
My Diary
August 30th to November 5th, 1874
Cornelia Adair(Author)
University of Texas Press
Published on 1. January 1965
Book
Paperback/Softback
156 pages
978-1-4773-0058-9 (ISBN)
Description
Cornelia Wadsworth Adair's ancestors had pioneered in western New York, where they opened and developed large, palatial estates; and the life they lived was elegant and aristocratic. Adair too was discreetly cultured; yet she took great personal pleasure in the rough and primitive land of her famed JA Ranch in north Texas. Because of physical discomfort and noisy passengers, she detested traveling by railroad coach; yet she could ride all day on horseback and lie down to sleep on a makeshift cot by a waterhole or on an Indian's flea-infested buffalo rug. She was a lady of interesting contradictions.
This little Diary is her lively account of a two-month trip which she and her husband made into the western part of the United States in 1874. The ostensible purpose of the trip was to hunt buffalo; however, these large beasts actually play a very small part in the journal. Rather, the book is an interesting and often amusing account, by an observant woman, of the long journey from her husband's estate in Ireland to New York, to Chicago and on into upper Michigan, across Lake Superior to Minnesota, down the Mississippi for several days, out to the buffalo-hunting grounds in Nebraska, then to Denver and the wonders of the Rocky Mountains, and finally back to New York and the Europe-bound ship.
Adair writes with an easy fluency; and her eye for picturesque detail, her taste for amusing incongruities, her romanticist's delight in Nature, and her instinct for a "good tale" combine to make her Diary pleasant and entertaining reading, while her powers of keen observation provide valuable insight into life as it was then in the West. First printed for private circulation in 1918, the original book is now a rare collector's item of Western Americana. Mrs. Adair said that she was allowing its publication for two reasons. First, she was afraid that her grandchildren and young friends would remember her only as "an old lady who sat in an armchair, and whose stick had to be looked for"; she wanted them to know that she had once been "a very lively person . . . [who] did all sorts of exciting things." Second, she felt it worthwhile to record her experiences because "the world is changing so quickly, ways of travelling especially so . . . and I think it may be interesting to compare what was done in 1874 with what will be done by the time the children are able to travel. No doubt they will do their journeys by air, and do many, many things that I have not been able to do; but they can never see the prairies of America in their wild uncivilised state, or hunt buffalo over them, nor can they pow-wow with the Red Indians in a camp on the Platte River. So every time has its own special joys, and the great thing is to miss as little as possible, and to share as much."
This little Diary is her lively account of a two-month trip which she and her husband made into the western part of the United States in 1874. The ostensible purpose of the trip was to hunt buffalo; however, these large beasts actually play a very small part in the journal. Rather, the book is an interesting and often amusing account, by an observant woman, of the long journey from her husband's estate in Ireland to New York, to Chicago and on into upper Michigan, across Lake Superior to Minnesota, down the Mississippi for several days, out to the buffalo-hunting grounds in Nebraska, then to Denver and the wonders of the Rocky Mountains, and finally back to New York and the Europe-bound ship.
Adair writes with an easy fluency; and her eye for picturesque detail, her taste for amusing incongruities, her romanticist's delight in Nature, and her instinct for a "good tale" combine to make her Diary pleasant and entertaining reading, while her powers of keen observation provide valuable insight into life as it was then in the West. First printed for private circulation in 1918, the original book is now a rare collector's item of Western Americana. Mrs. Adair said that she was allowing its publication for two reasons. First, she was afraid that her grandchildren and young friends would remember her only as "an old lady who sat in an armchair, and whose stick had to be looked for"; she wanted them to know that she had once been "a very lively person . . . [who] did all sorts of exciting things." Second, she felt it worthwhile to record her experiences because "the world is changing so quickly, ways of travelling especially so . . . and I think it may be interesting to compare what was done in 1874 with what will be done by the time the children are able to travel. No doubt they will do their journeys by air, and do many, many things that I have not been able to do; but they can never see the prairies of America in their wild uncivilised state, or hunt buffalo over them, nor can they pow-wow with the Red Indians in a camp on the Platte River. So every time has its own special joys, and the great thing is to miss as little as possible, and to share as much."
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
206 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4773-0058-9 (9781477300589)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Cornelia Adair (1839-1921) was a traveller, rancher, and diarist.
Content
Publisher's Foreword
Introduction by Montagu K. Brown
Preface
1. Voyage in the S.S. Cuba
2. New York
3. Lennox, Mass
4. New York Again
5. Journey to Lake Superior
6. Chicago
7. Peshtigo
8. Lake Michigan
9. Negaunee
10. Michiganni City
11. Lake Superior
12. Duluth
13. The St. Louis River
14. St. Paul
15. Down the Mississippi
16. Lake Pepin
17. The Lover's Leap
18. Dubuque
19. Clinton
20. Omaha
21. The Prairie
22. Sydney Barracks
23. The River Platte
24. The Indian Lodges
25. The Platte Camp
26. Riverside
27. Denver
28. Central City
29. Colorado Springs
30. Denver
31. Kansas
32. St. Louis
33. New York
34. The Cuba
Introduction by Montagu K. Brown
Preface
1. Voyage in the S.S. Cuba
2. New York
3. Lennox, Mass
4. New York Again
5. Journey to Lake Superior
6. Chicago
7. Peshtigo
8. Lake Michigan
9. Negaunee
10. Michiganni City
11. Lake Superior
12. Duluth
13. The St. Louis River
14. St. Paul
15. Down the Mississippi
16. Lake Pepin
17. The Lover's Leap
18. Dubuque
19. Clinton
20. Omaha
21. The Prairie
22. Sydney Barracks
23. The River Platte
24. The Indian Lodges
25. The Platte Camp
26. Riverside
27. Denver
28. Central City
29. Colorado Springs
30. Denver
31. Kansas
32. St. Louis
33. New York
34. The Cuba