Two Farnham Letters Recently Auctioned

Recently we discovered that two autographed letters signed by Russel Farnham were sold at auction for $1,300.00 which was almost double the initial estimated price of $500.00-$750.00. They were part of The Floyd E. Risvold Collection which was auctioned by Spink Shreves Galleries of Dallas, Texas. A photo of one of the letters can be found in the auction catalog. The description of the letters listed "Two autograph letters signed by the famed explorer and agent of the American Fur Company".

Oregon State Capitol Building

We went to Astoria Oregon on Tuesday and gave a presentation about Russel Farnham to the planning committee for the Astoria Bicentennial. They were very interested in our project and expedition. Plans are in the works for a lecture on Russel Farnham to be given in Astoria about one year before the Bicentennial in May of 2010. We'll use that lecture as a launch for the Russel Farnham Commemorative Expedition in 2011.

We are also pleased to now have the sponsorship of the Astoria Bicentennial committee and the Executive Director of the Clatsop County Historical Society.

Mapping a round the world trip

enter map here

Astoria: 1811-2011

It has been the hope of the Farnham Project team to somehow co-ordinate this round the world recreation of Russel Farnham's travels with the 200 year Bicentennial of Astoria in 2011. There is a committee organizing these celebrations and we plan to be in touch with them soon about co-ordination with our project. They are using the theme:

Astoria: 1811-2011. An Adventure in History. Come Celebrate With Us.

We plan to do just that. We are hoping to arrive in Astoria during this celebration in 2011 after having completed our one year trip round the world trip. Perhaps we could even leave one year before the Bicentennial. Leaving in 2010 and arriving home in March or April 2011.

Planning a round the world trip

Last week I watched the DVD Long Way Round which documents the 2004 journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York on motorcycles, including driving over 18,000 miles through 12 countries and a seriously difficult stretch of road in Siberia called the Road of Bones. The documentary itself is very good, but also of interest to me were the logistics involved in planning a round the world adventure. For several months before the actual trip they had an office setup, lined up donations and sponsors, and worked out the final plans with a staff of at least a dozen people. I'm not sure of the production costs of the actual movie, but most information I could find about it says that it was a "low budget" production. Besides Ewan and Charley they had an additional camera man on motorcycle and two support vehicles carrying an additional camera man and the two producers. For much or the Russian portion of the trip they also had a Russian "fixer" to take care of problems and assist with translation and also a Russian doctor.

It's going to be a long road from this idea to re-create Russel Farnham's round the world journey to actual planning and implementing it. But what a wonderful challenge this will be.

Oil Painting

I've added a scan of the only image known to exist of Russel Farnham to the blog. It's an oil painting done by Chester Harding and owned by the Missouri Historical Society. It's reposited in the Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, but it was for a long time displayed in the museum of the Missouri Historical Society with this inscription: "Walked from Oregon to St Petersburg, 1813-1814." That is something of a Tall Tale, but it shows that for years people have been fascinated by the story of Russel Farnham's remarkable journey from Oregon to St Petersburg Russia.