16th – We came on to Gate City. Got a letter here to come to Hoquiam, Wash. Stayed all night with Fred Ernest, A german, at the Mascot Hotel.
Jesse does not say yet who sent him a letter.
Sixty-five year-old Fredrick Ernst was listed in the 1900 federal census as born in Germany in 1835. He is a hotel keeper, and his wife Anna and seventeen year-old daughter Mae live with him, as well as a widowed waitress and three boarders.
There is a charming article about Gate City’s history and its current state. Included is a picture of some of its storefronts and a 1950s image of its old train depot that no longer stands.
