Milam, B.J.:

$950 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE HONEST FARMER FROM ARKANSAW ON A LARK SEEIN' THE WEST. An entertaining account of the author's trip to Oklahoma and throughout the American West, Southwest, and Northwest at the beginning of the 20th century, written in a series of letters and short narratives from Milam to his wife Mollie, his son, and with a long section addressed to his sister and daughter. At the start, Milam appears to be based in Lufkin, Texas, though he travels all around the country and ends up in Jacksonville, Florida. Though not stated, Milam may have been a descendant of early Texas colonist and Texas Revolution hero Benjamin Milam, whose monument he visits in San Antonio.In the course of the present narrative, Milam traveled to Fort Sill, Lawton, and Comanche County in Indian Territory in 1901 to secure a claim to some of the homestead lands being distributed. Dissatisfied with the area he continued through the west, traveling by rail to Corpus Christi in 1904. He also took a train from Jacksonville, Florida to Lufkin, Texas in 1905, before heading to Oregon for the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Milam also visited and comments on Galveston, San Antonio, St. Louis, Boise (spelled "Boyce"), Vancouver, Wyoming, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Juarez, and other locales.Milam's interactions with other travelers, various locals in the areas he visited, the Native American inhabitants, and others are superbly recorded, as are his observations of American culture at a time of profound change. His k

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