Review Roundup: Outlaws in Training

Devon Day and the Sweetwater Kid: Down the Owlhoot Trail
By J.E.S. Hays
Queerteen Press, April 2013
$14.50 paperback, ISBN 1482698838
$6.99 Kindle, ASIN B00C9G64EO
$6.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781611529012
244 pages

Two teens from disparate backgrounds band together in search of fame, fortune, and a place in the world. As they reinvent themselves along a trail to infamy (they hope), they encounter Indians, gamblers, scam artists, trigger-happy stagecoach guards, cowpunchers, and legendary ghosts, often with chuckle-worthy results.

In the thirteen-story anthology Devon Day and the Sweetwater Kid: Down the Owlhoot Trail, author J.E.S. Hays brings together updated versions of two previous shorts (“Devon Day and the Sweetwater Kid: The Beginning” and “Devon Day and the Sweetwater Kid: The Spanish Treasure”) with eleven new tales presenting the further misadventures of two boys who, through their determination to leave a larger-than-life legacy, become closer than brothers and surprisingly well-rounded young men.

Hays is an expert at the art of descriptive writing that doesn’t bore readers. Instead of dumping large chunks of scenery and character description folks tend to skim, Hays weaves the surroundings and minor characters into the stories through the boys’ eyes. The settings and adventures come alive, taking in readers as a third partner in the aspiring owlhoots’ successes and failures. Be prepared for an uncommon perspective on the Old West.

Though the stories are rife with humor and—in spots—pathos, perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the writing is Hays’s talent for fresh, well-turned phrases. Readers will laugh out loud in some places, hold their breath in others, and commiserate when capers take a turn for the worse. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid have nothing on Dev and Sweet.

As befits the subject and the intended young-adult audience, Hays dispenses with deep symbolism in favor of a more literal approach. Consequently, the book is a quick read, but not because of superficiality. The characters and plots are wholly three-dimensional, making the stories as enjoyable for grownups as for older teens…even those who usually don’t read westerns.


Kathleen Rice Adams is a Texan, a voracious reader, a professional journalist, and an author. She received a review copy of Devon Day and the Sweetwater Kid: Down the Owlhoot Trail from the author. Her opinions are her own and are neither endorsed nor necessarily supported by Western Fictioneers or individual members of the organization. Links in the review are for convenience only; they do not produce affiliate revenue.

Kaye Spencer, western romance author – New to Western Fictioneers

Hello everyone.

I'm romance author Kaye Spencer, and I'm a new member with Western Fictioneers. Since today is the first of my regular blogging contributions for Western Fictioneers, which will occur on the fourth Saturday of each month, I thought it appropriate to share a little about myself and where my fascination with the American Old West came from.

I'm a native Coloradoan, and I also write under the pen name, A.L. Debran. I grew up on a cattle ranch in northeastern Colorado and, during those childhood and teenage years from the mid-1950s through the early 1970s, I spent hour upon hour reading Louis L'Amour's westerns and listening to Marty Robbins' gunfighter ballads. I watched all the *classic* television westerns when they were the primetime shows, and I didn’t miss a western movie when it came to the downtown theater or to the double-feature drive-in.

I loved the 'Sons of Katie Elder' so much (well... maybe I had a teeny-weeny crush on Dean Martin), that my grandfather carved a wooden pistol for me and carved in the name 'Tom Elder'. I had a bucking-barrel in my backyard so I could pretend to be a rodeo cowboy. I used my allowance to buy candy and gum cigarettes and roll caps for my pistols and rifle so I could run around the yard pretending to be whichever Hollywood cowboy I was currently obsessed with.

I was nine years old when I got my first horse—a black and white Welsh pony named Corky. It was Katie bar the door after that. I couldn’t get a saddle on Corky, but bareback was okay with me. Since he rode with a hackamore, I didn’t have to struggle with getting a bit in his mouth. All I had to do was sidle him up to the rail fence and hop on.

When I needed a new storyline to act out in my sibling-less imagination, I wrote my own, even though they were clearly retellings of episodes of the Virginian, High Chaparral, or even Yancy Derringer. This is where my writing began. I believed early on in my life that I was born in the wrong century. I’ll even confess that I named my oldest son Heath (after Heath Barkley) and my youngest son’s name is Cameron (after Cameron Mitchell – Uncle Buck on High Chaparral). My daughter, the middle child, is named Robyne—oops! A story there, just not a 'western' one. :-) 
 
I can, and often do, get lost in historical research of just about any time period, but it’s the Old West that I love the most—myths and truths alike.

My first novel, Lonely Places, published in June 2006,is a western romance that I started some 27 years before I finally decided to polish it up and submit it for publication. My western novella, Gunslingers & Ghostriders, followed in October. While my choice of story-writing genre is historical, particularly westerns, I’ve penned a vampire and a couple of contemporary stories—cowboys included.

My latest western is in an anthology from Prairie Rose Publications, which will release in a couple of months. The anthology is called Lassoing a Mail-Order Bride, and my story is A Permanent Woman.

I retired June 1, 2013 from a long career in public education that included administration and teaching English and history. I am loving every writing minute of retirement. ;-) I'm a review editor for the romance review site, Joyfully Reviewed, and I take on occasional manuscript editing projects.

I’m excited to be a member of Western Fictioneers, and I’m looking forward to sharing my love of the American Old West here on the fourth Saturday of each month. I’ve been reading the WF blog for a year or so, and I’ve learned so much from the wealth of Old West history that many of you have shared in your blog posts.

To read reviews of my books, watch my book videos, or download my old family recipes, visit my website and blog – http://www.kayespencer.com

You’ll find me on Twitter – @kayespencer – sharing daily history trivia, and I’ve recently started a recurring blogging topic on my blog called “Spotlight on History”.

Until next time,

Kaye

Fall in love…faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances

Hollywood Hi-Jinks with Western History

Hollywood sure has done some major hi-jinks over the years with western history. After all, isn't movie-making all about raking in the dough? They're not making dry as dust documentaries. Who would go see a film without rough and tumble saloon fights, Indians on the warpath, circled wagons, high noon street shoot-outs?

The heck with true history! Right? Ahem.

Here are a few examples of Hollywood movies that played fast and loose with the Old West. I'm not putting down these movies. Take it all with a grain of salt - but Doris Day as Calamity Jane?  Even if Martha Jane was supposedly considered "attractive" in her youth, by the time she met Wild Bill, that semblance was long gone. Leathery skin from the wind and sun, muscular with rarely washed hair - I mean, Doris Day? REALLY? Here's a side-by-side view of the two. See for yourself. I'll even throw out photos of Howard Keel and the real Wild Bill Hickok too.

Howard could have slapped on a mustache and wig, for heaven's sake. Even though some of the scenes show Doris sans makeup - well, she was no plain Jane no matter what! Oh well. Here's a trailer for the movie - and it plays fast and loose with the romance between Wild Bill and Martha Jane too. No clear historical record existed of a marriage (or child born to them), but Calamity was clearly obsessedwith Wild Bill. Even though he'd married Agnes Lake Thatcher, a successful circus owner.

Let's examine an older movie - They Died With Their Boots On from 1941. (Let's not even go to that shadowy place where Anthony Quinn plays Chief Sitting Bull! But for the era, at least there was some sympathy shown the Native Americans.)

The dashing (and Australian, although he was actually born in Tasmania) Errol Flynn portrays Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Uh-hum. And the lovely Olivia deHavilland plays his wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer - not much of a stretch there. But Errol Flynn? REALLY? Here's the photos. Along with the trailer, too. Can we say cliche'? Custer in real life had zero sympathy for the Indians, never touched liquor after the Civil War and was quite the arrogant bastard. Considered to be "highly fictionalized", movie goers of the day made They Died With Their Boots On one of the top-grossing films of the year. 

Hmm. There might be a touch of similarity in those craggy features, but Flynn couldn't grow a mustache to save his soul. Plus he couldn't erase the hint of a British accent (he attended school in England.) No matter, since Olivia deHavilland was born in Tokyo to British parents. Olivia's mother divorced her husband and moved to California, but taught both her daughters elocution. (Joan Fontaine was Olivia's sister.) Olivia and Errol seemed well-matched and were very popular, having made eight films together. They certainly share on-screen chemistry (Olivia swears she never had an affair with him, despite Errol's desire - plus he was married at the time). Whatever the historical inaccuracy of George and Libby Custers' official first meeting, we'll forgive them.

We could name several more Hollywood hi-jinks at the movies, but I'll leave readers to add their favorite mash-ups in the comments section. And let's face it, westerns aren't the only movies Hollywood goofed up. Consider the six-foot Peter O'Toole playing Lawrence of Arabia, who was actually shorter than Napoleon at five-foot-one! Nicholas Meyers has a great article about movie inaccuracies - click here to read it. 

As Hollywood often says, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT. No questions answered.

Click here to check out Meg's Amazon Author page for her award-winning western mysteries!

~~~~~

Meg also writes under the pseudonym D.E. Ireland with a friend - Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins are getting mixed up with murderers in London's post-Edwardian era.

Check out their page and their cozy mystery series. Here's the cover of

Book 1, debuting September 23rd from St. Martin's Minotaur books.

DOCTORS WHO PUSHED BACK THE FRONTIERS OF MEDICINE

Dr GEORGE MILLER STERNBERG

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN BACTERIOLOGY

by Keith Souter  aka CLAY MORE

This post will be the first of several that will look at some of the famous doctors who pushed back the frontiers of medicine and science in the 19th century. First up is Dr George Miller Sternberg (1838-1915), a US military physician and surgeon, who would become the first American bacteriologist.

 Young Dr George Sternberg

George Miller Sternberg was born in Hartwick, New York in 1838, the son of a Lutheran clergyman. He graduated MD from the College of Physicians  and Surgeons of New York in 1860, then settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey and started to practice. When the war broke out he was appointed Assistant Surgeon.

First illness and personal tragedy
Dr Sternberg saw active service and was captured at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. He escaped and rejoined his command at the defence of Washington. he served in several battles during the Peninsular Campaign and fell ill with Typhoid Fever at Harrison's Landing.

After the War he married Louisa Russell and practiced at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, then at Fort Hacker in Kansas. His wife did not go with him to Fort Hacker, but followed him. Tragically,  a cholera outbreak was sweeping through the Fort and she contracted it almost immediately, and died a within hours.

Second illness
After the War he was sent to New York and then to Florida, where he saw and treated many cases of Yellow Fever. And there he contracted Yellow Fever himself and fortunately survived.

Yellow Fever was called 'yellow jack' or 'yellow plague.' At the time it was thought to be one of the 'miasma' illnesses. That is, they were thought to come from 'bad air.' It was characterised by small hemorrhages in the skin (petechiae), yellow discolouration from liver impairment, fever, chills, abdominal pain, general aches, vomiting and hemorrhages into the eyes, mouth and nose.

His observations about Yellow Fever led him to advise removing inhabitants from areas that were afflicted by the disease. This was successful and led to him writing a couple of medical papers in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal - An Inquiry into the Modus Operandi of the Yellow Fever Poison in 1875 and then A Study of the Natural History of Yellow Fever in 1877.

Pushing back the frontiers of medical science
As a result of his work on Yellow Fever he was appointed in 1880 to work with the  Havana Yellow Fever Commission.

19th century field microscope

There he worked with the Cuban physician and scientist Dr Carlos Finlay (1833-1915), who had theorised that the disease was caused by mosquito bites. Dr Sternberg concurred, but although he was adept with microscopical examinations of blood and tissues, bacteriology was not advanced enough to identify the causative organism. Indeed, it was not until 1927 that the virus was detected, and it was not until 1930 that vaccines were developed.

                                                      

Yellow Fever spread by a species of mosquito

Sternberg had experienced both Yellow Fever and Typhoid Fever and had lost his first wife from Cholera. He was to go on to describe the cause of Malaria from Plasmodium malariae in the blood, again after mosquito bites in 1881.

Malarial parasites (Plasmodium malariae) in the blood

And in 1886 he confirmed the roles of bacteria in both Tuberculosis and in Typhoid fever.

Salmonella typhi, a flagellated (see the little whip-like flagella) gram positive bacteria that cause Typhoid Fever

US Army Surgeon General
In 1892 he wrote Manual of Bacteriology, the first American textbook o the science. Then in 1893 he was appointed as the 18th US Army Surgeon General, a post he held until 1902. During his tenure he oversaw the establishment of the American Army College in 1893 and also US Army Nurse Corps in 1901.

His later years were spent trying to improve the social conditions of tuberculous patients.

He was described by Robert Koch, the discoverer of  Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative organism of TB, as the Father of American Bacteriology. It was an accolade that he thoroughly deserved.

**************************************************

Clay More's character of Dr Logan Munro, the town doctor is appearing in several of the Wolf Creek novels

And his other new character, Doc Marcus Quigley, dentist, gambler and occasional bounty hunter continues in his quest to bring a murderer to justice. The complete collection of short stories is now available in both paperback and eBook from  High Noon Press.

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Casebook-Dr-Marcus-Quigley/dp/162208523X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Civil War Reenacting: Hardtack and Johnny Cakes

By Matthew Pizzolato

Preserved hardtack from U.S. Civil War,
Wentworth Museum, Pensacola, Florida.

Hardtack has been around for several thousand years. The ancient Romans ate it and it has been a common form of sustenance on ships. Sometimes its referred to as sea biscuit or ship's bread. It is made of flour and water, sometimes with a little salt or sugar added. An added benefit is that it lasts for a really long time. At the onset of the Civil War, hardtack rationed to the soldiers was left over from the Mexican-American War, fifteen years earlier. In fact, hardtack from the Civil War still exists today.

Soldiers of the American Civil War had more colorful names for the cracker, such as: sheet iron, worm castles, teeth dullers and molar breakers. None of them were very fond of it, but in a lot of cases it was all that kept them from starving. 

Johnny Cakes were the Confederate equivalent of hardtack. Because of the Union blockade, flour was not readily available in the South and corn meal was substituted. 

This first hand account of the delicacy known as hardtack was taken from HARDTACK AND COFFEE published in 1887 by John D. Billings, a Union veteran who served in the 10th Massachusetts Volunteer Artillery Battery of the Army of the Potomac.

What was hardtack? It was a plain flour-and-water biscuit. Two which I have in my possession as mementos measure three and one-eighth by two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly half an inch thick. Although these biscuits were furnished to organizations by weight, they were dealt out to the men by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments, and ten in others; but there were usually enough for those who wanted more, as some men would not draw them. While hardtack was nutritious, yet a hungry man could eat his ten in a short time and still be hungry. When they were poor and fit objects for the soldiers’ wrath, it was due to one of three conditions: first, they may have been so hard that they could not be bitten; it then required a very strong blow of the fist to break them; the second condition was when they were moldy or wet, as sometimes happened, and should not have been given to the soldiers: the third condition was when from storage they had become infested with maggots.

When the bread was moldy or moist, it was thrown away and made good at the next drawing, so that the men were not the losers; but in the case of its being infested with the weevils, they had to stand it as a rule ; but hardtack was not so bad an article of food, even when traversed by insects, as may be supposed. Eaten in the dark, no one could tell the difference between it and hardtack that was untenanted. It was no uncommon occurrence for a man to find the surface of his pot of coffee swimming with weevils, after breaking up hardtack in it, which had come out of the fragments only to drown; but they were easily skimmed off, and left no distinctive flavor behind.

Having gone so far, I know the reader will be interested to learn of the styles in which this particular article was served up by the soldiers. Of course, many of them were eaten just as they were received — hardtack plain; then I have already spoken of their being crumbed in coffee, giving the “hardtack and coffee.”

Probably more were eaten in this way than in any other, for they thus frequently furnished the soldier his breakfast and supper. But there were other and more appetizing ways of preparing them. Many of the soldiers, partly through a slight taste for the business but more from force of circumstances, became in their way and opinion experts in the art of cooking the greatest variety of dishes with the smallest amount of capital.

Some of these crumbed them in soups for want of other thickening. For this purpose they served very well. Some crumbed them in cold water, then fried the crumbs in the juice and fat of meat. A dish akin to this one which was said to make the hair curl, and certainly was indigestible enough to satisfy the cravings of the most ambitious dyspeptic, was prepared by soaking hardtack in cold water, then frying them brown in pork fat, salting to taste. Another name for this dish was skillygalee. Some liked them toasted, either to crumb in coffee, or if a sutler was at hand whom they could patronize, to butter. The toasting generally took place from the end of a split stick.

Then they worked into milk-toast made of condensed milk at seventy-five cents a can; but only a recruit with a big bounty, or an old vet, the child of wealthy parents, or a reenlisted man did much in that way. A few who succeeded by hook or by crook in saving up a portion of their sugar ration spread it upon hardtack. And so in various ways the ingenuity of the men was taxed to make this plainest and commonest, yet most serviceable of army food, to do duty in every conceivable combination.

Out of the goodness of my heart, I've provided a modern recipe for hardtack that I got from the Arkansas History Hub website should you like to try this exquisite Civil War cuisine. There's also a recipe there for making Johnny Cakes, if'n you're interested.

2 cups flour
½ to ¾ cup water
Salt (5-6 pinches)
Mixing bowl
Rolling pin
Cookie Sheet
Fork

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add all dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, and then add wet ingredients. Mix all ingredients together. Use extra flour if necessary to make sure the dough is no longer sticky. However, be careful not to make the dough too dry. If you add too much flour, add slightly more water.
3. Knead the dough until it is easy to work with.
4. Spread the dough onto the ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangular shape. Hardtack was around a half inch thick, so don’t worry about making the dough thin.
6. Bake the dough for 30 minutes.
7. Take the dough out of the oven and cut it into large squares (around 3 inches by 3 inches). Use a fork to poke 16 to 20 holes into each square.
8. Flip the squares and return to the oven for 30 more minutes.
9. Allow the hardtack to completely cool inside the oven. Be careful when biting into a cracker, as they do get very hard when completely cool.

I have tried some homemade hardtack at the reenactments and it is every bit as hard as described. It's much easier to eat by breaking it up into pieces first, using the butt of a gun or an axe. Proceed at your own risk.

Matthew Pizzolato's short stories have been published online and in print. He is a member of Western Fictioneers and his work can be found in the Wolf Creek series as well as his own publications, THE WANTED MAN, OUTLAW and TWO OF A KIND. 

He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western. He can be contacted through Twitter @mattpizzolato or via his website: 

www.matthew-pizzolato.com

WHEN AMERICANS HUNGERED FOR THE LAND by Tom Rizzo

 

Under the blanket of a cloudless blue sky, thousands of land-hungry settlers waited with restless patience, eager for a jump-start on opportunity.

 

At noon, April 22, 1889, a bugle sounded, a cannon roared, and a gunshot rang out, signaling the start of Oklahoma Land Rush.

Some said the ground shook as horses, wagons, and men, women, and children on foot kicked up clouds of red dust stampeding across what was once known as Indian Territory.

Waiting beyond the horizon were more than two-million acres of  land for non-Indian settlement on a first-come basis.

Fifty-thousand hopeful settlers, from all walks of life and ethnic origins, raced hell-bent-for-leather to stake claims, even thought there were less than 12,000 homesteads available.

On March 23, 1889, newly-elected President Benjamin Harrison declared the two-million-acre parcel of Unassigned Lands open for settlement. 

The borders of this region, situated in the central part of Indian Territory, came about through a series of treaties with Indian tribes.

Under the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862,  a settler could claim 160 acres of public land, and could receive title if they lived on and improved the land for five years.

The settlers aiming to stake claims were known as Boomers.

The ones who sneaked into the territory early, and illegally, to register choice sections of property with land offices were dubbed Sooners,  who often occupied the most favorable sections of land.

The bitter disputes over the land were often settled by violence. Many court cases over the disputed land dragged into the 20th century before the U.S. Dept. of Interior got the go-ahead to settle them.

The land rush proved so successful that by the end of the day it started, April 22nd, entire cities sprang up, and others experienced population explosions.

Guthrie grew from a railroad station to a town of 10,000. And, settlers established Oklahoma City the same day, also with a population of about 10,000 residents.

According to Harper's Weekly, in about a one-half day, "…streets had been laid out, town lots staked off, and steps taken toward the formation of a municipal government."

Sixteen years later, white Americans owned most of the land in Indian Territory. In 1907, the territory entered the Union when Oklahoma became a state on November 17, 1907.

Except for the panhandle, all of Oklahoma previously had been set aside for the Indians displaced from other part of the country. Among them, the Five Civilized Tribes - the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole - so named because of their willingness to abide by white laws.

 

The Land Rush of 1889, and two subsequent land grabs, made the Indians casualties of this enormous occupation juggernaut, which forced them onto reservations.

Washington took our lands and promised to feed and support us. Now I, who used to control 5,000 warriors, must tell Washington when I am hungry. I must beg for that which I own…My heart is heavy. I am old, I cannot do much more.

—Sioux leader Red Cloud, as an old man, recorded by anthropologist Warren K. Moorehead who spoke with the chief at his home in Pine Ridge. 

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Who is Marta? by Gordon Rottman

Sometime ago I started writing young adult novels and have several in the works. One is a series of four books, Vaqueras, based on one of my daughter’s insane adventures here in Cypress, Texas (outside of Houston) and her being largely raised on my wife’s family ranch in Morelos, Mexico. As a result she’s not your usual Texas girl. In fact she’s a bit of legend in northern-central Mexico. Those are still works in progress.

I completed another YA that will be released in June by Taliesin Publishing, Tears of the River. It’s a Hatchet-like survival story set in Nicaragua. If you’ve not read Hatchet, you should. Tears involves a competent, strong-willed young lady. I like stories of teen girls and young women who fend for themselves. Our large extended family on both sides of the border is full of them, so I’ve lots of role models.

I came up with the idea for a YA story involving a Mexican girl born of illegal parents in Texas. Her father returned to Mexico when her mother died. She’s raised by English speaking relatives. She later decides to look for her father in Mexico and speaks barely any Spanish nor knows the ways of the land, certainly a challenge for a teenage girl.

The more I thought about the story, I realized that if set in 1886 I would have more flexibility and plot opportunities than making it a contemporary story. Of course 1886 was the year of the Great Die-Up and I was tired of Westerns set in the burning desert. Once I decided on a traditional Western, the story changed greatly to become The Hardest Ride.

Out of work cowpoke Bud Eugen comes across a sixteen-year old Mexican girl whose family has been murdered by Indians. Bud reluctantly takes her along, even though he’s never had to accommodate another person in his simple life. He’s unable to find anyone willing to take her. In spite of his prejudices, Bud grows to like the spunky girl (and her excellent cooking). Bud speaks little Spanish and the girl understands little American. I’ll let a reviewer give her impression of Marta:

“Many westerns are guilty of making their women characters flat—they’re plot devices. Or, they turn them into some kind of gun-toting male fantasy. Marta was neither, and I absolutely loved her. She WAS tough as nails, but she was also vulnerable and flawed, and really bossy (despite the fact that she’s mute. And while we’re on that topic, I was amazed by the way I almost forgot she was mute because her forceful personality was so vividly portrayed).”

Rejected by churches, a priest names her Marta and that’s fine by her. Now with a ranch job, Bud finds he’s saddled with a girl he doesn’t really want and most folks assume she’s “his woman,” which he repeatedly denies. Regardless, their relationship grows although Bud’s slow on the uptake. Marta and the rancher’s daughters are kidnapped by bandits and taken to Mexico with no hope of ransom. A viciously deadly chase follows in terrible weather with one group getting the upper hand on the other and the balance changing often.

To me Marta and The Hardest Ride’s other female characters personify the spirit and perseverance of the women of that era. I think the women who settled the West had a lot more going on than how they’re often portrayed.

The Hardest Ride was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Best Traditional Western Novel Peacemaker Award and is a finalist in the Western Fictioneer’s Best Western Novel and Best First Western Novel Spur Awards. The Hardest Ride is available in e-book format and can be found on all e-book distributors’ sites. In celebration of Taliesin Publishing’s first anniversary, they have reduced the price.

A Sacred Path

I live a couple of miles from the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which the National Park Service describes as “a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history.” The two-lane billboard-free road meanders north from the delta lowland of Natchez, Mississippi, to the rolling hill country near Nashville, Tennessee. Motorists will meet no eighteen-wheelers and see no fast-food neon, but will probably have to brake for plenty of deer and wild turkey.

The parkway more or less follows an ancient footpath that began as an animal track thousands of years ago, maybe even ten thousand. Bison traversed between southern grazing lands and salt licks on the Cumberland Plateau. Later, prehistoric mound builders used the Trace to move between villages. Its native wanderers eventually included the Choctaw, Chickasaw and the Natchez. 

European explorers utilized the old path but its heaviest use was from about 1785 to the 1820’s when the “Kaintucks” of the Ohio River Valley floated goods downriver to the ports of Natchez and New Orleans and returned on foot via the Trace. It was notoriously dangerous: organized gangs of (literal) cut-throats lay in wait for the travelers. Robbery was the least crime feared on the journey.

Today, the biggest threat of traveling the Natchez Trace might be mindlessly enjoying the scenery rather than eyeing your speedometer. Park rangers abound. (I can vouch for the fact that the speed limit is a strict 50 miles per hour.

                           

                                                  

      The Natchez Trace Parkway at Birdsong Hollow, near Franklin, Tennessee           (USDOT Image)

Occasionally, I drive for a ways down the parkway just to relax and take in the sights. I think about those who walked here…the mysterious natives whose burial mounds can be seen along the route. John James Audubon may have sprawled on a boulder to sketch a cocky bluejay. I imagine the tramping of Andrew Jackson’s foot soldiers on their way to fight the Battle of New Orleans.

                                        A few sections of the Old Trace remain.

Near Mile 386, is a memorial to America’s greatest pathfinder Meriwether Lewis, who died here at Grinder’s Stand. The details are sketchy and historians are divided as to whether he was murdered or perhaps committed suicide. He was known to suffer from what President Andrew Jackson called “sensible depressions of mind.”

                    Here lies Meriwether Lewis. Milepost 385.9, near Hohenwald, Tennessee           (NPS Image)

Sometimes my Sunday drive over the Natchez Trace, and all those ancient footprints, turns philosophical. As a writer, I recognize that I follow a path that is not only well-worn, but that has been worn very well. Particularly in the western genre, we have just one time period to write about and just so many character types to choose from. The possible scenarios come (and please, Lord, let them come) from an unseen creative well.

My hope is that I can, now and then, find a new way to say the old thing, to delight a reader with a previously-unvoiced expression or description. But a look at my own bookshelf tells me the hard truth. Others have ridden this way. Bret Harte. Mark Twain. Grey…L’Amour. McMurtry…McCarthy. Wister…Leonard. I’m a piker…and I know it. A greenhorn, if you will.

Oh, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t take the journey. I’m not only writing for readers. I write for the love of the genre and the great period of American history that it represents.

There’s another reason I write too. You see, others ride behind. Someone has to point the way. With every story, we keep the old trail worn, revered, relevant.

Vonn McKee is Louisiana-born but has called Nashville, Tennessee, home for over twenty years. She has spent time in the music business, the construction business, and has even waited a few tables along the way. Vonn has written songs, radio jingles, magazine articles, short stories and is at work on her first novel. She has a real heart for historical fiction, especially the Old West.

You can keep up with the latest news at https://www.facebook.com/VonnMcKee.

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THE TWO DOCTOR BATES--BY DORIS MCCRAW

GUEST BLOGGER DORIS MCCRAW IS VISITING WITH US THIS WEEKEND ABOUT HER RESEARCH ON EARLY WOMEN DOCTORS.

Before 1900, Denver had two women doctors with the same name: Dr. Mary Bates. Although there is still so much to learn about these two women, their stories so far are still the stuff of legends. The stories can and will lead to so much more.

Putting their stories into context, Colorado became a state in 1876. The early days of Colorado were filled with people seeking gold and other minerals to be found in the high mountains. If they weren’t searching for gold, remember the 1859 “Pikes Peak or Bust” slogan, they were providing services and goods for the searchers. There also was an influx of people who found the Colorado climate beneficial for their health. This combination lead many women to brave the new territory to practice their medical skills.

MINE IN LEADVILLE IN 1908
The first Dr. Bates to arrive was Mary Helen Barker Bates (b.1845-d.1934). She was the daughter of Dr. Ezra Barker who had a practice in New York. This Mary graduated from the Woman’s Medical College in Philadelphia. Before she moved to Colorado she practiced in Salt Lake City, Utah, where some of her patients were the family of Mormon leader Brigham Young. (The family site said she was “Brigham Young's Family Physician”. There she met and married George Bates in 1876. Two years later in 1878, at the age of 33, she and George moved to the mining town of Leadville, Colorado where George was an attorney and Mary practiced medicine.

Leadville, for those who don’t know, sits at 10,152 feet above sea level in the Colorado Rockies. During the 1870's- 80's it was a booming town. It was here the Guggenheims, Horace Tabor and others made their fortunes in silver. Even Doc Holliday spent time there.

From the Hayden survey of the Colorado Territory in July of 1869. Two miles south of Georgetown on the Denver road.
While there, one source says Dr. Bates founded the Ladies Relief Hospital. In 1881 she and George moved to Denver for his health. When Colorado started licensing physicians in 1881, Mary was one of the first women licensed by the State. (Her license #271). She took special interest in Woman’s Suffrage, children and education. She introduced the Colorado Law for the Examination and Care of Public School Children which went into effect in 1910.

"Denver in 1898"
Our second Mary, Mary Elizabeth Bates (b.1851 d.1954) arrived in Denver in 1891. Prior to arriving in Colorado she was the first woman intern (1882-1883) at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois after a grueling exam in which she beat out a number of male candidates. She studied in Vienna from 1883-1884. Upon her return she was a professor of anatomy at the Woman’s Medical College in Chicago from 1884-1889. After moving to Colorado she also was involved in the Woman’s Suffrage movement and was part of the group that affected the passage of the 1893 referendum which gave Colorado women the right to vote. This Dr. Mary Bates also was a champion of the strict adherence to the liquor and gambling laws of the state. Her other passion was animal rights and prior to her death in 1954 she created the Mary Elizabeth Bates Foundation for animal care.