Week 1– In the beginning

The John Cabell Family

In 1900, many family letters traveled between Portland, Oregon and Baker City. John Cabell received treatments in a sanitarium in Portland for a liver ailment. Bessie Cabell lived in Baker City with her parents and their two children.

In Frances’s Scrapbook and collections, I found these letters. The letters tell how this family struggled to get back to their mountain home. This home was where Bessie began her married life and where their children spent their first years. They had married on August 23, 1893 at St. Stephens Church in Baker City.

In the beginning, they lived in a cabin on a mountainside, high above the gold mining town of Granite, Oregon. This particular spot held a place in the hearts of the John and Bessie Cabell. They lived there during the mining season. In the off season they lived in Baker City.

Their Cabin on the Mountainside

The large Baker City house standing at 1325 3^rd Street belonged to Frances’s grandparents, Edwin Reynolds and Margaret Ferguson Reynolds. This is where Frances was born on March 8, 1896. Her father, John Cabell owned and worked a silver mine, La Bellevue, with his brother, Frederick Cabell. La Bellevue Mine was located at an altitude of 7,490 Feet in the Blue Mountain range. The nearest town, Granite, was a few miles down the mountain and at the level of 4,675 feet. John, Bessie, Rodolph and Frances lived in a small cabin downhill from La Bellevue Mine. People who spent the winter here were often snowed in. They got their mail about once a month and ate a lot of beans. John had spent winters in the mountains; but Bessie had not.

Nell, the sturdy mare in the photograph, transported the family from their cabin to Granite. In Granite, they bought groceries, got their mail and used the phone at Granite Grand Hotel. This photo shows John holding their first child, Rodolph on Nell, the horse, with Bessie looking at them. Bessie’s sister, Frances Cooke, is standing in the back. This photo was probably taken in the spring of 1895.

Letters from John

Then a long illness triggered two stays for John at Portland Sanitarium before he died on September 6. 1901. John Cabell wrote often to his young wife, Bessie Reynolds Cabell, during his time at Portland Sanitarium.

In John’s letters to Bessie, he called his son “My Rascal Rodolph. He called Frances the “Baby”.

On June 29, 1900, John wrote, “Tell my little rascal Rodolph not to run his legs off because he can’t have his Papa when he goes to the mine. Tell the baby she must think of her Papa every day.

During his stay at Portland Sanitarium, Bessie sent him this portrait photograph of Rodolph and Frances. The portrait, made by Parker’s Studio in Baker City, Oregon, owned by Roland and Viola Hazeltine Parker. Viola’s father, Martin Hazeltine, was an extremely successful land photographer and traveled throughout the West. He settled in Baker City and set up a studio there.

Frances, aged 4, and Rodolph, aged 6, are dressed in bows and frills. Frances, with her naturally curly hair and square face, smiled a quiet little smile. When I first met her 70 years later, she welcomed me with that smile.

Papa Plans to Come Home

In his August 9, 1900, letter, John calls Frances his little girl. He writes, “Tell Frances I am going to bring her a rocking chair.”

John expressed his longing for home and family in every letter. He wanted it to be their mountain home uphill of Granite. He began buying and sending items home– overalls, boots, a warm coat for Bessie and a mackintosh for everyone. The mackintosh he sent for Frances dragged on the ground.

Bessie complained; John replied, “Hem it up.”

Meet Me in Sumpter

The trip back to eastern Oregon involved a train ride on the Oregon Short Line from Portland to Baker City. From there he would catch the Sumpter Valley Railway from Baker City to Sumpter. Bessie was to meet John in Sumpter, arriving in her horse cart pulled by their mare, Nell.

In 1900, the narrow gauge Sumpter Valley Railway carried people and goods from Baker City to Sumpter. Then it traveled beyond to Prairie City.  The Oregon Short Line Railroad offered service between Portland, Oregon and Baker City.

John outlined the plan in his letters to Bessie. First he would take the train from Portland to Baker City. Then, from there he would board the Sumpter Valley train to Sumpter. This train, pulled by a steam powered locomotive, traveled 60 miles with many stops. Sumpter where Bessie and the children planned to meet John, was about 29 miles from Baker City.

Many of John’s July letters gave Bessie directions on how to do this.

He wanted Bessie to practice driving the horse cart with Nell under the harness. He told her it would give her and the children a nice break from her parents. He reminded her Nell would need extra hay and oats for long drives and to hobble Nell at stops. Bessie found they needed a new cart and harness. They debated letting Bessie’s Eleven-year-old brother, Louis Reynolds, drive to pick up John alone and decided against it. Louis accompanied Bessie and the children to Granite on the first part of the journey to get John back.

They coordinated their arrivals through the telephone at the Grand Hotel at Granite and telegrams to Baker City. With the repaired harness and the new cart, they did it. The last 1900 letter from John sent from Portland Sanitarium arrived August 11, 1900. It was addressed to Mrs. J. B. Cabell, Granite, Oregon. Bessie had made it to Granite.

Mistake in the 1900 Census Numbers

The first time John was counted was at the Portland Sanitarium in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon. The date on this record is June 14, 1900. One of John’s earlier letters from this institution to Bessie is dated June 7, 1900. So, it would seem, John entered Portland Sanitarium in early June.

On June 18, 1900, Charles Stuller, enumerator for the 1900 U.S. Census survey for Baker City, Baker, Oregon arrived at the door of Edwin Reynolds house on 3^rd Street. Here he counted nine people. They were Edwin Reynolds, Margaret his wife, Louis, Millie, Bessie Cabell, John her husband, Grandson Rodolph and Granddaughter Frances.

Two days later, June 20, 1900, another census taker counted John, Bessie, Rodolph and Frances. This time they were in the Granite City District of Grant County, Oregon.

Sadly, John returned to Portland Sanitarium about eleven months later in July of 1901. In August, Bessie, Rudolph and Frances followed him and were with him when he died on September 6, 1901.

Afterward

In 1985, a grandson, the son of the one John called my rascal Rodolph visited the cabin on the mountainside. This grandson, Rodolph Cabell, Jr. took a photo of what was left of the cabin.

On the back of this photo, Rudy, Jr. wrote remains of cabin in which John Cabell and Bessie (his wife) lived.