1884 Handwritten Travel Diary Elk Grove all over Calif

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Although this 1884 handwritten journal only has a total of 33 handwritten pages those entries are rather historical as it represents one family, the W. C. Scott family, who takes a trip across parts of California traveling with a horse and buggy and staying in a tent along the way. The front cover says “Trip to Tomales 1884. Silver Lake at Big Trees 1885.” The first trip consists of 13 handwritten pages with the family starting from Elk Grove California traveling through and stopping off at; Woodland, Danville, Dixon, Elmira, Fairfield, American Canyon, Napa, Petaluma, Tomales, Vallejo and finally Dillon Beach where they camp in an old dance hall near the shore. Great entry about how they felt when seeing the ocean for the first time. Then back home. The second trip consists of 6 handwritten pages and shows the family starting out again from their home in Elk Grove then on through Sebastopol, Ione, Jackson, Pine Grove and finally at Silver Lake. On the way home they go by Kirkwood , Twin Lakes and several different valleys and camp there. (More places are also mentioned). He talks about reaching “Big Trees” too. The final 14 handwritten pages are miscellaneous notes such as names and addresses, expenses for the trip, Seminary names, and a recipe for Cough Syrup which he says was “obtained near Sonoma Cal .” I did find a W. C. Scott who once lived in Elk Grove. He was a reverend, but I’m not sure if it’s the same man who wrote these journals but I’m almost sure it is as he calls himself Rev. Scott at one time in the journal. Further research needs to be done though. The next best thing about this journal is that it came with two amazing photos. One of the photos is marked on the back; the one with the tent. It says “Campers at Serena Ca. August 17, 1905.” So I’m assuming this photo is not from the trip mentioned in the journal, unless the markings on the back were wrong. It’s a large photo and measures about 8” x 10” with the matting. The second photo showing the mules, horses and people on the mountain is also marked on the back and says, “Going down the grade into Kings River Canyon Cal. July 13 th , 1901.” This one measures about 6 ½” x 10” with the matting. Not sure if the family is the same family represented in the journal and in the photos but since it came from the same estate, I wanted to keep them together. As far as the entries in the diary are concerned, they are really quite fascinating as you will see in the following excerpts….. 1884 “ Elk Grove Cal. August 5 th , 1884. /blog/lori_mode/2008/10/history_of_elk_grove_ca W. C. Scott and family consisting of wife, Kallona (?) and 2 others started at 7:45 A.M. Tuesday on a brief tour of part of California . The outfit consisted of 1 horse and buggy, tent, 7 ½ x 10, 8 oz duck, and cooking utensils, with provisions for two days. Passed through Sacramento and dined at a big tree beside the Sacramento River west side, 2 ½ miles out. The day was exceedingly hot and not much air active by the river bank. We followed the levy all the afternoon and camped at 5 P.M. at Jenkins ranch on the banks of the ______River 7 miles this side of Woodland . Made beds of hay and set a line for fish.” (Talk about seeing a Chinaman and wanting to go back because they are already hungry and tired.) “August 7 th , …..Stopped for dinner at 2:45 P.M. We started again and drove to Fairfield , a small town which had the appearance of a place where men spent their money at the saloons instead of repairing and beautifying their homes. After passing through this place we began looking for a camp. No place seemed suitable till we came to a house whose age was marked by a large sign (?) above the door, 1861. An old man said we might camp beside the road but we thought we would go out and try to find a man with a more liberal soul. We stopped at the next house where there was a nice place to camp but no persuasion could be strong enoug... read more

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