THE HONEST FARMER FROM ARKANSAW ON A LARK SEEIN' THE WEST

Milam, B.J.

Published by [N.p., but Jacksonville, Fl., 1905

About this Item

345pp., including portrait frontispiece of Milam and numerous full-page illustrations from photographs. Original red cloth, stamped in gilt and blind. Boards rubbed, cloth a bit faded and shelfworn. Front hinge tender. Very good. An entertaining account of the author's trip to Oklahoma and throughout the American West, Southwest, and Northwest at the beginning of the 20th century, written in a series of letters and short narratives from Milam to his wife Mollie, his son, and with a long section addressed to his sister and daughter. At the start, Milam appears to be based in Lufkin, Texas, though he travels all around the country and ends up in Jacksonville, Florida. Though not stated, Milam may have been a descendant of early Texas colonist and Texas Revolution hero Benjamin Milam, whose monument he visits in San Antonio. In the course of the present narrative, Milam traveled to Fort Sill, Lawton, and Comanche County in Indian Territory in 1901 to secure a claim to some of the homestead lands being distributed. Dissatisfied with the area he continued through the west, traveling by rail to Corpus Christi in 1904. He also took a train from Jacksonville, Florida to Lufkin, Texas in 1905, before heading to Oregon for the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Milam also visited and comments on Galveston, San Antonio, St. Louis, Boise (spelled "Boyce"), Vancouver, Wyoming, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Juarez, and other locales. Milam's interactions with other travelers, various locals in the areas he visited, the Native American inhabitants, and others are superbly recorded, as are his observations of American culture at a time of profound change. His keen sense of history adds great depth to his descriptions, and the marvelous selection of photographs complement his narrative. The illustrations are mostly from photographs taken by Milam on his journey (with some appearing to be reproductions of known photographs). The photographs include many Native Americans, (namely Geronimo and Quannah Parker); an image of Milam and others traveling on a ship from Corpus Christi to Galveston; the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in Memphis; Castle Rock in Green River, Wyoming; the Columbia River in Oregon; separate images of the "Alaskan Indian Totem Poles," the Foreign Building, the Bridge of Nations, the Grand Stairway, the Sacajawea statue, and the Forestry Building at the Lewis and Clark Exposition; a street scene in Portland; a view of the Oregon City suspension bridge; a southern Oregon mountain scene taken from the train; Toll Falls and Table Mountain in the Sierra Nevada; Mount Shasta; Cliff House in San Francisco; two images inside Del Monte Park; Pima Indian women in Phoenix; San Xavier Mission in Tucson; views of the Old Guadalupe Mission and a bull-fighting stadium in Juarez, Mexico; a shot crossing the Rio Grande River between Juarez and El Paso; and several scenes in San Antonio, namely the San Jose Mission, Ben Milam Memorial Monument, San Pedro Creek, and the Alamo; and more. A rare work, completely missed by most major bibliographers, including Howes and Graff, and not listed in the Decker or Eberstadt catalogues. OCLC returns an indiscernible mixture of original, digital, and reprint copies. Seller Inventory # WRCAM55526

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE HONEST FARMER FROM ARKANSAW ON A LARK ...

Publisher: [N.p., but Jacksonville, Fl.

Publication Date: 1905