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Continue reading →: John E. Smith pt. 5: elements of war
Previously: At Jacksonville, Johnnie Smith freighted from Crescent City, on the coast near the California line, to Jacksonville. In 1853 the Rogue River war broke out and many settlers and Indians were killed. Major General John E. Wool, commanding the District of the Pacific: March 31st, 1854 The difficulty of…
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Continue reading →: John E. Smith pt 4: the path
Previously: In 1853, Johnnie Smith went overland from Yreka, California, to Jacksonville, Oregon. At Jacksonville, I freighted from Crescent City, on the coast near the California line, to Jacksonville. Jacksonville had to be supplied from coastal ports. Until 1853, this meant coming all the way from Portland or Sacramento, roughly…
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Continue reading →: John E. Smith pt 3: on the trails
Previously: In 1852, 16-17 year-old Johnnie Smith went by boat from Humboldt Bay, California, to a mining town called Trinidad; then from there to Salmon River; from there to Scott’s River; from there to Yreka, California, on the Klamath River. Trinidad was located in the southwestern lands of the Yurok…
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Continue reading →: John E. Smith pt 2: Days of ’49
Previously: In 1849, when Johnnie Smith was a lad of fourteen years, he sailed from New York for California as a cabin boy around the Horn. In California he shipped on a steamboat carrying freight and passengers from San Francisco to Sacramento. Later I went from Sacramento to the North…
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Continue reading →: John E. Smith pt 1: Sea days
John E. Smith: A PIONEER OF THE SPOKANE COUNTRY The Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. VII., No. 4, October, 1916 This relation was made by John E. Smith of Reardon, Washington, to William S. Lewis, Corresponding Secretary of the Spokane Historical Society. The text is given in the words of Mr.…
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Continue reading →: Poland 2023 pt. 4: Gdańsk at night and Hel on 2 wheels
At the end of the 19th century Gdańsk traded in the western half of its obsolete moat for a modern transit corridor, capped with a neo-renaissance train station that iconically sets the vibe of visiting the city. Efforts in the 1990s to turn the central hall into a two-level mini-mall…
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Continue reading →: Poland 2023 pt. 3: Malbork Castle and Gdańsk glimpse
Roughly 25 miles south of the Baltic Coast, Malbork Castle rises mightily from the banks of the Nogat River. The largest brick castle in the world, the formidable 52 acre fortress stands as the grandest monument to the Order of the Teutonic Knights, and the power they once held. The…
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Continue reading →: Poland 2023 pt. 2: Olsztyn and Gdynia
After 2 days and nights in Warsaw I packed my bags and headed out in the morning. Looking over my tram connection stood the Parish of Saint James, with Poland’s iconic Black Madonna of Czestochowa gleaming proudly from its facade. Construction of the church began in 1911. Poland at that…
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Continue reading →: Poland 2023 pt. 1: Warsaw
Late in the summer of 2023 I made my 2nd journey to Poland, arriving in Warsaw September 18th on a beautiful sunny day. My first journey had been a whirlwind 9 day adventure almost a year prior; this time I’d squeezed out a full two weeks to revisit some of…
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Continue reading →: Polish Melodies 2024, pt. 4
November 11th: Warsaw My transit timing meant I really didn’t manage to catch any of the parades or other festivities related to Independence Day. When I got to Warsaw there were folks with flags on the streets, but otherwise, by that point, it just seemed like another day in a…
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Brian Hildebrand Land 