Colorado 150 - It Became a Reality

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

With July 4th fast approaching and the 250th anniversary of the United States, and with August 1st following shortly thereafter, we have the 150th anniversary of the State of Colorado. With these two dates in mind, and the journey I've been taking on Colorado becoming the 38th state, I thought I would see if there were any correlations between Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson, and the men who brought about Colorado's admittance to the Union.

John Evans 

These are personal observations. So, let's start with Benjamin Franklin. In looking at the life of Benjamin Franklin, his accomplishments, and his history with the declaration and what came before. Franklin was an inventor, scientist, printer, and businessman. Perhaps the closest person to  Franklin would be John Evans, the second territorial governor. Appointed by Abraham Lincoln, Evans is considered to have spearheaded the statehood movement. He was also involved in promoting the transcontinental railroad and the founding of the University of Denver.

Jerome Chaffee

Perhaps the closest to John Adams would be Jerome Chaffee. Before coming to Colorado in 1860, Chaffee had been a schoolteacher, was involved in banking and real estate, was one of the founders of Denver, and, perhaps most importantly, was the delegate from the Colorado Territory who ushered the bill creating the state of Colorado through the legislature. Once Colorado became a state, Chafee served in the U.S. Senate.

Thomas Patterson

Thomas Jefferson is a bit difficult, but perhaps the closest resemblance is Thomas Patterson. He was an immigrant who arrived in the United States, served in the Civil War, and became an attorney; in fact, he was the city attorney of Denver in 1873- 74. He served as a delegate in the House of Representatives until August 1st, 1876, when Colorado became a State. He later purchased the Rocky Mountain News and then the Denver Times.

These are really simple comparisons, but they gave me something to think about as we prepare for the sesquisemiquincentennial. I will continue posting about Colorado's journey to statehood and the events that delayed its admittance to the Union.

Stay tuned.

Until next time

Stay safe - Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

Western Fictioneers Announces the Peacemaker Award Winners

Western Fictioneers is proud to announce the winners of the 16th Annual Peacemaker Awards, presented for the finest in Western fiction published in 2025. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, and special thanks to the judges who make the Peacemaker Awards possible.

BEST WESTERN NOVEL

Winner: WHERE THE LONG TRAIL ENDS, Rod Miller (Speaking Volumes)

Finalists

SNOWBOUND, Harlan Hague (Wolfpack Publishing)
CRY FLINT, Scott McCrea (Dusty Saddle Publishing)
RIVEN, Lincoln Valentine Mears (Lincoln Valentine Mears)
LOST CANYON, John D. Nesbitt (Wolfpack Publishing)
DISMAL TRAIL, Ron Schwab (Uplands Press)

BEST SHORT FICTION

Winner: “Shadrach”, Vicky J. Rose, RIDIN’ WITH THE PACK, VOLUME 3 (Wolfpack Publishing)

Finalists

“Goddess of War”, Kelli Fitzpatrick, SILVERADO PRESS PRESENTS (Silverado Press)
“Leaving Deadwood Behind”, Bruce Hartman, SADDLEBAG DISPATCHES ANTHOLOGY (Saddlebag Dispatches)
“Of Emerald Hue”, John D. Nesbitt, PLAYING A LONE HAND (Thorndike Press)
“River of Retribution”, Vicky J. Rose, SHE RODE WEST (Saddlebag Dispatches)

On This Day in the Old West June 12

 

On the afternoon of this day in the Old West, a tragedy struck Wisconsin. It was June 12, 1899 and the Gollmar Brothers circus had just set up in New Richmond. With the draw of the show, visitors swelled the town’s population. 

Unbeknownst to the happy circus-goers, on nearby Lake St. Croix, a spectacular waterspout  had formed. As the funnel moved to the northeast, toward New Richmond, three people were killed at two different farms near Burkhardt and Boardman. Shortly after the circus show came to an end, the tornado passed through the very center of town. “Only the extreme western edge of the town escaped damage or destruction. Because of the timing, about 6 p.m., with many people on the streets on their way home for supper, and because of the crowd in town due to the circus, more than the usual number were out away from readily available shelter. The scene was one of confusion and terror as people belatedly realized what was happening.”

Leveling a swath around 1,000 feet wide and 3,000 feet long, the tornado became the ninth deadliest tornado in US history. It leveled buildings—over 300 were damaged or totally destroyed—and stripped bark and leaves from entire groves of trees. A 3,000-pound safe was ripped from its mooring and carried a full block. The enormous amount of flying debris was responsible for multiple deaths in at least 26 families. Six of these families suffered four or more deaths.

The New Richmond tornado was not huge, but its timing and deadly pathway claimed 117 lives and caused 150 injuries. 

Survivor Anna Epley, in her account of the event, A Modern Herculaneum, interviewed an eyewitness, who said, "A top-shaped cloud came dancing up along the lake; another mass or column of cloud came from the vicinity of Stillwater. These two clouds were merged together in a funnel-shaped column, or columnar mass, spreading somewhat at the top, and boiling or tumbling rapidly within itself. Thus agitated, it turned eastward, and skirting the hills south of Hudson and hugging the ground closely, it took a northeasterly course towards New Richmond."

Many terrified citizens saved their lives “by fleeing to the cellars in the few seconds warning time they had. However, sometimes this shelter was not sufficient. The O. J. Williams dry good store on the corner of Third and Main Streets proved to be a real death trap. People on the streets in front of it rushed into the store for safety with the result that the building held one of the highest mortality rates in the city. The bricks were sucked up by the tornado and hurled back down on the crowd in the cellar.”

A blind citizen, Henry Kane, reported the following to a reporter: "I could now hear a frightful roaring of enormous proportions and of unvarying intensity and volume. In the upper air above this, there was a tremendous bellowing of appalling magnitude, which gained in intensity and volume as it orchestrated up and down an irregular and variable tonal scale. From the center of the sound area there was emitted a pulsating or puffing sound, coming at regular time intervals that seemed to make the earth quiver.

"This sound would perfectly suggest the puffing in unison of a thousand locomotives, laboring up a steep grade. The heavy, pulsating puffing gave the entire sound mass a rhythmical effect. It were as if nature had for a moment colleagued with Satan to condense the pent-up din and tumult of hell into one vast, discordant symphony.”

Your characters may not have heard about the New Richmond tornado, but they’d have been familiar with the natural disasters, both from personal experience and from newspaper accounts. Even modern buildings are no match for the destructive power of a tornado, and towns in the Old West were mostly wood, with only the wealthier citizens able to afford brick. A tornado was the death knell of any town.

 

Sources

Sather, Mary. ""They Built Their City Twice"" New Richmond Heritage Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.
"New Richmond A Scene of Woe." The Carroll Herald [Carroll, Iowa] 14 June 1899. Google News. Web. 18 Apr. 2010. <https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lR8oAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hAUGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4826,4650021&dq=new+richmond+tornado&hl=en>.
Coffman, S. M. "Destroyed By Wind And Fire." The Daily Argus News 13 June 1899. Google News. Web. 18 Apr. 2010. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-HEnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LgQGAAAAIBAJ&pg=5960,5841142&dq=new+richmond+tornado&hl=en

 

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

Colorado 150 - The Men at the Beginning

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image Property of the Author

I thought it would be interesting to talk a bit about those early 'politicians' who were involved in the 1861 Territorial Legislative Session.

Let me start with the provision from the February 28, 1861, document creating the Colorado Territory:

"The legislative power and authority of the Territory shall be vested in the governor and a legislative assembly.

The legislative assembly shall consist of a council and house of representatives.The council shall cosist of nine members, which may increased to thirteen, having the qualifications of votors as hereinafter prescribed, whose term of servic shall continue two years. The house of represntatives shall consist of thirteen members, which may be increased to twenty-six, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members of the council and whose term of service shall continue one year." 

Below is a brief look at some of those men.

Dr. E.A. Arnold, elected president of the council, was a miner who, at the time of the legislative session's convening, was living in California Gulch (later known as Leadville). It was said he had mined in most of the territory. The stories say Dr. Arnold was on his way to Carson Valley, Nevada, when he was set upon, killed, and scalped.

Colonel John M. Francisco - Born in Bath, Virginia, in 1820, he moved around before finally settling in Colorado. He was a government sutler at Fort Garland until 1862. He is credited with building the town plaza, which became LaVeta.

Judge Charles F. Holly - Born in Connecticut in 1819, he was a graduate of Kenyon College in Ohio. He studied law privately with two different attorneys, then practiced law in Missouri. He moved to Colorado in 1860. He served on the Union side in the Civil War as part of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry Regiment. He died in Buelah, Colorado, in 1901.

Victor Garcia - Born in 1832 in what is now New Mexico. He settled in Colorado in 1855 and had been active in politics in New Mexico. He was very active in Colorado politics most of his life.

Jesus Barela - Little is known about Barela. He was probably born between 1815 and 1820 in what is now New Mexico. Census has him in the Trinidad, Las Animas area. 

For additional reading about this era in Colorado History, I've included a link to E.A. Bowen's diary entries. E.A. Bowen

As with all history, effort has been made to be as accurate as possible.

If you are interested in being interviewed for this blog, contact me privately with Interview in the subject line.

Until next time

Stay safe - Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

16th Annual Peacemaker Awards Finalists

 16TH ANNUAL PEACEMAKER AWARDS FINALISTS

FOR WESTERN NOVELS AND STORIES PUBLISHED IN 2025

BEST WESTERN NOVEL

SNOWBOUND, Harlan Hague (Wolfpack Publishing)
CRY FLINT, Scott McCrea (Dusty Saddle Publishing)
RIVEN, Lincoln Valentine Mears (Lincoln Valentine Mears)
WHERE THE LONG TRAIL ENDS, Rod Miller (Speaking Volumes)
LOST CANYON, John D. Nesbitt (Wolfpack Publishing)
DISMAL TRAIL, Ron Schwab (Uplands Press)

BEST WESTERN SHORT FICTION

“Goddess of War”, Kelli Fitzpatrick, SILVERADO PRESS PRESENTS (Silverado Press)
“Leaving Deadwood Behind”, Bruce Hartman, SADDLEBAG DISPATCHES ANTHOLOGY (Saddlebag Dispatches)
“Of Emerald Hue”, John D. Nesbitt, PLAYING A LONE HAND (Thorndike Press)
“River of Retribution”, Vicky J. Rose, SHE RODE WEST (Saddlebag Dispatches)
“Shadrach”, Vicky J. Rose, RIDIN’ WITH THE PACK, VOLUME 3 (Wolfpack Publishing)

Winners will be announced June 15, 2026 on the WF website (www.westernfictioneers.com) and on this blog.

Western Fictioneers (WF) was formed in 2010 by professional Western writers, to preserve, honor, and promote traditional Western writing in the 21st century. Entries were accepted in both print and electronic forms.

The Peacemaker Awards are given annually. Submissions for the Peacemaker Awards for books and stories published in 2026 will be open in August 2026. Submission guidelines will be posted on the WF website. For more information about Western Fictioneers (WF) please visit: http://www.westernfictioneers.com.

Western Fictioneers would like to thank the judges for their excellent work and James Reasoner for being the Awards Chair.

On This Day in the Old West May 8

On this date in 1886, what is probably the most well-known soft drink in the world was invented and served. Dr. John Stith Pemberton, an Atlanta (Georgia) pharmacist, created the syrup for a new drink, which his partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, named Coca-Cola, and a new age for soft drinks was begun.

At the time, the beverage was advertised as a tonic, good for "Sick Headaches, Neuralgia, Hysteria, Melancholy..." and even morphine addiction! Considering the original formula was said to contain both coca leaves and kola nuts, it may well have cured headache and melancholy, though I can't attest to any of the other ailments. Dr. Pemberton carried a jug of his new syrup down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy, where it was sampled, pronounced "excellent," and sold for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink, mixed with carbonated water.

Robinson's elegant handwriting was also responsible for the iconic trademark for the drink. The first newspaper ad for Coca-Cola soon appeared in The Atlanta Journal, inviting readers to try "the new and popular soda fountain drink." Hand-painted oilcloth signs bearing the trademark were hung from store awnings, with the word "drink" added so passersby knew the new word referred to a soda fountain beverage.

During the first year, sales averaged only nine drinks a day.

Dr. Pemberton never realized the full potential of his tonic. He gradually sold portions of the business to various partners. Just before his death in 1888, he sold his remaining interest in the beverage to Asa G. Candler, an Atlanta businessman and fellow pharmacist. Candler then proceeded to buy up additional rights an dsoon acquired complete control, for a total investment of $2,300. Under Candler's management, the Coca-Cola label soon dominated the global soft drink market throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries.

The background of Coca-Cola is as interesting as its current popularity. In 1885, at Dr. Pemberton's Columbus, Georgia drugstore (Eagle Drug and Chemical House), the pharmacist registered a nerve tonic called Pemberton's French Wine Coca. This might have been inspired by the success of Vin Mariani, a French-Corsican coca wine, but Pemberton's recipe also included the African kola nut, containing caffeine. In the same year, a Spanish drink called Kola Coca was presented in Philadelphia for a contest. In 1953, the rights for this drink were purchased by Coca-Cola.

In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton's response was to develop a non-alcoholic version of his French Wine Coca, marketed as--you guessed it!--Coca-Cola. The "temperance drink" appealed to many people as the temperance movement became more popular. Drugstore soda fountains were also popular in America at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was healthier than still, and Coca-Cola was marketed and sold as a patent medicine.

Your characters may have enjoyed a glass of Coca-Cola at a soda fountain, or sought the drink out to cure whatever ailed them. At least it didn't have some of the crazy ingredients some patent medicines did, like opium or chloroform!

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

Questions

 Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

I will resume Colorado's journey to statehood in the next post. This post is about a question.

It seems the blog is narrowing to just one or two people posting, except for big events. Is this still a viable option? Yes, people are visiting the site, but there is little or no interaction.

For me, the research I share is something that is important to me. My thoughts are that history is important.

If it is decided that this blog is worth continuing, would anyone be interested (especially new members) in being interviewed for this site?

Until next time

Stay safe - Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

Territory or State of Jefferson - Journey to Colorado Statehood

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

One thing that fascinates me is how people react to setbacks and frustrations. That can apply to Colorado’s path to statehood.

Now you may wonder how such an idea would even have gotten started. Well, according to an article from June of 2024, a group of Men in April of 1859 met in a saloon and gambling house owned by “Uncle” Dick Wooten. They were trying to gather support for creating a territory known as Jefferson. There had been some talk of actually making it the State of Jefferson, but had that been the case, they would have had to fund their own government.

In October of 1859, the Territory of Jefferson was created. It operated from October 1859 to February 1861 and included most of what is Colorado, as well as parts of Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming. It was created out of frustration with the federal government's failure to oversee the gold rush.

The governor of the territory was a man by the name of Robert W Steele. The capital of this territory was Golden City. It took its name from one of the early prospectors by the name of Thomas L. Golden. Founded in 1859, it not only served as the capital of the Jefferson Territory but was also the official capital of the Colorado Territory for a time. The name was shortened to Golden when the town was incorporated in 1871.

Congress didn’t agree to the name Jefferson, but in 1861, the Colorado Territory, using most of the verbiage from the laws passed when it was Jefferson Territory. It was formed from part of the Kansas Territory.

For more complete information on Jefferson Territory, you can follow this link: Jefferson Territory

Until next time

Stay safe - Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West March 13

 Chester Greenwood supposedly had larger than normal ears. He enjoyed ice skating at his home in Farmington, Maine, but didn’t enjoy the cold ears that went along with the sport. He found hats to be ineffective in protecting his ears, and he didn’t like scarves. There were other ear warming devices available at the time, but Chester didn’t care for the way they were attached. So, at age 15, he came up with his own design for “An Improvement in Ear-Mufflers,” which consisted of two cloth circles connected by a metal strip that ran over the top of the head. Chester applied for, and received, a patent for his invention, Number 188292. He was only 18 at the time, on March 13, 1877.

After receiving the patent, Chester then threw himself into producing his invention, starting out by hand, but later creating nineteen different machines to mass-produce the ear mufflers. From 1880 to 1884, production increased from 1,700 pairs to over 50,000 units. On January 19, 1884, the Lewiston Evening Journal published an interview with the young inventor. “Necessity is the mother of invention and that is how I came to study out this little ear-protector,” said Mr. Chester Greenwood…It was truly a necessity with me, to protect my ears when obliged to be out in severe weather…This naturally led me to the thought of devising some protection for the ears which would be at once handy and not cumbersome, and still efficient.” Jack Frost is no respecter of persons, continues the article, but Mr. Greenwood’s invention pretty thoroughly circumvents the designs of J. Frost as far as ears are concerned…

Of course, there were more than just Chester’s designs floating around. In 1858, an ear, chin and cheek muff was patented, that fit beneath the chin and fastened over the ears. An 1875 version also fastened beneath the chin, this time with elastic bands. In 1877, an “ear-slipper” was devised. It also had bands below the chin, as did an 1881 version of the ear muff.

Greenwood didn’t stop inventing with the ear-muff. He invented four other contraptions before his death at the age of 78. He invented an improved advertising matchbox in 1882 and a wood-boring machine in 1914. In 1928, Greenwood patented an improved teakettle, and his last invention, in 1936, was for a metal rake whose tines could be removed and replaced if broken.

Your characters probably never heard of Chester Greenwood, but they might have worn his improved ear-muffs. The over-the-head construction was far more convenient and easier to don and doff than previous versions of the protectors.

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

Colorado -150 - First Attempt?

 Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

This year is Colorado's 150th Anniversary of statehood. This is a first in the yearlong series of the journey.

It begins in 1858. In November of 1858, A.J. Smith was elected as the delegate to the Kansas Territorial Legislature to be the advocate for the region that would later become Colorado. From there, the following things happened.

A group gathered together to create the 'government' of the county of Arapahoe, which had been formed by the Kansas Territory in 1855. You may recognize the names of the people involved in this early endeavor.

William Larimer Jr.: Considered the founder of Denver, Colorado. Biography from History Colorado

Edward W. Wynkoop: Appointed by the Kansas 'Govenor' to help establish official order. Colorado Magazine 1979

John Larimer: Sent by the same Kansas 'Governor' as treasurer and to assist Wynkoop

William McGaa: A Mountain Man of dubious character: Enjoy the Wikipedia version

More on the first constitutional convention and the Territory of Jefferson in the next post. Happy reading.

Until next time

Stay safe - Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West February 13

Today is Friday the 13^{th ,} but we’re not going to talk about luck, good or bad. Instead, today marks the first daytime, peacetime bank robbery in the United States, on February 13, 1866. This was thought to be the work of ex-bushwhackers, and it encouraged the careers of many a criminal. In fact, the infamous James brothers may even have been among the robbers of that bank in the small town of Liberty, Missouri. The timing is right and so is the location.

Eluding law enforcement for nearly fifteen years, Jesse James could well be considered one of America’s most successful bank robbers. His first publicly recognized bank robbery wasn’t until December of 1869. Shortly after noon on the 7^th, Jesse and his brother Frank walked into the Daviess County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri. There were only two men inside the bank at the time: the cashier and a lawyer, one William McDowell. One of the brothers, possibly Jesse, asked the cashier to change a $100 banknote. As the cashier wrote a receipt, the robber drew his revolver and fired into the cashier’s chest, then his forehead, killing him almost instantly. McDowell bolted for the door and was hit in the arm by further gunfire.

Jesse snatched up a portfolio of bank paper, and he and Frank rode out of town. They eluded the posse that attempted to follow, and this robbery set the pattern for others to come. Their robberies were daring, they demanded attention—and they often had motives beyond simple robbery. In this case, Jesse believed he was killing a man who had hunted down Jesse’s fellow bushwhacker, “Bloody Bill” Anderson during the Civil War. Unfortunately, Jesse’s plan didn’t work out quite the way he’d intended. The bank paper was worthless, and the cashier wasn’t the right man.

However, these failures didn’t stop Jesse. Many of his future robberies bore some of the same hallmarks as the one in Gallatin: daring to the point of foolhardiness and often deadly to the bank employees. When the brothers added railroads to the banks they robbed, they even started leaving press releases bragging about their crimes.

In 1871, Jesse and his gang showed up in Croydon, Iowa, during a speech by noted orator Henry Clay Dean. Most of the town had collected in the local church to hear Dean’s speech, and when the robbers escaped with $6,000, they stopped at the church and “shook the stolen money at the crowd.” Another part of their pattern showed up in April of 1872, when the gang robbed a bank in Kentucky. The lead bandit walked into the bank, said “good evening” to the unarmed cashier, and then shot him down. The mortally wounded man refused to open the vault, so Jesse left with little money, but each robbery seemed to give the robber a taste for more.

In 1876, Jesse and his gang selected another bank for more than just monetary reasons. Northfield, Minnesota was the new home of Mississippi’s former Republican governor—and former Union general!—Adelbert Ames, and he was a major depositor at the First National Bank. After two weeks of planning and reconnaissance, eight gang members rode into Northfield on the afternoon of September 7. They split up, with three men waiting at a nearby bridge, two guarding the town square, and Jesse, with two more men, walked into the bank.

Once inside, the robbers climbed over the counter, ordering the three employees to their knees. They pistol-whipped the bookkeeper, who insisted the vault was on a time lock and could not be opened. But the town’s citizens had begun to notice the gang, and armed men began arriving at the bank. As the shooting began, Jesse and his men had to retreat. Several gang members were cut down and others were captured. In the end, only Jesse and Frank would make it back to Missouri alive. But before they left the bank, one of the two “did the one thing that more than any other defined their life of crime”—he shot the unarmed bookkeeper dead.

One biography of Jesse James stated that he never really stopped fighting the Civil war, seeing himself as a modern-day Robin Hood, robbing from Radical Republicans and giving to the poor. But the reality was, he was a repeat murderer with a need for attention. The killer was himself killed on April 3, 1882, by one of his own gang members turned traitor for the reward. In later years, Jesse’s myth overpowered the truth, portraying him as the noble character he believed himself to be

Your characters would have known of Jesse and Frank James and their gangs, and would have read and heard of their daring robberies and murders. Perhaps one of your characters might even have known Jesse, or ridden with him during the war.

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

Ses-Qui-Semi-Quin-Centennial

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

Try saying sesquisemiquincentennial three times really fast. Of course, it means the 150th anniversary. As Colorado gets ready to celebrate, here are some pieces of history and other fun facts that are interesting.

According to the History Colorado website, it took five tries and fifteen years to accomplish. Many questions and interests kept derailing the process. There were questions like who should be allowed to vote, what policies the government should enact. 

You also had various economic factions weighing in. Colorado had mining, ranching, agriculture, and railroads all vying for a voice at the table. In addition, the area had a diverse population of not only the groups that had traveled here to mine, ranch, etc., there were the Natives who preceded all others, along with those who had been part of Mexico and were now residents of the United States. 

Throughout the coming year, I hope to share some of the background history of the various attempts at statehood prior to President U.S, Grant  signing Proclamation 230 on August
1, 1876, which declared Colorado the 28th state in the Union. Since this was 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Colorado became known as the Centennial State.

Bents Old Fort Entrance
Image (C) Doris McCraw

And speaking of National, Colorado has 4 National Parks, 5 National Monuments, 3 National Historic Sites, 4 National Historic Trails, 2 Major cattle Trails, and the Smoky Hill Trail, which brought gold seekers, etc., to the area.

Until next time,

Stay safe - Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon