Diaries of John Riley Robinson

These diaries document the travels of John Riley Robinson to and from the silver mines he owned in Batopilas, Mexico.  When John made his first trip to Batopilas, in 1861, the railroad was only completed to several hundred miles west of the Mississippi river.  The second diary describes a trip from Batopilas to New York in 1873, this trip took only one month, most of that time was spent getting to Austin, Texas, from which he could then take a train the remainder of the trip arriving in two days

In addition to describing the arduous journey, John's diaries contain comments about the events of the day.  His first trip to Batopilas took place at the start of the U.S. Civil war, he wrote a few of his thoughts about the newly elected President Lincoln, and had to change his route home because of the fighting in Missouri.

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