300106 - Topic: Early California

The 40th episode of Empire Builders was a story of the early days of California. I have only a couple of sources from which to draw a synopsis of the broadcast, including the Great Northern Goat. I’ve referenced this publication in previous posts, but here’s an explanation for those who may have missed it.

Great Northern Goat, January, 1930. Author's collection

The Great Northern Railway published a monthly magazine for many years that they called the “Great Northern Goat.” The magazine was a small, nearly pocket-sized format, and typically contained a number of short articles designed to inform the railroad’s ticket agents about company news and selected personnel changes.

From the early 1920’s (until the 1970 merger that somewhat obscured the GN legacy under the new company’s moniker “Burlington Northern”), a mountain goat was utilized in the corporate trademark of the Great Northern Railway. This was done to draw attention to the company’s tourist facilities in Glacier National Park, where the mountain goat remains a ubiquitous wild denizen to this day. Ergo, the company’s ticket agent magazine was called the “Goat.”

Throughout the duration of the Empire Builders radio series, the GN ran small articles in the monthly Goat magazines that offered glimpses of upcoming broadcasts. These were typically prepared by a staff writer named Malcolm Breese. I have a suspicion this was a pseudonym for Harold Sims, the GN’s executive assistant in charge of the radio campaign. I have no proof of this as yet, but it’s just one more detail to chase down.

The Great Northern Goat magazine for January, 1930, contained the following description of the broadcast concerning California (with a Malcolm Breese by-line):

A romance of early day California, the marvels of modern engineering and a story of the city of St. Paul will be the variegated themes behind the Empire Builder series of radio programs, which will be on the air the four Monday evenings in January.

The first of these tells of an American prisoner of war, in the California of years ago, who is saved from death by a Senorita. He finally overcomes all difficulties and marries the charming Senorita. This story has a historical background and will be broadcast January 6^th.

Radio series flyer containing a synopsis of the broadcasts of December 2, 1929 through January 13, 1930. Author's collection

Another vehicle the GN used to alert listeners to upcoming Empire Builders broadcasts was a series of small pamphlets that were distributed from the autumn of 1929 until at least the end of 1930. Each pamphlet contained a short synopsis of about a half dozen of the scheduled programs. This date’s broadcast was addressed in such a pamphlet that included air dates of December 2, 1929, to January 13, 1930. For the January 6 program, the pamphlet had this description:

An American prisoner of war, in the California of years ago, is saved from death by a señorita. He becomes invaluable to the easy-going Spanish settlers and finally overcoming all difficulties of nationality, religion and condition of servitude, marries the charming Señorita. The story has a historical background.

As you can see, this write-up differs very little from the Goat magazine blurb. And finally, we have a short preview published in the Seattle Times on the day of the broadcast, which again tells us little more than we already have:

ROMANTIC HISTORY WILL BE TOLD BY EMPIRE BUILDERS

Broadcast Deals With First American Captured on Soil of California and Charming Señorita

The first American to set foot on the soil of California was immediately seized as a prisoner of war and saved from death by a charming señorita. The incident affords material for the historical romance which will be presented by the Empire Builders tonight at 7:30 over KOMO. The prisoner becomes invaluable to the easy-going Spanish settlers and finally overcoming all difficulties of nationalities, religion, and servitude, marries the charming señorita.

The cast will include the “Old Timer” and Miss Virginia Gardiner. Andy Sannella and his orchestra are to furnish a musical atmosphere suggestive of romance of early California. Another feature of the program will be Bob MacGimsey, three-part harmony whistler.

An allusion to the “historical” nature of the story appears in each of the three published synopses of this broadcast quoted above. Many stories used on Empire Builders incorporated actual historical figures, and despite the fictional nature of the stories, the radio series’ writers clearly made an effort to adhere to historical accuracy to a significant extent. In the absence of this broadcast’s continuity, I can only speculate, but it seems the protagonist of this story may well have been Jedediah Smith (1799-1831), considered to be one of the first American civilians to enter California. According to the historical record, Smith was in fact initially detained by the Mexican authorities he encountered when his explorations and fur trapping endeavors drew him across the Sierra Nevada mountains and into California. If Smith was indeed the inspiration for the story, the reflection of his life in the Empire Builders broadcast probably ended there – what little I know about Smith suggests that in real life he departed California without marrying anyone.