Ok, I admit I like old line-drawings that might help illustrate posts here on HH and on Janson. To that end, I use search terms like "Northern Pacific" at Internet Archives, and see what happens ☺.
I found this wonderful directory from 1888...and wow, it made me realize something AGAIN: America was settled by Europeans over a 300 year time span, east to west. In other words, the east coast has many more years of public records than Minnesota does, and Minnesota has way more years of records than Washington, Oregon and California have, verstehen? So, the towns in this directory were pretty new--who knew if they'd last?
Can you imagine how huge the book would be today if "San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Albany, Albina, Astoria, Ashland, Central Point, Corvallis, East Portland, Eugene City, Hillsboro, Independence, Jacksonville, Lebanon, Medford, McMinnville, Newport, Old Tacoma, Portland, Salem, Seattle, Vancouver and Yaquina"...were all in the same directory? Whew!
(I think of the song "Oh My Darling Clementine" to remember when the Gold Rush started in California and Oregon: "Dwelt a miner, fourty-niner..." who COULDA had a daughter named Suzanna, too, for all we know ☺), so most of these towns were less than 40 years old when this book was printed.
Also, remember, the transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869, only 20 years earlier. It had been largely built by Chinese labor on the western end, labor that was welcomed until the railroad was finished.
Isn't it amazing how things change over time? Your O Suzanna talks about a forty-niner. For me it's O My Darling Clementine. I guess that's because you're older. And I'm not. (Insert appropriate duck comment here.)
ReplyDeleteLove - PT
LOL...good gawd...ok, I fixed it.
ReplyDelete(I probably did it purposely to see if you're paying attention, and YAY, you are ☺)
Thanks, PT!