Books with title The Circus Boys Across the Continent

In 1884, with a job offer to become City Editor of the Los Angeles Times, Charles Fletcher Lummis determined to walk to his new job from Ohio, covering over 3,500 miles through 8 states and territories. He witnessed and documented the end of the old American West and the beginning of the modern age, which picked new winners and losers. Adventurous author, passionate Indian rights activist, pioneering reporter, workaholic newspaper editor, librarian, poet, anthropologist and archeologist, Charles Fletcher Lummis was a great colorful individualist, who explored and popularized the facts and legends of the American Southwest. In this first person narrative, never before recorded as an audio book, Lummis describes the invasion of the West by investors, forcing out small miners and ranchers. He sees the last of the buffalo, is nearly murdered by prisoners, visits the Southwest Indian pueblos before there were highways, befriends a dog who goes mad, performs self surgery while alone in the wild, is nearly frozen in a blizzard and meets the great colorful characters of the American West.

Charles Fletcher Lummis (1859 – 1928) was a United States journalist and Indian rights and historic preservation activist; he is also known as a historian, photographer, ethnographer, archaeologist, poet and librarian.Whoever aspires to the adventures of "A Tramp Across the Continent" would do well first to read those of Charles F. Lummis. What is the author's ground for characterizing his tramp from Ohio to California as "joy on legs" is difficult for a reader of his hardships and hairbreadth escapes to detect. If not between the devil and the deep sea at every step, rattlesnakes, centipedes, striped skunks, prickly pears, coyotes, wildcats, and a dog companion finally going mad, served the same purpose. The tramp, however, as described in the graphic, frequently thrilling style of the traveler, is such as any one would delight to take—on paper, between covers. Every step of the way is photographed. The book commends itself especially to the youth yearning for the unfettered luxury of ranch or frontier. There is probably not one young fellow in a thousand who would have shown the nerve and persistence of Lummis in this tramp. His book has such heart in it, such simplicity and strength, it Is as good to read as any story of adventure may be. The book is full of quotable passages, and the best service one can do any reader is to refer him to the volume itself. He will not find a dull page in it. There is plenty of humor and on the whole a better or more amusing book of its sort cannot be found. It is capital reading for all, old and young. There is, of course. a great deal about hunting and fishing in the book. A typical passage from the book is as follows:"Near Magnolia a hard, mean-faced, foul-mouthed fellow met me, and before I fairly noticed him, had a cocked revolver under my nose with a demand to "give up my stuff." I was considerably worried, but a look into his eyes convinced me that he lacked what is called, in the expressive idiom of the plains, "sand." "Well," I drawled, "I haven't very much, but what there is you are welcome to," and unbuttoning my coat deliberately, as if for a pocketbook, I jerked out the big, hidden forty-four, knocked the pistol from his fist with the heavy barrel in the same motion, and gave him a turn at looking down a muzzle. Now he was as craven as he had been abusive, and begged and knelt and blubbered like the cowardly cur he was. I pocketed his pistol, which is still among my relics, gave him a few hearty kicks and cuffs for the horrible names he had called me when he was "in power," and left him grovelling there."CONTENTSI. The Start And The Reasons II. Really "out West"III. In And Out Among The RockiesIV. Mountain DaysV. Skirting The RockiesVI. Over The DivideVII. The Land Of The AdobeVIII. The Mineral BeltIX. Pulling Through A Narrow Escape X. The Fiesta De Los MuertosXI. Across The Rio GrandeXII. From Cabero To San MateoXIII. Territorial TypesXIV. With The NomadsXV. A Streak or LeanXVI. Western ArizonaXVII. The Verge Of The DesertXVIII. The Worst Of ItXIX. On The Home Stretch This book originally published in 1892 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.

Charles F. Lummis tells of an America long departed, when the western and southern frontiers were wilderness, nature untrammeled and settlers rugged in the face of unforgiving conditions. Written as a retrospective of the adventurer's youth, A Tramp Across the Continent, through its varied events and encounters, transports the reader to an era lost to time. The tale begins in 1884, when the author - disgruntled and unhappy with the tedium of everyday life - sets off from Ohio with the intention of reaching California on foot. His trek, spanning some 3,500 miles and 144 days, is filled with joy, pain and lessons aplenty. The author traverses several of North America's most distinctive landscapes; the bare Midwestern plains, the rugged Rocky Mountains, the deserts of Arizona, and finally the valleys and hills of California. It is the people however which make the journey of Lummis so unique; he is accosted by outlaws multiple times, but evades robbery with a combination of sheer bravado and his trusty revolver. While the author reflects on the people and landscapes he traverses, his narrative proceeds at a good pace. Whether Lummis is watching mean convicts do hard labor in the sun or partaking in the happy fiestas of local Mexican migrants, his descriptions are lively and evocative. Surprises are frequently in store; relying sometimes on mere prejudice, the young Lummis is surprised to be welcomed by those he felt would shun him, and cast out from places he'd assumed hospitable.

Excerpt from A Tramp Across the ContinentI would have this unpretentious book taken only for what it is the wayside notes of a happy vagabondizing. It was written in hurried moments by the coal-oil lamps of country hotels, the tallow dips of section-house or ranch, the smoky pine knots of the cowboy's or the hunter's cabin, the crackling fogon of a Mexican adobe, or the snapping greasewood of my lonely campfire upon the plains; and from that vagrant body and Spirit I have not tried to over-civilize it. A prim chronicle of such a trip would be no chronicle at all. Nor have I desired to make it either an atlas or an encyclo paedia of the country. Economic and geographic essays do not belong within its s00pe. It is merely a truthful record of some of the experiences and impressions of a walk across the continent - the diary of a man who got outside the fences of civil ization and was glad of it. It is the simple story of joy on legs.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

When young Charles Lummis heard about a job in the small town of Los Angeles more than a century ago, he walked all the way to it—across the plains, up Pike's Peak, down Devil's Gorge, through the Grand Canyon, over the desert. It was, by conservative estimate, one of the grandest hikes in American history. With no reason to be modest, Lummis called his "unpretentious" account of it "the wayside notes of a happy vagabonding."

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

In 1884, with a job offer to become City Editor of the Los Angeles Times, Charles Fletcher Lummis determined to walk to his new job from Ohio, covering over 3,500 miles through 8 states and territories. He witnessed and documented the end of the old American West and the beginning of the modern age, which picked new winners and losers. In this first person narrative, never before recorded as an audio book, Lummis describes the invasion of the West by investors, forcing out small miners and ranchers. He sees the last of the buffalo, is nearly murdered by prisoners, visits the Southwest Indian pueblos before there were highways, befriends a dog who goes mad, performs self surgery while alone in the wild, is nearly frozen in a blizzard and meets the great colorful characters of the American West.

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1917. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... PREFACE I Would have this unpretentious book taken only for what it is -- the wayside notes of a happy vagabondizing. It was written in hurried moments by the coal-oil lamps of country hotels, the tallow dips of section-house or ranch, the smoky pineknots of the cowboy's or the hunter's cabin, the crackling fogon of a Mexican adobe, or the snapping greasewood of my lonely campfire upon the plains; and from that vagrant body and spirit I have not tried to over-civilize it. A prim chronicle of such a trip would be no chronicle at all. Nor have I desired to make it either an atlas or an encyclopaedia of the country. Economic and geographic essays do not belong within its scope. It is merely a truthful record of some of the experiences and impressions of a walk across the continent -- the diary of a man who got outside the fences of civilization and was glad of it. It is the simple story of joy on legs. I THE START AND THE REASONS Good-bye to Malaria.--A Walk for Fun.--Amateur Robbers and the Great Professional.--Personally-Conducted Fishing.-- The Beginnings of "Woolliness."--Joy on Legs. But why tramp? Are there not railroads and Pullmans enough, that you must walk? That is what a great many of my friends said when they learned of my determination to travel from Ohio to California on foot; and very likely it is the question that will first come to your mind in reading of the longest walk for pure pleasure that is on record. But railroads and Pullmans were invented to help us hurry through life and miss most of the pleasure of it -- and most of the profit, too, except of that jingling, only half-satisfying sort which can be footed up in the ledger. I was after neither time nor money, but life -- not life in the pathetic meaning of ...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.