Chicken Dinner: Rockin' Westerns, Tall Ships, & Crow-Head

Lucky Days Free Par-Tay!!!

I hope you had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day (and night!). I've been fortunate to participate in IBC's Lucky Days Free Par-Tay with some terrific western romance authors:
Amber Scott (Wanted),
 Tammie Clarke Gibbs (The Counterfeit), and
Taylor Lee (Aces Wild). 

These books, along with Much Ado About Madams, have been free on Amazon, (March 14-18) so hurry to get your copies!

I find it interesting that while we are fascinated with the life and times of the Old West, people who lived then looked even farther back.  here's an article on old ship printed in the March 16, 1872, issue of The Owyhee Avalanche in the landlocked southwest corner of Idaho Territory:

OLD SHIPS: There is a ship now sailing from Holland built in 1568, when the Prince of Orange was fighting Philip II of Spain, then at the zenith of his power, She was sailing to the Indies when the Hollanders organized themselves into the "Beggars of teh Sea," and as privateersmen earned a reputation which astonished the world.  This Dutch ship is called the "Commissaries des Koning von der Heine."  She passed the Cape of Good Hope, October 1868, from Batavia for Holland, then two hundred and ninety four years old. 

A few numbers back in the Boston Daily Advertiser is a notice that the whale ship Rousseau (another of Stephan Giranrad's ships, built at Philadelphia, in 1801) was then undergoing repairs at New Bedford.  Her planking is being removed, the first time for seventy years.  The live oak timbers underneath are reported to be as sound as they were the day they were first put together.

Who knew that a bunch of miners and ranchers would be call this news?  But then, as now, newspapers had to sell copies, and to do that, they had to print stories their subscribers wanted to read.

Jeff Smith hunted down the model for Johnny Depp's Tonto.  Check it out: Crow-Head, A Chipewyan Story.

Next week on RTW...uh, I don't know.  Pot luck. :)

Wandering the Geyser Basins



M.M. Justus, author


Wandering the geyser basins:
waiting for things to go off
by M.M. Justus

Yellowstone National Park is about as Old West as a person can get in this day and age. Bison thunder across the valleys; their babies, locally known as red dogs, bouncing like rubber balls in the spring. Wolves roam the way they did 150 years ago. Bull elk bugle in the fall -- although it becomes slightly less charming when they do it at three o'clock in the morning under your window, as happened to me one October at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.

Horse corrals offer trail rides. Fort Yellowstone, built in the 1880s, waits to be explored. And at the Roosevelt Lodge, named after Teddy, a person can even go on a hayride to an old-fashioned chuckwagon dinner, set up out on the sagebrush flats where the antelope play. The world's first national park is a paradise for all things Western, and preserves them, especially the animals, for all of us to enjoy.

But in 1871, when the park was created, Wyoming and Montana territories still were the Old West. Critters were commonplace, and there was more than enough wide open space to go around. What fascinated people, what made them take notice and stand in awe, were the thousands of hot springs, fumaroles (steam vents), and mudpots. And, most especially, the geysers.

Everyone knows Old Faithful, of course, but Daisy and Riverside are at least as predictable, and Grand, Castle, Great Fountain, and Beehive are well worth the wait. (labeled .jpgs att). No two eruptions are alike. Geysers are said to play, and there is an exuberance about them that sometimes causes their audiences to applaud in sheer joy at a "performance."

Beehive Geyser

The park's many geyser gazers, who spend entire vacations waiting for eruptions, volunteer with the park service with predictions and research (http://www.geyserstudy.org/). Geysers are geology on a human scale, and all of the park's thermal features can change visibly from year to year, and sometimes even from day to day.

Grand Geyser

While Yellowstone National Park has many admirers, for many reasons, for me it's the geysers. My favorite is Grand, but I love them all. I'm just glad our government had the sense to protect them when it did. So we not only have the geysers, but a chunk of the Old West, ours to visit anytime we want.

M.M. Justus's book, Repeating History is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

What would you do if a geyser catapulted you back in time, into the middle of an Indian war? 20-year-old college dropout Chuck McManis gets to find out. The hard way. By the time he escapes to civilization, 1870s-style, he discovers his new life has changed him forever. But he has to risk everything to earn the chance to stay, or lose everything he has become and everyone he loves.

M.M. Justus: Repeating History

Repeating History
by M.M. Justus

"A GRAND yarn you can't put down." Janet Chapple, author of Yellowstone Treasures

Romancing The West welcomes M.M. Justus who loves to travel, but when she's home, you'll find her quilting, gardening, or studying meteorology. Yellowstone National Park is one of her favorite places, and she lives within easy reach of her other favorite park, Mt. Rainier. You can read more about M.M. Justus on the bio page of her website.

RTW: So let's get started. Please tell us about your book.

MJ: Repeating History is about second chances. It's also about how heroes aren't always so heroic as the stories say. In Yellowstone in 1959, Chuck McManis, a college dropout and self-described failure, strolls past a geyser, gets hit by an earthquake, and is flung back in time 82 years into the middle of an Indian war and into his great-grandfather's life. He rescues/is rescued by the woman he comes to love, and sets out to fulfill the destiny laid out before him, only to discover that his past is where he really belongs after all.

RTW: What aspect of life in the Old West intrigues you the most? Did you work that into Repeating History?

MJ: I think the thing about the West prior to the 20th century that fascinates me the most is how the great distances isolated people, and how much of the country was still wilderness, or at least still wild. The "big city" in my story, Helena, Montana, was a three-day stagecoach ride from the nearest railhead in Utah during the time of my story, and a two-day trip from the head of navigation on the Missouri River. And yet, people didn't feel isolated, they still traveled, for pleasure as well as business, and went over the mountain to see what they could see. Several of the characters in my book went to Yellowstone National Park as tourists in 1877, which surprises many people when I tell them that Eliza is based on a real person (Emma Cowan). And, of course, after they were released by the Nez Perce, Eliza, her young sister Anna, and Chuck set out on the long trailless road to civilization -- and arrived there, after many adventures.

RTW: If you lived in 1877, what would you visit first? Is there something you’ve been curious about that you can’t find in your research sources?

MJ: I would head straight for Yellowstone, Indians or no Indians. I've tried to imagine what the park was like back in the days when it was brand-new, when it wasn't possible to bring even a wagon to Old Faithful because there was no road, when you might go for days without seeing another human being. I would love to experience it for myself.

There are complications with that scenario, of course, even if I could time travel as my hero does. For one thing, he was lucky he was male, and didn't have to wear long skirts and corsets, or struggle against inequalities of all kinds. For another, I wouldn't wish wandering lost in the wilderness for over a week or getting kidnapped by Indians on my worst enemy, and I have no desire to experience that for myself.

But to experience the wilderness that was Montana and Wyoming in the late 19th century would be absolutely majestic. I hope my characters appreciated it as much as I did, viewing it through their eyes.

RTW: If a person who had never read a Western (any sub-genre) asked you for a recommendation, what novel or movie would you recommend and why? What did the author do to bring the story alive for you?

MJ: I know it's horrifically idealized to the point of being a fairy tale or a fable, but I love Dances With Wolves, both the book and the movie. It's a journey story, and, as Repeating History proves, I am a sucker for a journey story. It has all of the best memes of the West, the beautiful wide open spaces (even after visiting South Dakota on several occasions, I had no idea it could be that beautiful), the good guys vs. bad guys (although the Indians/whites thing got turned on its head), and the strong, silent hero. The buffalo hunt sequence is shiver-down-the-spine country. And it has a terrific love story. It's just a lyrical movie, with the landscape as a full-fledged character. I think all of the best Western stories treat the land that way.

RTW: Why must Chuck McManis take this particular story journey? What does he have to prove? How does Eliza affect his journey?



M.M. Justus, author



MJ: I can't help grinning at this question. I am going to turn what you're asking me on its head about as much as Dances With Wolves did the Indian/white trope. Chuck doesn't take this trip. His trip takes him. He has nothing to prove, either. As a matter of fact, as the story opens, he's doing nothing more than trying to escape the wrath of his father for a few days before going home to face the music about having flunked out of college. After the earthquake, he's just trying to survive. In some ways, although it takes him a while to realize it, he's glad to have been yanked out of his dead-end life and into one where the way to make something of himself is laid out for him. He thinks all he has to do is put in the work. Not that the work doesn't come close to killing him a couple of times...

As for Eliza, she's destined for him, or so he thinks. But then there's one obstacle after another to challenge that predestination, until their relationship isn't anything like what Chuck thought it would be when he first met her. She's the symbol of everything he thought his new life was going to be, and she's the symbol of how it didn't turn out anything like he had expected. And she's really good at showing him how to get on in 1877, too.

RTW: You have an excerpt today--please set it up for us.

MJ: This passage takes place after Eliza, thirteen-year-old Anna, and Chuck, who is now Charley, have been kidnapped and released by the Nez Perce, out in the middle of nowhere with two exhausted ponies and very little else.

Eliza slid neatly off the horse's back and it struggled to its feet. She tried to stay upright, but she’d have gone down in a heap if I hadn't grabbed her arm. As it was, she hung off of me like a deadweight for a moment before she righted herself and stood, swaying.

She looked like she was about at the end of her rope. No pun intended.

Her once-tidy dress was stained and torn. Her hair hung in ropes around her shoulders. The only word I could think of to describe her face was painful. Her eyes were hollow and somehow full at the same time, of things I didn't think anyone should have to endure.

"It was my second anniversary," she whispered suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Sister, don't," said Anna, who had materialized at Eliza's other shoulder.

Eliza went on as if neither one of us had spoken. Her voice was deceptively calm, at first. "Our second wedding anniversary. William--Mr. Byrne," she added, as if we wouldn’t have known "was shot on our second anniversary. That's why we were here. I'd always wanted to see the geysers, ever since I was a little girl when an old mountain man came to visit us. So when William asked me what I would like to do to celebrate our anniversary, I wanted to come here. We didn't have a honeymoon, so this was supposed to be it."

Then her voice cracked for the first time. "And now he's gone." Her words dissolved into tears and she turned to me. Me, not Anna. I wrapped my arms around her and held her as she wept.

Anna stood rooted, her eyes wide open and staring at me over her sister's head. I tried to look reassuringly at her, but I know I didn't succeed.

"Sister?" she asked, all the fear I realized she'd been masking, too, in her voice. Frontier women. They were human, too. They'd just been trained not to show it.

"She'll be okay," I said, as much to convince myself as Anna. "Eliza? I'm sorry. Dammit. Anna won't care if I use your first name."

Eliza raised her head. She swallowed, hard. The tears had run new streaks down her face through the grime, but her eyes didn't look hollow anymore. I wanted to kiss her. Make it all better, somehow.

She backed up slowly. Her reluctance drew an unwilling smile from my lips. "Better now?"

She reached into the pocket of her skirt and drew out a handkerchief. It wasn't all that clean, but it was cleaner than her face, which she wiped with it. It didn't take her long to pull herself together.

"Thank you, Charley," was all she said, but it made me feel ten feet tall.

RTW: Terrific! Where can we purchase this intriguing story?

MJ: Repeating History is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

RTW: What’s next? Is Repeating History a part of a series?

MJ: Yes. It's always been the first book of three in my mind, although because the second book's hero is Chuck's son/grandfather, and the third book's hero is Chuck's father/grandson (I hope that's not too confusing -- I tend to think of the whole thing as a mobius strip), it's a series only in a fairly loose sense of the term. The second book, True Gold, will be coming out this summer. It is set in 1897-98, on the trail to the Klondike Gold Rush. The third book, Finding Home, is set in 1959, back in Yellowstone, in the days after James finds out that his son ran away and is missing in the aftermath of the earthquake, and will be coming out the end of this year or early next.

RTW: Anything else you’d like to add?

MJ: Just that I've really enjoyed being here. Thank you for having me.

You're welcome, any time!

Stay tuned for Thursday's article when M.M. Justus takes us on a journey through Yellowstone.

Chicken Dinner: Madams, Saloon Art, and Tonto

Today is a fun day for me because Much Ado About Madams was released on Kindle! This is the second book in the Hearts of Owyhee series, and a fun book. What author would have a great time with a hunky rancher, six whores, a cook, and a suffragist? Here's the blurb:

A suffragist schoolteacher with a hidden past,

Six shopworn whores cooking up plans for a better future,

And a hunky rancher who isn't quite sure what to do with all these women...

Life isn't always comfortable at The Comfort Palace!

This series is set in Owyhee County, Idaho, and The Comfort Palace is in Dickshooter. Yes, that really is a name of a town, although a friend of mine researched it and can't find much information at all. We're not even sure it existed in 1882 when the book is set--but the cool thing about writing fiction is you can play fast and loose with geography, which I did. After all, what better place for a brothel than Dickshooter?

Which got me to thinking about saloon art. I'm on the Wild West History Association group on Facebook, and Jeff Smith frequently posts saloon art--all in the spirit of historical research of course. His dedication knows no bounds. So I went searching on the internet and found some art on Legends of America. You can buy prints from them suitable for framing.

Are you ready for Captain Jack Sparrow to play Tonto? Check out the interview with Armie Hammer about the production of the new Lone Ranger movie. I loved the Lone Ranger television series and I have mixed emotions about the new movie. Keep positive thoughts because a successful movie would be good for all Western readers and writers.

We Have a Winner!

mountainmama

won a copy of Dashing Druid by Lyn Horner

Special thanks to western romance author Lyn Horner who was the RTW guest last week!

Silver Queen and Silver Plume



Lyn Horner, author

 Silver Queen and Silver Plume
by Lyn Horner

Thank you, Jacquie, for having me here. In my interview with you I mentioned Georgetown, Colorado. Today, I’d like to tell you and your readers more about this lovely town and it’s quiet sister, Silver Plume. Their history is inextricably woven together, wealth and power lying in one, hard labor and danger in the other. They are now part of the Georgetown-Silver Plume National Landmark Historic District.



Georgetown Main Street

Georgetown,
Silver Queen of the Rockies

Elevation: 8512 Population: 1080

Several years ago I accompanied my husband on a business trip to Denver. While he worked I spent my days in the Denver Library, going through books, maps and precious microfilm records from the 19th century mining days. Then hubby took a day off and we headed west along I-70 into the mountains. Our first stop was Georgetown. With its quaint store fronts and brightly painted Victorian homes, some the former abode of mine owners and managers, the town was a lovely surprise.



Quoting the official town website, “Since its beginning as a mining camp in 1859, Georgetown has attracted those who have sought something very special. First it was the magic of gold and silver ore, now it’s the beauty and ambiance of this picturesque town surrounded by the Rocky Mountains.” As you can see, that is no exaggeration.





Georgetown Saloon

 In 1867, Georgetown became the center of a great silver boom when the Anglo-Saxon mine was discovered, with silver ore assayed at $23,000 per ton. Soon the high mountain valley held thousands of prospectors and miners. Stages from Denver, traveling over new toll roads, regularly delivered more adventurers. Along with the miners came bankers, merchants, saloon keepers, ladies of the evening, and the occasional preacher. The flamboyant little city was incorporated in 1868.

By 1880, George-town had become the judicial seat of Clear Creek County.

Businesses included two banks, eight stamp mills, ore sampling and reduction works (for refining silver ore,) schools, churches, two weekly newspapers, and several hotels. Legendary among the latter was the Hotel de Paris, opened in 1875 by a Frenchman named Louis Dupuy. Now a museum, the hotel became known throughout the West. It had indoor plumbing and electric lighting by 1893. The dining room boasted fine china, glassware and imported table linens. Louis was a first class chef and did most of the cooking himself, serving steaks from cattle raised on his nearby ranch, and fancy delicacies.

 

The Hotel de Paris dining room was frequented not only by visiting travelers, but by wealthy mine owners and managers who made their home in Georgetown. In my novel, Dashing Druid, the hero and his lady spend a special night at the hotel.



Silver Plume



Silver Plume

Elevation: 9116 Population: 203*

*Population figure may include dogs, drop-ins, and ground squirrels (quote it with caution).

Leaving Georgetown, we continued up the road, and I do mean up, to Silver Plume. Love that name! This is where the silver miners – the hired help – once lived. Many were Cornishmen who came in search of work when the tin mining industry in their native Cornwall collapsed. One of the “Jacks” as they were nicknamed, plays a small but important part in Dashing Druid.

Silver mining declined in the 1890s, and Silver Plume lost most of its population. However, it continued to attract tourists who made the steep climb from Georgetown via the famous Georgetown Loop Railroad. This narrow gage marvel of engineering is still in operation during the warm months. If you’d like a taste of what it’s like to ride the Loop, there are lots of videos on YouTube. Be prepared to hold your breath as the engineer inches the train onto the Devil’s Gate Bridge.

Georgetown Railroad Loop

Nowadays known as a “sleeping town” because so few people live there year around, Silver Plume is built on the side of a mountain, with steep paths leading up to the tiny houses built virtually into the rock. Walking the one actual street that runs along Clear Creek through what’s left of the business district, we saw empty saloons and storefronts dating back to the boomtown days, as well as a stone jailhouse built in 1875. Boy, is it small!



Silver Plume: Original structures (left); Jail (right)

There’s nothing glamorous about Silver Plume. I wouldn’t even call the setting pretty, but the place breathes history. I could almost see tired miners gathering in the narrow, false-fronted saloons (there were nine) to cleanse the rock dust from their throats and ease their aches and pains. Then I imagined them climbing up rough steps carved out of the mountainside to their flimsy shacks, where they’d grab a few hours’ sleep before reporting back to the mines. Theirs was not an easy life but, oh my, what a brave bunch they were, and what an exciting page they wrote in the annals of the Old West.

Your Chance to Win!

Just leave Lyn a comment here on RTW, including your email address so she can contact you if you win. (Or, if you prefer, email it to her: texasdruids@hotmail.com.)

The entry period ends at 9:00 pm on Saturday, March 10th.

The prize is a Kindle copy of Dashing Druid.

Thanks, Lyn, for joing RTW this week! RTW readers, be sure to enter her contest by leaving a comment with your email address, and for two chances, leave a comment on her Monday interview as well. 

Lyn Horner: Dashing Druid

Dashing Druid (Texas Druids)
by Lyn Horner

Romancing The West welcomes award-winning author Lyn Horner, who resides in Texas with her husband and beloved cats. Trained in the visual arts, Lyn worked as a fashion illustrator and art instructor for Art Instruction Schools (famous for their "Draw Me" heads.) After quitting work to raise her children, she took up writing as a hobby, soon discovering a love of historical research and the crafting of passionate romances based upon that research.

RTW: We'd love to know more about the Texas Druids series, specifically the featured book today, Dashing Druid. Could you please tell us about your book?

LH: Glad to, Jacquie. Tye Devlin is empathic. He “feels” others’ emotions. Although he’s learned to block out most of the “racket,” he has no defense against cowgirl Lil Crawford’s hidden pain, for it echoes his own. Healing each other will be no easy task for these two wounded souls. Set in the 1870s, against a backdrop of Texas ranch life and an iconic cattle drive, this story pits Tye and Lil against dangerous enemies, feuding families and their own personal demons. Love may carry a deadly price.

Giveaway!

Dear RTW fans, Lyn will give away a free copy of Dashing Druid.

Please see details at the end of Lyn's interview.

RTW: Why do you write Westerns? What aspect of life in the Old West intrigues you the most? Did you work that into Dashing Druid?

LH: I take after my dad. He loved stories of the Old West. I watched dozens, maybe hundreds, of westerns on TV with him, and he introduced me to authors like Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. Eventually I started reading western romances. When I began writing, I naturally gravitated to that genre. Cowboys and cattle drives have always intrigued me most. My favorite TV western was Rawhide, and to this day I love Red River, the original black and white movie with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. This epic tale of the (fictional) first trail drive from Texas to Kansas led me to feature a cattle drive in Dashing Druid.

RTW: If you lived in the 1870s, what would you visit first? Is there some place you researched where you might like to live?

LH: Gosh, I'd surely like to visit Wichita, Kansas, where my trail drive concludes, and watch the cowboys drive a sprawling cattle herd straight through town. Since I live in Fort Worth, I'd also like to see “Cowtown” in the old days. First, though, I'd probably visit Bosque County, Texas, home to Tye and Lil. It would be fun to see if the area looked as I picture it back then.

Choosing a place to live is easy. It would be Georgetown, Colorado. How my characters get there, I won’t say, but living in such a picturesque location would be a joy. Surrounded by mountains, the town is charming with its Victorian homes and old time storefronts. However, I'd spend winters in Texas. I grew up in Minnesota. No more snow and ice for me!

RTW: If a person who had never read a Western Romance asked you for a recommendation, what novel or movie would you recommend and why? What makes the story special for you?



Lyn Horner, author



LH: Well, as I mentioned before, I love the movie Red River, so I'd recommend that. Not only is it a wonderful adventure tale, but it also includes a touching love story. Two actually. One is the romance between Montgomery Clift's character and a woman he meets along the trail (can't recall the actress's name, sorry.) The other is the unspoken love between the father figure (John Wayne) and his adopted son (Clift.) It's their relationship and the pain it involves, that always tugs at my heart. It also has a happy ending, always a winner in my opinion.

Now, if we're talking books, my first favorite western romance was Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers. Yes, it's a bodice ripper, but what a ride! I've never read anything to top the page-turning pace. Among later authors, Linda Lael Miller can't be beat. I love her time travel stories, especially Sierra's Homecoming, because it's so unique. Having two heroines living in the same house but on different timelines, and the way she connects them, is a brilliant idea!

RTW: Why must Tye Devlin take this particular story journey? What does he have to prove? How does Lil Crawford affect his journey?

LH: Tye’s story is one of redemption as he struggles to put his ghosts to rest. He must prove to himself, as well as to Lil and her family, that he's worthy of her. Drawn to her by his empathic ability, he finds in her a new reason for living. She, in turn, must come to believe she's not the unlovable old maid she thought herself to be.

RTW: Would you like to share an excerpt from Dashing Druid?

LH: Absolutely. In this scene, Tye and Lil are at a Saturday night social. She is escorted by Frank Howard, a friend of her family, who she doesn’t like. Tye has just asked her for a dance.

Lil stiffened. “Listen, I agreed to dance with you to show Frank he doesn’t own me. That doesn’t give you the right to nose into my business.”

His mouth curved downward briefly, but then he nodded. “As ye say, colleen.” He tilted his head, studying her. She was about to tell him to quit staring when he spoke. “And will ye also object if I simply ask whether Lil’s your full given name?”

She blinked at his unexpected change of subject and shrugged. “It’s Lily, but nobody ever calls me that. It doesn’t suit me.”

He laughed softly. “Ah, but I think it does, for you’re as beautiful as your namesake.”

Lil forgot to breathe for a moment. Was he mocking her the way he had that day last summer at the creek? Or . . . was it possible he really meant what he said, both now and back then? Suddenly unsure, she felt herself blush and sent her gaze skittering away like a terrified rabbit searching for a hidey-hole.

“Y-you must be addled. I’m not even pretty.”

He sighed and murmured in a deep, husky tone, “Lily, Lily, ye know not your own worth. You’ve the face of a Greek goddess I once saw pictured in a book. Your skin glows as if kissed by the sun, your brown eyes spark with fire when you’re angry and call out to me in my dreams. And your hair . . . ah, colleen, it makes me think of moonlight on dark water. My dearest wish is to bury my face in it and drink in your sweet scent.”

Never had a man said such things to Lil. Melting warmth enveloped her as she lifted her head and got lost in Tye’s radiant blue eyes. She parted her lips, but no words came out. Instantly, his gaze swooped down to her mouth, and it shocked her to realize she wanted him to kiss her. What was left of her rational mind cried out in protest.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” she whispered, sounding breathy and unconvincing even to her own ears.

“Nay, Lily, ’tisn’t nonsense, ’tis the simple truth. And there’s more, much more I wish to say . . . and do.”

She gasped, suddenly fearful.

“Ah, luv, don’t be frightened,” he said quickly. “I’d never hurt ye, I swear.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Dashing Druid can be purchased at Amazon.

RTW: What’s next? Where does Dashing Druid number in the series?

LH: Yes, it’s the second volume in my Texas Druids trilogy. I’m hard at work on the third book, Dearest Druid. In it, Tye’s little sister Rose is lassoed by an Indian cowboy and puts her healing touch to good use.

RTW: Anything else you’d like to add?

LH: I would like to briefly mention Darlin’ Druid, the first book in this series. Available in Kindle format and in print, this book won second place in the Paranormal Romance Guild’s 2011 Reviewers Choice Awards. It stars Tye’s sister, Jessie Devlin, and her hunky dream man David Taylor.

Your Chance to Win!

RTW: Okay, give. What contest are you offering this week?

LH: Okay, readers, here’s the scoop on my giveaway. It’s simple. Just leave me a comment here on RTW, including your email address so I can contact you if you win. (Or, if you prefer, email it to me: texasdruids@hotmail.com.) The entry period ends at 9:00 pm on Saturday, March 10th. The prize is a Kindle copy of Dashing Druid.

Thanks, Lyn, for joing RTW this week! RTW readers, be sure to enter her contest by leaving a comment with your email address, and join us in Thursday for Lyn's western article. You won't want to miss it.

Chicken Dinner: Wagons, Idaho, and Lovers

Conestoga Wagons were the "Wagons That Won the West."  Conestoga is a brand name and famous for heavy freight wagons.  I found a nice article that gives an overview of the history, uses, and construction in Twisted, Bent, & Bowed by David Sneed on the Wheels That Won the West website. Check it out! 

On March 4 in the Old West:

1861-Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States.

1863-President Lincoln signed an act creating Idaho Territory.

1868-Jesse Chisholm of cattle trail fame dies of food poisoning in Oklahoma.

From The Owyhee Avalanche, March 2, 1872 (reprinted February 29, 2012):

LEGAL ADVICE. A lover consulted a lawyer about carrying off an heiress. "You must not carry her off," said the lawyer, "but she can carry you off." Let her mount a horse and hold the bridle and whip, and then you get up behind her, and let her run away with you. Then you'll be safe. The next morning the lawyer found his daughter had run away with the said young man in the aforesaid manner.

Other news items:

The weather is pleasant and the roads are in good condition. The stages are making excellent time; they leave at 4 o'clock in the morning and arrive about 10 in the forenoon. The mails from all quarters are arriving quite regular once more. (RTW note: Silver City, Idaho Territory, had been snowed in for three months.)

Mrs. Geo. H. Cole, A.P. Minear, John T. Boyle, and D.T. Davies, ex-Superintendent of the Golden Chariot, all departed for 'Frisco on Thursday's stage. Mrs. Coe goes on a brief visit; Minear, on mining business and will return in a couple of weeks; Boyle, to purchase goods; Davies, to assume the Superintendency of the St. Patrick mine, near Auburn, Cal., a position to which he has recently been elected.

It's interesting to see what is important enough to be included in the newspaper. Seldom do we care who travels when or where these days, but in 1872 it was a news item.

Coming up!

We have a great week lined up with guest author Lyn Horner who writes the Texas Druids series.