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| The Project | |
| Biography of Bill Reese | |
| >The Odyssey | |
| Overland Westerners Route (Chronological index) | |
| Overland Westerners Route (Alphabetical index) | |
| The Photo Gallery | |
| National Cowboy Museum Home Page | |
| "Dreams
surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought
to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned
of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn
ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those
which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when
a mortal sees them." (From Homer's Odyssey) |
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| At
a time when R. F. Scott reached the South Pole and V. Stefansson and
R. Anderson explored Arctic Canada, George W. Beck, a 30-year-old,
disillusioned, part-time logger in Washington, dreamed of fame, riches,
and making a reputation for himself by making the longest horseback
ride on record. To this end he planned with three of his companions
in 1911 to ride on horseback to every capital in the 48 states, arrive
at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in
1915, put on a show on the midway, and write and publish an account
of this odyssey. Moreover, there lurked the possibilities of lecture
tours, appearances on vaudeville stages, and a filmed travelogue. Joining Beck in this adventure were his younger brother, Charles C. Beck, an unemployed railroad employee who lived at Port Blakely on Bainbridge Island; Jay B. Ransome, a 38-year-old brother-in-law living in Shelton, Washington; and Raymond G. "Fat" Rayne, a 20-year-old friend also living in Shelton. While Charles, Jay and Fat prepared the horses and tack in Shelton, George sought financial support. To underwrite this dream, George went to Seattle and ordered postcards and calendars to advertise their journey, show their zigzag route across the country, and sell as keepsakes. He also reached an agreement with The Westerner, a Seattle magazine, by which the riders would sell subscriptions and the magazine would cover their sojourn. C. A. Osier, author of numerous articles about the Overland Westerners, wrote, "This deal worked fairly well for the Overland Westerners in the western states, bringing in a fair amount of money, many meals and often lodging in small-town hotels. Mid-westerners and folks Down East and in the Deep South, however, showed little interest in a publication from the Far West." |
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With five horses and a 60-pound, one-year old Gordon Setter and Newfoundland named Nip, the enthusiastic quartet began their journey on May 1, 1912 from Shelton. Their first stop was Olympia, Washington 18 miles away where Governor Marion E. Hay awaited. For the next three years averaging 22 miles a day, these travelers would stop at each of the 48 state capitals in the United States, rendezvous with the state's governor or his surrogate, and endure numerous disappointments and hardships including hunger, theft, weather extremes, and rugged trails. Moreover, financial woes came when The Westerner folded before the trip was half completed leaving them bereft of corporate sponsorship. |
| But, in spite of all this, they persevered. While in Boise, Idaho in June 1912, George rode in a show produced by a traveling 101 Wild West Show. He rode Pinto, a 15-hand, 912-pound, six-year-old Morgan Arabian horse originally used as the packhorse. As the journey progressed, the original horses, suffering from fatigue and saddle sores, were traded for fresh horses with the local people. More often than not, the Westerners had to pay a premium in addition to trading the weary horses. Becoming George's favorite, Pinto was never traded or sold. |  |
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Arriving in Madison, Wisconsin on November 25, 1912 in the cold and flying snow, George Beck wrote, "Time for us to head south. Fact of the matter, we are way behind time. The ducks and geese are already there. Here we are thawing out bridle bits, sitting on cold rumps on frost-bitten saddles. We're dumbheads, but we're going to keep on being dumbheads." |
| By May 1913 the group was in Florida having gone
through Tennessee and Alabama. Beck wrote, "We aren't much shakes in the South. The best thing I can say, it's warm and we all got thawed out. The country is porely [sic] and the folks seem do-less -- just settin' around waitin' for something to happen...Cards, calendars, subs [subscriptions] were of little interest. We were just four men ridin' horseback." |
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In October 1913 they found in Maine a lovely country and fine people, mildly suspicious of four fellows who had nothin' better to do but ride horseback - but friendly nevertheless." From there they continued through Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. |
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During 1914, a story about a $20,000 prize offered by the Northwestern
Stockmen's Association circulated. Denied by Beck, the story stated
that if the party reached San Francisco with Pinto on June 1, 1915,
they were to receive $1 for each mile. While Beck hoped that the
prize money was a reality, he observed "but as of now, we are
hustling for our expenses and we're sleeping on barn floors, in
haystacks and in abandoned shanties." Meanwhile, the Panama
Canal opened in August. |
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| They reached Sacramento, California on May 24, 1915, the final state capital. Between them they had spent $9,000, had endured 1,127 days of riding, and had used 17 horses, several of which had died on the trail. Anticipating large enthusiastic crowds, the four with Nip and Pinto moved on to San Francisco and the Exposition. They arrived on June 1 to no crowds and no riches. They were greeted by one spectator's demand to "get them hayburners off the street." They had achieved fleeting fame through columns in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Call and The Examiner, but as Osier writes the midway at the Exposition was flopping, "dying in the breeze from San Francisco Bay." Beck wrote, "The pot of gold we had been pursuing had moved out, way out into the Pacific Ocean." Six months before, Alexander Graham Bell in New York had telephoned Mr. Watson who at this time was in San Francisco to celebrate the first transcontinental telephone line. |  |
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Beck's disheartened saddle mates
sold their horses, saddles, bridles, and gear and took a train to
Seattle and home. Beck stayed in San Francisco unsuccessfully lobbying
vaudeville agents, theatrical and moving picture people, and authors
like Jack London, Rex Beach, and Peter B. Kyne to write their story.
He returned with Nip and Pinto to Puget Sound on a tramp steamer.
He attempted to write a book about his adventures, but he said,
"I wrote it sweet enough, but it came up sour." Surely
Beck's dreams had passed through Homer's sawn ivory gate. For more about the Overland Westerners: Overland Westerners, Box #19, McCracken Reference Library, Bainbridge Island Historical Society and Museum, Bainbridge Island, Washington. The Museum possesses two original journals written by George W. Beck labeled No. 1 (1912) and No. 5 (1913). Judith Hartstone, "Three-Year Journey No Mere Tall Tale from the Saddle," The Bremerton Sun, Sunday, April 17, 1994. The Long Riders' Guild, http://www.thelongridersguild.com/Records.htm Cuchullain O'Reilly, "Four Forgotten Heroes Rode 20,000 Miles," Riding Holidays http://www.ridingholidays.com/magazine/feb2000/020001.htm C. A. Osier, "Saddled, Bridled, Ready to Ride" Frontier Times, V. 41, No. 1 (Dec-Jan. 1967), 36-38, 48-49. C. A. (Joe) Osier, "20,000 Miles in the Saddle from Dixie to the Rockies, four horsemen plod toward their 'pot of gold'," Empire Magazine, (Aug. 30, 1964), 10-12. C. A. Osier, "U.S. Horseback Tour of 1912," Seattle Times, Sunday, July 18, 1948, 5. |
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