[American WEST, the WEST COAST, MEXICO and CUBA ] A manuscript account of a 12,000 mile journey

American WEST, the WEST COAST, MEXICO and CUBA. - William Franklin TUNISON (1849-1921, diarist).

[American WEST, the WEST COAST, MEXICO and CUBA ] A manuscript account of a 12,000 mile journey, [9th August-late November or early December 1883]. Folio (12 ½ x 8in; 318 x 203mm), lined paper, 61 (of 63 numbered pages, missing pp.1 and 2), in a single hand. The text almost entirely without punctuation, spelling is idiosyncratic but consistent, the final page signed by the diarist: ‘W.F. Tunison’. Unbound. (Lacks one leaf, some damage to the first three leaves which are present, with loss of a few words).

[together with:] some related ephemeral material (7 photographs [3 portraits  of W.F. Tunison, 2 of his brother Hiram;  a damaged cabinet view of the exterior of the Tunison’s family store in New York City; and a group portrait taken on top of Pike’s Peak on 11th August 1883 by H.W. Stormer of Manitou]; with Stormer’s business card, the verso signed by 11 of individuals in the group portrait; Tunison's date-stamped ticket for the Steamer ‘San Blas’; brother Hiram’s business card/flyer advertising his services as a ‘Dentista Americano’; a stamped receipt given to W.F. Tunison for payment for a trip on the ‘Diligencias Tepiqenses’, dated 26 September 1883, from Tepia to Guadalajara; a later bill of exchange made out to Hiram A. Tunison, but signed over by him to his brother William; a ‘business’ for W.F. Tunison in his capacity as a fireman: foreman of  ‘D.P. Packard Hose Co. No. I.’)

An interesting account of a journey which turned out to be quite gruelling: part tourist jaunt,  part family visit to his a younger brother Hiram, a dentist in Mexico, and possibly part business (by 1890, Tunison & Kidd were wholesalers of ‘exotic ‘ fruit in New York City).

The account starts in Colorado (Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, climbing Pike’s Peak [where William has his picture taken (the Stormer group portrait)], Pueblo, Canyon City), Utah (Utah Lake, Salt Lake City [including the new Tabernacle], going for a swim in Salt Lake itself, Fort Hamilton), the Sierra Nevada mountains (or ‘Syranavada’ is William will have it), Nevada, California, (William chats with a gold miner), Sacramento River, Oakland, San Francisco (sight-seeing, trolley cars, the Grand Pacific hotel, Golden Gate Park, the Cliff House), Yosemite (Bridal Vale Falls, Mirror Lake, Cook’s Hotel, Glacier Point, Mariposa Grove), Los Angeles, Pasadena (the ‘Passa Dena valley about six miles from Los Angeles’), Santamonica, sea bathing, visits Charles Sketchley’s Ostrich farm  (the first in California) near Anaheim – has a conversation with Sketchley (a man ‘from South Africa’) about the shipping of the birds to California, and his hopes for the business, Los Angeles, back to San Francisco via boat, then headed south for Mexico by ship (the ‘San Blas’, Tunison's ticket included).

The ship calls in briefly at Mazatlan (‘Matzitlan’) where they have a yellow fever outbreak, then on: ‘Sept. 23. 83 finds us at the port of San Blas 2000 miles from San Francisco’, notes on the fruit growing in the region, description of the journey, how to make tortillas (‘torteers’), the perceived dangers, on to Tepic. Notes on Tepic and the way of life, boards the ‘hack’ or ‘diligencias’ for the journey to Guadalajara (the receipt for the journey is included), a description of a local bullfight, arriving in Guadalajara and meeting up with his brother Hiram (a dentist who was working in Mexico, his business card included),  description of the sites of Guadalajara, a local funeral, ‘invited by the Governor to a Spanish bull fight which was a great show’. ‘Brother & I took a seventeen days journey out into the interior and We hired two men  Body Guards and four horses',  to  Chapala and Lago di Chapala (‘Lake Chapala’), then on to the 125,000 acre ‘Garacha farm’ owned by ‘an old batch[elor] & two old maids by the name of Moranos’. The brothers were treated ‘to the best their house afforded. The three people are said to be worth two million dollars each’. Gives details of the economics of the ranch, as well as the number of families employed, etc. Back to Guadalajara, on to Largos. Then by train to Mexico City, via Leon, and ‘Gaudalupa’. Then on to Veracruz (‘Vera-Cruze’) via Oriziba (‘Orazaba’). Arrived in Veracruz on the 9th November.

10th November boarded the steam ship for Havana, Cuba, via Progreso (‘progresso’) on the ‘coast of Ucatan’, talks to ‘three old sea captains’ on their way home to Sweden, Germany and England – all having lost their ships (probably for the insurance?). Arrive in Havana, description of places visited. A stormy final leg of the journey from Havana to New York – 30/40 miles from the port of New York a pilot came aboard, yellow fever health check before landing. Landing in New York city ‘the next day took the lightning express from Greenville [Pa.] something over 500 miles and in the short space of 16 hours found myself home with my family & friends’