SIDETRACKED

Sidetracked

Often, okay, way too often, I get distracted when doing research. This was just too good to pass up. Yesterday I was looking into Mrs. I. S. Bartlett whose husband wrote one of the early histories of Wyoming. I was interested because Mary Jane Bartlett was nominated by legislative caucus for the United States Senate. It went no farther than the nomination but is still significant as women did not yet have the right to vote. More on her later, today I wanted to point out what sidetracked me, and it was, a newspaper, a really old one.

Sometimes it is easy to get distracted. 

Not Today’s Newspaper

The distracting newspaper was July 24, 1890, edition of the Cheyenne Sun. What did I find such good reading that I was distracted? The ads, that’s what.

I have attempted to reproduce three of the ads below, staying fateful to line lengths, punctuation, spelling, and spacing. All of these ads ran along the right-hand edge of page four and were column width, about two and a half or three inches, on the six column newspaper.

Add # 1 – From the - Wyoming Shoe Store at 807 16^th street

Men’s Shoes from $1.50 up.

Ladies’ Shoes’ from $1.25 up.

Boys’ and Misses’ School

Shoes from $1.25 up.

     Custom Boots and Shoes

made to order. 

Repairing of kinds neatly executed

 at reasonable prices.

     Mr. Henry Morley is now

 with us. His friends can still

 have their corns attended to.

  MYERS & FOSTER,

307 Sixteenth street.

*******************************************************************

Add # 2 – From – A. Underwood & Bro. 314 17, Street

Let us beat into you that you

Can’t get something for nothing.

That’s foolish.  But you can get a

Suit of underwear for a dollar,

Which is near it.  We can make a

gentleman out of the worst looking

tramp in half an hour. You’re not

a tramp, of course, but let us show

you what we can do for you in the

way of freshening up you appear-

ance cheaply.

                                     Truckey,

                 The Hatter and Hustler.

Add # 3 – From – B. B. David – Druggist

             B. B, DAVID

                   WHOLESALE AND RETAIL

             DRUGGIST

       ____

PRESCRIPTIONS CAREFULLY

           COMPOUNDED.

                  _____

                          A FULL LINE OF

Patent Medicines, Perfumery, Toi-

    let Articles, Soaps, Imported

        and Domestic Cigars.

                   ______

Corner Sixteenth and Eddy Streets.

A note about the title of this post, the word sidetracked, came, of course, with the railroad industry. As the rail lines expanded more and more sidetracks were needed. The word came into being in the late 1800s with the railroad but was not much used until around 1900. 

This game often sidetracks me from what I should be doing, But, it's worth it.