JOHN W. ALEXANDER FREDERIC R. HALSEY JOHN HENRY HAMMOND LEWIS CASS LEDYARD J. P. MORGAN MORGAN J. O'BRIEN HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN GEORGE L. RIVES CHARLES HOWLAND RUSSELL GEORGE W. SMITH FREDERICK STURGES HENRY W. TAFT WILLIAM STEWART TOD JOHN PURROY MITCHEL, mayor of the City of New York, ex officio OFFICERS President, GEORGE L. RIVES, LL.D. First Vice-President, LEWIS CASS LEDYARD. 1 Second Vice-President, Secretary, CHARLES HOWLAND RUSSELL, 476 Fifth avenue. Treasurer, EDWARD W. SHELDON, 45 Wall street. Assistant Treasurer, UNITED STATES TRUST COMPANY, 45 Wall street. Chief Reference Librarian, H. M. LYDENBERG, 476 Fifth avenue. Chief of the Circulation Department, BENJAMIN ADAMS, 476 Fifth avenue. BRANCHES2 MANHATTAN CENTRAL BUILDING. 476 Fifth avenue. 40th to 42nd streets. CHATHAM SQUARE. 33 East Broadway. HAMILTON FISH PARK. 388 East Houston HUDSON PARK. 66 Leroy street. BOND STREET, 49. Near the Bowery. street. Near 8th TOMPKINS SQUARE. 331 East 10th street. EPIPHANY. 228 East 23rd street. Between ST. GABRIEL'S PARK. 303 East 36th street. East of Second avenue. 40TH STREET, 457 West. CATHEDRAL. 123 East 50th street. Near COLUMBUS. 742 Tenth avenue. Near 51st 58TH STREET, 121 East. Near Lexington avenue. 67TH STREET, 328 East. Near First avenue. RIVERSIDE. 190 Amsterdam avenue. Near 69th street. WEBSTER. 1465 Avenue A. Near 78th street. Third avenue. ST. AGNES. 444 Amsterdam avenue. Near 81st street. 96TH STREET, 112 East. Between Lexington BLOOMINGDALE. 206 West 100th street. Near Broadway. AGUILAR. 174 East 110th street. Near Third avenue. 115TH STREET, 203 West. Near Seventh avenue. Near Third avenue. HARLEM LIBRARY. 9 West 124th street. Near Lenox avenue. 503 West 145th street. WASHINGTON HEIGHTS. 1000 St. Nicholas THE BRONX MOTT HAVEN. 321 East 140th street. Cor- HIGH BRIDGE. 78 West 168th street. Corner MORRISANIA. 610 East 169th street. McKinley Square. TREMONT. 1866 Washington avenue. Corner of 176th street. KINGSBRIDGE. 3041 Kingsbridge avenue. Near 230th street. RICH MOND ST. GEORGE. 5 Central avenue. Tompkins- PORT RICHMOND. 75 Bennett street. TOTTENVILLE. 7430 Amboy road. Near Pros- 1 Vacant because of the election of Mr. Ledyard to the office of First Vice-President. The arrangement of branches, with the exception of the Central Building, is from south to north in Manhattan and The Bronx. Mrs. Frizzell's journal was secured by The New York Public Library with the manuscripts of the Ford Collection, presented by the late J. Pierpont Morgan. It has a quaint manuscript title-page, as follows: Narative of a Journal [sic] across the "Plains" in 1852 by Mrs. Lodisa Frizzell. Illustrated by scveral original drawings. And to my relatives, and friends, respectfully subscribed. A later hand has written over the title the words, "The Overland Route to California." Among the numerous amateurish illustrations drawn by lead pencil and tinted with colors, three are reproduced here; also her three route maps. The other illustrations include the following: "The home I left behind me" (Her home in Illinois); "Crossing the Nimehaw"; "Killing a buffalo"; "Independence Rock"; "A view of Devil's Gate"; "Distant view of Courthouse & Chimney rocks"; "Chimney Rock 5 miles distant"; "Distant view of Laramie Peak"; "A view of Sweetwater mountains. 5 miles west of the Devil's Gate"; "Buffalo skeletons"; "View of the Wind range of mountains"; "View of South Pass"; "A Horned Frog." Written on inner covers or flyleaves are several names, which may be of value for future indentification. They are: John G. Harness, 1852; Nancy Varnyan; G. W. Catron; Wm. Malone; Orin Anderson and T. Alexander. Nothing has been discovered of the personal history of this Frizzell family. The patronymic, however, is found at an early period in New England. In 1859, Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren, of the corps of topographical engineers, U. S. A., issued a Memoir and map of the exploring expeditions in the West, from 1800 to 1857, and an epitome thereof forms a part of volume 1 of Wheeler's Report, appendix F, of the United States Geographical Surveys west of the one hundredth meridian (Washington, 1889). Among the narratives of those who, in the main, travelled the route covered by Mrs. Frizzell, the earliest is the journal of Robert Stuart, 1812, of which The New York Public Library has a complete typewritten transcript, made from the original manuscript in 1908. This journey was begun in June, 1812, at Astoria, and ended at the Ohio. It was undertaken by representatives of the Pacific Fur Company. The next important expedition to the Rocky Mountains was made by Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, 1832-1836, of which we have the record in Washington Irving's The Rocky Mountains, first published in 1837, in two volumes. In 1835, Colonel, afterwards General Henry Dodge, covered a part of the way en route from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1842, J. C. Frémont traversed the Plains on his first expedition, ending in the Wind River Mountains, and in 1843-1844, he went over much of the same ground. Joel Palmer's journal of his travels over the Rocky Mountains, in 18451846, was printed in 1852, and has been edited as a part of Thwaites's Early Western Travels. Among the California pioneers, who went over the route in the mad rush of 1849, was Amasa Delano, who wrote an illuminating journal, published as Life on the Plains, in 1854. These and many other publications have been consulted in editing the Frizzell journal. |