On This Day in the Old West January 9

 January 9 is a day with two notable “firsts.” In 1847, the first newspaper in Yerba Buena, The California Star, was published by Samuel Brennan. This was only the second paper in California (after The Californian) and was edited by Elbert P. Jones for the first few editions. Later that same year, The Californian moved to Yerba Buena as well.

Brennan, who had earlier assisted in publishing several Mormon newspapers in New York, had brought a small press with him when he immigrated to California aboard the ship Brooklyn in 1846, as the leader of a group of Mormon settlers. This was just before the city underwent rapid expansion due to the California gold rush. 

The California Star appeared weekly until June 14, 1848, when it was forced to shut down because its entire staff had departed for the gold fields. Its rival newspaper had suspended publication for the same reason on May 29.

Later that year, Brennan sold his interest in the newspaper to Edward Cleveland Kemble, who also purchased The Californian. He resumed publication of the combined newspapers under the name Star and Californian on November 18, 1848. On December 23 of that same year, the paper ran an article indicating this was their last issue. A new paper would be published instead, entitled Alta California.

The first issue of this new paper would be published on Thursday, January 4, 1849—in the city of San Francisco, which was the name chosen for Yerba Buena by the alcalde, Lieutenant Washington Allon Bartlett.

By this time, the newspaper was under the control of Robert B. Semple, the cofounder of The Californian, who was the man who came up with the name Alta California. The paper began daily publication on January 22, becoming California’s first daily newspaper. On July 4, Semple began printing his newspaper on a new steam press, the first such press in the west. The Daily Alta Californiawas also published as a weekly (published each Saturday), tri-weekly, and steamer editions. The Steamer Alta California was published on the departure of the Steamers on the first and fifteenth of each month.

The newspaper continued publication until June 2, 1891. The Gold Rush is an event that is tied to California in the minds of most Americans, though many people think the event left little lasting legacy other than alerting outsiders to the enormous wealth to be found in California. 

In reality, the experiences of the Forty-niners gave form to much of the economic development of the state. Banking and finances, especially, “evolved in often distinctive ways” because of the economy of the Gold Rush. By the time banks appeared in the state, commercial banking was already well established in the East. Usually, a merchant or freight agent would accept deposits from folks wanting safe storage for money or gold. They could also exchange drafts written from out-of-town companies and pay out gold, plus they often extended credit to valued customers. This combination gave the merchants the essential function of a bank.

When their “banking” business equaled or surpassed their mercantile or freight profits, these men usually sought a banking charter from their state legislature, though not all “bankers” possessed a charter. This charter empowered a banker to issue paper money (banknotes, or simply “notes), which was backed by gold, since all notes had to be convertible into gold at some point.

However, more often than not, the real determinant of a note’s value rested on the reputation of the banks, which meant many banks ended up with low gold reserves, yet high reputations. The Panic of 1837 had made several states hostile to banks, with some actually prohibiting the institutions. Of course, note-issuing banks still popped up, under titles like “Marine and Fire Insurance and Banking Company” or “Railroad and Banking Company.” States found they could not eliminate the demand for banks—or paper money—and often, “bankless” states, such as Iowa in the 1850s, found they were losing business to neighboring states.

When banking appeared in California, her citizens decided to allow banks to issue private notes. They had plenty of evidence about what did and didn’t work when it came to bank structure. Yet banking experience in other states didn’t have the key ingredient that California did: abundant gold, “capable of sustaining a metallic currency.” Between 1848 and 1860, according to one estimate, gold exports from the state topped $650 million at $16 an ounce.

San Francisco reflected this boom in its population, which had been barely 150 in 1846, only to swell to 50,000 a mere decade later. Yet despite the abundance of gold, the United States didn’t open a mint in San Francisco until 1854, meaning “the scarcity of coin persisted amidst an ocean of gold.” All customs must be paid in U.S. coin, which led to hoarding of the few pieces of metallic currency that existed.

Using gold ore or dust for daily business transactions was difficult because “the measurement and valuation of gold in such forms constituted an inexact science, even for the experienced.” Gold, straight from a mine, is rarely pure. Even nuggets could contain other metals or dirt, and the “dust” really had several materials mixed together. Another problem was that, at first, anything the miners needed must be shipped in from the East, with gold transported out to pay for them. Thus, valuing, transporting, and safely storing gold contributed to “stimulating early banking functions.”

Identifying the “first bank” in California involves figuring out which, of several banking functions or services, a business or individual provided. This wasn’t easy, as many early merchants and entrepreneurs performed most banking functions at one time or another, but seldom all functions at the same time. As late as 1947, of the 169 men who gave occupations for a newspaper article, none gave “banker” as their job. 

Robert A. Parker, who later established the Parker House Hotel, may have been San Francisco’s first banker, conducting primitive operations from his store on Dupont Street. In order to qualify as a banker, a man (there are no female gold-rush bankers on record in San Francisco) had to establish a business to prove he was trustworthy and successful. Next, he needed a safe to prove he could keep assets physically secure. Once a businessman had a successful business, a reputation, and a safe, all he needed was a building to house his bank, the grander, the better.

One reason for a grand building was the instability of the owners and operators of that bank. Although generally founded by one businessman or establishment, a bank could have partners entering and leaving quite often. The names of the banks also changed frequently. For example, our hero, Dr. Stephen A. Wright, who, on January 9, 1848, established the Miner’s Bank out of his operations, changed the name to Wright and Company the following year. Less than a year later, the bank was reorganized as Miner’s Exchange and Savings Bank.

Whatever the name, the bank was founded on January 9, and so is of interest to us today. Your characters may have read the California Star or Alta California, and they would certainly be familiar with banks. If they lived in or near San Francisco, they may have done business at Dr. Wright’s Miner’s Bank and taken a subscription to the California Star. Two real bits of history you can use as flavor in your stories.

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks

 

Sources:

California Digital Newspaper Collection

Rawls, James J and Orsi, Richard J., Editors, A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold-Rush California, Chapter 10: From Hard Money to Branch Banking by Larry Schweikart and Lynne Pierson Doti

A Look Back - Planning Forward

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw 

2025 is about to be a scene in the rearview mirror. Here is a look back at the year of blog posts:

January - I began the year on a Thank You: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/01/thank-you.html

February - A look at my reading list and the importance of stories: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/02/and-next.html

March - Relevance and a rant of sorts: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/03/relevant-it-depends.html

April - The upcoming A250-C150: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/04/150-250.html

May - A look at AI and its influence? :https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/05/andi-share.html

June - Some of my favorite opening lines: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/06/opening-lines.html

July - A look at some of the painters and photographers of the Old West: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-other-side-of-west.html

August - A deep dive into the people that caught my reading attention: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/08/research-reading-deep-dive.html

September - A bit about the man made 'famous' in Isabella Bird's book  "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains": https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/09/rocky-mountain-jim.html

October - A look at a man who impacted early Colorado: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/10/sir-st-george-gore.html

November - Dr. Dunlop and her connection to the Lake County War: https://westernfictioneers.blogspot.com/2025/10/sir-st-george-gore.html

As I plan 2026, my thought is to deep-dive into the people who were involved in the effort to secure Colorado's statehood in 1869, the results, and the process that led to Colorado becoming the Centennial State. For those who have the time to read these blogs, as well as the others who post here, we hope our offerings are of some use and enjoyment.

Until next year, 

Stay Safe, Stay Creative, and Stay Happy,

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West December 12

 On December 12, 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant  and his wife Julia hosted the very first official state dinner. The guest was the king of the Sandwich Islands, David Kalakaua. Today, of course, the islands are known by their native name: Hawai’i. At that time, the islands were suffering from a depression and the king was hoping to broker a deal whereby Hawaiian goods would be imported tax-free into the United States.

A “state dinner” is a special dinner hosted by the American president for a visiting foreign head of state. Until the visit of King Kalakaua, there just weren’t any foreign heads of state visiting. With 3,000 miles of ocean on one side and 3,000 miles of “unknown frontier” on the other, it just wasn’t feasible for foreign rulers to pop in for dinner. Most so-called “state” dinners were held for Governors, victorious Generals, the Supreme Court Justices, Congress, and sometimes for former or incoming presidents.

When Grant became president in 1869, the “Gilded Age” (a term coined by Mark Twain) had begun. The country’s economy was strong and people were making money. Showing off this money was fashionable, too. The more opulent your décor and dress, the more respect you commanded. And while the White House couldn’t rival the homes of the Astors or Vanderbilts, it was still a wonderful place for a party. And since Ulysses and Julia Grant were “affable people,” the doors were open for dinners, balls, and receptions. President Grant was probably the most popular man in the country.

In case you’re a history buff wondering about that first state dinner designation, President Buchanan’s 1860 hosting of the Prince of Wales didn’t count. The prince wasn’t a head of state, he was only eighteen, and he claimed he was traveling incognito (though nobody believed him).

David Kalakaua was the king of a sovereign nation, and one which had become “semi-important” during the US Civil War for supplying the Union with sugar. Kalakaua expected to be treated as royalty, even if he was asking for a favor from the US government. He was “pleasantly acquainted” with Mark Twain, who had spent time in his country, and Twain was, in turn, acquainted with President Grant (who admired the author in return). In short order, an invitation to dinner at the White House was arranged for the king.

King Kalakaua was greeted cordially by President and Mrs. Grant, and a small dinner was served to the thirty-six people invited. It was said to have nearly thirty separate dishes of “exotic” French cuisine and ‘the finest of wines.” The menu included several choices of soup, fish, boiled and roasted meats, game entrees, vegetables, relishes, pastries and other desserts, and, of course, coffee. “The cost of the affair was around $3,000—more than ten times the amount today!”

But the purpose of the visit—and the dinner—was achieved, at least for the king. A duty-free agreement between the Sandwich Islands and the United States was reached for sugar and other items. This agreement was evidently mutually beneficial, since only twenty years later, the islands chose to annex to the mainland.

 

Your characters could have heard or read of the first state dinner, and maybe followed the visit of King Kalakaua in the newspapers. In 1881, the king became the first ruling monarch in the world to undertake a round-the-world tour. He revisited the United States, met with President Chester Alan Arthur, promoted island culture, and re-negotiated trade agreements. “As a one-man Chamber of Commerce, King Kalakaua could be considered a whopping success.”

 

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks

 

Sources:

Feather Schwartz Foster, “President Grant and the First State Dinner,” Presidential History Blog, October 9, 2017.

Betty C. Monkman, “The White House State Dinner,” The White House Historical Association.

Ishaan Tharoor, “King Kalakaua Goes to Washington, 1874,” Time Magazine, January 11, 2011.

A Western Perspective: The Western Genre Is Emotional Oxygen

 Howdy Everyone, 

I hope you are all doing well! 

 Recently I have heard a lot of talk about how the western needs to push into different genres to be able to reach a more broad readership and for younger audiences as well. I get that some people might get into reading the westerns by having zombies, vampires in them or if they are more of a sci-fi or fantasy take and that is all good for those that are into that. If this is the kind of western that you read or write, please know this is not a dig at that at all. I think the western can absorb and be a part of any other genre perfectly and make it work naturally and for those writing those types of stories, my hat is off to you.

My point is that I want to make sure that the western also lives on with respect to the stories that have come before and those coming out now. Someone asked me the other day why I write westerns and do I think they are going to be around much longer. The conversation was great, because I was able to do a deep dive on why I love this genre, the history, the people, the land, the food, the towns, the "good guys, the "bad guys", victories, losses, birth, death, love, heartache.....see even there I can just keep going! With this conversation I was reminded though just over the past five years how the western has made not only a comeback but was essential in surviving the pandemic.  

The Western genre endures because it strikes a rare balance between myth and truth, capturing both the rugged beauty of the frontier and the emotional landscapes we all navigate. It’s an amazing, encompassing genre precisely because it blends adventure with introspection. In Westerns, the wide-open plains are more than scenery, they’re symbols of possibility. The frontier becomes a place where characters test themselves, confront their fears, and measure their courage against the enormity of the world. Young readers, especially, connect to these themes because the frontier mirrors their own inner journeys. Growing up is its own kind of wilderness, and Western stories give young minds a way to explore bravery, independence, and identity in a setting that feels limitless.

What makes the Western so powerful is that it taps into a universal longing for space. Space to dream, to breathe, to become. The genre’s heroes often stand alone against challenges, not because they seek loneliness, but because solitude sharpens their sense of purpose. That resonates deeply in a world where noise and pressure crowd our days. In Westerns, there’s room to think, room to grow, room to imagine a life beyond the ordinary. The trails, the campfires, the star-filled nights, they all carry the promise of clarity. Even readers who have never set foot on a ranch or ridden a horse feel the magnetic pull of that freedom. The Western invites everyone, regardless of age, to step into a story where the world is wide and the stakes are real.

This yearning for openness became especially vivid during the COVID shutdowns, when people around the world suddenly found themselves confined, disconnected, and craving escape. Movie theaters went dark, playgrounds emptied, and commutes dissolved into the four walls of home. In that moment of unprecedented stillness, the Western’s promise of movement and vastness felt like a lifeline. Its landscapes were everything our daily routines were not. Expansive, untamed, alive and free. People didn’t turn to Westerns simply for entertainment; they turned to them for emotional oxygen. They watched cowboys ride across endless prairies, read stories of pioneers facing hardship with grit, and rediscovered the comfort of a world where integrity, courage, and resilience could still triumph. The frontier offered a sense of agency at a time when control felt impossible.

The surge of interest wasn’t just nostalgia, it was psychological survival. Westerns reminded us that humanity has weathered difficulty before, that isolation can forge strength, and that simplicity has its own kind of beauty. They provided a mental escape hatch, a way to step into a world where challenges were met head-on and every sunrise brought the chance to start anew. In a time when reality felt tight and anxious, the Western genre swung the gate wide open. It brought people back to a place where the sky had no ceiling, the future was unwritten, and even in the harshest conditions, hope rode right alongside you.

I hope you all have a great December and a Happy Holidays! 

And Now for Something Different?

Post (c) by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

We all encounter the unexpected. Usually fun, sometimes irritating, and occasionally an interesting blessing. This post is about the third, and, I think, interesting blessing.

Doctor Josephine Dunlop was born on December 3, 1875, in Colorado. Died September 15, 1970, at the age of 94 in Austin, Texas. She was the widow of William Dunlop and practiced medicine in Pueblo, Colorado.  One source has her as a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School in 1898 and receiving her Colorado license that same year. This same source lists her as president of the Pueblo County Medical Society in 1918 and as having retired from the practice of medicine in 1946.  From 1919 to 1920, she served as the second vice president of the Colorado State Medical Society.

Dr. Dunlop was one of the consulting pathologists for the Colorado State Hospital and the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, both in Pueblo, Colorado.

The accomplishments of Dr. Dunlop fascinated me. It was as I researched her background that I found myself on a path I did not expect. Enter- the Unexpected. There I found her father, Charles H. Nachtrieb, an early settler in Colorado. Born in Germany on April 20, 1833, Charles came to the United States with his siblings. After settling in Colorado, Mr. Nachtrieb was a candidate from Lake County at the 1866 convention to establish a constitution to admit Colorado to the Union. (Colorado was not admitted until 1876). He was to have built the first grist mill west of the Mississippi and was one of the leaders in the Lake County War. (Which, according to records, was a particularly bloody conflict.) In 1879, he, along with Otto Mears and Issac Gothelf, filed an article of incorporation for the Poncho, Marshall, and Gunnison toll road, the object of which was to build a twenty-five-thousand-dollar toll road from Poncho Creek in Chaffee County to the Gunnison River.

An old school in Nathrop.

Charles Nachtrieb was also a rancher, having a large ranch in Gunnison County, Colorado. He and his family lived in Nathrop, Colorado (named for him), where he had a shop and was the postmaster. It was in Nathrop that, according to the newspaper report from the time, a man by the name of Burt (Bert) Remington shot and killed Charles on October 3, 1881. He was forty-nine. After searching, I have found no record of the trial or whether Remington was caught. But I have much more research to do. I did find a proclamation printed in the Daily Register-Call ( a Central City newspaper) on Thursday, October 6, 1881, which read.

The Governor’s Proclamation: Governor Pitkin, yesterday morning, made the following proclamation, offering a reward:

Wheras, On or about the third (3d) day of October, A.D. 1881, one Charles Nachtrieb was murdered in the county of Chaffee, and state of Colorado, and Wheras, Burt Remington has been charged with said murder, and, Wheras, said Remington has not been arrested, the proper officers have been unable up to the present time to find said Remington, Now, therefore, In pursuance of the statute in such cases made and provided, I do hereby offer the sum of three hundred dollars ($300) as a reward for the arrest and delivery to the sheriff of Chaffee, county, Colorado, of the aforesaid Burt Remington, so charged with the said murder.                                                      FREDERICK W. PITKIN, Governor.”

There is so much more to find out and research about this family, especially Dr. Dunlop’s father. I know I will be writing a great deal about her in the future. Her father’s story is a beautiful one of hard work and success, but ultimately a very sad one as well. In addition to Josephine, there were the wife, Margaret, and the children, Jake, Charles II, and Chris.

So you see, I was off down the ‘rabbit hole’ when I ran across Josephine Dunlop’s family tree. There is much more for me to find, and, as always, I love the unexpected pieces of history my doctor research is uncovering.

More about the war in another post.

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West November 14

 This is not entirely Old West, but it’s interesting, nonetheless. On November 14, 1889, New York Worldjournalist Nellie Bly began a round-the-world trip, attempting to beat the fictional time from Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in 80 Days.

Nellie Bly, the pen name of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, was an investigative journalist and social activist, known for her bold reporting (including a “groundbreaking exposé” on conditions in mental institutions). She evidently first became interested in journalism when she wrote an angry reply to an article in her local Pittsburgh Dispatch, entitled “What Girls Are Good For.”  The paper hired her. She took her pen name from a character in a Stephen Foster song and was widely respected for her “innovative work in controversial areas.”

Nellie is best known, however, for her trip around the world. Her managing editor, John A. Cockerill, told her she could never do it. “You are a woman and would need a protector, and even if it were possible for you to travel alone you would need to carry so much baggage that it would detain you in making rapid changes… No one but a man can do this.” 

Nellie’s response was characteristically blunt: “Very well. Start the man and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.” Cockerill relented, and, within the year, Nellie left Hoboken, New Jersey, headed east across the Atlantic to London, England.

She took a single piece of baggage, measuring 41 by 18 centimeters, containing bare essentials – underwear, toiletries, writing materials, dressing gown, tennis blazer, flask and cup, two caps, three veils, slippers, needle and thread, handkerchiefs. But no gun. “I had such a strong belief in the world’s greeting me as I greeted it that I refused to arm myself,” she wrote.

Six days later, the first-time traveler arrived in Southampton, where the World’s London correspondent had exciting news. Author Jules Verne had heard of her journey, and wanted to meet her in his hometown of Amiens, France. 

This was both an honour and a gamble, necessitating a deviation from her meticulously planned route. Bly travelled non-stop for two days to make the appointment, by road, rail and boat via London to Boulogne, and then Amiens, where Verne and his wife were waiting at the station. Leaving Verne’s home in the middle of the night, Bly caught a 1.30am train across France and Italy to the port of Brindisi. Here she boarded the Victoria, a steamer that took her through the Mediterranean to Port Said in Egypt, at the new Suez Canal’s northern end.

When she had access to a telegraph office, Nellie sent in her updates to the World. In between, she mailed letters. Since these dispatches often took a long time to arrive in New York, the newspaper tried “inventive ways” to keep interest in her story alive. One such technique was a sweepstake where over half a million people sent in their guesses as to exactly how long Nellie’s trip would take. The grand prize was an expense-paid trip to Europe.

Once the Victoria had refueled in Port Said, it continued through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, stopping at the Port of Aden on the Arabian Peninsula, where Bly went exploring. Next stop was Colombo in Sri Lanka.

After “an agonizing five-day wait” in Colombo for a boat to take Nellie the 3,500 miles over the sea to Hong Kong, she finally set sail for China on the Oriental. On the way, the ship stopped at Singapore, where Nellie bought a companion: a small monkey she named McGinty.

Nelllie had another overnight delay in Singapore, and fretted about her connection in Hong Kong, but the Oriental made good progress once it set sail—unfortunately, through “a violent monsoon storm that created enormous seas.” The travelers arrived safely, and early, just before Christmas Day. However, Nellie “had an unwelcome surprise awaiting her.”

A rival publication, the Cosmopolitan, had hastily commissioned another female journalist to try and beat Nellie Bly’s time. 28-year-old Elizabeth Bisland was given only six hours’ notice before leaving New York on the same day Nellie had. However, she traveled west “while the World’s champion went east.” Nellie had been unaware of this now-real race until she arrived in Hong Kong, where she was informed that Bisland had passed through several days earlier.

Nellie was not impressed by the news. “I am not racing,” she claimed. “I promised to do the trip in 75 days, and I will do it.” However, comments made while she was trapped in a delay-causing storm during her trip from Hong Kong to Yokohama, Japan, suggested otherwise. “I’d rather go back to New York dead than not a winner,” she was heard to say.

Despite more heavy weather on the final boat ride from Japan to San Francisco on the White Str Line ship, Oceanic, Nellie arrived back in the United States on January 21, a day ahead of schedule. However, rail travel had been slowed due to snowstorms, and Nellie could feel Bisland on her trail.

Unbeknownst to Nellie, however, her rival’s luck had run out. In England, Bisland learned that the fast German steamer Ems, due to take her from Southampton to New York, had been cancelled. She was forced to divert via Ireland to catch the much slower ship, the Bothina. Meanwhile, the World’s owner, Joseph Pulitzer, had chartered a private train to bring Nelly Bly home in style. The “Miss Nellie Bly Special” set records of its own during that final leg, completing the 2,577-mile jouirney in only 69 hours to deliver Nellie to New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 pm—72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds after leaving. Nellie Bly had bested Phineas Fogg’s fictional journey time by over seven days.

Elizabeth Bisland arrived five days later.

Nellie Bly’s trip was a unqualified success, but upon arriving, she was heard to profess, “I took off my cap and wanted to yell with the crowd, not because I had gone around the world in seventy-two days, but because I was home again.”

 

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks

Sir St. George Gore

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

What was the impact of Sir St. George Gore’s 1850s hunting expedition on the American West and Colorado’s early history?

When you look at a map of Colorado, you will find the Gore Range. It is located in the North Central part of the state. It is approximately 50 miles west of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. It takes its name from Sir St. George Gore, the 8th Baronet of Gore Manor in County Donegal, Ireland.

So, how does an Irishman get his name on a Colorado Mountain Range? Good question, and the answer is somewhere in his presence in the West.

I first became aware of Gore while researching characters for a murder-mystery script set in Vale for the murder-mystery company I worked for. I needed a 'villain' for the piece and came across Gore and his hunting trip throughout the West.

Image from Wikipedia

While there are various online versions, some information remains consistent:

He traversed the West, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas from 1854-1857. The cost was estimated at around $500,000. It was on this trip that Gore himself, an avid hunter, claimed to have killed 2,000 buffalo, 1,600 deer and elk, and 105 bears. (It is also said, he left the carcasses to rot.)

Additionally, he traveled in style. He had a large striped green-and-white linen tent, a brass bedstead, a rug, and a portable table for his personal use. He had twenty-seven vehicles, over one hundred horses, eighteen oxen, and three cows, along with pistols, shotguns, and rifles. Gore even had Jim Bridger to be his chief guide.  

Such a presence led to numerous incidents and left many unhappy. However, as far as I could tell, Gore faced no repercussions.

The name of the range itself appears to have come from William Byers, founder of the Rocky Mountain News. In 1868, Byers referred to it as Gore's Range, and the name stuck, according to an article in the Colorado Life Magazine. 

Some additional links: Wikipedia

Gore. Sir St. George

Colorado Life

Today, October 28, 2025, the ebook "Isabella" is available. It takes place in 1907 in the Rocky Mountain National Park area.

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West October 10

 On October 10, 1899, inventor Isaac R. Johnson lodged his patent for a folding bicycle. This was the first to have a recognizably modern diamond frame, which is the pattern still used in 21^st Century bikes. This design improved comfort and speed, as the chain drive was transferred to the non-steering rear wheel, allowing for “smooth, relaxed, and injury-free pedaling.” Earlier bicycle designs were difficult to pedal while turning due to “the misalignment of rotational plans of leg and pedal,” or, in other words, you were pedaling one way and trying to steer in another. Trousers and skirts frequently caught in the chains, and accidents were common. The first “safety bicycle” was created in 1865, by John Kemp Starley, though it was never patented.

The pneumatic tire and diamond frame improved rider comfort but are not necessarily a crucial design or safety feature. A hard rubber bicycle tire would be just as rideable, though bone-jarring. Johnson’s design allows for “a lighter weight and more simple construction and maintenance, hence a lower price.” This made the bicycle affordable to the public and created a craze in the 1890s.

Johnson was born in New York in 1812. He wasn’t the first inventor to create a bike frame, just the one to perfect it. He was the first African American to invent and patent the frame, which is most similar to the bikes we use today. What made this design so unique was that it could be easily taken apart or folded. Johnson marketed his bicycle as “convenient for travels and vacation.” He originally filed the patent in April, and that paperwork gives us most of our information about the inventor. At the time, he lived in Manhattan, and he classified his invention as an improved version of a bicycle frame, noting “its ability to be placed in small storage areas or a truck.”

The bicycle came with instructions, notating each of its parts. In the section where the reason for the patent is given, Johnson writes “a steering-head section and a frame having a slot-and-stud connection for detachably uniting,” and when asked what made his invention different, he said it was “a bicycle-frame having a front and rear sheath or tube-section, and a steering-post sleeve and seat-post tube to which the sheaths are removably connected.”

Bicycles were originally designed as velocipedes, pedal-less versions of the modern bicycle. Riders simply sat upon the bike and walked or ran along, using their feet to propel themselves. Inventor Matthew Cherry, creator of the tricycle, made the first improvements to the design. In 1899, Jerry Certain patented “various parcel carriers” that could be attached to a bicycle, followed shortly afterwards by Johnson’s frame design patent.

After the Civil War, bicycles were tested at length. The U.S. Military had the all-Black 25^th Infantry Bicycle Corps ride bikes 1,900 miles from Montana to Missouri. During this trek, the soldiers tested the bicycle’s cross-country suitability, cycling the Rocky Mountains and enduring extreme weather conditions. They often traveled off-road as well, making an average speed of 8 miles per hour and taking 41 days to finish their trip. 

Your characters may well have owned or at least ridden some sort of bicycle if they lived after 1817, when the velocipede was invented. The front-wheel driven bike was created in the 1860s and featured the enlarged front wheel device commonly called the “penny-farthing” or “boneshaker,” which is so often shown in old photos and illustrations. 

"Rocky Mountain Jim"

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

"‘Rocky Mountain Jim,’ the frontiersman made famous by Isabella Bird in her 1879 travel classic A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, remains one of Colorado’s most mysterious historical figures. Often remembered as a tragic figure, his true identity and life story have puzzled historians and readers alike for over a century. This article attempts to explore the facts that have been shared about Rocky Mountain Jim since the book’s publication.

Ancestry records indicate that James Author Nugent was born on July 4, 1836, in Pakenham, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. An 1861 Canadian census lists a James Nugent in the same county of his birth, working as a laborer and identifying as a Roman Catholic. Additional records show James Nugent, son of Arthur Nugent and Ann McDermet Nugent, was baptized on January 6, 1837, in Perth, Ontario, Canada.

Image (C) Doris McCraw

So far, the date of his arrival in the United States is tenuous. It may have been the late 1860s, as some records show he'd built a cabin near Estes Park around 1868.

It was here that Isabella Bird met Jim. He'd been guiding people through the Estes Park and what is now known as the Rocky Mountain National Park area. He also guided climbers to the summit of Long's Peak, of which Miss Bird was one.

It is through Isabella's writings that we have an idea of what Jim looked like. He was " a broad, thickset man, about the middle height, with an old cap on his head, and wearing a grey hunting-suit much the worse for weare...a revolver sticking our of the breaest-pocket fo his coat...Tawny hair in thin, uncared-for curls. fell from under his hunter's cap and over his collar. One eye was entirely gone, and the loss made one side of the face repulsive, while the other might have been modeled in marble,..Of his genius and chivalry to women, there does not appear to be any doubt; but he is a desperate character, and subject to 'ugly fits', when people think it best to avoid him."

The scarred face was the result of a grizzly attack that may have occurred sometime between 1869 and 1871. 

He died on September 7, 1874, after being shot in the head with a shotgun. He survived long enough to name Griffith Evans, an old rival, as his attacker. He was taken to Fort Collins, where he died and is supposed to be buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery there. Of Griff Evans, without a living witness, he was acquitted of murder. (Griff Evans is a story for another post.)

The Old West is full of stories and mysteries like "Rocky Mountain Jim's", and the joy of digging for the facts vs fiction is a major part of the reason I love history.

Below is a haiku I wrote when thinking of Jim:

Rain falls in the night

Wind, clouds vie for dominance's 

A lone star shines bright

And yes, I have a book coming out in October where the characters of Isabella Bird and Mountain Jim play a part.

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West September 12

The SS South America, also known as “The Ship of Gold,” was a 280-foot (85 meter) sidewheel steamer that operated between Central America and the East Coast of the United States during the 1850s. She was originally called the SS George Law (after George Law of New York), and she met her end on September 12, 1857 off the coast of South Carolina.

On September 3, 1857, 477 passengers and 101 crewmembers left the city of Aspinwall (now the Panamanian city of Colón) bound for New York City, with Captain William Lewis Herndon commanding. The ship was laden with 10 short tons (9.1 tons) of gold prospected during the California Gold Rush.

On September 9, the ship was caught up in a Category 2 hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas. By September 11, 105 mph (170 kmph) winds and heavy seas had shredded her sails. She was taking on water, and her boiler was nearing failure. When a leak developed in a seal between a paddle wheel shaft and the ship’s side, her fate was sealed.

At noon that day, her boiler could no longer maintain fire. Steam pressure plummeted, shutting down both bilge pumps. The paddle wheels that had kept the ship pointed into the wind failed as the ship settled by the stern. Passengers and crew hoisted an inverted ship’s flag (a signal of distress in the United States), hoping to signal a passing ship, but there were no ships within sight.

A bucket brigade was formed, and everyone spent the night fighting a losing battle against rising water. During the calm eye of the hurricane, attempts were made to get the boiler running again, but these failed. Then, the second half of the storm struck. The ship was on the verge of foundering and the hurricane drove the powerless ship hither and yon. The strong winds would not abate.

The next morning, September 12, two other ships were spotted, including the brig Marine. Only 100 passengers, mostly women and children, were transferred off the Central America in lifeboats. The ship remained in an area of intense winds and heavy seas that pulled her and most of her company away from possible rescue. Central America sank at 8:00 that evening, with a loss of 425 lives. A Norwegian bark, Ellen, rescued an additional 50 souls from the water and another three were picked up over a week later in a lifeboat.

The loss of life in this disaster was described later as “appalling” and having “no parallel” among American navigation disasters. When she sank, the Central America carried approximately $8 million in gold, based on a gold price of $1,738.70 per troy ounce ($56.087 per kilogram). Commander William Lewis Herndon went down with the ship. He was a distinguished officer, serving during the Mexican-American War, and had explored the Amazon Valley.  Two US Navy ships were later named USS Herndon in his honor, as was the town of Herndon, Virginia. Two years after the sinking of Central America, Herndon’s daughter Ellen married Chester Alan Arthur, later the 21^st president of the United States.

On September 11, 1988, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) was sent down to the last known location of the Central America by the Columbus-America Discovery Group of Ohio, led by Tommy Gregory Thomson. They used Bayesian search theory, which has been used several times to find lost ships and locate flight recorders of downed airplanes. The ROV found significant amounts of gold and artifacts, which were recovered and brought to the surface by another ROV built specifically for this recovery.

The total value of the recovered gold was estimated at that time at $100 to $150 million. One gold ingot weighing 80 pounds sold for a record $8 million, and was the most valuable piece of currency in the world for a time.

Your characters, if they read the news at that time, would have certainly heard of the terrible disaster and the loss of all that money. They might even have been among the prospectors who’d originally located the gold itself.

 

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks