Answer Princes Trixie: Queen of all Educated Horses Autobiography: an accurate account of the sayings and doings of the wisest and most highly educated horse in the world. Free link to the entire book: Link to Book
Using cash register
Using a NCR Cash Register
chapter 1
Cover of Book Princess Trixie
Image from Book
Front Page of book
1904 by Waltermire Studio (Sioux City, IA)
Trixie playing music
News Paper
She worked for NCR
Image from book.
Crowds waiting to see Trixie
Map of Trail in Portland close up Trixie was sharing Space with diving elks
The animal autobiography as a genre is problematic. Princess Trixie: Autobiography: an Accurate Account of the Sayings and Doings of the Wisest and Most Highly Educated Horse in the World is an account of a Grey, ½ Arabian mare who worked internationally as vaudeville entertainer.
The first edition of the book was sold to her fans at the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition and Oriental Fair. Her initial repertoire of bowing, playing the chimes, and simple math grew along with her talents. Now that she was able to count and multiply she was used to market the cash register for National Cash Register Company by demonstrating making change and keeping accounts in check. She performed alongside the two diving elk in Portland. Trixi was an advocate for the humane treatment of animals and was an honorary member of humane societies. Her death in a train wreck was national news in 1909.
Question: To what city did the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exhibition water tower relocate?
Answer: St. Johns
Part One Of Reuse Repurpose, Ravage
My fascination with water towers was kindled during my Place Matter employment. One of the nominated locations was a PWA era public pool, in Harlem NYC. The local narrative iterated by elders was prior to the construction of the PWA pool was learning to swim in rooftop water towers prior to attempting river swims. I have since pestered friends of friends who habited in water towers converted into dwellings and hotels, as well as being drawn to fictional horror stories and researching water tower tragedies like the collapse of the West Bluff Water Tower in Peoria, Illinois. The 1905 Lewis & Clark Exhibition Water Tower was highlighted in Fun Fact #50 in 2019. It was years later that I encountered information that the water towers were relocated.
A Gallery Of Water Tower Images
The first five are of the towers when they were next to the Forestry Building. The green space alien tower is the most recent replacement in St. Johns.
Courtesy Norman Gholston
Courtesy Norman Gholston
Courtesy Norman Gholston
Cropped Courtesy Norman Gholston
Courtesy Norman Gholston
Courtesy St. Johns Review image 2020
In the early 1900s city residents clamored for additional water towers to be built in downtowns as a tool for firefighters. Portland’s Fire Chief Campbell articulated to the press that many costly NW fires could have been avoided if there were more water towers. “Every large city has a water tower as part of the equipment of its fire department.” (9-14-1907 Oregonian p 10). Campbell died in the collapse of the Union Oil Plant building as a result of a fire in 1911. Chief David Campbell is honored along with 76 other Portland Firefighters at Fireman’s Park on SW 18th & Burnside.
The original St Johns Water Tower in 1903 Courtesy St. Johns Review
The City of St. Johns like their neighbor Portland saw the need for additional water towers. Sy. Johns acquired the Lewis & Clark Fair Water Towers that were no longer required after the 400-acre fairgrounds closed on October 15. 1905. This post includes an image of the original towers in 1905 as well as an image of a greatly altered when the round towers were reassembled and added on to an existing rectangular tower. Cassandra Bird published an article for the St. Johns Review as well as the letter to the editor below advocating for preservation:
Although Portland prides itself on oddities, few things are keeping us weird these days. In St. Johns, a green water tower represents pride of place, and the city is trying to sell it. The city says the tank at North Willamette Boulevard and Oswego Street is on track to be “disposed of” because it is no longer “of use.” But it is used as a location marker, it shows our history, it is replicated on postcards, and it defines our skyline.
Oregonian Letter to the Editor 3-24-2021 by Cassondra Bird, Portland
When did the largest recorded meteorite drop by Slabtown?
While the Willamette Meteorite now lives in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, in 1905 it first came to Slabtown to be displayed at the Lewis & Clark Fair. It is believed to be the iron core of a planet that shattered in a stellar collision billions of years ago. The artifact had spiritual meaning for the indigenous people of the area. Sadly, when the Willamette Meteorite was found in 1902 by Ellis Huges (an early settler in West Linn) he started a chain of events that separated “Tomanowos” from the Clackamas people. Mr. Huges found the 15.5-ton meteorite on his neighbor’s land. After failing to purchase the adjoining parcel from the Oregon Iron and Steel Company, he dragged the meteorite ¾ of a mile over to his property, with the assistance of horses and family members—it took him 90 days. The meteorite heist was quickly prosecuted when he was brash enough to charge the public admission to see it. This significant rock had traveled from Canada or Montana some 12,000 years ago in the Missoula Floods. Its short trip to Slabtown, on a specially-built horse-drawn wagon, was barely recorded in the press at the time, owing to the number of 1905 Fair activities. It was sold by Oregon Iron and Steel to a New York socialite who donated it to the Museum in New York.
Courtesy University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division 1905 Transportation of meteorite to L&C Fair grounds.
However, you don’t need to fly to the Big Apple to experience the meteorite. There are two replicas in Oregon—at the United Methodist Church in West Linn and at the University of Oregon in Eugene. A piece of the original meteorite is in the Museum of the Oregon Territory in Oregon City, and another is in the collection of the Oregon Historical Society—Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk loves to show to visitors.
Image courtesy Norman Gholston, Slabtown historian, from his trip to NYC with family c. 2015.
From the plaque in New York: “The Clackamas named the meteorite ‘Tomanowos’. According to the traditions of the Clackamas, Tomanowos is a revered spiritual being that has healed and empowered the people of the valley since the beginning of time. The Clackamas believe that Tomanowos came to the valley as a representative of the Sky People and that a union occurred between the sky, earth, and water when it rested on the ground and collected rainwater in its basins.“
