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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.
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.
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.
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Page 10
- 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.
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| 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.
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 (not published yet)
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
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Thank you for leaving your comment and/or question on my blog. I always read, and will answer all questions asap. Please know that they are greatly appreciated. -Jeff Smith