The Other Other George Bush

bush4
Originally uploaded by fifteeniguana

Take a look at the document on the right. The man's name is an attention-getter, but it's really a distraction.

The important question is why did it require a private act of Congress to permit George W. (for Washington, not Walker) Bush to own the land he had been farming for ten years? Everyone agreed that he was one of the most important pioneers in the northwest, so why couldn't he claim and own a piece of land like every other settler did?

The answer: because he was a Mulatto, and African-Americans were not permitted to own land in Washington Territory.

This gentleman was arguably more interesting than the various other George Bushes that have come along since. A successful merchant, Bush subsidized other members of the wagon train that he and his family used to cross the Oregon Trail. Some of the settlers chose to defy the Hudson Bay Company and become the first Americans to settle north of the Columbia River, because Bush could not live in Oregon (to keep slavery out, they had banned all Blacks). When the first winter hit Bush was one of the very few farmers with crops in the ground and he shared them with his neighbors when he could have made a profit instead.

I remember reading a discussion of Bush's birth year and one historian said, approximately, that of the several possible he was choosing the least likely because, in the case of this man, the least likely usually turned out to be correct.

Why hasn't Hollywood made a movie about this guy?

You can see the full text of the committee report (2 pages) here and here.

File under government, sexism, comics, history...

PS Magazine
Originally uploaded by fifteeniguana

The wonderful folks at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries have digitized PS, the US Army's preventive maintenance magazine. From the 1950s through the 1990s they used comics to teach mechanics how to take care of army equipment. For the first twenty years the art director was none other than the legendary cartoonist, Will Eisner, creator of the Spirit, and inspiration for almost everyone in the business. Not surprisingly, a whole lot of top notch cartoonists put in some time at PS.

The lady on the cover, by the way, is named Connie, and contrary to what you might expect, the beautiful blond is the smart character in the comic, keeping the soldiers from screwing up.

An Encounter With Mr. Browne

Port Townsend
Originally uploaded by onepurplefork

While working with our hundreds of volumes of the Congressional Serial Set I met an old friend today. Volume 1342 of the Serial Set is a report on the mineral resources of the west written by J. Ross Browne.

Browne, an Irish-born gentleman, may be unique in world history. He is the only person I know who made a living by writing 1) government reports and 2) humor.

I know. As a combination it doesn't flow like cup and saucer, does it?

Here is Mr. Browne describing part of our state in his best officialese:

Port Townsend, on the bay of that name, is the county seat. It is the site of the customs-house of Puget Sound; the marine hospital is located here, and at the head of the bay is the military post, (Fort Townsend). The bay is six miles long, four wide, and an excellent harbor.

DId you stay awake through all that? Good for you. Now here is the same Mr. Browne (slightly edited by historian Murray Morgan) writing in one of his unofficial books:

Port Townsend is indeed a remarkable place. The houses, of which there must be at least twenty in the city and suburbs, are built chiefly of pine boards, thatched with shingles, canvas and wood slabs. The streets of Port Townsend are paved with sand, and the public squares are curiously ornamented with dead horses and the bones of many dead cows.

This of course gives a very original appearance to the public pleasure grounds and enables strangers to know when they arrive in the city, by reason of the peculiar odor, so that, even admitting the absence of lamps, no person can fail to recognize Port Townsend in the darkest night.

Oddly enough, the citizens of Port Townsend were not appreciative of Browne’s attentions. But it can be argued that one result of his scandalous description was that when a gold rush hit the Pacific Northwest the only town in the area that every miner knew of – and flocked to – was the wicked city of Port Townsend. Proving, I suppose, that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.