A Long Bicycle Trip by Two Washington Men.

Ariel 1

In search of the route Babcock and Turner made during the Klondike era.

In 1896, two Washington state men, William F. Babcock of Seattle and Arthur L. Turner of Port Townsend embarked on a bicycle tour across the country. Their exploits were recounted in journals and letters as well as in local newspaper articles that speak volumes about the attitudes and concerns of citizens in a country barely more that a century old. With a great effort, my wife's family (all Babcocks) has been able to reconstruct a reasonably complete accounting of this trip, and here it is.

The start of my trip was on July 10th, 1996, leaving from the Federal Building in Seattle (914 First Avenue was the original address). I followed (roughly) the trail of Babcock and Turner, crossing the Cascade Mountains and Columbia basin in Washington, over the Rockies and across the Great Plains to Chicago and on to Boston, a trip that took them three months to complete. But no more hinting about what they found. Here is my contribution to their remarkable story.

Dennis Bell

Seattle, Washington

P.S. I am eager to receive comments and reactions about this web site. Feel free to contact me at the following address: dennisbell@eudoramail.com

  • Prologue
  • Map
  • The Plan
  • Official Announcement
  • Journal Entries
  • Trip Pictures and other assorted things...
  • The Wheels
  • Day by Day
  • The Actual Route(low res .jpg) FAST TO LOAD
  • The Actual Route(high res .gif) LARGE FILES
  • Epilogue
  • Acknowledgments

    • Copyright (c) 1996 by Dennis Bell. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

    Much appreciation goes to my employer, WRQ, both for giving me the time to do this project properly, and for supplying much of the technology behind it.