Solomon Mead (1808-1897) of Greenwich, Connecticut, first visited California in 1883 as part of a Cook's railroad tour, the "Continental Excursion Party," and he returned with one of his sons in 1886 by steamship via Panama. Notes of two trips to California and return (189-?) first recounts the 1883 luxury tour to the Far West, with stops in California at Los Angeles, Madera, Yosemite Valley, the Cliff House, San Francisco, Monterey, and, on the return leg of the journey, at Salt Lake City. In the trip of 1886-1887, Mead takes a coastal steamer to San Pedro, thence to his son's ranch near Glendale where he remains for several months, assisting in farming and investing in real estate before returning east by rail.