We moved westward about mid-afternoon over a rippled and sparkling summer sea; an enticing sea, a clean and cool sea, and apparently a welcome sea to all on board; it certainly was to me, after the distressful dustings and smokings and swelterings of the past weeks. The voyage would furnish a three-weeks holiday, with hardly a break in it. We had the whole Pacific Ocean in front of us, with nothing to do but do nothing and be comfortable.
Twain's party crossed the Cascades, on the switchbacks, in about two hours. It took six more hours to reach Seattle.
Native Americans were pretty much gone from the area, the Treaty of Point Elliott was one of the major instruments in their removal and confinement in reservations. Some did, however, retain fishing rights.
August 6th, Twain's party departs Missoula on the Northern Pacific railway. This particular train had two special cars attached carrying the newly appointed receiver for the bankrupt railroad and the Supreme Court judge who had appointed him. Twain did not join them. They traveled through the Bitterroot Valley, ancestral home of the Salish people. They passed the site of the "starvation winter" of 1883-1884, and on through the Flathead Indian Reservation.
Twain's party departed Great Falls at 7:35 am, Thursday, August 1st, 1895. They rode the Montana Central Railway, part of the Great Northern Railroad owned by J.J. Hill. Hill needed to connect his interests in Great Falls with the mining operations in Helena, Butte and the smelter in Anaconda. The railroad followed part of the old Mullan Military Road. Along the way we examine the fate of Egbert Malcolm Clarke and one of the most egregious actions taken by the U.S. Army against Native American peoples, the Marias massacre. Twain gave a lecture that evening in Butte.
Departing the Great Lakes region, July 22, 1895, Twain's party heads for the Great Plains. First though, into an area of tourist attraction, no small part due to to the fantasy world created by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his Song of Hiawatha, Lake Minnetonka and Minnehaha Falls.
Mark Twain left Cleveland, Ohio July 17 on board the SS Northland. They sailed across Lake Erie to the Detroit River, across Lake St Clair and along the St. Clair River. July 18th they crossed Lake Huron and landed in Sault Ste. Marie. Here he gave his third lecture of the tour. On July 19th, they took the sreamboat F.S. Faxton to Mackinac Island for a lecture in the Grand Hotel. On July 20th, Twain and Major Pond traveled to Petoskey, Michigan by boat and train, the Northern Arrow. Petoskey is the site of the extermination of the last major breeding colony of passenger pigeons, in 1878.
Sunday July 14th 1895, Samuel L Clemens and party departed Elmira, New York on board the Delaware Lackawanna & Western bound for Buffalo and then on to Cleveland. From Quarry Farm, moments before departing, he wrote his sister "I have not been able to write I've been in bed ever since we arrived here May 25th until 4 days ago when I put on my clothes for the first time in 45 days to go to New York, barely capable of the exertion. To undergo the shame borne of the mistake I made in establishing a publishing house.
New York to Southampton and Le Havre: SS New York
March 7 Wednesday – Sam sailed on the SS New York for Southampton and Le Havre [MTHHR 23].
March 8 Thursday – At sea on the SS New York,
Return to the States, August 1893:
August 26 Saturday – Sam and daughter Clara left Franzensbad and traveled by train to Leipzig, taking rooms at the Palmbaum Hotel [Aug. 28 to Livy]. Note: date is calculated.
August 28 Monday – In Leipzig, Germany shortly before breakfast and catching a train for Bremen, Sam wrote to Livy, still in Franzensbad with Susy.
Bremen to New York: Spree
June 28 Wednesday – At about 8 a.m Sam left Munich for Berlin to accompany daughter Clara back to Munich. Sam’s notebook reveals the trip: June 28. Arrived at Berlin at 8.28 p.m about 12 ½ hr. out from Munich — still good daylight. Clara, Mrs. Willard & Secretary Jackson at station. Staid at Jackson’s [NB 33 TS 20].
July 1: Webster & Co.’s financial statement: In excess of $62,000 in uncollected installment accounts, $197,089.75 in liabilities [MTLTP 349n2].