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EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series marking the 120th anniversary of Niles native William McKinley's U.S. presidency.
A round trip rail journey across America to the Pacific Coast and return to Washington, D.C. was reported by the New York Times to the newpspaer's readers in these initial accounts:
"WILMINGTON, Del., April 27 -- President McKinley's special train was finished at the Pullman shops here tonight and will be taken to Washington tomorrow morning. A barber, electricians, and waiters will go with the train from Wilmington, and others will report in Washington for the trip west."
"WASHINGTON, April 28 -- Standing in the yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company here is the train which will carry the President and his party for the next seven weeks throughout the length and most of the breadth of the United States. If reached here this morning, and is one of the finest trains ever run over any American railway system. The start will be made at 10:30 o'clock tomorrow morning."
"BRISTOL, Tenn., April 29 -- The first day of the President's long tour to the pacific Coast lay through a historic section of Virginia, across the Valleys of the Rapidan and James, in sight of the homes of Madison and Jefferson, up past the peaks of Otter, so dear to the hearts of the Virginian, and into the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains. The Tennessee line was reached at 10:55 o'clock to-night, with the arrival of the train at Bristol. The route as far as Lynchburg was over the Southern Railway. There the train was shifted to the tracks of Norfolk and Western for a short cut to Bristol, where it resume its flight over the Southern Road."
"The Presidential party received a flattering ovation from the time the train left Washington. Large crowds assembled at every station, the countryside and crosseroads each had its little group of watchers straining their eyes to catch a glimpse of the Chief Magistrate as the train whisked by. At Charlottesville the students of the University of Virginia turned out, at Lynchburg Senator Daniel, Virginia's crack orator, made a speech greeting the President, and at Roanoke two bands crashed out their welcome. At each of these places the President responded to the loud calls made upon him, and spoke briefly from the rear platform of his car."
"If today's reception through Virginia is an indication of what is to occur throughout the rest of the trip, the President's tour across the continent will be a triumphal one. Some of the people, in their eagerness to grasp the President's hand, clambered up the railing surrounding the platform. The President received these demonstrations good naturedly, and never failed smiling to grasp the hand extended to him. Mrs. McKinley, sitting at the window in the observation car, smiling and waving her handkerchief in response to the greetings of the multitude, created no less enthusiasm than the President."
"All the members of the party enjoyed the first day of their trip, and the President expressed his gratification over the reception he had received. Mrs. McKinley, who was not feeling particularly well when the train started, became better as the day progressed, and to-night said she had enjoyed it all very much. To-morrow the train will make brief stops at Huntsville, Decatur, and Tuscumbia, Ala., and Cornith, Miss. Memphis, where the party will remain until midnight, will be reached at 4:30 p.m."
The President and his party will keep in close touch with Washington throughout the trip, and every facility has been arranged to transact such business as is necessary from the train. The railroad officials in charge of the train and the various divisions over which it passed took every precaution to guard against the possibility of a mishap of any character."
Wendell Lauth of Bristol is a Trumbull County historian.