A FAIRY-LAND OF BLOSSOMS

On May 11, 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt paid Santa Cruz a visit. It was one stop along his 14,000-mile cross-country rail journey.

This sketch of President Roosevelt, along with the Roosevelt ribbon worn by event attendees, are from the front page of the Santa Cruz Daily Surf for May 11, 1903.

The presidential train was quite a sight. Upon “… each side of the cab were the letters ‘R’ in white flowers, and streamers of bunting and festoons of redwood foliage covered the engine. The headlight was wreathed with roses and syringa, and the pilot was hidden from view by woodwardias and wreaths of flowers.”

The Native Daughters of the Golden West wanted to ensure the president’s visit was memorable. While the presidential party was occupied touring in Big Trees Grove, the ladies added to the train’s floral decoration.

Underwood & Underwood image, Library of Congress

“… [F]rom double decker to barber car the president’s train was ‘afire with flowers and glowing grasses.’ The Native Daughters, God bless them, worked with a will and a system which soon transferred the cars into a garden as radiant and redolent with blossoms as any Santa Cruz yard this spring. And that is saying much for never have the gardens been more beautiful than this May time. Each car was decorated with some particular flower so the entire effect was harmonious. The president’s special received particular attention. Nothing but long stemmed carnations were used and every single flower was grown in Santa Cruz. 

The colors and perfume of this lovely bloom were too splendid for description. Every corner was massed, every cranny bore its burden of this marvelous production of ‘pink.’  A large bunch of deep crimson were especially noticeable as they were named ‘President Roosevelt’ …
 

The ribbon worn by those attending the presidential event.

 

The asparagus fern was used effectively with the carnations. The press car was done in callas, and nothing could have been prettier. Poppies and wild grasses were brilliant decorations of the dining car. The local wild poppy was gathered and bunched as it grows on every hillside. The smoker was abloom with the most beautiful roses that ever grew under the sun. Only the finest and rarest blossoms had been culled until the car would have been worth its weight in gold in the East. The very barber shop was not neglected and was the sweetest spot on the train for wild azaleas had been used for its adornment …"

Lavishly decorating trains became a tradition for special visitors to Big Trees Grove. In 1905 newspaper employees from around the country also enjoyed the fragrant tribute. George E. Wood, a reporter from Bellevue, Ohio, described his departure from the Big Trees Grove picnic. "On returning to our train we found the good citizens had been through it and transformed each coach into a bower of beauty. Our car, the Helvetia, was decorated with oranges. Each car was differently treated from all the others."

J. Byron Cain, publisher of the Belle Plaine News [Belle Plaine, Kansas] recounted a similar experience. "[A]nother surprise awaited us for upon our return we found that during our absence the ladies of Santa Cruz had taken possession of our train and converted the interior of each of the nine coaches into a fairy-land of bloom. Wagon load upon wagon load of sweet peas, carnations, marguerites, roses, orange blossoms, etc., were sacrificed to our pleasure and blended in a color scheme of wonderous beauty. So it is with pleasant memories we sit and write and think of Santa Cruz, the beautiful."

Sources: “The President’s Day in Santa Cruz,” Santa Cruz Surf, May 11, 1903; Belle Plaine News, [Belle Plaine, Kansas], by J. Byron Cain, August 3, 1905 ; “Monterey and Santa Cruz,” by Geo. E. Wood, Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, August 19, 1905.