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THBChicago & Northwest Railway Route Archive Incl. Surveyor's Diary, Photographs, & Sketch of Identified Sioux Brave
About Seller
6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States
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About Auction
LiveNov 17, 2017 - Nov 18, 2017
Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com
View Full Catalog (372)
- Lot Description
Lot contains diary of Surveyor C.W. Irish of Iowa City, IA, dated 1882 with details of an expedition through the Dakotas for the Chicago and Northwest Railway Co. between 1879-1881. Accompanied by 2 cabinet card portraits and a sketch of Jumping Thunder, a Sioux Brave, made in 1880 by the surveyor's daughter.
Diary approx. 4.5 x 7 in., with "C. & N.-W. R'Y CO. / 222," embossed on front cover, referring to the Chicago & Northwest Railway Company. Dates mentioned include September 1879 and April 12, 1881. Locations mentioned in diary include Pierre, Northfield, Old For Sully, Geo. Island, and Antelope Creek. Features numerous sketches with accompanying notes including, "keep away from here," "plenty of dry willows," "frozen man," "low overflow," etc.
The first cabinet card approx. 4.5 x 6.5 in., labelled "C. W. Irish," on verso and dated 1882 on verso. Made in Sperry, Iowa City, Iowa.
The second approx. 4.5 x 6.5 in., featuring a young girl (possibly Ruth Irish), with inscription on verso reading, "'Chain' of events at once interesting and thrilling," and dates March 11, 1882 and August 29, 1880 also inscribed on verso. Made in Sperry, Iowa City, Iowa.
Sketch approx. 23.75 x 5.25 in., done in pencil, inscribed in ink, "Jumping Thunder / A Sioux Brave" on front and "Sketch at Mouth of Bad River 1880" on verso. Verso also features an invitation from the Civil Engineers' Club of the Northwest to a dinner honoring Count Ferdinand De Lesseps at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago. Invitation dated March 26, 1880. Inscription written in pencil at a later date, reading, "Oh the story that hangs over this card / Pierre Dak / Aug 1880," featured on verso.
Charles Wood Irish (1834-1904) was an accomplished American engineer and surveyor, raised and educated in Iowa. He married Susannah Abigail Yarbrough with whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Ruth, the latter of whom is believed to be featured in the second cabinet card. Irish had an impressive career, as he was the city engineer for Iowa City, the first county surveyor in Tama County, Iowa, a member of the Iowa Society of Civil Engineers and the Agassiz Society of Iowa City, and he helped survey the West during the construction of important railroad lines such as the Chicago and Northwestern Lines, the Dakota Railway, and others. He was appointed United States Surveyor General for Nevada in 1886 by President Grover Cleveland, and was made the head of the Bureau of Irrigation and Inquiry in 1893. In addition to his expertise in surveying and engineering, Irish was also interested in botany, geology, and astronomy, even receiving international recognition for his observations of two full eclipses in 1869 and 1889.
"Jumping Thunder," or Psi-Ca-Na-Kin-Yan, was a chief of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. The featured sketch was done by C. W. Irish's daughter at the mouth of the Bad River in Wisconsin, in 1880, likely some time between March and August. This area was a popular destination for Indians seeking instruction at Christian schools. Jumping Thunder was reportedly eager to be more involved with Christianity and made repeated attempts to bring Christianity to his tribe in South Dakota. At this time, Jumping Thunder was quickly rising in the Yankton social ranks, having travelled to Washington as part of a large delegation of Yankton leaders in 1867 and representing the tribe at Pipestone Quarry in 1879. By 1888, he had become one of the principal chiefs of the tribe. He later died of smallpox in 1901.
Information obtained from the Manuscript Register of the Papers of Charles Wood Irish, held by the Special Collections Department at the University of Iowa, accessed on October 13, 2017.
Cabinet cards and sketch/invitation intact, with some discoloration on the C.W. Irish cabinet card. Diary pages intact with some separation between front/back cover and lining.Condition
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