Stocking Up for Winter
by Jacquie Rogers
October was a busy month in the Old West, especially in the northern climes. Silver City, Idaho Territory was not only north, it’s high elevation (6,200ft). They had to finish up the summer work and stock up for winter because no freight could go in or out for a few months after the snows came.
So it’s no surprise that October articles in The Owyhee Avalanche covered these things, for they meant survival to a couple thousand people. Here’s where they report a cattle drive. Since I wrote Mail-Order Ruckus (the second book in Mail-Order Tangle--the first book, Mail-Order Promise was written by Caroline Clemmons), anything that connects Owyhee County to Texas always interests me. A lot of folks there came from Texas and stayed. A lot of folks went to Texas and came back. Frankly, I’d rather winter down there than in Silver. Brrr.
News item from October 19, 1869:
On the 23rd of that same month the newspaper reported a freight delivery. Apparently, this 10-mule freight wagon was unique.
All this freight was welcome, but in the desert, so is rain. Silver City only gets about eight inches of precipitation a year, and quite a bit of that is snow. By autumn, the surroundings are so dry that the slightest spark could cause an inferno in a flash. (No pun intended.)
But all was not dour business. They worked hard and played hard. I didn’t see any reports from Virgin Alley but here is an article about a dance.
Speaking of balls, here's a report about base-ball. If you ever wondered how interested cowhands and miners could be in Base Ball, just know that this game took place a thousand miles from the remote mining camp of Silver City, Idaho Terr.
And just for our friend Troy, I found this interesting tidbit:
That's it for today. Here's my latest release, a great Halloween read from Prairie Rose Publications. My story, Have Wand - Will Travel, is a mash-up of Have Gun - Will Travel, Narnia, and The Princess Bride. See what Nora does with her iron fan, and meet the Beavers of Extraordinary Size!
Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico, Vol. 2
Halloween short stories by
Cheryl Pierson, C. Marie Bowman, Jacquie Rogers,
Kaye Spenser, Kristy McCaffrey, Kathleen Rice Adams
What better way to spend Halloween than with some handsome cowboys and feisty heroines who are determined to fall in love despite their supernatural powers—or lack thereof? Halloween’s a good time to take a chance on love—and to see what these Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico Vol. 2 stories might reveal to the unsuspecting reader—you!
Cheryl Pierson’s Spellbound will have you on the edge of your seat as safecracker Brett Diamond and witch Angie Colton take on a border gang leader who is pure evil. Can Angie’s supernatural powers save them? No matter what, Brett and Angie are hopelessly Spellbound.
C. Marie Bowen’s Hunter and Lily Graham is an unforgettable tale of a beautiful school marm’s love for her children that surpasses all. When a Cajun bounty hunter known only as “Hunter” shows up, Lily Graham knows he, and no one else, can help her save a young girl.
Have Wand — Will Travel
is Jacquie Rogers’s offering about a handsome young mage, Tremaine Ramsey, who has a wand and knows how to use it…sometimes. Will his magic be strong enough to pull off a daring rescue of his father from the evil Gharth? Or will he need the warrior Nora’s love to help him see his Fate through?
Will Kaye Spencer’s character, Mercy Pontiere, be able to break a centuries-old curse and find true love all at the same time? It all depends on Reid Corvane and what he’ll do For Love of a Brystile Witch.
In Kristy McCaffrey’s story, The Crow and the Coyote, Hannah Dobbin is after an evil Navajo sorcerer who murdered her father, and she’s determined to see him dead. But she’ll need a bounty hunter, The Crow—to help find this vile man. With Hallowtide upon them, more evil is afoot than they can handle; but love will find a way.
A failed bank robber, Tombstone Hawkins, along with a fake gypsy fortune teller, Pansy Gilchrist, set out to make both their deceased fathers proud in one final spectacular heist. Family Tradition is Kathleen Rice Adams’s tale of the discovery of true love amid the commission of a crime—or the failure to commit a crime—while being overseen by the ghosts of the couple’s fathers. How can there be a happy ending? It’s Halloween, and anything can happen!
Available in digital at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords
I always enjoy reading old newspaper articles. Thanks for posting, Jacquie!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, David. There's never a time when I haven't found something uniquely interesting in old newspapers.
DeleteLove the language and the humor sprinkled in these articles. Things like "snappingly cold"--a perfect description. And the story of the Cincinnati Red Stockings beating "the Californians so badly, they ought to be ashamed of themselves."
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud at the piece about baseball. That so many in the old west were baseball fans is fascinating--we don't normally associate baseball and cowhands.
DeleteI love reading the old papers and just covering my self in the history. That is where I found Colorado Springs first medical school woman doctor. One that everyone had missed. Still reading those papers. Thanks for a glimpse of life there. Doris
ReplyDeleteAh, Doris, I think we're soul sisters in that regard. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteJacquie, sorry I'm late! Love these articles of yours, and of course, I loved your story "HAVE WAND - WILL TRAVEL" in Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico Vol. 2. That was one VERY inventive Halloween story, lady!
ReplyDeleteCheryl
always fabulous info here in your blog, Jacquie! loved it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting.
ReplyDelete