Old Missoula

Sarah Raymond Herndon – Virginia City Pioneer

New Book By A Pioneer Woman

Trip Across the Plains In a Wagon by Mrs. Herndon

She Kept A Diary Of The Journey

Early Days in Montana and What the Old Timers Had to Pay for Comforts of Life.

“Days on the Road” by Mrs. Sarah [Herndon] is an interesting book. The author in a plain way relates the incidents of her trip across the plains to Montana in the days of gold, the days of ’65 when she came to Virginia City. She has dedicated the book to the pioneers of Montana. Mrs. Herndon kept the diary of her trip and presents it to her readers. She is the mother of Mrs. Mackay of Missoula and also has a son here. The book is for sale by Lister.

“Days on the Road,” of course, will appeal more especially to old-timers, but the plain story of the early day travels will interest those of the younger generation who know naught of the discomforts of overland transportation as it was in the days of which the book treats, except what has been told to them by their parents or read in the histories of those days.

Here is an entry in Mrs. Herndon’s diary on the 4^th of September:

“We are camping within seven miles of Virginia City, near a freight train of about 50 wagons, with from 75 to 100 people altogether – men, women and children – returning to the states.

“To hear these people talk of the disadvantages and disagreeable things with regard to life in Montana would have a tendency to discourage one, if it were not so palpable that they are homesick, and everyone knows that when the disease is fairly developed everything is colored with a deep dark blue, and even pleasant things seem extremely disagreeable to the afflicted person. The ladies seem to have the disease in its worst form, and of course they make the gentlemen do as they wish, which is to take them home to mother and other dear ones.”

On the day following this entry was made in the diary:

“We dined at noon today. Had beef steak at 50 cents a pound and potatoes at 25 cents. I do not know if the price had anything to do with it but it certainly tasted better than any I ever ate before.

“I interviewed a woman or rather she interviewed me – that lives near where we are camping. She said her name is Neihart. Her husband is a miner and earns $7 a day. Judging from the manner in which they seem to live they ought to save at least five of it. I presume I did not make a very favorable impression, for after I came back to camp she called across the street to her neighbor – so we could hear what she said.

“’Some more aristocrats. They didn’t come here to work. Going to teach school and play lady,’ with great contempt in her voice.”

Under date of Sept. 6 there is this story, which gives an idea of prices in those days.

“As Hillhouse was on his way to the butcher shop he passed an auction sale of household goods. The auctioneer was crying a beautiful porcelain lamp. He stopped to make the first bid. ‘One dollar,’ he called. There was no other bids and he got the lamp – his first purchase in Virginia.

“When he brought it home with the meat he went to get, mother said; ‘What is the use of the lamp without a chimney?’

“So he went to purchase a chimney after dinner and coal oil to burn in the lamp. He had to pay $2.50 for a chimney and $5 for a gallon of coal oil, so our light is rather expensive after all. And thus ends our first day in Virginia City.”

“Days on the Road” is also on sale at Moore’s book store and at A P Curtin’s at $1 a copy.

 

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on February 20, 1903.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349067784/?terms=%22old%2Btimers%22

 

A short biography for Sarah Raymond Herndon appears at the Archives West website – see below:

The Raymond family arrived in Virginia City by wagon train from Missouri in September 1865. They were Mrs. Delilah Raymond and her children Sarah (Sallie), William Hillhouse, and Winthrop. Mrs. Raymond started a boarding house and the boys soon had purchased a ranch they called Belmont Park. Sarah began teaching school in March, 1866 as probably the first public school teacher in an organized school district in the Montana Territory. After teaching for one school year, Sarah married James M. Herndon in May 1867 and remained in Virginia City until her death in 1914. Sarah had kept a diary of the wagon train trip which was published in 1902 as “Days on the Road.” She also kept a 1866 diary of her experiences in Virginia City and teaching school. The Raymond family was prominent in Virginia City and Madison County. They began a successful freight company and the Raymond Brothers store. W. Hillhouse took over Belmont Park which became renowned for its trotters and Winthrop platted the town of Sheridan, Montana where he was in banking and land development. Mrs. Raymond died in 1896, W. Hillhouse in 1905 and Winthrop in 1912.

 

Mrs. Herndon’s book, “Days on the Road,” is available on the internet at the following link:

https://archive.org/stream/daysonroadcrossi00hern?ref=ol#page/n5/mode/2up