James Jepson Binns - The Binns Family

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Letter from America This letter from Arthur William Binns (1858-1931) was written in 1890 from Springfield, Ohio, where he had settled with his wife, Emma Atha (1859-1929), who came from Hunslet. Arthur William was an engineer, or engine driver as we would say, and the letter describes a visit he made to San Francisco, California under the auspices of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers. The original letter is now sadly lost but this early transcription is by Joyce Kidd, to whom the editor is most grateful. Some of the language and expressions used would not now be regarded as acceptable but they do add a period flavour to the story. Dear Parents, I will try to go on with my travels, in the Golden West. I think I had better give you my trip to Monterey (pronounced Mont-eray). On Tuesday morning, by kind invitation of the Southern Pacific Railway Co., we went down to their Depot and took a free trip to Monterey. There was a special train of nine cars to take us. The engine was gaily decorated with flags and flowers so we made quite a sensation at all the towns we passed through. We left San Francisco at 7.30 a. m. and after getting out of town we ran along the shore of the bay, with a range of hills on our right, the backbone of the land between the bay and the Pacific Ocean. There was nothing striking in the scenery, level salt meadows on one side and pleasant farms and plantations on the other running up to the hills, which were mostly covered with scrub oaks. The first town of any size we stopped at was San Jose (Joz-a), here the Railway Co. sent a wagon load of Grapes onto the train, we could scarcely understand putting so many boxes onto an excursion train. As soon as the train got started again, we found out what it meant. The brakemen came into the cars carrying the boxes with the lids knocked off. Everybody had to help themselves as they went by. We were eating grapes all the way to Monterey and all the way back to Frisco, and some of the boxes were unopened yet, so I guess the station hands would have a feast on what we had left. We passed one place where we could see some of the effects of the Earthquake of the previous year. A farm house with new chimneys on it, the old ones were shaken down. About a quarter of a mile from the house was a big steep hill. There were streaks on it where the ground had cracked and the hill had slid down a little. I think they must have got a pretty good jarring about that place. We crossed the hills and got in sight of the Pacific about 11 a.m., shortly afterwards we passed the town of Monterey and went on to Pacific Grove, 2 or 3 miles further; we were to stay here until 2 p.m. when the train was to take us to Monterey to spend the balance of the day. On our arrival at Pacific Grove there was a lot of Camp Meeting people to meet us with a brass band. The request was made for us to fall in behind their music and march to their grounds. We did so, and after going a few hundred yards, we came into a magnificent grove of pine trees. The trees were over 100 feet high, the cones on them were 3 to 6 inches long, and from the branches hung a regular canopy of moss. It was like a long light green beard. I got hold of some that hung down 4 feet. Under the trees were numerous long tables, all spread ready for dinner. The leaders of the Methodist Conference which was going on at the time, bid us welcome to the Pacific Coast and Pacific Grove especially. After two or three of them had made their speeches of welcome they requested us to take seats at the tables and enjoy ourselves. The fare was good, consisting of beef, pork, tongue, pies, cakes, fruits, bread, butter, vegetables, tea, coffee and water. We did justice to the dinner and complimented the ladies of the meeting by the way we cleared the tables. Each man was presented with a fine buttonhole bouqet and a Japanese napkin on w h i c h was printed – C o m p l i m e n t a r y to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, on the occasion of their visit to Pacific Grove, California, Tuesday, Sept 16 th , 1890. A vote of thanks was given to the ladies and then we dispersed to take in the sights. Page 6
Dettleback and I started off to the beach, it is very rocky, a poor place for boating or bathing, so we amused ourselves with scrambling about the rocks and hunting for shells. Two or three of the fellows slipped on the seaweed and rolled into the water, but there were no serious casualties. I got a few shells, we saw lots of crabs from the size of a sixpence up to the size of a dinner plate. I looked for an octopus but I am happy to say I did not find one. Several of the boys got star f i s h e s but I did not have that fortune; I en- joyed myself famously though. There was a pretty little yacht anchored off shore. I would have liked to take a cruise in it, but I was not acquainted with the owner so I could not get a sail. The train came up at 2 p.m. and whistled for us to come, so we got on and it took us to Monterey. On the beach near the Station was a big bathing pavilion. It had 4 or 5 swimming baths in it, the water in each one was at a different temperature so that each bather could go into one that suited him, they were filled with sea water. You will see a picture of it in the pamphlet I will send you of the Hotel del Monte, and Monterey. I did not bathe, so walked along the beach looking for curios but did not find any. The beach of the Bay of Monterey is clear sand for miles and you do not find much in such places. There were some porpoises gambling about and that amused me for time. There were lots of sea birds and a fellow was sat on the end of the pier shooting at them, but I guess he was a poor shot. He kept up a regular sham battle, but only hit one. We started out to walk to the Hotel del Monte, it was a big mile down the carriage drive from the Station. I think it is the nicest place of its kind I ever saw. The grounds were laid out with drives through the woods; on each side of the roadways was a wide border filled with flowers and foliage plants interspersed with cacti and other curious plants, the cacti varied in size from a cucumber to a man, some of them were like a prickly ball, two or more feet in diameter. There is a lake and fountain in the grounds. In one place was a puzzle walk, the trick was to get to the middle of it. You would go in and turn one way and another. You would hear people talking and laughing just round the corner. You expected to meet them, when you came to the turn no-one was there, so they must have been in the walk on the other side of the hedge. After walking some time, probably you would find yourself in a culde-sac and have to turn back. I tried it three times and each time I thought I was just in the middle I walked onto the outside. There were only two or three of the whole party that got to the centre of it, I guess they all got out again for I did not hear of anyone turning up missing! The grounds included a race track and seventeen miles of carriage drives. They have Chinese for gardeners and the grounds are kept in splendid order. There is a Rustic Club House with Bowling alley, but we contented ourselves with sight seeing and did not try any games of chance or skill. I lost both big toenails with walking so much. A photographer from San Francisco should have been there to take our portraits with the front of the Hotel for a background but he failed to put in an appearance, so the crowd escaped being shot at. The pictures were to have been 18x20 so that would have taken a large camera. It is no use trying to give any description of the Hotel, the pictures in the book will tell you all about it. We walked back to the Station and our train pulled out at 6 p.m. for the return to San Francisco. San Jose was lit by electric lights, but we did not get time for a feed, so we did not get stuck on the town. We chewed grapes all the way back so we did not starve to death. We arrived in Frisco at 10.30 all tired but in good spirits. [To be continued] 2216 E. Main St, Springfield, Ohio Home of William Arthur Binns in 1930. Page 7
Page 1 and 2: T H E BINNS NEWSLETTER Num ber 8 Au
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James Jepson Binns - The Binns Family

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