1930 Diary Selections - On the Way

In Diary Selections, there are scans of some of the actual diary writings. These are the first in a series of selections. They show my mother(Hilda Krantz Beitel)'s handwriting plus some simple little sketches she occasionally added to her story. Mom and her mother were on a trip to Canada from Oregon by train to visit relatives. This page shows entries made on the trip from Salem, Oregon, to Primate, Saskatchewan, both are outlines of the Rocky Mountains they were traveling through.

-Elizabeth

First View of the Rockies

August 16, 1930, in northern Idaho, just south of the Canadian border

"12:25 - Meadow Creek. a cozy nook - or hollow in the mountains

The Rockies are beautiful! [followed by a jagged outline of some mountain peaks]

12:45 - Sinclair is only a sign on a post. Also a "measly" store."

Around 12:30 in the afternoon, the train was heading through Idaho towards Canada. The mountains must have really impressed Mom, because she not only drew a pencil outline of how they looked, but her handwriting shows the excitement she must have been feeling.

The Canadian Rocky Mountains

"4:25 - Cranbrook. Quite a large city. Mountains are in the distance.

4:45- First sight of real Rockies in the hazy distance. The Genuine Rockies. O, My!

Some more sport with some Freshies. [then outlines covering two lines of the notebook of mountain shapes]

They look so blue. they surely are grand, only Ma wishes she could pass them off the map. Another..."

About four hours later, the train was in British Columbia, Canada, heading for the mountains again. Mom refers to the "First sight of the Genuine Rockies." The Rocky Mountains cover a lot of territory. The train had passed through the Rockies in northern Idaho, as referred to in the above selection. They were now approaching the Rockies in Canada. Perhaps these look bigger than before, because her handwriting definitely gets darker and the drawing bigger. "Freshies" must be a reference to snow on the mountains.

The line in the middle of the scan is the centerfold of the little notebook.

pencil outline of a section of the Rocky Mts.

August 16, 1930 - Another pencil outline of more Rocky Mountains

An observation about Mom's handwriting can be made here. Notice the "t's" at the end of the words in the line "4:45 - First sight of....". Those are actually written in Old Script German. Three lines later, she switches to a regular English "t" in "Some more sport..." She did speak German before she learned English, she also knew how to write German. Apparently, she sometimes threw in an "old" letter.

Trip Diary Title Page