HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG0739.AM: Samuel Finley Blythe, 1842-1928
Diaries (typescript): 1866-1867
Overland traveler
Size: One folder
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection consists of an annotated typescript of two diaries kept by Samuel Finley Blythe during his overland trail journey to California (1866-1867) and a memoir written by Blythe in the 1920s. Titled, “Saga of the Prairies,” Blythe writes of his journeys from Eaton, Ohio, to the Montana Territory (around Virginia City), and eventually traveling to California. He writes of his travels by wagon train, railroad, stage coach, horse and boat. Some of his writings discuss his service during the Civil War and he mentions several friends, including Henry Kline, Robert Denny, Pliny Crume and William E. Lockwood. He also writes at length about being a printer.
Blythe’s grandson, George Finley Marlor edited the diaries and recollections. The original diaries are held by the Oregon Historical Society.
INVENTORY
Diary typescripts, 1866-1867
Subject headings:
Blythe, Samuel Finley, 1842-1928
Frontier & pioneer life
Gallatine River Valley (Montana Territory)
Gold mining
Helena (Montana Territory)
Indians of North America
Lockwood, William E.
Montana — Description and travel
Nebraska — Description and travel
Newspapers
Printers
Printing
Stagecoaches
Travel
Virginia City (Montana Territory)
Wagon trains
Revised TMM 01-16-2016
