----Source: Greenwood Gleaner, 8/23/1901

LETTER FROM JIM NEVILLE

Hood River, Oregon, July 24, 1901

Dear Gleaner:

When nothing of interest is going on around I shall devote a little time writing to you. I left old Wisconsin the first time April 22, 1901. Of course I got the western fever the same as many others that came west. Well, I reached here without being robbed. I think that's doing pretty well for a green traveler. Perhaps I should have been but for the warnings my sister gave me the morning I left home. The last thing she said was, "Don't go to sleep and get robbed."

I think the western climate agrees with me. Have gained twenty-five pounds in four months and never felt better in my life. I am sixty miles from Portland and two miles from the Columbia River. This is the place for fish. I can see the boats go up and down every day. The 6th of July, I went up on Mt. Hood. The snow was piled up 100 feet in places. It was a dangerous looking place. While up there I shot a black bear and it rolled down the mountain a half mile. That was the last I saw of it.

I have not taken up any claim yet. I intend going to Washington this fall and take one there. The timber is better there than here. I think some of the Wisconsin boys that are working for $1.00 a day better come west where they can get their $2.25 and $2.50 per day. Good bye.

Yours truly, Jim Neville.