Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882: Part #5 - page 5

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
page 5 - original
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

     

OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK
Part #5 - page 5

     This is part #5 - page 5, 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.
     This page has been successfully deciphered, and positively dated 1882.
     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 5 - enhanced
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
page 5 - negative
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

     Here is what I believe to be the correct deciphering of the text. Do you agree, or do you see something else? There are two words I have not been able to decipher positively. All comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome! I will update the new information to this post.

Rear of page 4 (top).

• Line 1: "Salem Fair" [Oregon]
  
• Line 2: "Mo. [Monday] Sept 18th 00.00"
  
• Line 3: "T. [Tuesday] Sept 19th sales $109.00"
• Line 4: "W. [Wednesday] 20th sales 150.00"
  
• Line 5: "T. [Thursday] 21st 107.00"
  
• Line 6: "F. [Friday] 22 111.00"
• Line 7: "T. [Tuesday] Sep 19 in Salem 65.00"
  
• Line 8: "Total $542.00"
  
• Line 9: "4 days work"
• Line 10: "Dayton, W. T. [Washington Territory]"
  
• Line 11: "Sep 27th 90.00" [Sept]
• Line 12: "28 55.00" [Sept]
• Line 13: "29 25.00" [Sept]
• Line 14: "30 85.00" [Sept]
• Line 15: "255.00" [total]
  

Interpretation: In examining the calendar Between 1876-1893, it can be seen that the dates listed, for instance, Monday, September 18th, only occurs in 1882.
     Soapy Smith worked the Oregon State Fair of 1882 in north Salem, the state capital, between September 18-22, 1882. He jots down five days of monetary amounts for each day, totaling $542.00 (the equivalent of $16,894.58 in 2023). The fair ran September 19th through September 22nd.
     Note on line 7, he adds another Tuesday profit of $65.00 "in Salem." Line 3, the first Tuesday notation was for money made at the fair, while the second amount was made "in Salem itself.

     It is known that Soapy was operating his prize package soap sell racket in early August in other parts of Oregon. On August 2, 1882 he purchased a vendor's license in Portland. On September 16, Soapy purchased a vendor's license granting him permission to "hawk his prize soap" on the city streets of Salem for the period of one week from September 16, 1882 to September 23 for the fee of $15.25. The license is filled out by City Recorder, Charles W. Bowie.

     Next, Soapy goes to Dayton, Washington Territory and works four days [I believe] at the Columbia County Fair. In 1859 the dates for the fair were set for September 28-30, so it makes sense that those dates were the same when Soapy operated on September 27-30, 1882. He made a total of $255.00 (the equivalent of $7,948.56 in 2023).

 

Page 5 (bottom).

• Line 1: "Santa Cruz" [California]
• Line 2: "Cal [California.] 19 & 20th of Oct"
• Line 3: "13 sales $190.00"
• Line 4: "Hollister" [California]
  
• Line 5: "2 days work"
• Line 6: "22 & 23rd. Oct $235.00"
• Line 7: "Gilroy 31 60.00" [California]
• Line 8: "Vallejo 29th" [California]
• Line 9: "Oct one sale 93.00"
• Line 10: "St Helena" [California]
  
• Line 11: "Dec 2nd one sale $114.00"
• Line 12: "Woodland [California] Nov 29th"
• Line 13: "one sale $91.50"
• Line 14: "Tulare [California] Dec 12. $52.00"

Interpretation: I believe the year is 1882 (October-December), as the top page is dated 1882. Soapy is traveling through California, operating, at least on this page, October 19 - December 12, 1882.

     Santa Cruz County Fair (originally called the Agricultural County Fair) opens for the first time on October 16, 1882, three days before Soapy arrived there. He operated 13 separate sales for a total of $190, which is equivalent to $5,922.45 as of this posting.

     Next, Soapy arrives in Hollister, California where he operated for two days, October 22-23 making $235.00. I could not find much on Hollister's history in 1882, but obviously it was large enough for Soapy to make the equivalent of $7,325.14 in 2023 dollars, for two days work.
     Soapy worked in Gilroy, California on October 31, 1882, where he made $62.00 ($1,932.59 in 2023). Gilroy was known as the "Tobacco Capitol of the World" and there was a "Tobacco Festival" which ended in 1882, and likely Soapy was not aware, probably going by a "fair list" he had purchased, leading him to all these fairs he was attending. This could explain why Soapy stayed one day, perhaps even just hours.
     Soapy operated one sale in one day (October 29) in Vallejo, California at one of several Solano County agriculture-related fairs. The sale profited $93.00. ($2,898.89 in 2023.

     In St Helena, California Soapy operated one sale on December 2, 1882, raking in $114.00 ($3,553.47 in 2023) at possibly the County Exposition, the only fair I could find in the area in 1882.
     On November 29, 1882 operates one sale in Woodland, California for $91.50 ($2,852.13 in 2023). I could not find any fairs previous to 1893.
     Soapy arrived in Tulare, California on December 12, 1882, making $52.00 for one day's work. ($1,620.88 in 2023).
     On this page of the notebook Soapy operated for just 18 days between September 18 - December 12, 1882. In that three week time period he made $837.50. This is the equivalent of $26,105.56 in 2023!

 

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

 

Salem, Oregon
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #6
Part #7
Part #8
Part #9 (not published yet)
Part #10 (not published yet)
Part #11 (not published yet)
Part #12 (not published yet)
Part #13 (not published yet)
Part #14 (not published yet)
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)

 

"If you steal from one person its plaigarism, 

if you steal from four, its research."

~Wilson Mizner, confidence man