Manuscript Account of a Woman's Travels Across the American West.
[Travel] Allen, Miss. Manuscript Account of a Woman's Travels across the American West in the form of an Autograph letter, to “My dear, dear ones at Home,” San Francisco, approximately 2500 easily readable words on 24 pages (six bi-folium octavo sheets embossed with a symbol and the word “mistletoe”), November 2, 1873.
An interesting account of pre-Centennial Western travel by a single woman traveling alone, with excellent social content and details on traveling with other seemingly well-to-do fellow passengers and detailed descriptions of what it took to travel across the country.
Allen travels from Boston to Rochester, New York, from there to Cleveland and Chicago, and then on to Omaha, Ogden, Utah and finally to to San Francisco. The letter begins with excellent details about the journey by train, including expenses, details on berths, baggage, porters, and sleeper cars, but Allen dwells mostly on the people that she meets. One particularly attentive gentleman turns out to be Frederic Pelton, the immediate former Mayor of Cleveland (1871-2) who is traveling with his mother-in-law, Mrs. Palmer.
They spend time in Chicago where Pelton hires a barouche and they explore the aftermath of the great Chicago fire, and also visit the Palmer House which has just started to rebuild. After a presumably chaste kiss from Mr. Pelton, the narrator continues on to Omaha.__
On the train hence she meets a family of Philadelphia Quakers headed by a Mrs. Newbold, as well as several other travelers who she describes in some detail. She spends the layover in Omaha where “I saw Indian squaws with Papoos on their backs & they were all dressed with fur & red blankets - & such beggars” before heading to Ogden, Utah (although several of her new acquaintances embark for Salt Lake City, breaking up the impromptu convivial group). She describes the desolate country between the two cities and observes wolves, jack rabbits and buffalo from the train. She describes her companions, including the haughty niece of one of the other travelers, as well as a wealthy gentleman traveling with a large basket of wine and a comic elderly manservant, and observes the Utah countryside “I saw where Brigham Young took his followers when Johnston sent soldiers after him & where Brigham preached his first sermon in Utah.”
She continues on to Oakland, and roughly the second half of the letter is devoted to her accommodations and travels in California. In California she details where her fellow travelers are going: “Mrs. Palmer made me promise to call & see her & her friends, She is to visit for about one year her sister a Mrs. J. Pomeroy. I think they are wealthy - he deals in mining stocks, Mr. Pomeroy.” Another: “Mrs. McMaster is a Baltimore lady but her married life in Chicago & as near as I know they have lost heavily on stocks in Chicago & so are moving out here...” Miss Allen leads an active social life, visiting and being called upon, including by a Judge Chase of Wallawalla. She dines with others at the Cliff House and relates seeing and hearing the seals below. She spends the day on the beach, not leaving until sunset, and then describes in detail a harrowing ride in the fog over high hills with no visibility. She details of plans to go to “San Mateo an old Bostonian Mr. Whipple has a fine ranch...”
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