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| Soapy STAR notebook Page 12 - original copy 1882 Courtesy of Geri Murphy |
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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.
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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.
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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"
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"
- Line 9: "to Portland [Oregon] then onto"
- Line 10: "The Dalles [Oregon]. Arizona."
On line 10 he writes "Arizona." Did Soapy travel down to Arizona after The Dalles in Oregon?
- 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.
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.
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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