Yellowstone 70

A weeeee bit behind…

michaelmn — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:22:22 +0000

Okay, so I got a new computer and I have been playing around with it a bit. But yeah, i have been getting some stuff done.

I recieved a large number of photos from my Sister (thanks Ann) that were taken on the trip. Until just a day or two ago, though, I was having problems figuring out how to scan into the new system. That has been taken care of and I am starting to scan them in so that I can post them up as well.

I purchased a Yellowstone tourbook from 1940 on line. The same day I recieved it I also recieved the package from my sister, which contained the exact same tourbook. Heh. Moms tourbook had some markings with color crayones, so I can tell the difference between them I also got, in the same ebay purchase, a promo booklet with railroad tours of the west from the same era – there were a few Yellowstone trips listed, but not a great many. Still i can use it for backround information

I am working on transcribing some material from the back of the journal. These are not journal entries, but a few notes on things. Apparently Mom was also known as Gypsy (at least for the trip) There is also a detailed accounting of each expenditure. Boy gas was cheap back then.

I am working on an itinerary, by time and place of the trip. Mom did keep detailed notes about exactly what time they arrived at what place. This will help me plan the route taken, and will allow me to contact Historical societies and such to get more information. Hopefully some of the places are still there, even if under a different name.

Here is the first picture from the file

michaelmn — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:40:01 +0000

ONE YEAR TO GO

On the 19th of Aug, 2009, I will begin to recreate my Mother’s 1939 journey to Yellowstone.

I have completed the transcription of the trip from Mom’s journal which will be posted on a seperate page. In these main pages I will be breaking down the trip, with notes, illustrations and other comments.

No illustrations though at the moment. I have a new computer and dont have my scanner hooked up yet.

538 Miles

Saturday Aug 19, 1939

_______________________

1 left Park at 6 AM often first stop at

Annie’s in Hinkley – not home

Park means Morgan Park, a neighborhood in Duluth, MN. It was a company town, built by United States Steel as housing for workers at the nearby steel mill. While I dont know where my Mother lived in 1939, I expect that it may be the same house as where my Grandparents lived when I was growing up, on 87th Ave W, between Concord and Edward streets.

1939 was near the end of the depression, which hit the steel company hard. With the threat of war, though, by 1939 US Steel and Morgan Park were in economic good times. How much of this influenced my Mother and her friends to go on the trip I dont know….. more cash for all, maybe

I expect, but dont know for sure, that they followed MN hwy 23 – it seems the most direct route to Hinkley. I have no idea who Annie was. I does make me wonder if my sister was named after her.

Hinkley is a town about half way between Duluth and Minneapolis. Currently it is the major stop on the freeway (I-35) for those traveling between the cities, with a large number of restaurants, filling stations, gift shops and so on at the interchange. Of course, back in 1939 it would have been smaller, and the restaurants in town.

Historically, Hinkley is famous for one of the largest forest fires in the United States. Its not a stop that my Mom and friends would make when headed for Yellowstone, though.

Hinckley Fire Memorial

okay, its cheating, but I added this picture of the Hinckley Fire memorial outside of the town – I copied it from elsewhere on the net. I will change it as soon as I get a better one from the period.

Slow days of Summer

michaelmn — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:20:20 +0000

As mentioned before, the next few weeks are going to be slow. I have a seperate project that I am working on that requires a deadline of about three weeks, and I am mainly focusing on that.

However, there is some news. I have found more postcards while out antiquing. More important is I will be getting a bunch of stuff from my Sister (hi Ann) that is from the trip. As I understand there are quite a few pictures that mom and her fellow travellers took which will be sent on, as well as my Mother’s old brownie camera – possibly the same one used to take the aforementioned pictures. That will add yet another dimension to the trip, especially if the camera is still in working order. Enough for now, while I figure out how to use the scanner.

Friday is complete

michaelmn — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:43:03 +0000

I finished the journal pages for Friday, and they are well on the way home. It looks like its mostly a straight shot from this point on, there are only 2 journal pages left to complete. One surprise is that there was a special guest comment in the journal. Looks like one of Mom’s friends got a hold of her book and added a paragraph or so.

Then of course there are a couple pages of notes left by her travelling companions, and some more stuff in the back of the journal that belongs with the trip. Its going to be a bit yet before I finish the first draft of the transcription – then I have to figure out the words I missed and some other such stuff.

I am getting ready to start scanning articles from the Encyclopedia Britannica as well. I think I will pushing for a date of Aug 19 (one year before I start my trip) to start bringing the stuff together and pushing for a big “launch” of trying to get people to come visit my blog. Something to consider, anyway.

Quieter week

michaelmn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:30:58 +0000

I got another page or so done on the transcription on Monday. Mom has now left Yellowstone and is on her way home. The remainder is fairly quick, no major stops along the way (having read ahead), and if anyone knows what eastern Montana and North Dakota are like, well, there’s not a lot of sightseeing to do on the way.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I was home sick, and with the journal at work, there is not much more to be done. Thursday I am off to a local Science Fiction convention, and will be tied up for the weekend. Transcription will begin again next Monday.

I’m not planning on posting the journal on line until I have copleted transcription. For one thing, there are a fair number of words that I am unsure of, I want to have my wife look through the journal and the transcribed copy and see if she can make them out. I would also just feel better being able to make comments on the trip as I post the journal. That will take research, which I cant do until I finish the primary transcription. However, I can give a sneak peak:

Cedar Pass – more Badlands

gassed up here – 2800 ft above sea

level. Beautiful color – starts with

soft yellow – shades into purple, lavender

& grey; The dusty rose, sammon red,

with stripes of white/gray. Plateau

of grey rock, square in shape with

tablecloth? of green cactus. One peak

resembled Prairie woman, full grey

shirts billowing around man against whom

she was leaning. Ate lunch at 3 at

Wall SD at Harneys Reptile Garden

the work in bold is one of those words that I am unsure of. This will at least give you early readers some idea of what was in Mom’s journal. I expect the next month will be slow, as there is another project I am working on, the publication of a paper I gave last month. The copy needs to be sent on by Aug 15, and I want to get it done just right. Thanks for your patience.

Quiet weekend

michaelmn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:40:21 +0000

I didnt get much acccomplished this weekend in regards to the journey. My focus has briefly gone to a convention I will be attending the weekend of the 4th. I am setting up both ebay and penpal accounts, and will be trying to find old road maps, tour books and such. I probably wont get a lot of work in again until after the 4th of July, except for a bit more transcription the next couple of days.

Creeping onward

michaelmn — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:37:02 +0000

I got another page or so transcribed today – I have another 6 1/2 pages to go, plus some extra material. It seems Mom kept notes in the back of the book on expendetures.

I’ve been getting some excersise in lately, and I will need it for this journey. At one point Mom went down (and back up) 493 steps. At 265 lbs, I have trouble going up a dozen. But I mean to follow her exactly, to the best of my ability. So diet and exercise it is. You know I am now picturing the scene in Rocky, going up those step in Philadelphia……

Yellowstone lodge

michaelmn — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:03:09 +0000

No transcriptions today, but I took the first concrete step to replicating the journey – I got a reservation for The Old Faithful Lodge, renting a cabin for next year at the same place that my Mother slept. The original cost for a cabin was $7.50 back in 1939 – I’m getting it for $68.00 plus tax, just a little under ten times her cost. I’m hoping that the lodge will be able to dig up some old photos of the place, eventually I will be setting up a photo gallery to go along with the publication of the journal.

Turning the corner

michaelmn — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:51:00 +0000

I got mom to Old Faithful today, finished Wednesday, only a few more days left to transcribe.

Its getting harder to do. I suppose that as I am transcribing her journal, I’m learning something more about that dear sweet woman I loved. As I learn, I get to know, and there becomes less and less of her that I can know. When I am done, there will be no more secrets still to find out. The end of the journal is the end of her story.

Its getting harder to do.

Encyclopedia Britannica

michaelmn — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:10:53 +0000

I realize that about 10 years ago I picked up a copy of the Encyclopedia Brittanica at a Library sale. Nice leather bound books. The year of publication was 1939 – this will serve as a reference to many of the places mentioned in Mother’s journal. I will be copying many of the articles and posting them here. Hmm… I expect I will need a seperate page just for the articles.