"The long journeys in poorly lighted, porrly ventilated, and poorly heated coaches, together with frequent poor rail connections and hotel accomodations exhausted him. By January 14 he acknowledged to his sister Pamela that the pace of the lecture circuit was a hard one and that he wsas 'getting awfully tired of it.' It constitutes the first record of Mark Twain's disenchantment with tour lecturing,..." (Lorch pg 95)
January 25 - February 1, 1869: Marshall, Michigan; Batavia, Illinois; Freeport, Illinois; Waterloo, Iowa; Galena, Illinois; Jacksonville, Illinois
January 25, 1869: Academy of Music, Marshall, Michigan
Approximately 227 miles between Marshall and Cleveland, Twain undoubtedly followed the same route to Toledo as he did 5 days previously. From Toledo to Jackson Twain would be aboard the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana: Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad, operated by the MS&NI, to Palmyra; the Palmyra Branch of the MS&NI to Lenawee Junction; then the Palmyra and Jacksonburgh to Tecumseh. From Tecumseh, the Michigan Southern, Manchester Branch to Manchester; the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana to Jackson. From Jackson to Marshall Twain would ride the Michigan Central. Twain lectured at the Academy of Music, Marshall, Michigan: Unable to find location for the Academy of Music except for cryptic 54 56 State up stairs.
January 26, 1869: Batavia, Illinois
- Approximately 210 miles from Marshall to Batavia. From Marshall to Michigan City is 121 miles on the Michigan Central Railroad; Michigan City to Chesterton, 11 miles on the Joliet and Northern Indiana, controlled by the Michigan Central; To near Wooded Island in 31 miles on the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana; 8.4 miles along the shore of Lake Michigan on the Illinois Central; from Chicago to Geneva 37 miles on the Galena and Chicago Union; then 2 more miles to Batavia on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Batavia, Illinois: Unable to find information on venue.
January 27, 1869: Fry's Hall, Freeport, Illinois
The distance from Batavia to Freeport is about 103 miles. From Batavia to Dixon is 66 miles on board the Galena and Chicago Union. From Dixon to Freeport is 37 miles on board the Illinois Central. Fry's Hall, Freeport, Illinois.
January 28, 1869: Russell Hall, Waterloo, Iowa
It is 154 miles from Freeport to Waterloo. From Freeport to Dubuque is 66 miles on board the Illinois Central. From Dubuque to Waterloo is 88 miles on board the Illinois Central, what began as the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad. Russell Hall, Waterloo, Iowa
January 29, 1869: Bench St. Methodist Church, Galena, Illinois
- The journey from Waterloo to Galena is about 113 miles. 90 miles of this is on the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad section of the Illinois Central from Waterloo to the Mississippi River. The Dubuque Railroad Bridge, built in December of 1868 crosses the river from Dubuque to East Dubuque. Twain's train ride then proceeded 15 to 20 miles to Galena on the Illinois Central railroad.
Clemens lectured in Galena’s Bench Street Methodist Church. He was a late substitute for William Henry Milburn (1823–1903), the blind Methodist Episcopal and Protestant Episcopal preacher and former chaplain of the United States Congress (1845, 1853), who had gone to Berlin for an eye operation (“W. H. Milburn . . . ,” Muscatine [Iowa] Courier, 11 Feb 69, 2). In announcing the substitution, the Galena Gazette of 26 January called “the change of programme a good one, as it is well to have one humorist” (“The Lectures,” 3). And on 2 February the paper expressed its satisfaction with the result:
SLC to Olivia L. Langdon, 29 and 30 Jan 1869, Galena, Ill. (UCCL 00243), n. 1.
February 1, 1869: Strawn's Hall, Jacksonville, Illinois
- It was approximately 280 miles from Galena to Jacksonville. 52 miles from Galena to Freeport and 138 miles to Bloomington, aboard the Illinois Central Railroad. From Bloomington to Jacksonville was 88 miles aboard the Chicago and Alton Railroad. Unable to find location of Strawn's Hall
Twain returned briefly to Cleveland., approximately 430 miles. There is no documentation, to my knowledge, of the route he took but this represents my best guess based on the 1870 kmz files: Great Western, through Illinois; Toledo and Western through Indiana and Ohio; Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio from Toledo to Cleveland. From Cleveland, he returned to Elmira February 4 and Hartford February 10; then back to Cleveland February 13.]