1909 Cathcart Trip - Sidell to Alaska - Part 1 - Sidell to Seattle

A few weeks before our Alaska cruise I was going through some of the family archives and came across this.

FROM ILLINOIS TO ALASKA, 1909

Celia Cathcart

Celia Sconce Cathcart turned 16 on May 9, 1909. In July she traveled to Alaska with her parents William Gabriel and Anna Sconce Cathcart as well as “Grandmother,” probably Emma Sandusky Sconce. Celia is my father's mother.

My father typed this manuscript March 10, 1965, probably from a handwritten diary. The original no longer exists. He wrote at the top of the first page “(with her father, mother, and grandmother (?Sconce)”

We had approximately the same itinerary as Celia and her parents, over 100 years later! However, they had a long train ride from Sidell, Illinois to Seattle before starting to Alaska. 

See what you think as you read her account. My guess is that she was writing this for school or perhaps for the local newspaper. I think if this was just for her personal diary there would be much more about her family and her own feelings. The account reminds me of the letters I wrote for the Madison Press when I lived in Germany and later when a friend and I traveled around Europe for a month and sent letters to the newspaper editor. 

Anna, Celia & William Cathcart

ca 1908

Here's the first installment

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FROM ILLINOIS TO ALASKA, 1909

A diary of Celia S. Cathcart

Friday, July 2, 1909

     Left home at 9:36, and went from Danville at 2:05. On the sleeper I sat across from an old duffer from Texas who called me "The Little Alaskan Traveller from Sidell". He was a terrible windjammer, but between his outbursts of conversation I managed to complete "The Call of the Wild" by London. Arrived at Chicago at 5:25 and went to the Grand Pacific where we engaged a room, as our train didn't leave until 10:00 that night. There was a college meeting of some sort representing Cornell, and they managed to keep something going all the time. While we were at dinner being entertained by Mr. Weig, a fearful storm came up. It was of short duration, however, as when we went to the depot the weather was delightful. The route upon which we travelled was the C. B. & Q. We slept real well on the train, as it was nice and cool even on the sleeper. The next morning we became acquainted with a Helen Baber, whose father my father had known a long time ago. At St. Paul we took the Great Northern Route, having travelled all morning on the C. B. & Q. which follows the Mississippi in its meanderings. The crops of oats, wheat, corn, and barley looked very well, though they were not so far advanced as in Illinois. We passed by a great number of very pretty little lakes, along which were situated cottages and a few summer hotels. Saturday evening the sun set about 8:30.

Sunday, July 4

The next morning we entered Montana. The scenery was very monotonous; nothing but hills, sagebrush, and black-eyed Susans, with now and then an adobe cabin. Late in the afternoon we passed by an Indian reservation known as the Flathead reservation. The Indians had been having a big powwow and all came down to the train decked in gala attire. Still later, about 8:00, we entered the Rocky Mountain District. By morning we were again out on the plains, our highest elevation during the night having been 5200 ft. In the afternoon we travelled across the Cascades. The road was very winding and in places the grade seemed quite steep, although the civil engineer who was on the train said that it was only 100 ft. per mile. We went through a tunnel 3 miles long, but instead of the regular train engine (steam), an electric one was used so that the smoke was done away with. The road was so winding that at times three tracks could be seen, one above the other as in tiers, At Everett we obtained our first glimpse of Puget Sound. Got into Seattle about 9:00 at night.

Went to the Hotel Perry, a large handsomely furnished building  recently erected.

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Comments from JHT

"Home" was Sidell, Illinois. 

They took the train from Danville, about 22 miles from Sidell. 

Something tells me that Celia, at age 16, would not have appreciated being called "The Little Alaskan Traveller from Sidell."

I smile when I sense her desire to finish her book rather than talk with or listen to the "windjammer" sitting across from her. Many of us can feel a kinship here - traveling with a book and becoming absorbed in the story. 

Click The Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago 1912 for an image

C B & Q Railroad – Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, named for the original route between Chicago, Illinois; Burlington, Iowa; and Quincy, Illinois. As Celia states, it followed the course of the Mississippi River. 

At St. Paul, Minnesota, the group took the Great Northern Railway across the country. (Click to see map of the route)

Celia mentions the Flathead Reservation in Montana. Click here to see pictures of the reservation in 1909 - including Indians "decked in gala attire." 

Celia says the steam locomotive was changed for an electric one to go through a tunnel. The Cascade Tunnel was 2.6 miles long through Stevens Pass. Use of the electric locomotive was new in 1909. Later a second tunnel was constructed. Read more here and here. 

In Seattle they stayed at the Hotel Perry. It opened just two years prior to their arrival. The hotel no longer stands (demolished in 1996). This 1909 ad touts the features of the hotel

Check back for adventures in Seattle and then Alaska!