Dear Parents, April 11, 1879
I know you are anxious to hear from me as soon a possible so I will write this morning. We1 got here all right and sound. Got here yesterday about 2:00 P.M. Would have got here sooner but was delayed in Buffalo the same night we started. We arrived about 12:00 midnight and had to stay there about four hours in consequence of a smash up near Rochester on the other road. As we were delayed in Buffalo we stayed here all night. I was not sorry for we was tired enough to rest. We got a good room at the Washington Hotel and left there at 10:10 Wednesday morning.
We have had a nice trip and seen a good deal of country and come through a pile of cities. I am happily disappointed in the country of Brainerd. It is quite level here.This morning I have been through the RR Shops with Tom Congdon.2 Stayed in the store last night with Charlie. Today I am going to get out to the river.3 There seems to be a lot of business here. I probably won't get work this week. I won't try to write much this morning only I am well and have felt well throughout the trip with the exception of the night we got to Chicago. There I had a slight touch of the headache.
1. "We" -- It's not known who else was traveling with Herb from Nelson, PA to Brainerd, MN.
2. Herb had grown up in Nelson with his older 1st cousins, Thomas Edward Congdon (later know as Edward T. Congdon or just Ed Congdon and Charles H. Congdon. Ed moved to Brainerd in 1872 and worked as a painter for the Northern Pacific RR and was later promoted to foreman. Several of Ed's Congdon cousins had also moved to Brainere before Herb's arrival. Charlie Congdon was only a year older than Herb, but waited till graduating from Mansfield Normal School in 1876 before moving to Brainerd to teach.
3. The Mississippi.
HTML and annotations by Wm. B. Thompson, Mar. 22, 2015 from a transcription by Roger R. Hughey.
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