Soapy Smith's Soap Box: Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882: Part #8

August 21, 2023

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882: Part #8 - page 8

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 8 - original copy
1882

(Click image to enlarge)

OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK

Part #8 - page 8

     This is part #8 - page 8, 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 8 - enhanced
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 8 - enhanced
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Here is what I believe to be the correct deciphering of the text, dated 1882. 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.

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 8 - deciphered
1882
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

Click image to enlarge

Page 8 (bottom).

Line 1: "Sherman Show [circus]"
Line 2: "Oregon City [Oregon] 29th"
Line 3: "__?__ 1882"
Line 4: "population 1,800"

Art Petersen, who has been aiding me in deciphering Soapy's handwriting, writes,

Lines 3 and 4; are conundrums for me. The name appears to have 4, 5, or 6 letters. Clearly appearing after the smudgy word are the #s 1882. The only letter that seems for sure is the last, an "o." Among possible Oregon cities, here are two nominations: Echo and Toledo. The next line, though, lists a population of 1,800. Neither of these towns in 1882 could have had a population that high. Of the two towns, my pick as possible is Echo. It was on the Oregon Trail, and Wikipedia indicates travelers were still known to be traversing "the trail" into the 1880s. So Echo was a known site that had a transient population for decades. Toledo, on the other hand, was a gold placer mining site; it was remote and went into decline sooner than Echo. This site for me remains the best possibility. The population listed, though, does seem high for 1882.
Line 5: "Salem [Oregon] pop. 5,000"
Line 6: "Albany [Oregon] 1,800 [pop.]"
Line 7: "Eugene City [Oregon] 1,117 [pop.]"
Line 8: "Lf"

Art writes,
Line 8; "Lf." The L in these two letters seems certainly an L, as comparison shows. No city in Oregon that begins with L has an f in it except Lafayette. Did Soapy begin to write that name, find himself unsure of the spelling, and left it, only to write it out a bit a later? No other thoughts occur to me about the two letters.
Line 9: "Hillsboro [Oregon] 600 [pop.]"
Line 10: "Lafayette [Oregon] 783 [pop.]"
Line 11: "Dalles [Oregon] 6200 [pop.]"
Line 12: "Corvallis [Oregon] 1,188 [pop.]"
Line 13: "Jacksonville [Oregon] 960 [pop.]"
Line 14: "Kalama [Washington Terr.] Aug 29, 1882"
Line 15: "fare from Olympia [Washington Terr.]"
Line 16: "to Portland [Oregon] 29 Aug"
Line 17: "1882 $6.80"

Art writes,
     The last 4 lines; may be related. The rather dark, clear letters appearing there seem to be KalamaeA[t?]ng. After it appear the following numbers: 291882. The # is not a sum total of the previous population numbers. Neither is it a reasonable population # for any location in the Northwest at the time. The possibility remaining is that the # contains 2 sets of #s—29 and 1882. That year is repeated 3 times on the page. If the last 4 digits are the year, 1882, that leaves the number 29. Now back to the word. Suggested is the Washington Territory town of Kalama. It's on the way from Portland to Tacoma, WA, and a spur reaches to Olympia. In 1880, after the Northern Pacific decided to put its headquarters, not in Kalama but in Tacoma, the Kalama population plunged to 129. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the town in 1882 had a population of about 29. Another possibility is that 29 is a date. In fact, it is repeated on the last two lines: 29 Aug / 1882. I have puzzled over the letters after the apparent Kalama and have come up empty. How could they fit with Kalama. Surrounding clues strongly suggest Kalama to me, but the A[t?]ng leave me stumped.
My response.
I believe that line 14 reads "Kalama [Washington Terr.] Aug 29, 1882."
Art writes,

     Line 15-16; Here's where the potential link to Kalama comes in. Recorded is "fare from Olympia to Portland." Kalama is on the way, 38 miles from Portland and 71.5 miles south of the Olympia.
      Line 17; A fare of $6.80. The southern spur of the Northern Pacific in 1882 ran from Portland, through Kalama and to Olympia with a short spur, and on to Tacoma. See the 1883 NPRR map.

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 in 1882, on page 8 he makes makes notations of Oregon and Washington towns and their populations, perhaps not wishing to stop and waste time at smaller communities. Details include traveling by train from Oregon to Washington, and returning to Portland, Oregon from Olympia, Washington, for $6.80, the equivalent of $211.96 in 2023.

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STAR NOTEBOOK
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #5
Part #6
Part #7
Part #9
Part #10
Part #11
Part #12
Part #13
Part #14
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)