat that goes up the lake to Going-to-the-Sun, a beautiful spot that must be a near rival of any in Switzerland.
And another big thing was receiving our mail. Four letters for me. 2 from Daddy. 1 from Mother and 1 from Betty. Have the teeth been taken out? Will be anxious to hear. My goodness it is certainly good to hear from home! Please don't write again Daddy of the marvelous vegetables you are all having. They don't have them at all here in the parks and we haven't been passing through vegetable country. Wait till we get to the Pacific coast though. Then I'll be writing something home, I hope. Right now I am waiting for some blasted turnips to get done Oh, well. Will send this out tonight.
Loads of love,
Rebecca
I can't get used to signing myself Becky even if I am called it all the time now. Didn't begin early enough, I guess.
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Many Glaciers
Glacier Nat'l Park
July 31, 1930
Dear Relatives,
Here we still are it seems. However, we are "pulling out" bright and early tomorrow morning. This pen is acting like the dickens -- or rather it was when I tried to write "morning." We shall then be on our way to Lake Louise. We expect to do 267 miles. Quite enough for one day.
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The night before we heard a very interesting lecture on birds. One of the rangers gave it. He was really awfully good and we enjoyed it a lot. We all sat around a camp fire in a circle. He also sang a little for us -- as there seemed to be no talent in the crowd. He first sang a South Sea Island song -- pretty good and then he sang "On the Road to Mandalay," which was done very well. At the beginning he said he had a unique way of gathering a crowd -- by starting to sing. Most of the people already there don't dare to get up and walk away, while the ones not there all come to see what is happening. And a lot of people did come when he sang, too. So I guess it was a pretty good method.
We are now in Babb on our way to Canada. Are getting Ed greased. We got up at 5:30 this morning. Don't you think that is pretty good? I do, too. We were at Many Glaciers three nights. We enjoyed it a lot. There certainly are some lovely spots in Glacier Park. The mountains are beautiful.
We are going now. I'll mail this here. We received our mail at Glacier Park all right. Did I tell you we did in my previous letter?
By the way, Daddy, we really haven't had any experiences that I would hesitate a minute to tell you about. We have been pretty lucky I think.
As far as my blue coat is concerned, I won't need it Betty. If I do decide to get a coat for spring, I can probably buy one pretty cheaply, but don't think I'll need to. You know what I wish you would do! An awful job -- cut out the August -- I think I read the July installment -- of that story that was running in Good Housekeeping -- something about the "King's Highway," you know. Also any particularly good story you may have read in Good Housekeeping. Am hard up for something to do! No, but I would like the end, that story, if I may have it.
Hope you are having better weather now, and that you are all well. Did Betty go to the hospital? Expect to have heard about that before this.
Lots and lots of love,
Rebecca
Sunday Evening, August 3, 1930
Near Cransbrook, Canada
Dear Relatives,
We have seen just lots since yesterday morning. Friday night we camped in a very nice park in Banff. We were up on a hill and could see three or four immense peaks with snow caps. It had little house sort of things -- that is I mean there were tables and benches under a roof and a stove. Well, we certainly did welcome that stove with its heat! I'm all mixed up. We didn't use that stove at all -- it was last night -- Saturday night -- that it was so cold and we enjoyed the stove so much. We, however, did have a good dinner that night in Banff -- that seems to stand out quite plainly. You see we had just gotten out of Glacier and were sort of anxious to have some fresh vegetables. At Calgary, here in Canada, we stopped at a Piggly-Wiggly and got some real nice things. So we had peas (good?) potatoes, veal chops and a big salad of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers with French dressing -- not Marion for that last as she doesn't like it -- and for dessert we had blackberries. We were rather full after eating that. In spite of which, Marion did some laundry. Jayne and I went to bed after we had finished the dishes. We got up at about 8 -- Marion couldn't sleep and had been up an hour -- writing -- and I got breakfast.
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Am now in Spokane -- want to mail this now. Have been marketing. More anon.
Thursday Evening
August 7, 1930
Mt. Rainier, Washington
Dear Relatives,
We have gotten everything ready for the night and are waiting for things to cook. Off in front of us we have a marvelous view of Mt. Rainier. It certainly is a lovely thing. That and Lake Louise have been the two single high spots so far. The snow isn't particularly white, however, and some of it is so covered up with dirt and stones that it is hard to believe that there is actually snow and ice under it. We left camp this morning hoping to see the mountain soon but it was so smoky we couldn't until we were about 10 miles outside the park. Even then it was very hazy, and looked a lot like a cloud. Ordinarily it can be seen for 150 miles. At Seattle, the bus driver said it stands up very clearly when it is clear. [The weather I mean.]
We arrived at the foot of Nisqually Glacier, the 3rd largest on the mountain, at about 1:15. So we thought we would walk up it and eat our lunch. The drive to it from the Park entrance was very lovely. The forest was very thick and the trees were the tallest ones I have ever seen. They seemed to go straight up in the air for a mile. They certainly were beautiful. Then every once in a while we would catch a glimpse of the mountain through the trees. That made a lovely picture, too. We parked Ed right along the Nisqually River and started up on a trail to the glacier. The river is a grayish color because of the dirt and powder from the rocks that are being crushed by the glacier. So it isn't especially pretty, but it would be if it were a prettier color because it flows down over a lot of big stones and rock. All along the path are great big stones that have been broken off and pushed down. The lower part of the glacier is melting very fast, making it recede faster than it advances from pressure. So there have been a number of boulders that were left by the glacier. All along the path were little notes, giving information and telling where the glacier was during certain years. From 1918-1922 it receded awfully fast for some reason. Well, we went as far as we could, which was about a 100 feet from the foot of the glacier. They don't let you go any further because of the rolling stones, which come down the side of the glacier lickety-split. We saw a number of them come rolling down and some awfully big ones just about ready to descend, but of course they wouldn't while we were there. The place was too hot to sit and eat our lunch so we turned around and went back. In spite of the glacier, we felt uncomfortably warm.
Bs the way, hasn't this dry spell been awful? We saw in a paper this morning -- when we stopped for some groceries before entering the park -- that the damage would amount to a billion dollars and that Hoover would take some action pretty soon. I think it is awful and it won't make things very cheap this winter. Wouldn't you know we would be having luck like this?
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Then we came down to the auto camp and found this nice little spot. While we were eating supper a young gent rode galloping up on horseback to remind us that we couldn't have an open fire. He hoped we would have a nice stay and rode off to remind the other campers .
We are going to our lecture now and I shall mail this on the way.
Lots of love,
Rebecca
August 8, 1930
Louis & Clark State Park
Dear Relatives,
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By the way, aren't you planning to see the Emersons at Manchester? Marion is awfully anxious that you do so. 290 Prospect Street, you know. I think you would enjoy each other a lot. You might do it on your way back. Then you could easily stop in Grafton to see Jayne's family, too. It would be awfully nice if you could arrange this. Hope Betty is all right now. I feel awfully sorry she has had to have this done.
We are going on now to the Columbia B Highway. Are leaving Portland.
Received Mother's letters, and one from Betty addressed to Vancouver. Haven't them right here now. More anon.
Love Rebecca
Monday, August 10, 1930
Crater Lake, Oregon
Dear Relatives,
I shall now continue from lunch time at Mt. Rainier. By the way, the accent on Rainier is on the first syllable, according to the rangers and guides there. So you pronounce the first syllable like rain after all. Did I tell you that during lunch time we had the nicest ranger we have met yet come up to us. He has charge of the camp there and he rode up to remind us that we weren't allowed to have open fires -- so we were safe. He goes to Stanford Medical School now. Of course, during the winter, I mean. As far as we could gather, his main reason for being there was that he could play tennis all year. He graduated from the University of Washington, a darn good college according to him. He was so sincere about it you wouldn't mind the darn. It's a good thing we didn't stay longer or I am afraid I would want to have known his name (at least!). I've decided that I like Mt. Rainier the best of the parks we have seen. I bet you could have a lot of fun if you stayed there a while. We think it would be a nice place to have a job in the hotel. What say, Betty and Fran, let's come out here (there) some summer. By the way, you needn't worry about my going to Hawaii -- Calif. is far enough away. Well, we went away and left the ranger hoping that we would stay. We had decided that we had better be on our way to Portland. Of course we didn't get that far, but stopped at the Lewis and Clark State Park in Oregon. It wasn't very big, but the trees were. The caretaker came over and talked to us quite a while. He told us about forest fires, which he had been in. He doesn't care very much for fighting them. The next day we started out for Portland at about 9:30. We followed the most windy road we have been over in a long time. We arrived in Portland just a little before one as we were in a hurry to get there before one because Jayne wanted to get in touch with a friend of her sister's (the one who is in New Haven now). She is in a library in Portland, but Jayne didn't know which one as it was just a new job and then she had moved, too, just recently so things were rather indefinite. However, the first person Jayne saw in the first library she went into was this Lillian Nesbit. She was just about ready to leave, too, so we had a lucky break. She went and got some lunch, while we wrote and then she showed us the city. That is, what she could of it. The smoke was so thick that you could see very little of the city even. Ordinarily, you can see as far as Mt. Rainier and then of course you see Mt. Hood, too. It was quite disappointing, but we had a nice time driving around. We also had some ice cream and cake at a nice little tea shop. We drove around until about 5:30. We left Portland to try to get started on the Col. River Highway. You see it was Sat. and we thought the traffic would probably be a good deal on Sunday. We got part way out of the city and had a flat tire. Lots of fun, you know. And cost a little, too. Oh, well. So we decided to do some shopping. We went to a bakery and what do you think was standing in front of it? One of the Austins. My goodness, they are cute! It was used as a delivery car of the bakery's and so wasn't the regular model. Whew, but we laughed at the little thing. Have you seen any yet? Expect you have, but this was our first one. Hardly the thing to cross the country in, do you think? When we were started again, of course it was dark. We passed a theatre which was advertising Byrd's picture and Marion was the first one to see it. We had just passed a boy who was calling out about newspapers. So when Marion fairly shouted out the door, "Byrd in the South Pole" I thought she was giving the newsboy a little of his own medicine. It certainly was funny. I laughed for a long time just thinking of it. Then a little later we had another funny thing happen. Marion and I went in a fruit and vegetable store to get stored up for Sunday. We bought a ⁄ (!) dozen ears of corn and 3 (!) peaches. We said something about lettuce and tomatoes in a low voice and so the store man asked us if we wanted any. I said we would like some but couldn't afford them (you know me!) so he asked if we would like some onions, they were cheap. We said yes we might take a few and so he filled up a bag for us. Then he said he would give us a head of lettuce. So we got all that stuff for 20 cents! As we went out he said "You see Oregon fruit is pretty cheap"! Just as soon as we were outside we burst out laughing and nearly doubled up in doing so. Then we looked up and he was watching us out the window. You can imagine how long it was we laughed about that. I laugh every once in a while as I write about it and Marion has no difficulty guessing what I am writing about.
As we were driving along (still hunting for a place to camp) a N.Y. car with two boys in it passed us. They realized that we really were Conn. after one of them had looked back after passing us. Then they slowed up and we passed them. We all waved in a very friendly fashion. [Doesn't that sound proper?] Then they passed us, one of them smoking a pipe and the other wearing a beret. We came up to them again when they stopped at a camping place. We stopped, too, and we had not seen them before. They told us it was full if we were planning to stay in the cabins., as they were. However, there was room for camping, so we stayed and they went in. The next morning we saw them parked in front of some inn. We saw the car, that is. Then a little later we met them when we had turned around after going far enough up the Col. River Highway and were on our way to the road that went to Mt. Hood. As we were nearing Mt. Hood a N.Y. car passed us with two boys in it. It was a yellow sport roadster, too, so we thought it was the same car. However, it had some black on it and we were a little doubtful, but thought we probably hadn't noticed it before. One of the boys was wearing a beret and was light while the other one was dark, just as the two were the night before. When we stopped for lunch at a point half way up Cloud Cap Mt. -- from which we hoped to see lots of the surrounding country, they stopped too, on their way down. They asked us where we were from, etc., and we soon decided that they were not the two we had seen the night before. But wasn't that a strange coincidence? We wondered at it for a long time. The two we saw the next morning weren't as nice as the ones we met the night before.
The view we had of Mt. Hood all the way on the Mt. Hood look road was lovely. Snow-capped mountains certainly are pretty. The road up to the top of Cloud Cap Mt. was awfully twisty and narrow so we felt as though we ought to see Mt. Rainier to repay us for the effort. However, all we could do was look at the spot where Mt. Rainier is supposed to be. They had little pieces of pipe fastened to the top of a pole through which you looked and were supposed to see the different points of interest. The smoke was too thick to see far, however. We did enjoy Mt. Hood, though, and were glad we went. We had bought some delicious cider on the way and were all set for a nice drink with our lunch. Did I ever tell you that we succeeded in breaking Marion's quart thermos bottle? Well, we did, and so bought two pint ones to replace it. When we did have lunch Sunday we just couldn't get one of them open. Jayne knocked it so hard on a tree trunk that the insides were all shattered. So we didn't get very much enjoyment out of that bottle of cider. Never did get the top off, either.
That afternoon I spent most of the time sleeping. We changed our route and instead of going back to Portland we went down through the east-central part of the state, toward Crater Lake. We decided that would cut off a good deal of territory and this Portland friend of Jayne's said we wouldn't be missing very much by doing it. However, we struck the plains again and it certainly was hot enough. The first part of the P.__ was very pleasant, though because we went through the Wapinitia National Forest, which was very lovely. Then we came to the plains and a few rolling hills on which Ed didn't behave well at all. He is getting this knock again that we had previous to the time we had the valves fixed in Dubuque, I think. So we may have that to look forward to. We finally found a place in Redmond at about 7:30. And the mosquitoes there were ferocious. However, we all had a shower, which sort of made up for them. We ate in what was called the Community Kitchen, in which were 2 tables, a wood stove and a sink. We escaped the mosquitoes for a while that way. We weren't bothered with them in the tent at all. We didn't get up Monday morning until about 8 o'clock. Whew, it was hot that day all right. Twice we had to stop before reaching the park to let Ed cool off. We went through an Indian reservation which was mostly plains but had a few trees on it. We only saw one bunch of Indians and they were driving a ford!
Just before entering the Park we drove along a little canyon on the sides of which were the funniest formations called the Pinnacles. They were formed by the weather wearing away the soft lava and leaving the hard. Some of them extended up to the top of the canyon. They certainly were interesting. You see all the land around here is covered with 400–500 feet of lava from the mountain of which Crater Lake is a part.
There is a very nice ranger at the eastern entrance through which we went, and, so far, he is the only one that has impressed us here. Lillian Nesbit thought they were nicer than the ones at Mt. Rainier, but we don't think so. They are, quite evidently, school teachers and are all over 30. Just ages old, you see! We drove up the rim road and came across the lake quite suddenly. It is larger than I expected and not down in the mountain as far. That is, it doesn't look very far beneath you as you stand on the rim, but later on we saw a boat on it and that looked small enough. There were too many clouds in the sky to let it be as deep a blue as we expected, but there were portions of it that were certainly a lovely shade of blue. Then along the edges where it was more shallow, the water was a lovely shade of green. We arrived at the auto camp, near the hotel about 3 o'clock and decided to stay and fix our tent, also do some washing. We went to see if there was any mail for us and none of us received any. A few words of protest!!
We went to a lecture in the Community House right near us last evening. By the way, I am now writing this the next morning -- Tuesday -- beginning with "was full" in the part about the N.Y. boys. One of the rangers told us about the insects of this part of the country, and how the damage caused by them is greater than that caused by forest fires, which surprised me a good deal. Then we were each given a song book and we sang some "old favorites." One of them was "Little Liza Jane." We sang it all the way through once sitting down, then the next 3 or 4 times we sang it we all stood up when we reach "Oh" in what might be called the chorus and sat down with the word "Liza." It was awfully funny. Then one of the rangers and the daughter of the Park superintendent sang two songs for us, the daughter playing the piano. She had also lead us in the singing. They were quite good. After that we were shown some moving pictures of the park during the winter as well as the summer. The trees in the snow were perfectly lovely. The snow stayed on the branches so that it was 6 or 7 inches thick. The lake freezes over very rarely and then only an inch or so. Of course, there is zero weather up here, too, which makes it seem funny. There were two boys skiing in some of the pictures and they took some spills, too. Then there were some pictures of the mountain in the summer time. Also close-up pictures of some of the flowers. We got to bed at about 10:30. We had decided not to get up very early the next morning as we were planning to stay here for part of the day, anyway. That is this morning. We all washed our hair and I labored over getting lunch. That is a job I dislike more than any other we have to do. In the middle of the morning it started to rain and so we have decided to stay here and get some letters written and then off bright (!) and early(?) tomorrow morning.
Hope to get a letter telling how Betty is. She went to the hospital Friday, n'est -cepas ? (!) Hope it wasn't too awful. Am glad it is over though.
Did I ever tell you we have seen a car from every state except Delaware. We started in Michigan to keep track of them. No more now -- want to get this in the mail here at the hotel. It comes in at 3:30.
Lots and lots of love,
Rebecca
*No, my mistake -- we got mail at Santa Rosa when I received my stories and M. envelopes. Thank you awfully, but let the "company" pay for them -- as though we had a lot of it.
Monday, August 18, 1930
In a small town called Folsom,
outside of Sacramento, Ca.
Dear Relatives.
I wish we were nearer our mail stop in Yosemite. It seems as if I haven't heard from home for ages. I guess it was at Crater Lake almost a week ago. There have been so many things happening at home, too, supposedly, so there ought to be a good deal of news. However, we are still 1 ⁄ days away from Yosemite so I guess I'll have to wait a while.
Nothing happened especially on our trip down to San Francisco from Crater Lake. I believe that is the ground we have covered since I last wrote a letter. We were certainly disappointed with our first view of California's Pacific. All the way down from Crescent City to Eureka we had a fog too thick to see anything. And was it cold! We haven't had such weather all summer and were we mad! I shall remember Eureka as the place we got some crazy grapes. Marion and I went into a vegetable (and grocery) store and saw these very attractive grapes. Purple ones and we thought they were concord. Well, they weren't at all as we found out at supper time. They were a Cal. grape, something like those green ones that are so good. These grapes tasted pretty good, but were different from any I have ever had before. We stopped at an awfully nice auto camp just south of Fortuna. We were under peach trees and cherry trees. Things were so nice and clean, too. We got pretty far that day, having left Crater Lake in the morning. At 7 o'clock -- we departed.
By the way, I have never told you about those people we met at the camp we stayed at outside of Portland. People by the name of Thompson and from Los Angeles. They (a man and his wife -- having left the young son at home with relatives) are doing work along the line of social service work there at L.A. They are connected with an organization known as "All-Nations." Mr. Thompson has charge of the boys who belong. It is mostly made up of foreigners -- a lot of Mexicans, I think. Well, they want us to come see them in L.A. In the building there is an apartment! There is also going to be a need for a stenog. there this winter. Mrs. Thompson said if I should take the job, and if I were successful in getting it, I might have the apartment. It has a bed room, living room, bath and kitchenette, all furnished. However, I shall have to learn more about the job before I take it very seriously. I know it will be in the evenings and Sat. P.M. which doesn't sound so good. You see I want to go to some of the football games this fall! No, but that is the only remuneration I would get, which of course would mean that I would have to get another job, too. Of course, if it is only for 2 hours or so in the evening I could get some sort of a part time job during the day. The people were really awful nice and were anxious for us to come and see them anyway when we got in L.A. Marion might get some sort of athletic work with the children. The pay in that sort of thing is so little, though, and hardly meant for people saving to make a return trip to Conn. Well, we met them at Crater Lake again and so they pitched their tent next to ours. You see we were at Crater for 1 ⁄ days and they came in the evening before we left. We shall go to see them anyway. We liked Mr. Thompson very much. He was quieter than Mrs. (how unusual!), but very likable.
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We had quite a long trip to San Fran. that day. We took the ferry to Richmond from San Rafael. That was fun. It was about 8 o'clock then. We were headed for these cousins of Marion's who were supposedly in Oakland. Marion had a letter from her mother about 3 weeks ago telling her that her cousins had moved from Berkeley out to Oakland, and gave her the Oakland address. So we trotted (or rode!) out there and found out that they had not moved in there yet. [From the neighbor.] So we went down to a drugstore and Marion called "Cousin Fred" up. He informed her that they were moving the very next day. Wasn't that funny? Well, he told us to meet him down at the P.O. and he would lead us out to their home in Berkeley. So we proceeded down the 78 blocks we had driven up from the center of Oakland and met him right away. So we proceeded to have a little game of Follow the Leader. First of all, however, the door of our car opened up and out fell the pocketbook and Marion's writing case. Fortunately, nothing fell out of either and I was able to pick them both up out of the street unharmed. As it was 10:15 almost when we got there we decided to accept their invitation to put our cots up in the front room and not bother with the tent.
Mrs. Hale was very nice, as was Mr. When we got up the next morning at about 6:30, we decided that it was too clear to miss taking advantage of it to go down to Monterey. We looked out the front window and saw the Golden Gate. The moves came at about 8 as I said on one of my cards, so we were able to be a little help to them. We piled odds and ends in Ed and took the baby -- Marylyn (?) -- who is not quite a year old -- over to their new home in Oakland. We certainly did get looked at on that trip. The three of us, with all our junk, and then a little baby. It must have been quite a sight.
On the shore of Lake Tahoe.
On our way to Monterey we stopped at Stanford and went through its campus. It certainly is lovely there. We spent quite a while at the chapel. I don't see that they should need compulsory chapel at that college. The students ought to want to go just to look at the paintings, etc., on the walls.
Sorry to stop but I think we shall pass a P.O. soon and I want to get this off today.
We are in a camp now in Emerald Bay, part of Lake Tahoe. Went in swimming. It was certainly nice.
More tonight.
Lots of love, Rebecca
August 19, 1930
Dear Relatives,
I mailed a letter this morning in Nevada and hope to mail this tomorrow morning in Calif., when we get to Yosemite. I am now writing this the next afternoon in a Park, while we are waiting for Ed to cool off. I don't expect to finish this at this spot either. We found out at the ranger station that there was a one-way road just before we get into Yosemite valley, where the P.O. is, and that we would have lots of time to make the next "going through" from this end, as the trip to that point only takes about an hour and leaves at 5 o'clock, while it is a little after three now.
I think I left you in Palo Alto in my last letter. At the college we asked about the Hoover home and we were told the road to take to it and then a little later couldn't remember it. However, we finally did find it, but only because we were pretty clever, I think. We wandered around and finally came to a driveway which had a chain across it. You can't go directly by the house because it isn't on the street but has several houses all around it as well as trees. However, there were no signs or anything else to designate it which was very Hoover-like, I thought. There certainly were some lovely homes there on the campus. I think all the professors as well as the trustees must live right there on the campus as there were a number of homes. There were lots of summer school students there. There have been in all these state universities for that matter.
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| Ed in Oakland |
The first thing we did in Frisco -- shorter -- was to go to the Y.W.C.A. -- no we didn't either. We went through a lot of stores in Chinatown. They certainly are attractive -- but things you want are not so very cheap. I could just spend hours -- as well as dollars -- in those stores. After that nice time we went on up to the Y.W.C.A. Our purpose in going there was to see a Ruth Phelps that the girl in the Y.W.C.A camp way back in N.Y. -- outside of Buffalo, you remember -- an Esther Todd and a Mt. Hoyle grad. -- had told Marion to see as she was interested in that sort of work. Well, we got there and found out there was no such person in the Frisco Y.W.C.A. organization. We think probably Esther Todd just got her names nixed. We did have a very nice lunch there in the Y. cafeteria, however, and felt we had not walked all the way up a long hill entirely for nothing. We decided to see some more of the Chinatown shops. They are entirely along the gift line, you know, and we thought we might be able to buy a few Xmas presents (!) that way. But these Chinese are on to the way of Americans as to prices, I think.
Thursday.
We are about to start out on a trip to the different places here in Yosemite that have Indian legends in connection with them. We go in Ed and have a ranger-naturalist for a guide. It leaves at 9 o'clock and we have to hurry, as usual. Want to send this off today, however. We leave Yosemite after we come back.
We are planning to be in Long Beach at these friends of Jayne's -- Mr. or Mrs. George R. Tracy, 1208 Mic Mac Ave, L.B. -- arriving there the better part of next week -- then we shall look for jobs.
Friday, August 22, 1930
Dear Relatives,
When we got back from Frisco we went to the garage to get Ed and the dumb thing wasn't ready. So we had to wait in the sales room for over an hour. By the way, I never told you about the excessive cold in Frisco. We met up with a lot of winter coats and even fur coats. We thought they were crazy. It was a little cold on the way over but we wondered where they put them after they got over there. We found out that Frisco wasn't the warmest place in the world. We decided that a light coat might be rather comfortable, but still wondered at the fur coats. When we got into the garage and waited long enough we decided that we would have to get back to the Hales' to get our coats. You knew, didn't you, that we had decided to go to see Byrd's picture, which was showing at a theatre in Berkeley. So we went back to the Hales' and got our coats and started for the movies. As it was near Mrs. Coles brother's home, I thought it would be a good chance to to go see him. Both he and his wife were awfully nice. I liked her a lot. Is she the one that Mrs. Cole wasn't so sure of? She is quite young -- not more than 24–25, I think. Went to the Univ. of Cal. They have a little boy -- I think she said he was 20 months old. Of course he was asleep when I got there but they took me in to see him. Awfully cute little baby. I was there for about half an hour, I think. Then we went to the movies. We certainly did enjoy that picture a lot. It was such a natural thing, I think. Weren't those dogs wonderful? Was John D. Rockefeller 3rd on that trip? It seemed to me he went on some sort of an expedition and I thought it might have been with Byrd on this trip.
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The next morning we got up at about 7 and started out for Lake Tahoe. by way of Sacramento. At that place the American Legion was holding a conference and so everything was ___ up. We had to go all around the place as so many of the main streets were shut off because of the parade they were having. It was quite an event. We finally found our way out, however, and got as far as Placerville, or rather just outside of it. We spent the night in a nice grove of trees, all for nothing, which was pleasant. There were some other people there, which made us feel O.K. about it. The next morning was very lovely -- one of the pleasentest we have had on the whole trip. Not too hot nor too cold -- which is rather unusual in the West here. We have too cold nights, I can tell you.
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We certainly did encounter some steep hills shortly after that. The worst we have met up with yet. We had to go up in first a number of times. Old Ed boiled 3 or 4 times so that we had to stop and give him a rest. After doing all that climbing we had to stop at a ranger station to be told that we would have one-way traffic going down. Which made us glad we weren't going up that, anyway. He told us that we would have plenty of time to get to the point at which it started, but we decided that we would go right along because the shifts (?) are in two hour periods. We certainly did time that thing well, too, in spite of our stops to let Ed get his health. When we arrived the ranger told us that we had about 25 minutes to wait and then in a very short while we were allowed to go on as the last car coming in the opposite direction was unusually early. Pretty clever, aren't we?
The drive down to the valley certainly was fun. It seemed as if you looked down for miles. We have to hand it to the engineers of these roads. When we got down to the bottom and looked up, it was hard to believe we had come down the side of that mountain. The valley is the strangest thing, absolutely flat the whole length of it, with these great cliffs rising abruptly up from it. The valley itself is quite narrow, about a mile wide. We all liked El Capitan a lot. It is a beautiful thing as well as being very impressive. It is so marvelously smooth looking. The ranger-naturalist told us that it is the largest piece of solid granite in the world. It is very magnificent.
The ranger at the place where we started on the one-way traffic down to the valley had told us to go to camp 15, which we did, and where we are now. There are at least 16 different good-sized camps here in the park. We have seen signs for no. 16, anyway. The only complaint we have about it is the lack of tables. There aren't enough of them at all. One reason we think the ranger told us to go to #15 is because this is the camp which has the nightly entertainments. So we are right nearby. We have been here three nights now -- including this evening and we are going to them all. They are lots of fun. The ranger who is in charge of this camp is awfully nice and gets a lot of enthusiasm from the people -- he is sort of the host or leader of the entertainments. We have had a number of mouth organ (I can't think of the other name!) selections and expect we will tonight.
Later -- after being to the nightly entertainment --
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The ranger we had the most to do with is a funny sort of person. Paul White by name. He is very tall and not at all strong-looking. He may be here on account of his health -- he is a ranger-naturalist by the way. He has a great faculty for telling jokes. He just has to tell stories every once in a while. He is rather blazé (!!) you know, sophisticated, etc., person and I didn't like him at all but you get used to his manner and he is really awfully funny. He is the kind that always seems dreadfully worn out and exhausted, you know. Well, last evening he led us in singing with his banjo, which he had played for us the night before, too. When he came up on the stage he sort of meandered up to the front -- [there is a regular outdoor stage here with footlights and everything] -- he went back and walked brusquely up to the front in an up and coming manner. He said, "I suppose this is the way I am supposed to come up." He plays the banjo quite well and it was lots of fun to listen to him. One of his jokes was -- "Have I ever told you about the Missouri River? -- No? Well, I won't because it is too dirty." Ha. Ha.
We are leaving Yosemite now -- that is we are going to the southern entrance of it today. I am writing this Sat. A.M. now. Will mail it here.
Hope you are feeling better, Betty. Don't work too hard.
Lots of love.
Were you wondering who it was that wrote me from New Canaan?
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1208 Miramar Ave.
Long Beach, Cal.
Aug. 28, 1930
Dear Relatives,
We actually have arrived now. It doesn't seem possible that we have finished our trip. But not our experiences, I am thinking. Marion and I looked over the want ads in the paper last night and there were quite a number of secretaries and stenogs wanted. So we shall see what we shall see. This is Thursday -- pretty late in the week but not late enough to make us feel O.K. about resting until the beginning of next week. We don't know quite what to do. We sort of think we shall wait until next week, however, as we have some cleaning up to do before we can go out looking for jobs. And Saturday is so short anyway that that wouldn't do us much good. We haven't been in the city at all yet. We have been within the city limits, but after driving for some time we stopped at a garage to ask how far it is to the P.O. We were told it was about 18 miles and would take us us more than an hour to get there, so we decided to postpone the agony a little longer. We expect to attempt it tomorrow.
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The shape of the Park is rather irregular so in order to get over there we had to leave the Park and then enter it again. Going back into the Park we struck the hardest climbs we have had all summer. No -- I've made a mistake, I think. The hardest climb we have had was in Yosemite, but while we were on our way to the valley -- just proceeding over one-way traffic down the side to the valley. We did have a pretty hard road, though, and it took us quite a while to do it. When we went back into the Park at the grove we found quite a nice camping place right away. So we pitched our tent and then took a ride up through the grove. There certainly were some beautiful trees. We drove through the Wawona tree and Jayne took our picture. We also got out and climbed up on what is called the Mass. tree. It has fallen and so there are steps up to it and you can walk the length of it. It certainly is immense. We rode up to the top of some mountain and met a boy who sort of helps the ranger there at the grove. He was up there to look for fires. He told us that we could follow him down and he would show us the different trees of note. The parks are all supplied with little Ford cars, with a sort of truck making up the back seat -- like Mr. Wessenbergs (?) you know, only, of course, the newer model. The rangers all drive around in them.
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I have never seen a sunset like it. It wasn't as pretty as the
one we saw going into Sequoia Park, however. We went down to camp
and started in on the dishes. We were planning to go to the camp
fire lecture, which was going to be right near us. Because we were
in a hurry, the gas stove wouldn't start of course. So we went to
the camp fire with our dishes still waiting. It was the smallest
crowd we have been in at any of the lectures. Evidently there aren't
many people that go over to that part of the Park. The ranger that
spoke was an Englishman. Burgess by name and we didn't like him
much at all. One thing that annoyed us a lot was the way he "ran
down" Sequoia Nat'l Park. He told us after the lecture that he
certainly didn't think it worth while to go down there where it
would be so hot, but that we would enjoy the ocean road down to L.A.
a lot better.
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We got fixed for the night all right and Marion and Jayne slept out. I had seen bears and skunks so decided that I would sleep a little more soundly in the tent.
We got up rather early the next morning and started out for the P.O. I was the only lucky one. I received two cards from Mother and a nice long letter from Betty. Hope you are feeling lots better now, old top. By the way, did you ever get the picture I had sent from Mt. Rainier? If you haven't, I want to get my money back!
We wandered around the park during the morning and saw several large and beautiful trees. In the afternoon we went on an auto caravan. I never told you about the one we went on with Paul White at Yosemite. They are quite an idea -- just new -- we think they are fine, too. The ranger-naturalist leads you around in his car and so there are a number of cars along with you. Then at the different points of interests you get out of your car and the ranger tells you all about it. Paul White was very good and we enjoyed his trip a lot. We went on another one in Y., too, where the ranger read us the different Indian legends concerning the different points of interest. They were awfully interesting. They don't know whether a lot of these legends have been handed down from generation to generation or whether they have just been made up on the spur of the moment when some Indian thought he might earn some money that way. The ranger told us that several had arisen that way.
We went to see the Gen. Sherman tree among other things. It certainly is immense, but I hardly thought it stands out very decidedly from the other Sequoias. We also went to the the Bear Pit, where a lot of bears, some of them rather big, were eating.
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plenty for me! I just couldn't go any further so that's that! Oh, well.
We went and got supper after that, consisting of potatoes, fried tomatoes and peaches. After supper we drove up in the dark to the main camp to go to the lecture. There were really two, one held at the lodge and the other at the auto camp. We thought it would be nice to go to the lodge. Well, we found out it was outside the lodge, which was all right, of course. The fire was beautiful, lots of colors in it because of the pine cones. Well, the program was conducted by some girls from the Lodge. The leader was an awfully attractive girl, and smart, too. The others were dressed in their waitress things and looked quite nice. They sang. Were an awfully good-looking bunch.
We are going in swimming -- second time today. The water is marvelous -- not too cold. Went in this morning. Jayne and I are going now -- 5 o'clock -- Marion and Rip "Mr." are playing tennis somewhere.
More anon.
Love
Rebecca
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XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX IS THIS A CAPTION?
The Tracys of Long Beach
And so they arrived. The Thompsons came through and provided an apartment in the Boy's Club of the All Nations Settlement House in exchange for work at the Boy's Club where Mr. Thompson was the director. They worked in the evenings, Marion in the library and Becky in the office. Becky also began work at the All Nations day nursery. Jayne moved into the Marlborough School, a private girl's school, preparing to join the History faculty that fall. This was this job she arranged back East, before the trip.
Jayne remained in southern California for the rest of her life where she taught in both private and public schools. Each summer she traveled East to visit family and friends. Her love of travel continued and she eventually traveled to all parts of the globe.
The next summer Marion joined the L.A. Camp Fire organization where she planned programs for their summer camps. She remained in California until the following summer when she drove Ed home. Returning East, she joined the Red Cross and was a Recreation Worker in Army hospitals on Long Island and in Massachusetts during the Second World War.
Becky returned home in the spring. By sharing the driving with a woman returning to St. Louis and then taking a bus, Becky was able to cross the country in less than a week. Her father's desire to keep his family close was strong and he worked hard to find Becky a job nearer home. Based on her experience in the day nursery in California he got her a job as an apprentice at the Cannon Nursery School in New Haven, Connecticut. Like Marion, she worked for the Red Cross during the war.
The three A-to-P Gypsies remained life-long friends. They continued to meet every summer (except once during the 1940's) until the early 1980's when Marion died and Jayne could no longer travel due to ill health. Jayne died in 1997. Becky is alive and well and living with her sister Betty in Falmouth on Cape Cod.
found this in the folder of images.
Tom:
What do you know about scanning? Here's what I am trying to do: I've
typed someone's journal of a trip across the country in 1930. Now I am
scanning in photos that I will add to the final word-processing
document. Everything works, BUT it's a kluge!
I'm using ClarisWorks for the word-processing.
. . . copying the photos with a Microtek E-3 Scanner
. . . with ImagePals2Go! image editor
. . . onto my 80 Meg D: drive (my 200 Meg C: is < half full)
. . . and downloading the D: to an Iomega 100 Meg Zip drive
I cannot run the scanner and the Zip drive at the same time (drivers
conflict), that's why I store them on the D: and then transfer them when
that gets full. I've copied a little more than half the photos and its
about 70 Meg. I just transfered them to the Zip and cleared the D:.
Now I'll copy the rest.
I'm scanning small (2" / 2.5" mostly) black and white photos, usually
with a lot of fine detail. So I've scanned them at 360 dpi, 100%, no
filters or alterations, and store them as a TIFF file. I then edit them
slightly, usually "Emphasize Edges," and save this file for printing,
again. My thought is that I can go back to the source file and try
different things if the print file doesn't look too good.
I've typed the journal in ClarisWorks and have figured out how to insert
the pictures. I'm a little concerned about the size of the files. The
text files (I have about 8) are not too big but when I start adding
pictures I don't think 8 will be enough so will probably break these
down even further. I only have 24 Meg RAM.
What I am wondering is how to get a better print quality.
I have an Epson Stylus Color 600 printer. I'm using Premium Ink Jet
Paper. When printing I setup for
360 dpi / Photo setting (I've tried others).
They print O.K. but I think they should
be better. Any ideas? Things to try?
I'm going to try a better quality paper.
Despite the fancy name of the stuff
I'm using, I don't think it's that great.
Hope all is well. Love, Frankie.
this is a copy of every image contained in the original collection. many are redundant; i will eventually go through them and reduce this to only images that do not appear in the story above.
the files are in their native size and format. unfortunately .TIF files do not render in Firefox.
when i converted the .CWK files to .ODT, then HTML, the embedded images had already been renamed to the ones in the HTML above (and converted to .GIF format, which was once more popular than it is now...); those are not the original file names. as far as i know, i'm going to have to correlate them manually. it may be that many of them below are better quality than what was embeded in the .CWK files, and now, in the HTML above. for example tyhe most recent photo take (90's) is on color below, and mono above.
