While we were at Chicago it had been very rainy. we left in the early evening and that was the last rain we saw for 6 weeks. It must tell you of crossing the Miss river. Riding in the sleeping car was new to us so we didnt get to sleep. We wanted to notice when we crossed the Miss. river The train stopped quite awhile before we crossed and both fell asleep and didn't wake till we were on the other side.
Our son gave us a book "Guide book of the Western United States" "Santa Fe route" This was very interesting and gave us the exact directions and all points of interest also many maps and pictures. We had that on a table between us and the passengers were all around us to know what the objects were on either side. I remember an interesting point which was "Deadman's Hill". It was shaped like a cabbage with a small stump but on one side there was a chance to climb up. At one time there was a war between the Mexicans & Indians a small band of Mexicans were persued by the Indians. The mexicans reached this hill and succeeded in climbing it. The Indians then arrived and surrounded the hill and keep the Mexicans there until they all died of starvation. Hence its name.
An old neighbor who had been west twice told us to be sure to stoop off at Adamano and go out to the Petrified Forest about 10 miles from the Railroad We did so and got some wonderful specimens. We went on stopping at Grand Canyon and finally reached Los Angeles where we stayed 4 weeks.
During that time we visited San Catalina Island and rode in the Glass bottomed boat to see the wonderful Marine Gardens. On return the boat was stopped where there was a smooth sandy bottom and one Spanish Guide threw a lot of shells over board and then dove down and picked them up and swam round under the boat before coming into the boat. I had my watch out and timed him. He was under water 4 minutes. Try that & see how long you can hold your breath. He sold the shelis for 25 cents each. I have one now.
Leaving Los Angeles we started for San Francisco. Speaking of tunnels we went through the mountain from San Louis Obispo to Atascadero the windows & doors & ventilators were closed as closely & (?) and lighted the lamps. before we got through the car was full of smoke. I hope they use oil engines now.
We stayed at Atascadero 2 or 3 days to visit Rhode Island friends there. From there we went to the Hotel Delmonte which was the finest hotel we visited while we were away.
From there we went to Boulder Creek where we stayed over night. For lodging and breakfast we paid $1.00 which was the cheapest hotel we ever stayed at. For breakfast we had the toughest steak we ever saw. It was impossible to chew it. After breakfast we hired hack to take us in to the Redwood Park to see the giant redwood trees. That was a sight I will never forget. We bought a few souvenirs and returned.
We then took the train for San Francisco where we stayed 2 or 3 days, going out the Seal Rocks to see the seals there one night.
We took the trip through China town, at the time of the earthquake and fire the Americans thought they could get rid of the Chinamen, but on going out there the Chinamen had been located they found the Chinese had arrived before them and staked out their old lots.
One day we went up Mt. F (?). Towards the city it was so foggy we could see nothing but to the N.& E. the view was wonderful. That night we took the train for Grant. Pass Ore. The entire train was run onto a boat which took us across the bay and then on towards Oregon. We didnt wake after taking the Sleeper in San Francisco till next morning. Much of the northern part of Cal is a wild country. We arrived at Grants pass Ore. and went to one of my wife's nieces. We stayed there a week or two and then went to Portland. We had seen no rain since leaving Chicago but as we went on there would be small showers. They would increase in number as we advanced till finally before we reached Portland there was a steady downpour. We stayed in Portland 3 or 4 weeks. Mrs. F had a brother living there. Mrs. F liked Portland much better than Cal. Her brother lived quite near Westover Heights. Mrs.F.and I used to go up there at sunset to say "'Good night" to the mountains. Mount Hood 40 miles to the East. Mt. St. Helens to the north Mt. Adams NorthEast and once we got sight of Rainer more than 100 miles to the North.
Perhaps the most wonderful sight in Portland was the roses. The streets were lined with them. Then the Rose festival! For hours floats were passing covered with roses. Then you couldn't see(?) were any roses missing. One thing which makes the roses so perfect was there were no insect pests to trouble them. We went to a park were there was a large collection of different roses. Mrs. F. thinks there were 600 kinds, all colors and all sizes, not a petal that had been touchedby an insect.
Another things that amazed me was the saw mills. I was raised in the (?) and brought up in a saw mill. But I never saw anything like the one I wandered into at Portland. Suppose there was a log 30 ft long and 5 ft through. It would be hauled in and stopped by the carriage then(?) would come up with a big hook which would turn it onto the carriage. Two or 3 men would ride the carriage, which was very wide. The slab would have to be turned flat side down. The saw was a band saw 6 in. wide which could rip through the log at great speed. The slab being on rollers would move along perhaps to be sawed into lath. Lath are 1 1/2 in long then 1 1/2 in wide then pieces would then turned down and be sawed 5/16 thick with out being touched by hands. In the mean time the big log was being sawed perhaps into heavy timber. Sometimes a piece would need to be carried across to the other side of the mill. If so a big iron would come up and lift the large timber right up 10 feet of more and place it on a traveling arrangement which could carry it across the mill to be made into perhaps scantling. I stood at one side and watched these proceedings. Finally 12 oc came and the mill stopped for dinner. It had seemed to me that there must be some necromancy about it but a spokesman who had taken his lunch and was preparing to eat dinner, I discovered was a real man, and a Vermonter.
Can tell of but one thing more before we moved on. That was the trip up the Columbia river canyon. No one should visit Oregon without taking that in. Such wonderful falls coming over the edge of the Canyon. The Fish wheels anchored near the (?) where they catch salmon the strange columns of rock which the road passes through. We went up as far as the fish hatcheries, where salmon is raised and when large enough placed in the river.
There were many other interesting things we saw in Ore., but I must hasten.
We went up to Seattle July 2nd stopped over night took the boat for Victoria where we arrived and spent the 4th of July on foreign soil. We stayed at Victoria about 2 days and then went to Vancouver where we stopped one night and in the morning started east. We stopped over night at Sicamous so as to travel by day and see all that was to be seen. We went on an open car with a rail on the sides and ends. We got the full benefit of the cinders so when we arrived in Bannf, our eyes, ears, and (?) were full.
Our friend from North Brookfield Mass to us to notice where the Height of land was between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Some one had made a sport and put in where a stream came down fro the mountain, part of it flowed east to finally reach the Atlantic, and part west to reach the Pacific Ocean.
I must tell of the longest tunnel we experienced. The R.R. over Kicking Horse pass at first went directly over the Pass. But they found the enormous snowfall a winds the had in winter was.
Our first child was a boy. We named him Ralph Edward-Ralph for Mrs. Flanders' oldest brother, Edward for my best friend Edward Bosworth. One of the things I remember about Ralph was when he was very small and tied in his high chair, he was examining a door latch, the old fashioned kind. He would press the thumb piece down and the latch would lift on the other aide of the door. He was trying to understand how it worked. Afterwards when he was a little larger, he sat by me at dinner and did something, I thought wasn't right so I took out of his chair, and across my knee and spanked him probably, not very hard, 'They used to say, "Spare the rod and spoil the child'. Of course he cried alittle and then stopped and seemed to be thinking, then he said "Papa what do you do that for. Then he seemed to be thinking again, finally he said, "What good did it do"
I couldn't answer that question. I dont think I punished him again though. I have been vexed with him more than once.
I had a little farm in North Grantham where I had planted potatoes, I had Ralph with me when I dug them. The Grubworms had eaten them badly. When I saw one I would chop his head off with the hoe. Ralph had sharp eyes and when he saw one he would cry chop his head off pappa. After we moved to Pawtucket he was very careful in pronouncing words. Later I will tell what a time he had with his sister Alice. I worked on wooden things, of course the air was full or dust. One day the men working, near, saw Ralph sticking, matches in the cracks of the stairway, they pulled them out and called me.
It seemed he intended to light those matches, he replied "I thought it would surprise them". Well I thought it would when it had set the sticks afire which were covered with dry dust.
Ralph had a hard time with Alice. He tried to have her say Pawtucket, but no, she would say Pawtopucket. She did it to plague him. We had moved from Pawtucket up to Reservoir Heights in the city of Central Falls, where we could see the church spires above the fog.
I still worked in Pawtucket. One day Ralph asked if he couldn't walk to the highest place in the state. I told him he could, as he "as a good walker. He started after breakfast and there seemed no reason why he shouldn't be home for dinner. When I got home at night I learned the boy had not been seen. I was worried though his mother wasn't. I waited until dark, then put on my boots to start out, I didn't have an idea what direction to go, but I would start for some where, just then the boy came in, I told him to give account of himself, He said after coming off that highest point and started for home. He met an elderly lady with two bags, He offered to carry them for her. lt proved that she was going over the line into Conn.
Then he started for home, but, you see a growing boy who had traveled so far and long, without any dinner was pretty faint and hungry. So he called at a house and asked for a drink of milk. The woman asked him where he lived and where he had been, he told her, she replied that she didn't believe a word he said, but, she did give him I think the milk and perhaps other food, so he got home in good shape and all right. He soon had his supper and went to bed.
Sometimes later I remembered about his piloting a company from our church up to what wad called "Goat Rock", There was a great stone there where there was an impression in the stone that resembled a goats feet. Ralph knew where it was, he rode on his bicycle beside the others. I don't remember where they were going.
I was thinking today, Tuesday, July 6, 1937, at Emily's in Westboro, of walking over very slowly, two or three years ago. I cant walk fast as I am older than I was when you and I took that long walk, years ago. What a good time we had.
As I was saying I walked very slowly, over by the old burying ground where my Grandfather and Grandmother also Uncle Ezkiel and Aunt Mary, are buried. The old Brown place where there was a two story house with sheds attached, a big barn where I had worked at thrashing time.
There was no sign of a building or cellar hole. It was entirely smooth and grassed over. I had heard that he had facial neuralgia and as his children were all dead, he decided to leave no trace that there were any buildings there.
Poor Aaron, I was more fortunate. I had my nerve removed at the Peter Bent Brigham hospital; in Boston. Though I was under the influence of Anesthetic from ten A.M. to three P.M. They went under my skull and took the nerve out from where it came out down through the right side of my face.
I have no pain now but, water runs from the right nostril all dy and till I go to bed at night.
I mentioned Uncle John Leavitt in my last letter, he had a son Fred. Fred loved to butcher hogs. He would go in to the pen where the hog was and scratch the pigs back then he would take his knife pikid and sharp on both edges and at a spot in the neck where two arteries seperated he would stick his knife in the pig standing up. I would probably hurt some, but the hog would walk around till the loss of blood would cause him to lie down and die. After the pig was hung up and cooled, one was not able to place the knife into the place where it was stuck without cutting. The meat shrunk a little when it was cold. Fred always had a horse and sometimes a wagon or a two wheeled gig. I remember he had at one time a horse he couldn't stop without running its head against something immovable. I remember once he was riding on his two wheeled gig, going past the meeting house, there was a row of several horsesheds opposite the meeting house. Fred drove into one so that the horses head would strike a cross piece.
When the horses head struck the timber he stopped so suddenly that Fred went right over the horse, smashed boards off and landed in the field. It was fifty yearss or more after that my son Donald and I walked by when Fred was living. He still had a horse and wagon. We went in to see the old man. The boarding was off the plastering, and the old man had nailed some tarred paper around the room to make it warmer. I passed that house a few years later but it had burned down. I suppose Fred had died, but I don't know.