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 and 14.

     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.

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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
Part #14
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)

Part #17 (not published yet)
Part #18 (not published yet)
Part #19 (not published yet)

Part #20 (not published yet)
Part #21 (not published yet)
Part #22 (not published yet)

Part #23 (not published yet)
Part #24 (not published yet)

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

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