Soapy Smith's Soap Box

November 13, 2024

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882: Part #12 - page 12

Soapy STAR notebook
Page 12 - original copy
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK

Part #12 - Page 12

This is part #12 - page 12, dated 1882. This is a continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook can be seen on page 1.

The notebook(s) are in Soapy's handwriting, and often times pretty hard to decipher. A large part of this series of posts is to transcribe the pages, one-at-a-time, and receive help from readers on identifying words I am having trouble with, as well as correcting any of my deciphered words. My long time friend, and publisher, Art Petersen, has been a great help in deciphering and adding additional information.

I will include the original copy of each page, an enhanced copy of each page, a copy in negative, and a copy with typed out text, as tools to aid in deciphering the notes. There are a total of 24 pages. This means that there may be upwards of 24 individuals posts for this one notebook. Links to the past and future pages (pages 1, 2, 3, etc.) will be added at the bottom of each post for ease of research. When completed there will be a sourced partial record of Soapy's activities and whereabouts for 1882-1883.

Important to note that the pages of the notebook do not appear to be in chronological order, with Soapy making additional notes on a town and topic several pages later.

Rather than plans to go somewhere, this is an accounting of where Soapy has already gone (Oregon, Washington Territory and and Victoria, British Columbia.) in 1882. Previous pages contained to do lists, work notes, an itinerary. This page engages in journaling—the recording of past events, perhaps for the purpose of revisiting them, or memorializing them for oneself, like a diary entry. The interesting thing is that, although the writing records the communication of twenty-one-year-old Soapy Smith with himself, the writing also communicates with us about him 142 years later (and potentially far beyond today).

Page 12 is a continuation from page 11, and is continued on page 13 (not yet published).

Below are my attempts to attempts to make the writing easier to see and decipher.

Soapy STAR notebook
Page 12 - enhanced copy
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy STAR notebook
Page 12 - negative copy
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Below is what I believe to be the correct deciphering of the text, dated 1882. Do you agree, or do you see something else? All comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome! I will update the new information to this post.

Soapy STAR notebook
Page 12 - decipher copy
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Page 12

Line 1: "From there to"
Line 2: "Victoria, British Columbia [Canada]"
Line 3: "did not work, was"
Line 4: "N.G. [No Good] though a good"
Line 5: "town of 7000 people"

Interesting that Lines 3-5 discuss the first known note from Soapy that he did "no good" in the town of Victoria, British Columbia. What he apparently found in Victoria was a Canadian town much more settled, or with a heavier police presence than the communities of the North-West U.S., and so returned to them with his "sales" campaign.
Quite an interesting picture of young Soapy is emerging, To remain so consistently on the road, bouncing from place to place and back to some of the same places, shows a man who loves his work and is willing to work hard to make a success of it.

Line 6: "From there back to"
Line 7: "Seattle W.T. [Washington Territory]. Worked and"
Line 8: "got [the] hell from there"

In regards to Victoria, Soapy had written, "did not work, was N.G. [No Good]." Perhaps sales were slow due to complications such as dissatisfied customers who complained among themselves and/or to constabulary such as it was in Seattle, but Jefferson's "got [the] hell from there" indicates a possible police entanglement from which he escaped, or bribed his way to freedom. It doesn't appear that he was arrested.

Line 9: "to Portland [Oregon] then onto"
Line 10: "The Dalles [Oregon]. Arizona."

The Dalles is a town 80 miles east of Portland, on the Columbia River. On line 10 Soapy writes "Arizona." Did he travel down to Arizona after leaving The Dalles in Oregon? Going to Arizona would have taken 2.5 or 3 days just one way, so it doesn't seem possible for him to fit going there and back into his itinerary, so why did he write "Arizona?" Was it just a mistake? I know that I, myself have been writing, while thinking of something else, and find that I had written down something I was thinking of without realizing it.

Line 11: "back to Portland [Oregon]"
Line 12: "from there to"
Line 13: "Albany [Oregon], here [John] Taylor"
Line 14: "left for San Fran- [San Francisco, California]"
Line 15: "cisco [San Francisco, California] August 14, 1882"

Soapy travels back to Portland and on to Albany, Oregon, where on Aug 14, he mentions "Taylor," which is likely John Taylor, believed to be Soapy's mentor since his start in Texas. Taylor is also mentioned in this notebook on page 2. Taylor, left for San Francisco and other endeavors while Soapy continued to work in Oregon and Washington Territory.

Line 16: "From there I went"
Line 17: "to Salem [Oregon]. From"
Line 18: "Salem [Oregon] to Portland [Oregon]"
Line 19: "from Portland [Oregon]"
Line 20: "back to Salem [Oregon]"
Line 21: "From Salem [Oregon] to"
Line 22: "Independence [Oregon]"
Line 23: "From here to"
Line 24: "Portland [Oregon]. From"
Line 25: "there to East"
Line 26: "Portland [Oregon]. From"
Line 27: "E.P. [East Portland, Oregon] to New Tacoma [Washington Territory]"
Line 28: "[and] Old Tacoma. Olympia [Washington Territory]"
Line 29: "back to Portland [Oregon]"
Line 30: "to Aurora [Oregon], to"
Line 31: "East Portland [Oregon]"
Line 32: "to Hillsboro [Oregon], to" [continued on page 13 - not published yet.

It will be interesting to see page 13 and learn where Soapy's travels led next. The picture on a map through page 11 shows a zig-zag pattern. When the notebook has been seen completely, it will be interesting to map all of his summer "sales" campaign on one map. I expect his canvassing from July into September 1882 will completely blanket settlements of the North-West states and territories.

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

STAR NOTEBOOK
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #5
Part #6
Part #7
Part #8
Part #9
Part #10
Part #11
Part #13 (not published yet)
Part #14 (not published yet)
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)

"Honesty is the best policy…unless
you can tell a convincing lie."

—Keith C. Cobb, Exceptions to the Rules, 2001.

November 5, 2024

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882: Part #11 - page 11

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 11 - original copy
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK

Part #11 - Page 11

This is part #11 - page 11, dated 1882. This is a continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook can be seen on page 1.

Important to note that the pages of the notebook do not appear to be in chronological order, with Soapy making additional notes on a town and topic several pages later.

Page #11 is late July 1882, thus written previous to page #10, making this is page different from the others seen so far. Rather than plans to go somewhere, this is an accounting of where Soapy has already gone (Oregon and Washington Territory). Previous pages contained to do lists, work notes, an itinerary. This page engages in journaling—the recording of past events, perhaps for the purpose of revisiting them, or memorializing them for oneself, like a diary entry. The interesting thing is that, although the writing records the communication of twenty-one-year-old Soapy Smith with himself, the writing also communicates with us about him 142 years later (and potentially far beyond today). The way Soapy remarks on where he went and that he had a significant success in Seattle portrays his desire to remark on it for himself.

Art Petersen writes,

This page may be the reason the notebook survived Jeff's many travels. It might have become a good luck talisman in that it documented the luck he had made for himself. Keeping the notebook meant preserving proof of that magical good luck power. This thinking could be overstating the case, but something about the notebook made it worth keeping with him or kept safe somewhere. What this page documents in journal form could be that something.

Below are my attempts to make the page easier to decipher.

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 11 - enhanced
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 11 - negative
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 11 - deciphered
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Page 11

Line 1: "Landed in"
Line 2: "Portland, Oregon"
Line 3: "July 25th 1882."
Line 4: "Worked one day"
Line 5: "26 July Started to"
Line 6: "Seattle, W.T. [Washington territory] arrived"
Line 7: "Same day. Worked"
Line 8: "several days. And"
Line 9: "made the largest"
Line 10: "sale I ever made. $112.00" [?]
Line 11: "From there to New"

Lines #11, #12 and #15: At first I thought that "New" [New Tacoma] was "NW," the abbreviation for North-West, but I did find reference to New Tacoma.

Tacoma was incorporated on November 12, 1875, following its selection in 1873 as the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad due to lobbying by McCarver, future mayor John Wilson Sprague, and others. However, the railroad built its depot in New Tacoma, two miles (3 km) south of the Carr–McCarver development. The two communities grew together and joined, merging on January 7, 1884. The transcontinental link was effected in 1887, and the population grew from 1,098 in 1880 to 36,006 in 1890. Rudyard Kipling visited Tacoma in 1889 and said it was "literally staggering under a boom of the boomiest."

Lines #8 through #10: The 1882 amount of $112 is better understood for us when considered in 2024 dollars. Tom's inflation calculator puts the figure at $3,619.84. Quite a clean-up for the work of "several days." If the time in Seattle were 3 days, Soapy made "sales" of over $1,000 a day.

Line 12: "Tacoma, done well. [Washington territory]"
Line 13: "From there to"
Line 14: "Olympia, back to [Washington territory]"
Line 15: "New Tacoma from [Washington territory]"
Line 16: "there to Port Townsend [Oregon]"

Sometime after August 24 when The Great Sherman Circus itinerary was first published and Soapy recorded it on page #10, he went to the next notebook page to reflect on his successes so far in the northwest.

An estimate of Soapy's time in each location is about 2 days, except for Portland for about half a day and Seattle for about 3 days. Travel time of half a day or more is added to the dates. Travel from New Tacoma to Port Townsend, however, could have taken a full day or more by ship up Puget Sound.

Towns Soapy went to
Washington Territory
Google Maps

Estimation of dates for each town in chronological order.

Portland, Oregon, July 25-26, 1882.
Seattle, Washington Terr., July 26-30, 1882.
New Tacoma, Washington Terr., July 30-August 2, 1882.
Olympia, Washington Terr., August 3-5, 1882.
New Tacoma, Washington Terr., August 5-8, 1882.
Port Townsend, Washington Terr., August 8-11, 1882.

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

STAR NOTEBOOK
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #5
Part #6
Part #7
Part #8
Part #9
Part #10
Part #12
Part #13 (not published yet)
Part #14 (not published yet)
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)

"Take risks: if you win, you will be happy;

if you lose, you will be wise."

—Author Unknown

November 2, 2024

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882: Part #10 - page 10

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 10 - original copy
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK

Part #10 - Page 10

This is part #10 - page 10, dated 1882. This is a continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook can be seen on page 1.

Important to note that the pages of the notebook do not appear to be in chronological order, with Soapy making additional notes on a town and topic several pages later.

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 10 - enhanced
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 10 - negative
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 10 - deciphered
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

The fact that Soapy traveled around Oregon, following the circus, we can conclude that he had an arrangement with the circus, compensating them well for permission to operate within, or near the grounds where the circus was set up. In other documents it is shown that Soapy purchased "fair lists" from his sporting supply companies. These lists were a fair directories, listing the cities and dates where they opened. This is likely why Soapy was making the notations in his notebooks, as a travel planning log.

It is believed that Soapy was not working alone. He likely had men assisting him as shills, boosters and cappers. It is also possible that during this period Soapy was working with John Taylor, a long time friend and mentor, mentioned on page 2 (1882).

Soapy Smith
Prize package soap sell racket

Page 10

Line 1: "First stand (or "start?") in Oregon with Shermans Show"

Art Petersen writes,

What an interesting page. It's the most clear so far because a nearly exact correlation with Oregon cities is found in The Great Sherman Circus advertisements in July and August issues of The Oregonian.

Art located the following newspaper ads from 1882, meaning that Soapy's notebook page also dates 1882.

Great Sherman Circus (Show)
The Oregonian
August 30, 1882

(Click image to enlarge)

Great Sherman Circus (Show)
The Oregonian
September 14, 1882

(Click image to enlarge)

THE CIRCUS
Roseburg Review
Roseburg, Oregon
July 22, 1882

(Click image to enlarge)

The Sherman circus went to Roseburg, and probably a few other towns in Oregon in which Soapy passed up, or didn't record. The above newspaper clipping (thanks to Art Petersen) from Roseburg, Oregon, reads in detail of the circus' arrival, includes a band parading the town streets. The night performance was "perfectly jammed, a hundred or more sitting upon the ground in front of the seats." The show included "tumbling," a trapeze act, horizontal bar exercise, "tight rope specialties," and many other "marvelous feats."

Art continues,

It appears to me that Jeff set out to follow The Great Sherman Circus and Troupe of Educated Horses from Aurora on the 30th to Salem on Sep 15 and 16. It seems likely he copied the dates from the published itinerary of the circus. The itinerary matches the notebook exactly, except for Salem. The circus did go there, though; the 15th and 16th for Salem is published in a later paper. The first ad I found with those dates is in a September 14 issue of The Oregonian. For his notebook list, he might have picked up the Salem dates from someone with the circus and added it. The first time Jeff's list of cities appears in the advertisement is on August 24, 1882, so that's the earliest the list could have been copied onto the notebook page.
Oregon City heads the published list, but Jeff didn't copy that, so it would seem he did not plan on going there OR that it was too late to go there.

Line 2: "Aurora [Oregon] [Aug] 30th 000"

There are numerous cities name "Aurora" in the US., including Colorado, but as all the other cities listed on this notebook page are located in Oregon, and Aurora is one of the stops for the Great Sherman Circus, it is a safe bet that this is Aurora, Oregon.

There is a mystery to solve here. Can you help?

Art writes,

What do the 000s on lines 2 and 8 mean? Hmmm. These are in contrast to the Xs, and once with XX, that appear on other lines. (The XX might be for 2 lines, one for line 10 and one for line 11.) The Xs are in contrast to lines 11 through 14, which have no marking. Do the zeros mean he didn't make money, OR, in contrast, that he did ("cleaned up" a thousand or more!)? The Xs might mean he went to the city when the circus was there OR they might mean he intended to go. But for the last 3 or 4 cities, no Xs appear. So did he not go to those cities OR did he not plan to go to them?

Line 3: "East Portland [Oregon] [Aug] 31st. X."
Line 4: "Hillsboro [Oregon] Sept 1st. X."
Line 5: "McMinnville [Oregon] Sept 2nd. X"
Line 6: "Independence [Oregon] 4 Sept. X"
Line 7: "Corvallis [Oregon] 5th Sept. X"
Line 8: "Lebanon [Oregon] 6th 000"
Line 9: "Albany [Oregon] 7th 8th X"
Line 10: "Halsey [Oregon] [Sept] 9 to X [10th?] X"
Line 11: "Harrisburg [Oregon] [Sept] 11th"
Line 12: "Junction City [Oregon] [Sept] 12th"
Line 13: "Eugene [Oregon] [Sept] 13th to 14"
Line 14: "Salem [Oregon] [Sept] 15 + 16"

Art writes,

As for the city and circus citations on other pages of the notebook, probably there's some correlation, but what they are remains to be teased out, at least in my thinking. It's all about finding coherence among data on the notebook pages.

Mapped route of the circus

(Click image to enlarge)

Art writes,

Attached is a map on which the route of the circus is mapped (placement of some sites is estimated). If Jeff did follow the circus, probably transportation made it easy to do so—trains seem likely.

Art's conclusion,

So, many questions remain, not about what he wrote, but what he wrote means in terms of what he did.

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

STAR NOTEBOOK
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #5
Part #6
Part #7
Part #8
Part #9
Part #11
Part #12
Part #13 (not published yet)
Part #14 (not published yet)
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)

"The only sure thing about luck is that it will change."

—Wilson Mizner

October 19, 2024

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882-1883: Part #9 - page 9

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 9 - original copy
1882-1883
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK

Part #9 - page 9

This is part #9 - page 9, the continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook can be seen on page 1.
The notebook(s) are in Soapy's handwriting, and often times pretty hard to decipher. A large part of this series of posts is to transcribe the pages, one-at-a-time, and receive help from readers on identifying words I am having trouble with, as well as correcting any of my deciphered words. I will include the original copy of each page, an enhanced copy of each page, a copy in negative, and a copy with typed out text, as tools to aid in deciphering the notes. There are a total of 24 pages. This means that there may be upwards of 24 individuals posts for this one notebook. Links to the past and future pages (pages 1, 2, 3, etc.) will be added at the bottom of each post for ease of research. When completed there will be a sourced partial record of Soapy's activities and whereabouts for 1882-1883.
Important to note that the pages of the notebook do not appear to be in chronological order, with Soapy making additional notes on a town and topic several pages later.

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 9 - enhanced
1882-1883
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 9 - negative
1882-1883
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Below is what I believe to be the correct deciphering of the text, dated 1882-1883. Do you agree, or do you see something else? All comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome! I will update the new information to this post.

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 9 - deciphered
1882-1883
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Page 9 (bottom).

Line 1: "grocers" (or "gracias")

Art Petersen writes,

Why gracias, Spanish for thank you? Not sure, but the letters seem to form the word. Coming just above the next names could be Soapy wanted to remind himself to thank them for something. As a transplant to Texas in 1876-77, gracias would have been a familiar term.

Line 2: "Langfeldt" ("Langfleat," Langfeat") and Meyers"

Art Petersen writes,

a search for "Langfeldt and Meyers" in the 1880s failed. However, a Langfeldt and Co did business during this time in Japan as a seller of alcohol spirits (found ad in The Japan Times). Another possibility: Newspapers of the 1880s regularly listed sailings to and from Yokohama, the large Japanese port. And the names of some passengers appeared. The notebook names could be of Yokohama passengers that Soapy knew (& perhaps wanted to thank for some reason).
Line 3: "Yokohama"
Line 4: "Japan"
Line 5: "Thank you" (or "Thermals")

Art Petersen writes,

My nomination for the 1st word in line 5 is thermals or thermal underwear. The letters seem to be thanamals, not a word. But since most of page 9 lists what appears to be a packing list or inventory of clothes and since thermals are clothes, the proposed word would have a relationship. The lines taken together seem to be a note to self to pack or to acquire the thermals he once showed to Prof. Scott. The first word in line 6 seems to be showed if the last letter is seen not as an a but a d. Soapy does show he tended not to put a line above the body of a d at least on this page as shown in his writing drawers on line 12.
Line 6: "Show" ("Showed" or "Shower") to (for) Prof."

Art Petersen, who has been aiding me in deciphering Soapy's handwriting, asks, "Could these three lines be 'Thank you shower to/for Prof. Scott?' A 'shower' seems improbable today, but in 1893 or so, it seems to have had a more general sense. Here's how the historical section of the Oxford English dictionary has it:

1893-
Chiefly, North American, Australian, and New Zealand. A party to which guests bring gifts, usually of a particular kind, for a bride-to-be, or (in later use also) an expectant mother; (more generally) any party or event centred around the giving of gifts. Also in plural: the gifts presented on such an occasion (now rare).

Line 7: "Scott."
Line 8: "Aug 31st"
Line 9: "2 white shirts"
Line 10: "1 n ' ' "
Line 11: "4 collars"
Line 12: "1 tab"
Line 13: "1 drawers"

Interpretation: Page 1, page 2, page 4, page 5 of this notebook shows Soapy's plans for traveling through Oregon and Washington Territory, making and changing plans before successfully venturing there, several times. Here on page 9 he makes notes of what appears to be an order from Japan, a note of thanks to Professor Scott and a list of personal clothing items. Were the latter being ordered from Yokohama, Japan? Nearly a decade later (December 27, 1894), the Boulder Daily Camera and the Summit County Journal (December 29, 1894), reported that Soapy and gang members John Bowers and W. H. Jackson, are headed to Yokohama, Japan for "pleasure and sight-seeing." Most likely is that Soapy never actually went to Japan, but that it was a newspaper ploy to fool the authorities and his enemies that he was not in the states.

* Special thanks to Art Petersen for his aid in deciphering, and his opinions of the context.

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

STAR NOTEBOOK
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #5
Part #6
Part #7
Part #8
Part #10
Part #11
Part #12
Part #13 (not published yet)
Part #14 (not published yet)
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)

"He never missed an opportunity to separate the gullible from ready cash. Neither did he ever miss an opportunity to preach and practice the gospel of kindliness and compassion. "

—The Reign of Soapy Smith, 1935