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.
August 6 Tuesday – In the morning in Missoula Mont., Sam watched the troops drill. Koelbel writes,
August 7 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook in Spokane, Wash.:
See squaws prowling about back doors & windows begging & foraging — a nuisance once familiar to me [NB 35 TS 25].
From J.B. Pond’s diary:
August 8 Thursday – In Spokane, Wash., this was a rest and travel day late for the Clemens party — they would leave at midnight for Tacoma. From J.B. Pond’s diary:
We spent all day, August 8th, in Spokane. The hotel was full. The new receiver and his gay party are also spending the day here, but all leave just before the time set for the lecture.