I do not have the book. What do you think I'm missing?
I have the 1963 version of the book, and to call it simplistic would be an understatement. It is basically a collection of newspaper and magazine articles, or I should say quotes from newspapers and magazines, strung together in a semi-coherent manner. The exception are the first three or four paragraphs, which are not direct quotes, but I believe also come from articles.
The book begins with this first paragraph, "Pine Valley had a rather unusual beginning. In the early 1900s a group of enthusiastic golfers from the Philadelphia Country Club at Bala, Pennsylvania, occasionally journeyed to Atlantic City on the Reading Railroad to play the Atlantic City CC. George Crump was the leader of this group."
I believe this comes from Tilly's article in American Golfer the month or two prior to the train article:
"At the turn of the century, it was the habit of a few Philadelphia golfers to spend their winter weekends, playing the original eighteen holes at Northfield, the cours of the Country Club of AC. There they found winter conditions very different from those of the Quaker City, only sixty miles distant. Every Saturday morning the coterie of enthusiasts boarded the train, possibly leaving inches of snow at home, knowing wel that the seaside course would be free of it and the temperature four or five degrees higher. The regulars included George Crump, Howard Perrin, Cameron Buxton, Robert Large, WP Smith, AH Smith, Frank Bohlen, Wirt Thompson and myself" I doubt Brown had direct access to American Golfer because otherwise he would have known, with a little independent research, that these guys were not all member of PCC at Bala, in fact most of them were members of rival clubs.
The next paragraph in the book is the one dealing with the train which you have twice mislead us to believe comes from 'Crump's notes.' "
Our old records indicate that on one trip to Atlantic City, Crump saw a pasture land near the town of Clementon, New Jersey, which apparently was suitable for a golf course...."
This comes from either Tilly's American Golfer article or his Philadelphia Record article, which are similar:
"This section is to have still another golf course, one which may eclipse any of the others. Although I have known of the plans for over a year, I had promised secrecy and only recently have I absolved from that promise; consequently the announcement appears in print today for the first time. Every one is aware of the superiority of South Jersey courses during the winter months, and golfers from Philadelphia spend many week-ends on the links at Atlantic City during the cold weather. The sandy soil quickly melts snow and drains very quickly, and is altogether admirable for the purposes of golf. Nearly three years ago George A. Crump, the well known player, was on one of the Reading Railway trains, bound for the seaside links. Glancing out of the window, he saw a tract of land which rivetted (sic) his attention instantly, for, unlike the usual flat Jersey landscape, this was beautifully rolling and hilly. Immediately it occurred to him that the land would be ideal for a golf course. It is situated close by the railroad tracks about 15 miles from Camden, near Clementon." The pasture part is odd.
The next paragraph in the book:
"The property at the time was owned by Sumner Ireland who had a residence nearby. The railroad station at that point was called Sumner."
The next paragraph in the book.
"Crump's old records indicate his interest in the property and the possibility, as he saw it, for the development of a most interesting inland golf course under seaside conditions, as the property at one time had been covered by ocean." As I indicated a couple of pages ago I believe he is referring to the letter Crump wrote to his friends in 1912, and that he may have also borrowed from a paragraph HW Wind's 1950 article where Wind quotes the letter and then immediately goes into ancient sea aspect.
The next paragraph quotes the Philadelphia Inq from 1/4/1914. He then briefly talks about Colt followed by a quote from American Golfer on Govan, followed by a quote by Ben Sayers in American Golfer. Followed by a Quote from the Philadelphia Public Ledger, followed by a quote from a letter from Charles Knapp, followed by a quote from the NY Evening Sun, followed by a quote from the Philadelphia Record, followed by a quote from William Evans (Public Ledger), followed by another quote from the Public Ledger, followed by another quote from the Public Ledger, followed by a quote from American Golfer, followed by a quote from Philadelphia Evening Ledger, and so on and so on. The book reads like a scrapbook, and that is what I believe the source information came from either a scrapbook or a collection of articles, and letters, that had been snipped out over the years. Those were the club records he was referring to. In 1963 it would have been too difficult for Brown to go through hours and hours of microfiche in multiple libraries.
There are no Crump notes.