Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

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miah66
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Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

Post by miah66 » November 19th, 2015, 10:33 am

This book was published in 1873. There is loads of most entertaining and informative information about many of the cities in the US at the time. I even found some of the towns near where I grew up in WV and Ohio. Fascinating!

It's essentially a guidebook detailing various routes across the country and cities you pass along the way. Kind of an early AAA book.

Oregon stuff starts on page 303, but don't fail to check out Vancouver, WA on pg 289, Yosemite on page 290. There's also a HUGE chapter on San Francisco, the boomtown of the time.

https://archive.org/stream/appletonshan ... 2/mode/2up
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Re: Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

Post by AAdamsPDX » November 19th, 2015, 12:52 pm

Love the first sentence under "Visit to the High Sierras, and Tour Around the Yosemite Valley":

"This is a tour not generally made by travellers [SIC], but it promises to grow in favor as its attractions become better known."

Prophetic, much?!
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miah66
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Re: Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

Post by miah66 » November 19th, 2015, 1:57 pm

AAdamsPDX wrote: Prophetic, much?!
I know! or this line:

‘Emigration to Oregon was earnestly commenced in 1839, the first settlers crossing through the South Pass into Willamette Valley. For some years the settlement of the country was retarded by the more brilliant attractions of California, though the ultimate result of this neighborship will be to stimulate development.’ - page 304

One of the more curious passages is on the same page where it mentions under "The Valley of the Willamette":

"many remarkable instances are to be found here of those eccentric mountain formations known as Beetlers-huge conical insulated hills. Near the mouth of the Coupe River, there are two of these heights, which tower up 1000 feet, but a half mile removed from each other at their base. They are called Pisgah and Sinai. They stand int the midst of plain of many miles in extent. At a point near the Rickreal River, in the Willamette Valley, no less than seven snow-capped peaks of the Cascade Range may be seen"

No clue what this refers to, though hopefully someone does. Where the heck is the Coupe River?
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Re: Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

Post by adamschneider » November 19th, 2015, 5:05 pm

miah66 wrote:One of the more curious passages is on the same page where it mentions under "The Valley of the Willamette":

"many remarkable instances are to be found here of those eccentric mountain formations known as Beetlers-huge conical insulated hills. Near the mouth of the Coupe River, there are two of these heights, which tower up 1000 feet, but a half mile removed from each other at their base. They are called Pisgah and Sinai..."

No clue what this refers to, though hopefully someone does. Where the heck is the Coupe River?
Well, there's a Mt. Pisgah just southeast of Eugene. Maybe the Coupe was the Coast Fork of the Willamette?

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DannyH
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Re: Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

Post by DannyH » November 19th, 2015, 9:18 pm

There are a series of steepish hills on the east side of Mt. Pisgah that are easily visible from highway 58 between Pleasant Hill and I-5. There is a small community in the Salem area called Rickreal, but I didn't know there was a Rickreal River.
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Re: Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

Post by adamschneider » November 19th, 2015, 9:55 pm

DannyH wrote:TThere is a small community in the Salem area called Rickreal, but I didn't know there was a Rickreal River.
There's a Rickreall Creek; it's pretty big by creek standards and might once have been called a river. It flows through Dallas.


This is my favorite part of the travelogue:

"On its northern side, Mount Hood is nearly vertical for 7,000 feet; there the snows of winter accumulate till they reach the very summit, but, when the summer thaw commences, all this vast body of snow becomes disintegrated at once, and, in a sweeping avalanche, carrying all before it, buries itself in the deep furrows at its base, and leaves the precipice bare."

I want to go see that some summer, it sounds pretty awesome. ;)

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Re: Appleton's Handbook of American Travel - 1873

Post by miah66 » November 20th, 2015, 7:25 am

adamschneider wrote: This is my favorite part of the travelogue:

"On its northern side, Mount Hood is nearly vertical for 7,000 feet; there the snows of winter accumulate till they reach the very summit, but, when the summer thaw commences, all this vast body of snow becomes disintegrated at once, and, in a sweeping avalanche, carrying all before it, buries itself in the deep furrows at its base, and leaves the precipice bare."

I want to go see that some summer, it sounds pretty awesome. ;)
That would be neat, right? Stand back! :lol:

Somewhere in there a passage mentions that Mt Hood is 17000' tall. :P

Let's take a trip back in time and visit Alaska. (pg 310) What can we expect to see? How about Sitka, Alaska and it's "cozy" relations w/ the native peoples.

"It has a population of about 1500, of whom 1000 are Indians, and is, beyond doubt, the dirtiest and most squalid collection of log houses on the Pacific Slope...

"the Indians are never allowed inside the stockade after nightfall, while a guard is kept constantly on the alert with rifles loaded, and a field battery of Parrott guns kept constantly trained on the Indian village, adjoining the town, and a man-of-war lies anchored in the harbor, with her guns pointed at the Sitka village...

but! "Since the American occupation, much has been done toward improving Sitka. Among other things, an Anglo-Russian newspaper has been started, and promises to be a successful enterprise" So there's that.
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