Two features or insertions ago under the title "Queen Anne Addendum #3 - Faux France . . . The Overland Westerners" we introduced a variety of state capitol buildings a century ago while touching on the dogged ride of four horsemen for three years and 20,000 miles. Now we will continue this story with some more portraits of the horsemen posing with capitols and - when they could rouse them - their governors. Arizona became the 48th contiguous state three months before the horsemen left Bainbridge Island for Olympia, their first stop. I think it unlikely that they carried a camera, and so were dependent upon photographers connected with the local press, contacts they tried to make all along their 20,000 mile way. About 30 photographs of state houses survive and but two of these have professional imprints. None of the recorded state houses are directly named. With two of them you may be able to figure out from evidence on or to the sides - those imprints. Of course, none of the governors are named either. (With a few hours - or less - on Goggle most of the state houses, at least, could be identified. Please go ahead.) We will also include a variety of ephemera produced for and during this strange adventure. (This collection came my way for copying many years ago through the help of Old Seattle Paperworks in the lower level of the Pike Place Market, and now the net furnishes a nifty way to share it. Thanks John.) CLICK TO ENLARGE
First page draft for a 1964 recounting of the story.
A Providence R.I. excerpt from a trek diary.How they survived - card sales and charity from some livery stables.
This letter from one governor to another was one of the tricks use by the quartet to smooth their often rough journey.Another first page for 1964 retelling of the horse-haul story.
Boston Diary Sept. 22, 1913. Rain, a busy governor, and more charity from the livery.
This portrait includes a clue to the state.This shares a clue too.That the four horsemen made it through their three year self and horse promotion was because of lucky health, occasional compassion on the road, and a confidence - unfounded as it turned out - regarding the consequences. The glory and rewards they expect to greet them at the 1915 worlds fair in San Francisco did not materialize. Heroic riders out of the once commonplace but in 1915 rapidly receding horse culture - and their droppings - were neither warmly greeted nor rewarded at the grand front door to the Panama Pacific International Exposition. There would be no horse show. A short summary of the trip and some of its hardships and touchstones can be had at http://www.thelongridersguild.com/Overland.htm
2 thoughts on “The OVERLAND WESTERNERS on their own & concluded”
Thank you for posting the story and great images of the Overland Westerners. Having seen the postcards, I’d often wondered if they completed their journey. What a melancholy story. I’m glad that their memory is kept alive 100 years later. (And I’m so glad Nip lived!)
I copied all the above many years ago on a loan from John Hanawalt of the Old Seattle Paperworks in the Pike Market, lower level. It is nice to a blog now to show-share some of this otherwise merely archived stuff.
Thank you for posting the story and great images of the Overland Westerners. Having seen the postcards, I’d often wondered if they completed their journey. What a melancholy story. I’m glad that their memory is kept alive 100 years later. (And I’m so glad Nip lived!)
I copied all the above many years ago on a loan from John Hanawalt of the Old Seattle Paperworks in the Pike Market, lower level. It is nice to a blog now to show-share some of this otherwise merely archived stuff.