Hardships

On September 28, 1874, Mrs. Adair writes this piqued diary entry. Her travel snafus come on a day, when, to the south, “Bad Hand” Mackenzie’s troops surprise the Indians and drive them from Palo Duro forever, their last free home on the Southern Plains…

September 28 - We were to leave early this morning but the steamboats are very irregular and ours did not arrive till midday, and then we were told in would not leave until evening, so we resigned ourselves to seeing the lions of the town, only, unfortunately, there were no lions to see. Every one of these new Western towns is exactly like the others… St. Paul was rather famous for its fur trade from the North,and I saw some beautiful skins of sliver fox, but the trade has diminished. Mr. Blackmore got some interesting Indian relics and a beautiful piece of bead-work. The air here is deliciously pure and clear, and geat numbers of cosumptives come here from the Eastern States, even though the winters are so very severe. We have just heard that the steamboat will not leave until the morning.

Cornelia Adair
My Diary
September 28, 1874