For the last year, every Saturday I have posted a Karl Chronicle documenting my journey following Karl Creelman around the world. Today Dear Reader is Blog #50! To date we have travelled about 3000 km from Truro, Nova Scotia to North McGregor, Iowa, a mere fraction of our total journey planned around the world.
So for this 50th Chronicle, if you feel you don’t have the time to read prior blogs, let me catch you up, here’s our story to date in 50 highlights.
In 2003, art students completed a decorative mural on the wall parallel to the railway station in Truro, Nova Scotia.
In 2016, Louise Trotter photographed the mural and was intrigued by the illustration of a young man riding a bicycle with a sign that read: Karl M. Creelman Around the World.
A “google” of the phrase Karl Wheel Around the World led to a reference about Karl Creelman, a young man from Truro, Nova Scotia who was the first Canadian to bicycle around the world in 1899.
Between 2016 - 2019, Louise spent countless hours at the Colchester Historical Archives researching the primary materials related to Karl and then tangent articles and historical facts.
In 2017, the mural was covered with siding.
In 2020, Louise set out her quest: to follow Karl’s trail around the world and photograph the places he visited.
Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire from 1837 till her death in 1901.
The British Empire was a vast network of territories and colonies covering a quarter of the Earth’s land surface, including the Dominion of Canada, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, and parts of Europe.
The Suez Canal opened in 1869, providing a passage between India and Europe that saved 15 days of travel for this journey.
In 1873, Jules Verne set his fictional protagonist Phileas Fogg on his mission Around the World in Eighty Days.
Karl M. Creelman was born in Upper Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1878.
The Dominion of Canada comprised the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. By 1899, there was a small region around the City of Winnipeg that was the entirety of the “Province of Manitoba,” then British Columbia joined as the sixth province, followed by Prince Edward Island.
On March 18, 1899, the Truro Daily News published an announcement that Karl Creelman intends to start an adventure riding his bicycle around the world.
On Thursday, May 11, 1899, at 12:45, Karl M. Creelman began an adventure after parting from his family - father, mother, one brother and five sisters.
It was only Karl’s third time riding a bicycle.
Three days after he departed Truro, Karl wrote a letter home to his younger sister Mattie (Marta Creelman) itemizing what he had packed: “A box of puke pills, a box of headache powders, a box of carbolic salve, a 2.0 lead pencil, ¼ thousand envelopes, and a suit of clothes.”
This was the first of over 40 letters sent to younger sister Mattie. Mattie was six years younger than Karl, so age 15 when he first departed on his journey.
Karl also packed a small, leather-bound book to get stamped by the postmaster in each town to verify his travels.
As reported in the Truro Daily News — a few days after his departure — Karl wrote: “Leaving Truro on my trip around the globe on the 11th, I naturally felt a little blue, but I outgrew it all in a few hours.”
When Karl returned from around the world back to Canada, he gave a series of lectures on his travels and told stories about his experiences. There are newspaper accounts that reference that these lectures used magic lantern pictures — a projector of sorts that Karl used to share photographs from his journey. To date, Louise has not been able to find these photos.
Louise mapped out her 75,000 km journey, ensuring that she travels to every location Karl documented on his trip. Also, she added to her itinerary some of those places Karl originally planned to visit (Japan, Hong Kong, Tasmania, New Zealand and Italy)
Louise plans to complete her trip around the world in segments and document her journey in the weekly Karl Chronicles.
Karl’s first stop required him to walk five miles over sandy roads to reach Acadia Mines. At the time, Acadia Mines had been operating three local mines for about 50 years producing over 2 million tons of iron ore and would have been quite a bustling mining town.
The first stamp in Karl’s book was from the Town of Amherst. The Amherst post office occupied space in the building located at 50 East Victoria Street. Although the old post office no longer exists, the building, with its red and grey sandstone, is still prominent in Amherst.
A mere 15 years later, a POW camp in Canada was established and existed until the end of the war in September 1919. There were 853 prisoners imprisoned at the camp, one of those was Leon Trotsky, the Russian Revolutionary. Trotsky, released after one month of imprisonment, never forgave Canada and vowed that he would take action regarding the “outrageous treatment of Russian citizens by the Anglo-Canadian police.”
Henry Ketchum, a New Brunswick-born civil engineer, proposed a ship railway across the narrow, 23km strip of land known as the Isthmus of Chignecto that links Nova Scotia to New Brunswick. Construction commenced in 1888, but it was never completed, all that remains today is the Tidnish Keystone Bridge, a testament to an ambitious engineering project.
On May 17th, 1899, the Moncton Times reported that Karl had arrived in New Brunswick, it was the first time he had left his native province.
On August 14th, 2020, Louise left Nova Scotia to follow Karl’s journey. Except she almost didn’t after running out of gas a mere 40 km into her journey. Allen from Sparkle Brite Auto and Towing arrived and emptied the 10L of gas from his Gerry can into her bone dry tank.
Karl’s first stop in New Brunswick was at the newly constructed Dorchester Penitentiary, where he had a personal tour scheduled with the Chief Steward. At that time, of the 307 inmates, the majority of convictions were crimes of larceny, breaking, entering and stealing, arson, receiving stolen goods, and wounding with intent.
Louise opted instead to tour Canada’s first prison museum at the neighbouring Keillor Museum in Dorchester. The museum houses a collection of items from daily life in the Dorchester Penitentiary including shoes made by those inmates visited by Karl.
Karl spent the night at the newly opened Windsor Hotel in Dorchester. The hotel was a 5 storied building with a capacity for 75 guests, offering a daily rate of $1.50 to $3.00.
Karl arrived in the Celestial City which is no longer recognized by its nickname and is simply Fredericton, the capital city of New Brunswick.
Incorporated in the province on May 1, 1856, Woodstock is New Brunswick’s first town. Proud of its history, Woodstock offers a Heritage Walking Tour to see some of the original 19th Century Victorian Heritage homes. Louise completed this walk while visiting Woodstock photographing those homes that Karl may have seen.
When Karl passed through Grand Falls a significant construction project was underway and the work was attributed to a company that included Sir William Van Horne, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R). This project at Grand Falls remains the largest waterfall east of Ontario’s Niagara Falls, and the power is still harnessed to generate electricity.
As Karl made his way through New Brunswick, he would have biked over bridges to cross rivers and streams as he travelled onwards to Quebec. Many of those original bridges were covered to preserve the wooden construction. Louise travelled through many of these bridges including the longest covered bridge in the world in Hartland.
On June 8, 1899, Karl travelled to Rivière-du-Loup via the Madawaska River and along the Temiscouata railway. “The road was not very good at all, and after that, for the next 51 miles, it was frightful for miles there was nothing to wheel on except a cow path, and for 35 miles it was principally uphill, or up a succession of hills.”
Karl couldn’t speak any French. Louise thinks she can speak French.
To stay authentic to Karl’s experience in Quebec City, Louise booked her accommodation in Levis and took the ferry over to the old historic city. Like Karl, she explored the lower town including little Champlain Street then took the stairs to the upper town along Dufferin Terrace to the Plains of Abraham.
When describing his visit to Quebec City, Karl referenced the “large C.P.R. hotel as a magnificent structure.” This hotel is the Château Frontenac, a historic site of Canada and one of the world’s most photographed hotels with fantastic views of the St. Lawrence River and Quebec City.
When Karl arrived in Montréal, it was the biggest city in British North America, a busy metropolis, an important port amid expansion and prosperity. But Karl did not seem very enthusiastic about Montréal. Louise is very enthusiastic about Montréal but appreciates that it is a very different city than what was experienced by Karl.
In 1895 a monument was erected at Crysler’s Farm. Four years later, Karl rode his bicycle here and Louise visited 125 years after that. The Battle of Crysler’s Farm is considered one of the decisive land battles of the War of 1812 ending the American campaign for Montréal.
On his way to Kingston, Karl slept outside in train station buildings, saying that he was “trying to get tougher” although Louise suspects it may have been because he had no money. On her adventure, Louise prefers to sleep in hotels.
After Karl left Brantford, he was riding the famous “Red Bird” bicycle made by the local Goold Bicycle Company. By 1891, the company employed 50 men and manufactured 1,500 bicycles a year.
When Karl arrived in Chicago, the city was being rebuilt as a result of the Great Fire of 1871. The event catapulted Chicago into a city with renowned world-class architecture. Louise observed that the current evolution of Chicago’s architecture seems to be attributed to female Architects, designing beyond the conventional boundaries.
In Chicago, Karl was robbed of a brand new pair of suspenders for which he had paid exactly 13 cents. Crime tarnished Chicago’s reputation for some time, especially by 1920 when Al Capone moved to Chicago and went on to become the most notorious crime boss in American history. According to all current data reports Chicago does not rank high as a violent city in comparison to other places in America.
In 1897, the Western Camera Manufacturing Company of Chicago started producing magazine cameras housed in wooden boxes with a leather cover–– they called their camera the Cyclone. Karl wrote to the Truro newspaper from Chicago, he proudly stated he will be using the Cyclone camera for the rest of his journey.
Louise ventured to the Central Camera Company photographic emporium, Chicago’s oldest camera store, in business since 1899. Hoping to learn more about Karl’s cyclone camera, she spent the morning with Don Flesch, the store’s third-generation owner.
Karl’s book with his postmarked stamps confirms that he was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 31, 1899. When Louise arrived in Milwaukee, she discovered the 'Burke Brise Soleil' — the “wings” of MAM, a moveable sunscreen with a 217-foot wingspan that open and close throughout the day.
Karl biked northeast through Wisconsin, where over ninety percent of the farms in 1899 were dairy farms. Today, Wisconsin is the second-largest dairy producer in the United States, generating 2.4 billion pounds of milk per month, and also the largest cheese producer. There are over 7,000 registered dairy farms in Wisconsin today — equating to 3,350,000 cows in Wisconsin.
On August 4, 1899, after arriving in North McGregor, Iowa, Karl checked into the Depot Hotel and then used the hotel stationery to write letters to his family, first to sister Mattie and then to his Father.
So here we are in North McGregor, Iowa. I hope you join me next week for the Karl Chronicles as we continue through the American MidWest and then head north back to the Dominion of Canada.