A Historic Trek: The Amazing Honeymoon of W.F. Traughber and Nora Petree Traughber in 1905, Part IV

 Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Blog Post #45 By Tonya McQuade

Caption: My! But this is fun! 

Photo of Nora taken in Seattle’s Washington Park.

In my last several posts, I have explored the adventurous honeymoon my great grandparents Frank and Nora Traughber enjoyed in August and September of 1905. I started with their wedding in San Jose (Petree House Connections), then discussed their adventures in Del Monte, Pacific Grove, and Santa Cruz (Part I); Catalina Island (Part II); and San Francisco (Part III). In Part IV, I will be exploring their journey through Northern California, Oregon, and Washington, including their visit to Portland’s “Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition," similar to a World's Fair.

Photos in their album show Frank and Nora enjoying some of the same sights Mike and I enjoyed this past summer, including snow-covered Mt. Shasta. Earlier in 1905, Mt. Shasta – California’s tallest volcano – had been in the news when it experienced a “spasm” on April 14. Residents of the town of Sisson (now the city of Mt. Shasta) "experienced a curious mudflow that seemed to emanate from ground cracks near a local livery stable. The flow continued to ooze for the better part of a day, and was described in newspaper stories as ‘dark colored oily mud’ or ‘thickened paint’. Some reports also noted ‘distant rumblings’ coming from the mountain, and called the event a ‘spasm’, ‘grumbling’, and a ‘queer mood’.... 

“Shasta never produced any volcanic unrest in 1905, and it is now widely recognized by locals that either snow-and-ice-melt or rainstorms on the volcano can lead to non-eruptive mud and debris flows. These lahars (a term for any mudflow composed of volcanic debris) are currently a subject of ongoing hazard assessment at Mount Shasta” (1).

Another shot at Mt. Shasta from a car window with train at full speed.

Their train also stopped at Shasta Springs, a popular summer resort during the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the Upper Sacramento River in northern California. It was just north of the town of Dunsmuir, where Mike and I spent one night this past summer. There, they were able to see Mossbrae Falls and drink some of the area’s natural mineral water. Those same natural springs were the original sources of the water used in Shasta soft drinks.

I had never heard of Mossbrae Falls, which it turns out is described as “one of the most beautiful water features in California,” but there is now “no legal or safe way to get there” (2). The property was purchased in the early 1950’s by the Saint Germain Foundation, an exclusive religious organization, and is no longer open to the public. The Foundation has so far refused to sell any of their land to allow visitors to enjoy these falls.

Saint Germain Foundation members use the upper part of the old resort as a retreat center, but “the lower part of the resort – the bottling plant, the train station, the incline railway, the kiosk and the fountains – are all gone. The falls that were visible from the railroad tracks and what ruins are left of the lower part of the resort are all overgrown by blackberry bushes” (3). For videos of these beautiful falls and more of their history, check out this link.

Back in 1905, though, “wealthy passengers took Southern Pacific trains to witness Mossbrae in all its glory, and sip water from a natural spring at the top of the falls…. Entrepreneurs soon capitalized on the natural spring, buying 40 acres on the Mossbrae side of the river and building the opulent Shasta Springs Resort, which included a walking trail down to the falls" (4).

One of those tourists was Mabel Gardiner Hubbard Bell, wife of Alexander Graham Bell. She wrote to her husband about the experience: “The train stopped for five minutes at a little pavilion to allow all who were of thirst to take a drink of the mineral or side water that here gushes from the earth by the riverside at the foot of some pretty idyllic falls” (5). Frank and Nora enjoyed a similar experience, as seen below:

Caption: Shasta Springs. This is where the train waits while we all get a drink.

The 1905 stereoscope image below depicts the Southern Pacific Railroad train they likely rode on, with the scene described as showing the “train at station in wooded valley; stream and small bridge in foreground” (6).

Southern Pacific train at Shasta Springs, Valley of the Sacramento, California, 1905

Southern Pacific train at Shasta Springs, Valley of the Sacramento, California, 1905

The next photos in the album show Frank and Nora visiting the Portland World’s Fair. Officially titled the “Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair,” the fair ran from June 1st through October 15th, 1905, and celebrated the centennial of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s arrival on the Pacific Coast. More than 2.5 million people visited the fair, with almost 1.6 million of them being paying customers. The highest daily attendance record was 85,000 (7).  

 

Poster for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (8)

Whitewashed exhibition halls were built on a bluff overlooking Guild’s Lake – formerly a marshy slough, which was filled with fresh water from the Willamette River for the fair. On a peninsula across the lake, accessed by the Bridge of Nations, stood the impressive U.S. Government Buildings. The Centennial Exposition boasted exhibits from 16 states and 21 nations, including Italy’s pavilion containing a large collection of marble statues; France’s replica of King Louis XIV’s drawing room; and Japan’s display of cultural artifacts such as porcelains, silks, and lanterns (9).

Portlanders hoped the fair would boost the city’s reputation as well as the regional economy: “Visitors would spend money on train tickets, hotel rooms, food, and drink, and the Northern Pacific Railroad and brewer Henry Weinhard were among the biggest financial backers. They would also learn about the natural resources of the Northwest and recognize how close Portland was to the markets of East Asia, which were attracting attention after the recent U.S. acquisitions of Hawaii and the Philippines….

“The Lewis and Clark Exposition was a showcase for progress and people visited world's fairs to learn about scientific and technological advances. In Portland, they could take in moving picture shows, watch motorized blimps maneuver in the sky, cheer the winner of the first transcontinental auto race, and marvel at the power of electric lighting…. The Oriental Exhibits and Foreign Exhibits pavilions highlighted the possibilities of foreign trade, and Japan's million-dollar exhibit was the largest among the twenty-one participating nations” (10).

Central Vista, Lewis & Clark Centennial Expo, showing the Foreign Exhibits Building on the left and the Agricultural Palace on the right (11)

At the Agricultural Palace, Oregon counties showed off grain, fruit, canned goods, minerals, and myrtle wood furniture. The Forestry Building highlighted the potential of the Northwest lumber industry, while other buildings displayed the latest technical inventions, engineering marvels, scientific discoveries, and panoramas of western tourist sites such as Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Visitors could also enjoy views of nearby Mt. Saint Helens many years before it blew its top (which is the view Mike and I saw this past summer).

The Forestry Building, circa 1905 (12)

The interior of the Forestry Center, constructed from large old-growth timbers weighing up to 32 tons, as shown in this Oregon Historical Society photo (13)

For the price of admission (50¢ for adults/25¢ for children), visitors were able to “marvel at the wonders and technology of the day. They watched flying dirigibles. They saw dials register an unseen force called electricity on the Voltmeter. They heard scratchy, giddy recordings of their own voices created by the Dictaphone” (14). What must Frank and Nora have thought at seeing and hearing such wonders!

They and other visitors were also able to enjoy an amusement park, sideshows, concerts, motion pictures, blimp excursions, a wide variety of vendors, and numerous statues around the grounds. As it turns out, Mike and I saw one of those statues this summer in Portland’s Washington Park: Sacajawea and Jean-Baptiste. Sacajawea, of course, was the perfect person to honor at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition since she played such a huge role in their success.

The Sacajawea statue as it appeared in June 2024.

Photo by Tonya McQuade.

As I learned online, “The Sacajawea and Jean-Baptiste sculpture in Washington Park, Portland was funded by women, sculpted by a woman artist, and conceived to promote women’s suffrage…. The Colorado-based sculptor Alice Cooper constructed the statue with more than 20 tons of Oregon copper. It stood in the center of the Sunken Gardens on the grounds of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland. In April 1906, the statue was moved to Washington Park” (15).

One unique exhibit they may have run into was the "Baby Incubators" exhibit. As odd as it may sound, “babies in incubators were a common sideshow in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Premature infants could be found at world’s fairs and in permanent exhibitions…. But the babies weren’t there to be on display—they were there to fight for their lives with the help of an intrepid German man, Martin Couney. Couney used the most modern technology of his age, incubators, to keep preemies alive. But before his groundbreaking work, the technology was laughed at or dismissed by physicians” (16). 

Couney used the money he gained from these sideshows to pay for the babies’ medical care - keeping some babies on display for up to six months before releasing them to their families. You can read more at this link. I think Frank, as a doctor, would have found this especially interesting. I know that as part of his medical practice many years later in Hollywood, he helped deliver babies. In fact, he delivered my father as well as my aunts Donna and Mary when his daughter Margaret, my grandmother, gave birth! 

There are, unfortunately, no captions in Frank and Nora’s album under their photos from the Centennial Exposition, but it is clear that there were huge crowds at the fair when they attended. It’s likely these photos depict “The Trail,” an 800 foot-long street that featured amusements and carnival attractions. It looks like they were watching some sort of sideshow. I wish I had a clearer idea of what exactly these photos depict, but I’m sure they must have been amazed by all they took in.

From Portland, Frank and Nora journeyed further north into the state of Washington, where photos show them in both Tacoma and Seattle. Prior to being incorporated in 1875, Tacoma was inhabited by the Puyallup tribe and other indigenous peoples for thousands of years. At the time Frank and Nora visited, it had a population of about 37,700 and lacked the wealth of Seattle, which had benefited financially from the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. Interestingly, the only photo from Tacoma in Frank and Nora’s album shows “Indians from Vancouver in camp,” so I’m not sure what they did while in Tacoma.

Indians from Vancouver in camp at Tacoma, Wash. During hop season.

Nora also mentions that it was “hop season,” which generally begins in early August and continues into early October. I found this especially interesting since Mike and I visited the American Hop Museum in Toppenish, Washington, last June and learned a lot about hop harvesting (something I had known absolutely nothing about before). About 75 percent of the nation's hop crop is grown in Washington. We also explored the murals in Toppenish – here is one that explains how Indians would come to the Yakima Valley from throughout the Northwest to help with the hop harvest.

We saw this mural when we were in Toppenish in late June (17).

The last stop Frank and Nora made in Washington was in Seattle – and the photo at the top of this post captures a huge smile on Nora’s face as they rode horses in Washington Park. Today, the 230-acre Washington Park – which became one of Seattle’s first parks in 1900 and was designed by the Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects firm between 1904 and 1939 – is home to the Arboretum, the Seattle Japanese Garden, a segment of Lake Washington Boulevard, a playfield, and playgrounds.

 

Washington Park, Seattle. Aug. 31, 1905.

When Frank and Nora visited, the park had some gardens, as seen in the photo with Nora above, and was home to a speedway for horse racing. In fact, “in the first decade of the twentieth century, The Meadows Race Track, south of Georgetown along the Duwamish River, was the premier venue in the Northwest for horse racing. The one-mile, dirt track also saw the Northwest's first automobile race in 1905 (as seen in the photo below) and its first demonstration of the airplane in 1910” (18).

Auto race at Meadows Race Track in Seattle

That first auto race, organized by the Seattle Automobile Club, took place on August 12, 1905 – less than three weeks before Frank and Nora were at the park. And, as I saw rather humorously reported, “Contrary to expectations no one was killed and no one injured. One machine caught fire and burned, and two others broke down" (19). I wonder if Frank and Nora saw an auto race while they were there. Wouldn’t that have been an amazing thing for them to watch?

Built in 1902, The Meadows seated 10,000 people in its grandstands; provided stalls for 1,000 horses in its stables; housed jockeys, trainers, and stable hands in their own quarters; featured “an opulent clubhouse catered to the wealthy,” and was “rated as one of the fastest tracks in the country” (20). 

Washington Park - Ready for the race.

We all got around the track.

Captions: Washington Park, Seattle, August 31, 1905

Ready for the race. / We all got around the track. / My! But this is fun!

Hold my steed while I get off. / On our bridal trip (the bridle is on the horse).

Clearly, Frank and Nora had a great time riding horses at Washington Park – and they rode horses again at Yellowstone National Park soon after! Stay tuned for more about Yellowstone in Part V of Frank and Nora’s Historic Honeymoon Trek … if you want to be sure not to miss out, subscribe to my email list by emailing me at tonyagrahammcquade@gmail.com.

Endnotes:

1. “The curious case of Mount Shasta's 1905 "Spasm" | U.S. Geological Survey.” USGS.gov, 24 January 2024, https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/calvo/news/curious-case-mount-shastas-1905-spasm.
2. Harrell, Ashley. “A religious group is strangling access to Calif.'s prettiest waterfall.” SFGATE, 23 September 2022, https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/most-beautiful-waterfall-california-17452293.php.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. “Southern Pacific train at Shasta Springs, Valley of the Sacramento, California.” H.C. White Co., c1905, https://lccn.loc.gov/93508145.
7. “Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Centennial_Exposition.
8. Abbott, Carl. “Lewis and Clark Exposition.” The Oregon Encyclopedia, 16 March 2022, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lewis_clark_exposition/.
9. “Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Centennial_Exposition.
10. Abbott, Carl. “Lewis and Clark Exposition.” The Oregon Encyclopedia, 16 March 2022, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lewis_clark_exposition/.
11. Flores, Trudy, and Sarah Griffith. “Central Vista, Lewis & Clark Centennial Expo.” Oregon History Project, https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/central-vista-lewis-amp-clark-centennial-expo/.
12. “Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Centennial_Exposition#/media/File:Forestry_Building_at_Lewis_and_Clark_Exposition.JPG.
13. Abbott, Carl. “Lewis and Clark Exposition.” The Oregon Encyclopedia, 16 March 2022, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lewis_clark_exposition/.
14. Tucker, Typh. “The world came to Portland.” The Spokesman-Review, 14 August 2005, https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2005/aug/14/the-world-came-to-portland/.
15. “The complicated history of the first monument to Sacajawea, funded by suffragists and designed by a woman.” The Art Newspaper, 26 August 2020, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/08/26/the-complicated-history-of-the-first-monument-to-sacajawea-funded-by-suffragists-and-designed-by-a-woman.

16. Blakemore, Erin. "Baby Incubators: From Boardwalk Sideshow to Medical Marvel." HISTORY, 12 September 2018, https://www.history.com/news/baby-incubators-boardwalk-sideshows-medical-marvels.

17. Ferolito, Phil. “When hops were picked by hand.” Yakima Herald, 19 Sept 2018, https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/lower_valley/when-hops-were-picked-by-hand/article_29e0356a-bc2d-11e8-a39a-efe46527add7.html.
18.  Wilma, David. “Meadows Race Track.” HistoryLink.org, 19 February 2001, https://www.historylink.org/File/2995.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.