America in 1911: Part 3

Part 3 (images 201 to 300) of Jules Huret's l'Amérique Moderne, published in 1911.

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Stenography. -- On large American trains one can write and even dictate letters. A stenographer is always at the service of a traveler to receive his mail that is then sent off at the first stop.

The dining room. -- This photograph gives an idea of the luxury of a Pullman: the dining rooms are comfortably furnished and the service is assured by a perfectly styled personnel.

A compartment. -- Each wagon is divided down the center by a corridor. On each side are velvet benches with movable backs. The part that juts out on top contains the bunks for the night.

Inside the Pullmans. -- American salon wagons are models of comfort. Wide, well aired, they have rich furniture using all the classical styles.

The library room. -- Each luxury train is equipped with a library where for a modest fee the traveler can leaf through the most recent literature in comfortable armchairs.

The canyons of Colorado. -- In the narrow regions of the Rocky Mountains the rapid trains make their way through, made minuscule in this surrounding immensity.

Carnival in America. -- Americans, being active and laborious businessmen, only give the absolute minimum of time to leisure and festivals, but when they do it is with an extraordinary vigor.

American forests. -- The US abounds in magnificent forests, of which the most beautiful are found around San Francisco where you can find trees of colossal dimensions, both in height and diameter.

The farms of the South. -- The farms in the states of the South are very populous and prosperous. The mild climate permits various types of plants, and there is a great deal of ranching and lumber in the region.

In the forest. -- In the immense forested regions of Louisiana, the roads snake through kilometers of shade under the trees, cheered at intervals by the white speck of an isolated farm.

New Orleans. -- This city is the largest one in Louisiana, and also the most important place for commerce in the south United States. Its superb Saint Louis Cathedral is of a Hispano-Creole style.

New Orleans. St. Charles Street. -- Founded in 1718 by the French Lemoine, New Orleans at the outset was nothing but a poor and tiny village of trappers, gold hunters, and adventurers.

New Orleans. Cemeteries. -- The cemeteries of New Orleans make up part of its curiosities. The boggy soil does not allow for tombs to be dug, and thus the bodies are placed in elevated vaults.

New Orleans. The fishing port. -- The Mississippi makes a large turn before the city, from which comes its nickname the Crescent City. The fishing port forms one of the points of the Crescent.

New Orleans. The Levee. -- A large part of the city is located under the high water level, and is protected by a jetty 4.5 meters wide and 4.3 meters high. This levee is the most animated part of the city.

New Orleans. Carnival. -- New Orleans offers this particularity that it has entirely conserved over the centuries, keeping the customs and practices of the first French and Spanish inhabitants.

New Orleans. The King of the Carnival. -- The Carnival of New Orleans, celebrated with great pomp on the day of Mardi Gras, is renowned. The King of the Carnival, escorted by his vassals, takes possession of the city during the festival.

Kings of the Carnival. -- Every year a new King is elected that a golden carriage pompously takes around the streets of the city, wearing brilliant medieval garb.

Queens of the Carnival. -- Differing from the gallant French garb that gives all sovereign authority to these Queens for a day, the American Queens defer before the King and their throne is not as high.

Blacks in Louisiana. -- Louisiana is the place throughout America where the black question has attained the most acuity, and is also where the blacks most energetically demand equality before the whites.

A hut for blacks. -- The blacks of Louisiana, after having obtained their independence, took control of this power. In revenge against this excess the whites left them in this subservient condition.

In Louisiana. Sugar cane. -- Thanks to the exceptionally mild climate, Louisiana harvests all sorts of products from the intertropical zone, notably cotton and sugar, which make up important transactions and market speculation on the docks of New Orleans.

Blacks in America. -- The abolition of slavery has caused the chains to fall from the black, but without raising his condition: the American hardly employs him for anything but chores in the fields.

Blacks in America. -- At the moment there are ten million blacks in the United States. These ten million, given almost exclusively to agriculture, represent a true richness for the country.

Gathering cotton. -- It is the Southern States where blacks are the most numerous. Though free, many of them continue to live on the earth where their enslaved parents toiled, to work, gather cotton, etc.

The farms of the South. -- The black is connected to the farm where he was born and to the employer that feeds him, in effect being seen as part of his land.

The black in the fields. -- The black is usually charged with the supplying of the farm and the feed supply. To do this he sometimes has to head out quite far on his wagon.

The black voter. -- The blacks carry out an active PR for their candidates.

Blacks...who are white. -- A busy clinic that whitens the skin of blacks using X rays.

The black at church. -- Blacks in the US are generally members of one of the numerous sects that abound in America. Most of them are Baptist, a sort of dissident Christianity with barbaric rites.

Left: a rare maid who has 50 years of service with her employer. Middle: reaching 100 years of age is not easy to find in the black race. Right: the black smile has something innocent and childlike about it.

Housekeeping. -- The black man is known to be the foe of work and effort. So he enjoys doing housekeeping while his wife works at his side doing hard labor or manufacturing.

At Tuskegee. The infirmary. -- Booker Washington has created an institute with all services with the support of only blacks. Thus his nurses are well-instructed enough to give first aid to the sick.

At Tuskegee. Sewing workshops. -- Young black women at the institute learn everything a woman needs to know there. They have 40 milliners, 80 laundresses, 50 seamstresses, 300 washerwomen and 500 cooking students.

At Tuskegee. The classes. -- Booker Washington wanted to teach blacks as much as moralize them. Courses of primary education, design, and music are given at Tuskegee by black teachers.

At Tuskegee. Botany courses. -- Male students find a practical and theoretical instruction at Tuskegee. This photograph shows a group of students learning botany in the garden of the Institute.

At Tuskegee. Masons. -- All the labor used at Tuskegee is done by the students. Each new building to increase the size of the school is entirely constructed by those living there.

At Tuskegee. The workshops. -- Students choose a career according to their likes and can perfect it under the direction of skilled foremen. They can also train themselves for liberal/advanced professions.

At Tuskegee. A workshop. -- The young residents of Tuskegee learn to develop their inventive spirit, to economically furnish an interior, with a bit of skill and luck.

At Tuskegee. The farmyard. -- The students of Tuskegee in turn take on different services for the school: cooking, laundry, farmyard work, and accustom themselves in this way to the taking care of their future households.

At Tuskegee. Gardening. -- Gardening is a preferred occupation amongst the female students. The young black women enjoy raking, pruning and disposing of the massive flowers surrounding the buildings.

At Tuskegee. -- The prosperity of the school grows incessantly and Booker Washington is proud to show to visitors the new buildings that need to be built every year.

The Arizona Desert. -- Desolate terrain, without vegetation, without cultivation, no animals, not even a hut, just sand, dunes, a landscape of adversity, such is the desert of Arizona.

On the Houston to El Paso line. -- Between these two locations the route the railway takes goes along the Rio Grande and for hours passes by vast cultivated plains and immense natural prairies.

A Texas granite quarry. -- In the west of Texas, mostly around El Paso, you see great deposits of granite that the American activity uses for large constructions.

Giant Mariposa sequoias. -- The giant sequoia forest of Mariposa covers a surface of 10 square kilometers. Of the 465 trees that make it up the most remarkable is the "giant grizzly", which measures 31 meters around.

Grand Central Station in Houston. -- In this active city where factories employ more than 6,000 workers, commerce (mainly cotton) is so important that sometimes entire trains remain stuck at the station waiting to resume their travel.

Through Texas. -- In these immense plains spotted with shrubs and brambles, you sometimes see herds of cows and angora sheep that graze on this meager vegetation.

Through Texas. Cowboys. -- Guardians of herds, the cowboys live for the most part in wooden huts spaced out over the savanna. They are horse riders without peer.

The line from San Francisco to New Orleans goes through the Colorado desert. In these vast spaces where the air remains hot even in the winter, and where you encounter moving dunes of sand, the Americans sometimes organize three- or four-day excursions.

Cactus. -- Around Yuma are found giant cacti such as these where the rigid trunks rising next to each other evoke the image of a gigantic organ, hence the name "organ cactus".

Navigating through the desert. -- To make their way through the immense spaces of the desert, the Americans have created original and practical sailed chariots.

The giant cactus sometimes reaches a height of 12 meters.

The Arizona Desert. -- On these vast plains between Yuma and Maricopa it's not rare to encounter bands of nomadic Indians, the last vestiges of a race that soon will have disappeared entirely.

Gila Desert. -- The line from Los Angeles to El Paso at 11 km from the Mexican border traverses desolate country where at intervals stunted bushes pop up.

The area around Phoenix. -- Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, is located in the picturesque valley of the Salt River, which takes on a marvellous appearance as night approaches.

Los Angeles. Eastlake Park. -- Capital of California, Los Angeles has many parks, Eastlake Park among them, with an admirable lake and almost tropical vegetation.

Los Angeles. The elegant district. -- The adobe houses have given way almost everywhere to villas of wood and a gracious architecture, surrounded by greenery.

Los Angeles. Plaza and Mission. -- The city has 130 churcher for a population of around 150,000. The Mission which dates back to the foundation of the city is on the North, close to the Chinese district.

Santa Catalina. -- An island often visited for its pleasant climate, Santa Catalina is located 25 miles from San Pedro. There you can rent clear-bottomed boats to admire the submarine vegetation.

A street in Los Angeles. -- Los Angeles, capital of southern California and second city of the state, only had 1610 inhabitants in 1850. Now it has more than 100,000.

Catalina Island. -- Catalina Island is located right in the Pacific Ocean, three hours by boat from Los Angeles. Very picturesque and very rough, it is a place much frequented by excursions and resort-seekers.

Los Angeles, panorama. -- Los Angeles is a very cheerful city. In certain districts its houses are buried under rich foliage of eucalyptus, oranges, palms, banana trees, etc.

Los Angeles. Main Street. -- This street is one of the largest and most beautiful in the city, which it divides into two approximately equal parts. It is edged by beautiful monuments, such as the Federal Building and the Post Office.

Riverside. The magnolias. -- The delicious climate at Riverside brings a whole colony of Americans each year who find cool shade and magnificent promenades such as the avenue of magnolias, 16 km long.

Pasadena. Appearance. -- Snuggled into the greenery at the foot of Sierra Madre, Pasadena has an exceptional climate making it the richest wintering area for western America.

Pasadena. -- The nature here is even more luxuriant than that in Los Angeles. Around sumptuous villas grapefruit and orange trees stretch out their branches and golden fruits.

Monterey. The oldest theater in California. -- Up to the American conquest the small village of Monterey was the capital of California. There is still a theater there that dates back to the first times of the Spanish occupation.

Monterey. Chinese fishers' hut. -- Though frequented during the summer by rich tourists from San Francisco, Monterey remains above all a beach for fishers. Many Chinese carry out this rough and perilous job here.

Coronado Beach. -- The peninsula of Coronado is located a few km from Sand Diego, and is a very often visited place for excursions. The Hotel of Coronado, close to the ocean, is one of the most beautiful in California.

Coronado Beach at night. -- At nightfall during one of the neighboring islands you are given the fairytale-like spectacle of the illuminated hotel, projecting floods of electric light into the shadows.

The San Diego Mission. -- After the first conquerers the missionaries arrived in California in large number. Franciscans for the most part, they work to evangelize the indigenous people and to work the soil.

Houses in Santa Barbara. -- Thanks to its mild climate and excellent beach, Santa Barbara is favored by the very rich businessmen of San Francisco who have pretty summer residences there.

Oil wells in California. -- Facing Santa Barbara and several miles into the sea are islands holding very rich deposits of oil that need to be looked for under the sea.

The new station in Santa Barbara. -- During the beautiful season there is a lot of affluence in Santa Barbara, and on the streets of the city bordered by roses and orange trees there is an incessant coming and going of tourists and strollers.

Santa Barbara Mission. -- Between the strict walls of the old convent and in the enclosure formed by the cloisters, the Franciscan monks carry out in peace an existence of contemplation and prayers.

San Francisco. -- San Francisco, more often called "Frisco" by the Americans, is the largest city in California and the most important place for commerce in western America.

Bird's eye view of San Francisco. -- Though its population cannot compare to the large cities of the East, San Francisco possesses superb monuments towered over by the gigantic mass of skyscrapers.

San Francisco from the sea. -- The Californian capital was not built on the shores of the Pacific, but on the bay of San Francisco. This fortunate situation makes its port one of the most secure in the world.

San Francisco. Union Square. -- This square, one of the largest in the city, has nothing remarkable except for the monument of 30 meters in height. It was raised by a patriotic municipality to commemorate the conquest of the Philippines.

Cliff House. -- Not far from San Francisco on the Golden Gate point is one of the most picturesque sites in California. The Cliff House hotel here is built a few meters over the water on a rock face jetting out.

Seal Rocks. -- Facing Cliff House is a very picturesque islet: Seal Rocks. The name comes from its being regularly used by these animals who come to frolic and sun themselves there.

San Francisco. City Hall. -- The city hall of San Francisco is one of the most beautiful monuments in the city, with the dome on top of it giving it a great deal of majesty. It cost around 20 million francs.

San Francisco. -- Beautiful flowers abound in California, and are sold in fragrant handfuls at all street corners.

Golden Gate Park. -- An interesting museum has been built in this admirable park.

Golden Gate Park. -- This park extends over a long band a km wide. It has an area of 420 hectares, and includes rare and valuable flowers and species of trees.

Overview of San Francisco. -- Like all American cities, San Francisco has been built on a checkerboard pattern, following the "block" pattern where streets meet at right angles. There used to be old districts that were pleasant for walking but after the earthquake in 1906 that knocked them down they were replaced with new districts. Now the entire city except Chinatown is of an absolutely modern construction.

University of California. -- This university, famous in the west part of America, is attended by 4000 students. Its buildings and beautiful gardens offer a superb view of the Golden Gate and San Francisco.

San Francisco in ruins. -- It was the morning of 18 April 1906, 5:30 am, that produced an earthquake that destroyed almost the entire city. The fire consumed the buildings that remained standing.

San Francisco. Chinatown. -- Chinatown is the most curious district in the city. Less populous than it used to be, it still has 10,000 yellow inhabitants that live there and follow their customs in its squalid alleys.

Chinatown. A restaurant. -- When evening approaches visits can be made to the restaurants of Chinatown where you drink excellent tea and can savor the most varied exotic meats.

San Francisco. Opium. -- The Celestial son has a passion for the use of opium. In the dens of Chinatown he smokes the heady brown paste whose strong taste stupefies him, but opens him to paradisiacal dreams.

Chinatown. A Christian mission. -- Amongst the Chinese of San Francisco there is a certain number that are converts to the Christian religion. They gather to pray and chant psalms together.

San Francisco. A Chinese festival. -- The most popular of Chinese festivals is the one for the new year. On this day the strangest of cavalcades make their way through the city carrying around grimacing and fantastical beasts.

San Francisco. Church of the University of Stanford. -- The style of this church, like that of the other buildings of the university, brings to mind the architecture of the San Antonio mission.

San Francisco. The Boy's Club. -- Founded by Mr. Peixotto, the Boy's Club is open to all the children of the city who can complete their instruction there and go on excursions.

San Francisco. The Boy's Club. -- In some ways this club has a military-like organization. The children that make it up often parade armed down the streets of the city to the sound of soldierlike fanfare.

University of Berkeley. -- A State university, Berkeley has been built on a charming site at the foot of a hill amongst lawns and treed paths, facing the superb bay of San Francisco.

University of Berkeley. The Library. -- This library, holding more than 130,000 volumes, is a precious resource for 4,000 male and female students that attend the famous university.

University of Stanford. -- This university, named after its founder, is a private institution with 2,000 students. The arc of triomphe that serves as an entryway gives it a monumental aspect.