Wednesday, September 16, 2020

President Harrison’s Great Railroad Journey

The South and West 
April 14 – May 15, 1891 


In the spring of 1891, two years after being in office, President Benjamin Harrison embarked on a month-long political tour by rail through the South to the West Coast.1, 2 He was accompanied by First Lady Caroline Harrison, their daughter Mrs. Mary McKee, Postmaster General John Wanamaker, Secretary of Agriculture Jeremiah Rusk, and eleven other close officials and family members.3 Thirty-one menus from the train convey the length and rhythm of this unprecedented journey through numerous states, some of which had only recently entered the Union.4 

The special train comprised five lavishly-outfitted Pullman cars that reflected “the highest degree of elegance, good taste, and luxurious comfort,” according to Railway World magazine.5 The lamps and exterior lights were all electric. The forward coach, which bore the inscription “The Presidential Special” in gold letters, was divided into two sections. The front of this car contained the electric dynamos and baggage and, in the rear, there was a smoking compartment with a sofa, chairs, two desks, and a barber shop. It was followed by the dining car named “Coronado,” featuring green-plush curtains and the appointments of “a first-class restaurant.” Next came the presidential sleeping car, a second sleeping car, and lastly, an observation car with a covered platform at the rear for public appearances. 



April 14—Roanoke, Virginia 
The train departed Washington shortly after midnight. Passing though Lynchburg, Virginia at 7:00 a.m., it switched from the tracks of the Richmond & Danville Railroad to those of the Norfolk & Western, two of the many rail lines it would traverse over the course of the 9232-mile expedition. The menus, which were printed on cardstock made by stationer Loughead & Co. in Philadelphia, featured an embossed heading and patriotic emblem


Speaking from the rear platform at Roanoke, the President made the first of 142 speeches he would deliver during the trip. A stenographer captured every word of the talks, even when they were just a few brief remarks. 


Bristol, Tennessee 
The President was escorted to a bluff overlooking the city where he gave a speech to the crowd gathered around him. Harrison was enthusiastically received at every stop, including by people of sundry opinions. Local officials were also in a high state of excitement, anxious to welcome their important guest in the appropriate manner. Harrison grew up in a household that was distinguished, but not wealthy. He was a grandson of William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, and a great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, a Virginia planter who signed the Declaration of Independence. 

Johnson City, Jonesborough, Greeneville and Morristown 
Over 3000 people thronged the station at Johnson City in East Tennessee. Brief speeches were also made at Jonesborough and Greeneville, once the home of Andrew Jackson who was the first president to ride on a train. At Morristown, President Harrison spoke about liberty in the mountains. 

Dinner featured lobster salad. This ubiquitous dish was typically shown in the section labeled “cold meats” on hotel menus. However, the lobster salad on this menu is prominently positioned before the game dish. As it happened, First Lady Caroline Harrison collected recipes from the wives of legislators and government officials and published them in a cookbook titled Statesmen’s Dishes and How to Cook Them (1890). One of the gems in this compilation was a recipe for a warm lobster salad contributed by Mary Wanamaker, wife of the Postmaster General.7


Knoxville 
Cannons announced the arrival of the train at 6 p.m. After a quick tour of the city, the presidential party attended a reception at Hattie House. 

April 15—Chattanooga, Tennessee 
Harrison had not been to Chattanooga since the Civil War in which he served as a colonel of the 70th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He eventually received a brevet promotion to brigadier general—his wife still called him “General.” The Northern veterans who turned out in force to cheer him at every town were members of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization that wielded significant political power in postwar years. Harrison would be the last Civil War general to serve as president of the United States. 


Cartersville, Georgia
 
Shortly after crossing the state line, they stopped at Cartersville to be welcomed by the mayor and a reception committee. The lobster salad from the previous night was served again at lunch. 


Atlanta, Georgia 
The party was taken for a carriage ride through the city in the middle of the afternoon. The fine spring day had been enhanced by a light shower in the morning that laid the dust. The President later attended a reception at the capitol.

April 16— Tallapoosa, Georgia 
The President was greeted by the familiar strains of “Hail to the Chief” at Tallapoosa where he praised the fair election methods prescribed under the Constitution. (Although Harrison failed to achieve a popular majority in the election of 1888, he collected enough electoral votes to win the presidency.) 

Anniston and Pell City, Alabama 
At Anniston, the speech was about local agriculture which was moving away from the plantation-era crops of watermelon and cotton. A few miles down the track at Pell City, the President barely had enough time to thank the citizens for their applause. The train often stopped briefly to take on coal and water for the boiler of the steam engine. Coal-and-water stops were part of the daily routine of life on the rails, even though this special train carried a tender with an extra supply, making it possible to travel up to 150 miles without a refill. 


Birmingham, Alabama 
The royal welcome at Birmingham would be remembered as one of the highlights of the trip. The city was festooned with flags and banners that looked even more colorful against the backdrop of white dogwoods. After a parade, the President attended a reception and dinner at Caldwell House. Local merchants, seemingly unaware that the train was equipped with state-of-the-art electric fans, gave the entourage a parting gift of palm leaf fans for relief from the hot spell gripping the region. 

April 17—Memphis, Tennessee 
They arrived in Memphis at 8:30 a.m. and were soon on their way to Court House Square to be greeted by the mayor. 

Little Rock, Arkansas 
Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, was the first to visit Arkansas while in office. 

April 18—Texarkana, Arkansas 
It was nearly midnight when the train pulled into Texarkana where 2000 people were waiting. The band played “Dixie” almost the entire time. 

Palestine, Texas
Texas hospitality began at the border of the Lone Star State where the party was welcomed by the governor and a women’s committee early in the morning. 

Houston 
During the one-hour visit, the President addressed the crowd that surrounded the station. 

Galveston 
After arriving in mid-afternoon, the party toured the harbor on a steamship of the Mallory Line. The sightseeing excursion was followed by a parade to the Beach Hotel. As the darkness of night came on, the President was escorted to the stand where, “amid the sound of waves, and stiff breezes of the Gulf,” he spoke to the thousands gathered on the lawn and porches of the big hotel. Reserved and self-contained, Harrison made his best impression when speaking before a large audience. He was less effective when interacting with small groups. Many regarded him as cold and distant, calling him the “Human Iceberg.

Sunday, April 19 was observed as a day of rest 
Harrison was an active, lifelong Presbyterian who conducted no official business on the Sabbath. He picked a cabinet composed entirely of Presbyterians. 

April 20—San Antonio 
Departing Galveston at ten minutes after 12:00 midnight, the train began the long trek across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona on the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railway. 


Although the floral festival 
in San Antonio had to be cancelled due to rain, the three-hour visit still included a tour of Fort Sam Houston and the Alamo, and a speech at the opera house. They were back on the train for lunch where the soup, two main courses, and green vegetables changed daily. 


The bill of fare at dinner followed basic format of a table d’hôtel menu at a hotel. The entrées were special side dishes and not regarded as the main course. By custom, the last entrée on the menu was usually a sweet dish called a hot entremets, such as the apple fritters with rum sauce shown below. Other hot entremets served on this trip included pineapple fritters with Cognac sauce, orange fritters with Madeira sauce, and rice croquettes with brandy sauce. 


April 21—Del Rio 
School children welcomed the President at the village of Del Rio that was decorated with flowers, flags, and banners. 

El Paso 
“A great and motley throng” greeted the train in El Paso, according to one reporter. Standing next to Harrison on the platform, the governor of Chihuahua brought greetings from President Diaz of Mexico. From El Paso, the train thundered over the plains in a relentless churn of dust and steel.

Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory 
President Harrison was given an elegant set of silver made with ore from the local mines. The inscription on the case read: “Protect the chief industry of our territories. Give us free coinage of silver.” The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 was passed in response to complaints by farmers and miners who wanted to spur inflation so they could pay their debts with cheaper dollars. However, the bill failed to allow the unlimited coinage of silver they wanted. 

Tucson, Arizona 
The depot at Tucson was brilliantly illuminated for the 10-minute stop at 8:20 p.m. Although torchlight parades would soon fade into history, most people were not yet accustomed to electricity in their daily lives. When electric lights were installed at the White House in the fall of 1891, Benjamin Harrison and his wife refused to touch the switches for fear of being shocked. 

April 22Indio and Colston, California 
The desert heat had nearly worn everyone out by the time they reached the Golden State. Governor Markham officially welcomed the President at Colston where excited admirers pressed up to the platform to shake hands. Harrison was obsessed with germs and wore gloves on such occasions.

Ontario, Banning and Pomona
At Ontario, a little boy approached the President and said, “I was named after Grover Cleveland, but I take this opportunity of wishing you every blessing.” (President Cleveland, whom Harrison defeated in the election of 1888, would return to the White House in 1893.) 

Los Angeles 
The train was filled to the brim with floral arrangements and baskets of fruit when it reached Los Angeles in the middle of a bright, sunny afternoon. The President was pelted with flowers thrown by school children during the procession to a grandstand at the center of town.

April 23—San Diego 
The President headed straight to the Coronado Beach Hotel for breakfast and then gave a speech from a grandstand in the Plaza. 

Santa Ana, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino 
In the afternoon, the President visited four of the prospering towns of southern California. 
 

Pasadena 
At 7:30 p.m., the train rolled into Pasadena, fast becoming a fashionable winter resort for wealthy easterners. Amid great fanfare, the party was escorted to the new Hotel Green where they attended a banquet and stayed for the night. 

April 24—San Fernando, Santa Paula and Ventura 
During a water stop at San Fernando, the President said to the crowd, “It is very pleasant to see you this morning and especially to be greeted by some familiar faces from my Indiana home at almost every station…” At Santa Paula, a five-foot floral replica of an oil derrick was presented to the five-foot, six-inch president whom Democrats called “Little Ben.” 


Santa Barbara
 
The President stood on a platform draped with 20,000 calla lilies as he watched men and women ride by in open carriages covered with flowers and garlands. As they passed in converging lines, the couples threw flowers at each other in what was called “a battle of flowers.” The party later toured the historic Old Mission. By special dispensation, the entire group was admitted into the sacred mission garden that women had only been allowed to visit once before. The party dined at the Arlington Hotel where they were entertained by costumed women performing traditional Spanish dances. 

 April 25—Bakersfield and Tulare 
After a night on the train, they awoke to a splendid view of the Tehachapi Mountain. At Tulare, the President spoke from a decorated stand built on the stump of a mammoth redwood tree. The press quipped that it was his first “stump speech” of the tour. Lunch offered a choice of baked chicken pie American style or lamb chops with French peas. 


Fresno, Merced and Modesto 
The train was met by large crowds at Merced and Modesto, where there was a noisy brass band. The cover of the latest issue of Harper’s Weekly showed President Harrison standing in the observation car. 


Lathrop  
It was late in the afternoon when they reached Lathrup, the only place on the tour where the President kissed a baby. 

San Francisco
Tooting whistles, booming canons, and pyrotechnics galore welcomed the President in San Francisco where he would be given the keys to the city in the form of a superbly-wrought square of 24 karat gold. The finest objects he received were later put on display in the White House. 

Sunday, April 26 was observed as a day of rest 

April 27—San Francisco 
The President and his entourage had lunch at the turreted mansion of German-American engineer and politician Adolph Sutro whose expansive gardens overlooked the Cliff House. The menu below is headed by a multi-colored crest above the title with a worker swinging a pickaxe and the motto “Labor Vincit Omnia” (Labor Conquers All).9 The seating chart is shown on the inside. The back features an illustration of the sea lions that could be seen on the rocks just off the cliffs. The generous selection of fine wines may have been somewhat lost on Harrison who was a light drinker.




April 28—San Francisco 
An excursion through the Golden Gate was followed by the launching of the U.S.S. Monterey, a monitor assigned to the Pacific Squadron for harbor defense. Harrison substantially strengthened the U.S. Navy that was down to two commissioned warships when he took office. 

April 29—Redwood, San Jose, Gilroy and Pajaro 
After spending the morning at the Palo Alto ranch of Senator Leland Stanford, the pioneer railroad builder and former governor who partly planned and largely financed the trip, the President made four speeches from the rear platform and spent the night at the Del Monte Hotel, the first great resort in the West. 

April 30—Monterey 
The presidential party took a scenic drive through Pacific Park and Cypress Grove where they had an al fresco picnic lunch before returning to the hotel. 

May 1–Santa Cruz  
During the 45-minute visit at Santa Cruz, the President was escorted up the hill from the beach though a double column of children who cast flowers in his pathway while singing “America.” 

Los Gatos
The local militia, Grand Army of the Republic, Knights of Pythias, and “nearly all of the inhabitants of the surrounding country” came to hear the President speak from a bedecked stand near the railroad track. The San Francisco Evening Bulletin reported that “all the visitors were liberally supplied with fruit and flowers at Los Gatos and special cheers were given for Mrs. Harrison, Postmaster General Wanamaker and Secretary Rusk.” 

San Francisco 
Returning to the city shortly before noon, the President attended a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and later presided over the May Day festivities organized by the Grand Army of the Republic. In the evening, he spoke at a huge banquet at the Palace Hotel where he defended the unpopular tariffs the Republicans pushed through Congress the previous year. (An avowed protectionist, President Harrison kept two pet opossums named Mr. Protection and Mr. Reciprocity at the White House.) 

The six-panel menu was bound with red, white, and blue ribbons affixed with a pressed wax seal of of the City and County of San Francisco. In addition to the bill of fare, it contained the wine list and music program interspersed with hand-colored depictions of California landmarks. 


May 2—Sacramento, Bencia, West Berkeley, and Oakland 
California oranges replaced Florida oranges on the breakfast menus. 
 

After visiting the state capitol, the President proceeded to Benicia where his brother had been stationed in 1857 after crossing the plains in the Utah expedition. Lunch that day also featured a new item, California figs. Although the First Lady contributed a recipe for fig pudding to her cookbook, this rich dessert does not appear on the train menus. 


The President delivered a speech at the university and then proceeded 
to Oakland where the dense crowd made it impossible for him to reach the grandstand. He spoke from his carriage and took a ferry back to San Francisco in order to attend a reception at the Union League Club. 

Sunday, May 3 was observed as a day of rest 
After worshiping at the First Presbyterian Church, the President was driven to the Presidio where a high knoll provided a panoramic view of the Bay. 

May 4—Red Bluffs, Redding, Dinsmuir and Sisson 
The train departed San Francisco shortly after 12:00 midnight. The President shook hands during an early-morning stop at Tehama. By 8:30 a.m., he had arrived at Red Bluffs, the first official visit of the day


At Sisson, th
e President was given some lava ornaments from nearby Mount Shasta in the Cascades. Afterward, as the train chugged toward Oregon, dinner featured lobster bisque, California salmon and stuffed suckling pig with apple sauce. 
 

Ashland and Medford, Oregon 
Members of the state legislature boarded at Ashland to welcome the party to Oregon where it was drizzling rain. By 10 p.m., they had arrived Medford where bonfires illuminated rows of cheering veterans in front of the depot. 

May 5—Albany, Salem, Chemawa and Oregon City
After a ten-minute stop at Albany, the party proceeded to Salem, the state capital. At Chemawa, the President spoke to students from the Indian School. A green arch bore the word “Welcome” at Oregon City. It rained hard all day.

Portland 
The President reviewed a parade and later dined at the Portland Hotel on 6th Street, facing the Pioneer Courthouse. 

May 6—Centralia, Washington
At 6 a.m., the train stopped briefly at Chehalis in Washington, one of six states admitted to the Union during the Harrison administration. It was raining torrents at Centralia where the President spoke from the rear platform. 
 

Tacoma and Seattle
Factory whistles woke the citizens of Tacoma on the big day. Two hours later, a 21-gun salute announced the arrival of the train at the small wooden station. Despite the heavy rain, it seemed as if the entire population of 36,000 people turned out with umbrellas to watch the parade on Pacific Avenue. The presidential party then boarded a steamer to transport them on Puget Sound to Seattle where another enormous crowd was waiting. 

The sweet entrée at dinner was queen fritters, or French doughnuts, traditionally served on Sundays at luxury hotels.   


Puyallup and Chehalis 
The President shook hands at Puyallup a few minutes before midnight, and a short while later, made another brief appearance at Chehalis where the train had stopped eighteen hours earlier. 

May 7—Cascade Rock, Hood River Station and The Dallas 


Following the early morning stops at Cascade Rocks and Hood River Station, the train made the scenic run down the Columbia River 
gorge to The Dallas where a canon announced its arrival. 


Pendleton, Le Grand and Baker City, Oregon
 
The party passed through a “disagreeable sandstorm” on their way to Pendleton where the crowd included Native Americans from the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla tribes. Late-night appearances were made at Le Grand and Baker City. 


May 8—Boise City, Idaho 
During the two-hour visit which began at 7 am, the President planted an oak tree in front of the capitol building less than a year after he signed Idaho into statehood. 

 

 

 
May 9—Salt Lake City, Utah 
After breakfast at the Walker House, the President was escorted by army troops, state guards, and old veterans to Liberty Park where he made the first of three speeches in the city of 45,000 people.


Lehi, Provo, American Fork, Castle Gate and Springville 
The presidential party was welcomed by exploding dynamite cartridges at Castle Gate, a mining town that produced high-quality coal for the steam trains. (Castle Gate was back in the news in April of 1897, when outlaws Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay robbed a company payroll at the railroad station, making off with $7,000 in gold.) 

Lunch featured salmi of duck, a la chasseur, or hunter’s style. This ragout was prepared by stewing slices of partly-roasted duck in a rich sauce. 
 

Sunday, May 10 was observed as a day of rest
The President attended services at the First Presbyterian Church in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

May 11—Leadville, Colorado 
The train departed for Leadville at 3 a.m. on Monday morning. 


Preparations in 
Leadville were nearly as grand as they had been for former President Ulysses S. Grant in 1880 when he visited at the end of his world tour. Flags, banners, and bunting dressed nearly every storefront. After touring the mines, the Harrison was presented with an eighty-ounce, pure silver brick inscribed: “To Benjamin Harrison, President of the United StatesFrom the Smelters of Leadville, May 11, 1891.” On the reverse it read: “$159,633,078.87 in 12 Years.”

Buena Vista, Canon City, Florence, Pueblo and Colorado Springs 
The President was greeted by flags, shouts, and salutes at each town. At Buena Vista, he was presented with a basket containing three large trout. 


After attending a banquet at the first Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs, the President was given a snow-white
 lamb for his grandson who was known to the public as “Baby McKee.” The youngster was one of the four generations of family members who lived in the crowded living quarters of the White House during the Harrison administration. The “best-natured waiter” in the dining car was given the task of feeding the six-week-old lamb from a nursing bottle during the final few days of the trip. 

May 12—Denver, Colorado 


The day-long agenda in Denver included a parade described as “an imposing and brilliant spectacle
 by a member of the press who covered the political junket. The countless speeches prompted the St. Louis Republic to opine that Harrison need not say another word for six months. “Who pays for this royal parade around the country?” asked the New Haven Evening Register. “The addresses...are timely and fairly meritorious, but they disclose the fact that the President cannot readily get in touch with the public or convince an audience that he is intrinsically a great man. His speeches are made to be read rather than to hear.” (All of the talks were later published as part of the bid for renomination.)


Akron, Colorado 
At 9:30 p.m., the train stopped at Akron, a town of 500 people. Located 250 miles due south of Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, it was as close as President Harrison would get to the place where, just four months earlier, soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred several hundred men, women, and children of the Lakota people.
 
May 13—Hastings, Nebraska 
After greeting of the citizens of Hastings at 6:30 a.m., the party had breakfast where the menu was inscribed with three additional dishes—wheat cakes, spring chicken, and broiled mountain trout, presumably the same fish the President was given a couple of days earlier in Colorado.


Fairmont, Crete, Lincoln and Valparaiso 
The train made a number of short stops as it steamed eastward along the southern border of Nebraska via the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad. 

Omaha
The party rode in carriages along an ornamented parade route to a grandstand where the President gave an address on the need for foreign markets for agricultural products. Farmers, once the main stay of the Republican Party, had grown disenchanted. (The agrarian discontent led to the formation of the People’s Party, also known as the Populist Party, that carried Nebraska and three other western states in the presidential election of 1892.)  


Council Bluffs and Shenandoah, Iowa
After leaving Omaha at 6 p.m., the President made brief remarks at Council Bluffs and Shenandoah. 


Marysville, Missouri 
At 11 p.m., the President spoke again from the rear platform at the small village of Marysville. 

May 14—Hannibal, Missouri 
Although a band played “Hail to the Chief,” the song was drowned out by loud cheers and steam whistles at 5:30 a.m.


Springfield, Illinois 
Quick stops were also made at Barry, Baylis, Griggsville, and Jacksonville, but no speeches were given until the train reached Springfield, where the local militia and Grand Army of the Republic escorted the presidential party to Lincoln’s Tomb at the Oak Ridge Cemetery.  

Decatur, Tuscola and Chrisman 
The President later addressed the enthusiastic crowds during ten-minute stops at Decatur, Tuscola, and Chrisman, before crossing the state line into Indiana at 3 p.m. 

 Montezuma, Indiana
A delegation from Indianapolis boarded the train at Montezuma to deliver the official welcome

Indianapolis 
The President reached his hometown at 4:45 in the afternoon and, by 5:30 p.m., he was back on the road. The hurried schedule was nothing like the presidential race in 1888 when Harrison conducted a front-porch campaign, making speeches to supporters who stood in the yard of his house on North Delaware Street. 


Dayton, Xenia and Columbus, Ohio 
Speaking to the crowd at Columbus at midnight, the President explained, “I left Hannibal, Missouri this morning at 6 o’clock, and have made twelve speeches today. You have been very thoughtful to meet us here, and I know you will excuse me if I say nothing more than I thank you. Goodnight.” 

May 15—Altoona and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 


The train reached Altoona at about 10 a.m. which was
 none too soon given the jam-packed agenda of the day before. A farewell dinner was served in the afternoon. The cover of the special menu featured portraits of President and Mrs. Harrison floating over the Capitol building, being watched over by a woman personifying America.10 Afterward, Pennsylvania state officials greeted the President at Harrisburg where Postmaster General Wanamaker took leave of the party and departed for New York City. 

Washington, D.C. 
The weary travelers arrived at the Baltimore & Potomac Station at 5:30 p.m. and within minutes were homeward bound. Five days later, inventor Thomas Edison showed a 3-second clip in a peephole kinetoscope to members of the Federation of Women's Clubs who were visiting his laboratory. It was the first public demonstration of a motion picture device.11 Benjamin Harrison’s epic railroad journey would be the last major presidential trip not recorded to some extent on film. 

Epilogue 
After the cross-country odyssey, Harrison and his wife were ready for their vacation at a resort cottage on Mount McGregor in upstate New York.12 When they arrived on August 20,  the President was given a dinner at the neighboring Balmoral Hotel in celebration of his 58th birthday. 


Following Caroline Harrison’s death in October of 1892, Mary McKee served as her father's First Lady for the remainder of his term. Benjamin Harrison returned to Indianapolis after he lost his second presidential bid. Four years later, he married 37-year-old Mary Dimmick, his first wife’s widowed niece who lived at the White House during his administration and had gone on the political tour in 1891. Harrison’s grown children opposed the May-December marriage. Mary McKee became estranged from her father with whom she never spoke again. Benjamin Harrison died in 1901 at the age of 67. 


Notes 
1. Through the South and the West with the President. New York: The Mail and Express Quarterly, June 1891. 
2. “Tour of The President to the Pacific Coast, April 14th to May 16th, 1891 Itinerary.” Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
3. Other members of the entourage included the Harrison's son Russell and his wife, Mrs. Mary Dimmick, U.S. Marshall Daniel M. Ransdell, military aid Major J. P. Sanger, stenographer E. F. Tibbot, Alfred J. Clark, O. P. Austin, R. V. Oulahan, and George W. Boyd, passenger agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and his wife. 
4. The remarkable series of thirty-one train menus is perhaps one of the largest concentrations of such documents for a sitting U.S. president in the nineteenth century. The group was seemingly kept intact by an antiquated, two-hole punch filing system, the effects of which are not shown in the scans. 
5. “Railway World” magazine, April 18, 1891. 
6. The term POTUS (President of the United States) was coined during the Harrison administration as an identifying symbol on the orders for his special train. “A Brief History: Railroads and U.S. Presidents,” Union Pacific, n.d. 
7. Recipe for Mary Wanamaker’s Lobster Salad: “Split two good-sized, fine, freshly-boiled lobsters. Pick all the meat from out the shells, then cut it into one-inch lengths, equals pieces. Place it in saucepan on the hot range, with one ounce of very good fresh butter. Season with one pinch salt and half a salt-spoon of red pepper, adding two medium-sized sound truffles cut into small disk-shaped pieces. Cook for five minutes, then add a wineglassful of good Madeira wine. Reduce to one-half, which will take three minutes. Have three egg yolks in a bowl with half a pint of sweet cream; beat well together and add to it the lobster. Gently shuffle for two minutes longer or until it thickens well. Pour it into a hot tureen and serve hot.” 
8. Over the course of nine days in November 1889, North and South Dakota, Montana, and Washington were admitted to the Union. Eight months later, in early July 1890, Idaho and Wyoming were given statehood. 
9. The Book Club of California published a monotone copy of this menu in 1950 as part of an 850-set edition of twelve historic menus printed by Anderson & Ritchie. 
10. A copy of this menu is one of 23 pieces of ephemera from the presidential railroad trip in the Special Collections & University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California. 
11. Motion pictures went commercial in April 1894 when the first Kinetoscope Parlor opened in New York City. 
12. The location was politically significant. President Ulysses S. Grant died in a private cottage on Mt. McGregor on July 23, 1885, two days after finishing his memoirs.