My Trip Around the World: August, 1895-May, 1896

She sets out in August 1895 with a bittersweet longing, hoping the journey will inspire her young grandsons to explore far‑off lands. The expedition begins on familiar American soil, crossing the wheat‑golden fields of Minnesota and the stark prairies of the Dakotas, where lone travelers and occasional Indigenous traders punctuate the endless rail line. Early observations of buffalo tracks, bone shipments, and the raw wilderness give the narrative a vivid, almost tactile sense of a continent in transition.

The party’s first major stop is Glacier House, a chalet‑like refuge perched above 5,000‑foot peaks in the Selkirk Mountains. From its piazza they watch sunrise melt snow into golden mist, listen to the roar of waterfalls, and share stories with fellow adventurers gathered around a coal stove. The dramatic rail climb through gorges and trestles, shrouded at times in smoke, leaves an indelible impression of nature’s grandeur that drives the traveler onward toward the Pacific and beyond.