Cowboys in Chicago

I caught a History Channel documentary a bit ago on the Chicago Union Stock Yards.

In 1848, when Chicago was only a connection for transporting livestock from the West to the rest of the country, small stockyards such as Lake Shore Yard and Cottage Grove Yard were scattered throughout the city along various rail lines. As the railroads expanded westward, Chicago evolved into a large railroad center. As the number of trainloads of livestock increased, the need for a centralized stock center became obvious.

In 1864, a consortium of nine railroad companies acquired three hundred and twenty acres of swampland south west of The Loop, and the Chicago Union Stock Yards was born. By 1890 the yards were handling more than nine million cows, pigs and sheep a year. That’s a lot of hooves.

But I wanted to know who took care of all those critters.

Before the creation of the stock yards, tavern owners provided pastures and care for cattle herds waiting to be sold. Eventually they built 2300 livestock pens on the swampy site. They also built

hotels, saloons, restaurants, and offices for merchants and brokers, but that’s another blog.

My next question: who moved all those animals around? I had visions of cowboys throwing lassos in downtown Chicago.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a storyline there, after all. The cowboys only moved the doggies as far as Dodge City, Kansas City, and all the other termini of the cattle drives.

In the early days of the Stock Yard, drovers herded cattle, hogs, and sheep down two wide thoroughfares from the railroad cars to the pens. Then the railroad consortium built more rail lines, bringing the livestock right to the holding pens—and removing the need for the drovers.

It’s a shame really. A thousand head of longhorns moo-ing their way down Michigan Avenue ahead of a couple of swoon-worthy cowboys would have been entertaining.

Happy New Year!

Tracy

www.tracygarrett.com

Coming February 1 ~ GRACE

www.tracygarrett.com

Loading a Cap and Ball Revolver

Cap and ball weapons were all “the thing” during the Civil War and later—right up until Smith & Wesson’s patent ran out on the bored-through cylinder and Samuel Colt could get in the self-contained cartridge game. Numerous models of cap and ball revolvers were produced until 1873.

If your character is using a cap and ball weapon, there are limitations. For instance, a muzzle-loaded long gun gives you one shot; a cap and ball revolver with six shots is just that—six shots. And  it can’t be reloaded quickly. Your characters won’t be reloading it while running from the bad guys or riding to the rescue. Keep reading and you’ll understand why.

Unlike a modern cartridge, where the bullet, powder and primer are enclosed in a brass case, reloading a cap and ball revolver takes 6 steps for each chamber. That’s six steps times six chambers to fully reload a revolver.

I took most of these pictures of my friend and fellow cowboy action shooter, “Major Misalot”, reloading his cap and ball revolver cylinder. The reloading can be done while the cylinder is in place on the revolver, too.

The loading is done in reverse order of the firing process, from the barrel side of the cylinder:

1. Add powder

In this picture of “Major Misalot”, he used a reloading “station”. Another cowboy friend “Noz” used a powder flask to measure the powder for each cylinder.

2. Place a lead ball on the powder in each cylinder

3. Ram the ball home, all the way down into the chamber. 

“Major Misalot” is using his modern reloader, but this can be done using the ramming rod on the revolver, as in the next picture. The rod is firmly pressed into the chamber then the cylinder is rotated until all six lead balls have been rammed pushed into place.

4. Grease the cylinder to prohibit chain firing – where the burning powder from one shot ignites the others in the cylinder. Obviously not a good thing!

5. Cap the nipple (think blasting cap here)

Another method to “cap” the chamber is to use a capper, a spring-loaded brass disc that presents the cap. Above, “Major Misalot” hand capped his. “Noz” uses a capper. He pressed a cap into position six times then went back over all six chambers to be sure the caps seated properly.

NOW its finally ready to fire.

With practice, it doesn’t take all that long to reload the six chambers in a cylinder, but you really can’t pour powder, ram a ball, cap the nipple and grease the chamber at a gallop. I can certainly see why many who relied on a cap and ball revolver carried fully loaded spare cylinders.

And, just to remind you why someone shooting black powder can’t hide…

Tracy Garrett

1848 Colt Dragoon Revolver

In my short story, WANTED: THE SHERIFF, the hero, Sheriff Matthew Tate, carries a matched pair of 1848-Model 3 Colt Dragoons.

The Dragoon grew out of the problems with the Colt Walker revolver, a 4.5 pound, 15” long hunk of steel. The Dragoon was only 4 pounds, 2 ounces. And, where the Walker’s barrel was 9” long, the Dragoon’s was only 7.5”.  The Walker was a powerful weapon, but its size meant it was used mostly as a saddle-mounted weapon. It was just too long and too heavy to wear around your waist.

And there was the propensity for the Walker to explode when users put in too much powder. Where the Walker held 60 grains of powder, the Dragoon held only 50 grains—less powder, less danger.

Also, the Walker’s loading lever tended to fall during firing, locking up the revolver and rendering the weapon useless. Not a good thing when you need a working gun. The Dragoon added a lever latch to hold it in place. Problem solved.

“Three major-production Dragoon models were produced between 1848 and 1860. The First Model had oval-shaped cylinder notches, no wheel on the rear of the hammer and no pins between the nipples. Colt produced about 7,000 First Models between 1848 and 1850. The Second Model had rectangular cylinder notches and a "wheel" on the hammer. First and Second models both had square-back trigger guards. The company made about 2,550 Second Models in 1850 and 1851. Approximately 10,000 Third Model Dragoons were made from 1851 through 1860, with many variations. All Third-Model Dragoons had a round trigger guard. Records show 8,390 Dragoons were ordered by the U.S. government.” (from http://www.cabelas.com/category/Civil-War-Colt-Dragoon/110215980.uts)

The Dragoon revolver transformed Samuel Colt's young pistol-making business into one of the most dominating forces in firearm history.

Tracy

The Crash at Crush

Have you ever heard of the Crash at Crush? It started as a publicity stunt. Crash two locomotives together and sell tickets. They’d done it before to the accolades of  spectators.

William G. Crush, agent for The Missouri-Kansas-Texas “Katy” (MKT) Railroad knew that the public was fascinated by train wrecks. They seem to be the California Police pursuits of the 19^th century. People would travel from miles away just to get a look at the twisted metal and destruction, the victims scalded by the explosion of the engine’s boiler.

[This is Mr. Crush as sketched for the Galveston Daily News on September 16, 1896.]

So, William pitched an idea to Katy Railroad officials: intentionally crash two trains in full view of spectators. It had been done successfully a few months earlier in Ohio, to the delight of spectators.

Needless to say, his superiors loved the idea.

The town of Crush, Texas, complete with a depot, was constructed just for the event. A special branch line of tracks was laid about 4 miles outside of the town of West. Wells were dug, water was run, food and drinks were available for purchase, and a huge tent was borrowed from Barnum & Bailey Circus to serve as a grandstand and protect the elite guests from the weather and the common spectators.

Rather than charge admission to the event, the railroad decided to make the event free—and charge $2 round-trip for a ride to site of the crash.

Everything was ready when dawn came on September 15, 1896. The train engines, #999 and #1001, were painted bright green and bright red, respectively. Both had been stripped down to ensure nothing went wrong. Six cars were attached to each engine to enhance the crash.

The organizers expected around 20,000 spectators to show up and planned accordingly. By the time the event started, more than twice that number jammed the small valley. Every inch of ground was jammed with people waiting to see two trains smash each other into scrap metal. A carnival atmosphere prevailed, complete with medicine shows, game booths, politicians and souvenir stands. The men, women and children were given until late afternoon to listen to speeches and spend their money.

At 5pm, the two trains nosed together as if shaking hands and posed for pictures. They then backed up the low hills to opposite ends of the four mile track, and at ten minutes after 5pm, as Mr. Crush sat on horseback and waved a white hat as a signal, the engineers opened the steam to the predetermined setting and put the trains into motion before jumping off.

I’ll let the reporter for The Dallas Morning News describe what happened:

      "The rumble of the two trains, faint and far off at first, but growing nearer and more distinct with each fleeting second, was like the gathering force of a cyclone. Nearer and nearer they came, the whistles of each blowing repeatedly and the torpedoes which had been placed on the track exploding in almost a continuous round like the rattle of musketry. ... They rolled down at a frightful rate of speed to within a quarter of a mile of each other. Nearer and nearer as they approached the fatal meeting place the rumbling increased, the roaring grew louder ...

      "Now they were within ten feet of each other, the bright red and green paint on the engines and the gaudy advertisements on the cars showing clear and distinct in the glaring sun.

      "A crash, a sound of timbers rent and torn, and then a shower of splinters.

      "There was just a swift instance of silence, and then as if controlled by a single impulse both boilers exploded simultaneously and the air was filled with flying missiles of iron and steel varying in size from a postage stamp to half of a driving wheel ...

 

      "All that remained of the two engines and twelve cars was a smoking mass of fractured metal and kindling wood, except one car on the rear of each train, which had been left untouched. The engines had both been completely telescoped, and contrary to experience in such cases, instead of rising in the air from the force of the blow, were just flattened out. There was nothing about the cars big enough to save except pieces of wood, which were eagerly seized upon and carried home as souvenirs." 

The plan was for the trains to reach approximately 10mph by the time they met in the middle. Instead, they were traveling closer to 45mph. The impact sent shrapnel flying more than 100 feet into the air—and into the crowd. Miraculously, considering the size of the crowd, only three people were killed.

William Crush was fired the evening of the crash, but Katy Railroad officials rehired him the very next day, and he worked for the company until he retired.

The "Crash at Crush" was immortalized by famed Texas ragtime composer Scott Joplin in his march, "The Great Crush Collision March." Click here to listen to the music  – complete with crash and scream:  http://www.perfessorbill.com/covers/crush.htm

It was a publicity stunt that will never be attempted again – but the stories remain, told over and over by those who were there for the Crash at Crush.

Tracy Garrett

WILD TEXAS HEARTS

UNDER A WESTERN SKY

You're Invited to a Gunboat Tea

On my first trip ever to Charleston, SC, I wanted to see as much history as we could squeeze into the few days we were there.  On our trip to the Fort Sumpter Visitor’s Center, I spotted a partial French porcelain tea set from the 1830s.

Seeing cups and saucers that would have been part of Charleston life wasn’t unexpected. However, the reason these artifacts were included in the museum was.  The set had been donated for a Gunboat fair. Families gave up their prized possessions to be sold or raffled off to raise money for the war effort, in this case, to raise funds to build a gunboat for the Confederate Navy.

Items such as a tea set, a linen fan, even a string of pearls—anything that might bring in some needed cash. Mary Boykin Chestnut, raised the daughter of a planter and married to Brigadier General James Chestnut, Jr., an aide to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, the frivolousness of such heirlooms when lives were at stake:  “Our silver and gold, what are they?—when we give up to war our beloved.”

Here’s the picture I took through the display case so you can see the colors of the tea service. Pretty, isn’t it?

For more information, check out “Stolen Charleston--The Spoils of War” by J. Grahame Long.

Tracy

The Legations of Texas

From the day I began researching for my first manuscript set in Texas, I’ve been fascinated by the history of Texas. [Those of you born in Texas know by that statement that I wasn’t—though I got there as fast as I could!]

Much has been said about the Republic of Texas - but did you know it only existed for ten years? The Republic of Texas was a sovereign nation that existed from 1836 to 1846.

The first Congress of the Republic of Texas convened in October 1836 at what is now West Columbia. Stephen F. Austin, often referred to as the Father of Texas, served as Secretary of State for the new Republic for only two months before his death on December 27, 1836.

In 1836, five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas: Washington-on-the-Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia before President Sam Houston moved the capital to Houston in 1837. In 1839, the capital was moved again, this time by President Mirabeau B. Lamar, to the new town of Austin, where it remains today. And during the time of the Republic, Texas had embassies.

Technically they were Legations, not embassies, since Texas was a Republic, not a recognized country. There were Legations of the Republic of Texas in London, Paris and Washington D.C., serving to improve diplomatic ties--and to beg for loans.

In 19th-century diplomacy, a legation was a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Whereas an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

The Legation in France was housed at 1 Place Vendome 75001, rue de la Paix, Paris, where the famous Vendome Column, was erected in 1810, torn down in 1871, and rebuilt, with Napoleon again depicted as Caesar, three years later. There’s a plaque there, showing its location.

 

The London Legation building was at 3 St. James Street, near Buckingham Palace. The building now houses Berry Brothers Wine Merchants, with a plaque recognizing its former tenants.

And according to Answer Man with The Washington Post, the State Department’s official register from the period does not list the addresses of diplomatic missions, nor could he locate entries for the Texians in directories of the period.

Ministers Plenipotentiary to Washington

William H. Wharton-appointed in November, 1836

Memucan Hunt- appointed in February 1837

Anson Jones- appointed in August 1838

Richard G. Dunlap- appointed in March 1839

Barnard Elliott Bee, Sr.- appointed in April 1840

James Reily- appointed in March 1842

Isaac Van Zandt- appointed in August 1842

The Legations weren’t needed for long. After the annexation was approved by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress in February, 1845, the last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones, presented two propositions to the Congress of the Republic of Texas: one for annexation to the U.S., the other for Mexican recognition of the Republic provided annexation did not take place. The Texas Convention of 1845 chose annexation.

On October 13, 1845 a large majority of voters in the Republic approved the annexation and The Lone Star State bypassed the territorial phase to become the 28th U.S. state on December 29, 1845.

See you next month!

Tracy

www.Facebook.com/TracyGarrett.author

www.Twitter.com/TGarrett_Author

www.PrairieRosePublication.com

Review Roundup: Short Reads, Big Stories

Publishing Christmas-themed stories in July seems a bit…well, non-traditional. Then again, not much about new publisher Prairie Rose Publications is traditional. Founded in August 2013 by long-time Western Fictioneers members Livia J. Washburn and Cheryl Pierson, PRP staked a claim to territory almost all other publishers declined to touch, saying the genre “didn’t sell”: western historical romance. Since then, PRP has been busily engaged in proving naysayers wrong. Within the past few weeks PRP has released eleven short stories, two novels, a boxed set, and a single-author anthology—all historical, all western, and all written by women.

Below are brief reviews of several of the short stories. (I reviewed the novels and one of the short stories earlier. Those reviews are here, here, and here.)

Covenant
By Tanya Hanson
Prairie Rose Publications, July 2014
$0.99 Kindle, ASIN B00M2A98JU
$0.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781311063656
45 pages

A mail-order bride and the man she traveled west to marry mourn the death of the man’s young daughter death in different ways. Carsten abandons his new wife to make peace with inner demons. Alone on Carsten’s homestead in the dead of winter, Ella blames herself for the accident that claimed the child’s life.

In very few pages, author Tanya Hanson does a remarkable job of portraying the grief-sparked misunderstandings and personal suffering that often drive couples apart even in the modern world. The story’s happy ending is all the more touching for the author’s ability to present realistic emotion to which even non-parents can relate.

Her Christmas Wish
By Tracy Garrett
Prairie Rose Publications, July 2014
$0.99 Kindle, ASIN B00M2829GQ
$0.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781310552885
47 pages

Author Tracy Garrett’s Old West twist on the enduring star-crossed lovers plot gives Romeo and Juliet the happy ending they deserved but were denied. Parental disapproval separated Kathryn and Will as young adults, before they could marry. A decade later, widowed Kathryn mourns the loss of her youth while honoring her late husband’s dream by tending his stagecoach stop in the middle of nowhere. An unexpected reunion with the man she never forgot—and his explanation for his sudden disappearance on the eve of their elopement—leaves her confused and angry.

Author Tracy Garrett weaves freshness onto a well-worn framework. Plausible situations, behaviors, and emotions create very real doubt the characters will work out their differences and find the happily-ever-after ending romance stories require.

A Christmas Miracle
By Phyllis Miranda
Prairie Rose Publications, July 2014
$0.99 Kindle, ASIN B00M27PDD8
$0.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781310972737
48 pages

Outcast by the local townsfolk because of her late father’s reputation as an outlaw, destitute Mattie Jo is barely able to feed and clothe her orphaned younger siblings even though she works long hours at a shameful job. When her baby sister takes ill with a life-threatening illness, Mattie Jo swallows her pride and turns to the new doctor in town for help. Snowed in at Maggie’s remote cabin on Christmas Eve, two vastly different people discover a remedy to mend both their wounds.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Phyllis Miranda is known for bringing the most unlikely couples together through the power of love. In “A Christmas Miracle,” Miranda’s typical voice and style turn what could have been a pile of trite into a much more satisfying tale of forgiveness and acceptance.


A Husband for Christmas
By Sarah J. McNeal
Prairie Rose Publications, July 2014
$0.99 Kindle, ASIN B00M282QV4
$0.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781310904981
42 pages

Jane and her young son Robin survived the sinking of the Titanic, but their husband and father went down with the ship. Grief and survivor’s guilt keep both mired in the past even as they attempt to convince one another to face the future. Long after his people were assimilated, Lakota Teekonka still occasionally struggles for acceptance in the white man’s world. His native spirituality sustains him and provides a bulwark behind which Jane and Robin begin to heal.

“A Husband for Christmas” represents a branch of author Sarah J. McNeal’s heartwarming Wildings series. This is a “quiet” story made all the more enchanting by its focus on a small, rural town and its very genuine inhabitants.

Outlaw’s Kiss
By Cheryl Pierson
Prairie Rose Publications, July 2014
$0.99 Kindle, ASIN B00M27PX9M
$0.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781310400353
46 pages

Months after he shamed Talia before the entire town during a community picnic, her childhood friend Jake shows up on her doorstep bleeding from a gunshot wound. Though she’d rather let him die in the snow, Talia takes in the outlaw-on-the-run and nurses him back to health. Trapped in Talia’s cabin during a December blizzard, Talia, Jake, and Talia’s little brother learn home is more than a physical place.

Wounded heroes are a staple of author Cheryl Pierson’s work, perhaps because breaking down a strong man’s external defenses provides symbolic resonance for the internal struggles that form the backbone of all romance stories. Pierson never disappoints, and this story is no exception. The little boy is particularly charming.



Kathleen Rice Adams is a Texan, a voracious reader, a professional journalist, and an author. She received review copies of all the stories in this post from the publisher. 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.

Full disclosure: Rice Adams’ fiction is published by Prairie Rose Publications.

INTRODUCING PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS! by Cheryl Pierson

Have you ever had a dream that “just happened” –before you could think about it anymore, or try to decide how to accomplish it—it was just…there?

One of the things I’ve always “thought about” was opening a publishing company of my own. That would be impossible because, as everyone who knows me is well aware, I am NOT a “computer guru” at all. So how could I ever do all the things I’d need to do to open a publishing house? The answer is, I couldn’t.

I’d pretty much let those thoughts go until Livia Reasoner and I were talking about a way to be able to get some brand new, very talented authors “out there” for others to read and enjoy, and this topic came up. As it turned out, we both had the same idea—an imprint for women authors, both well-seasoned and fresh talent, to submit historical westerns and historical western romances.

Since so many women read westerns and western historical romances, Livia and I thought this might be a great way to reach even more women authors who write those kinds of stories. What we wanted to do was provide a venue for these authors to shine—to get their work “out there” with a publisher who is interested in helping give them a hand navigating the publishing waters and seeing that they get their fair share of profits for their hard work. With that in mind, our imprint, PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS, was born!

Livia and I are so excited to be working together. With her bookkeeping, formatting, and other computer skills and her ability to make such fantastic covers for our books I have no worries. It’s my job to edit, promote and do much of the correspondence (cause I DO love to talk about writing!)
Our first venture will be a Christmas anthology called WISHING FOR A COWBOY. We’ve got a wonderful group of authors lined up for this collection: Phyliss Miranda, Tanya Hanson, Sarah McNeal, our own Jacquie Rogers, Tracy Garrett, reviewer Kathleen Rice Adams, Livia and me. This short story grouping will be western historical romance, in the sweet to sensual category. All the stories mention a certain holiday food, and the story is either built around the food or can just bring it up casually. The recipes will be included in the back of the book, so there'll be lots of great eating! We are going to have a wonderful time with this! WISHING FOR A COWBOY will be available November 1, 2013, in print and digital formats—it’ll make a great Christmas gift for anyone!

If you know of any ladies who might be looking for an honest publisher of westerns and western romances, please send them our way! We appreciate you spreading the word for us.

We have a brand new website here:http://prairierosepublications.yolasite.com/

If you have questions, you are welcome to contact me at fabkat_edit@yahoo.com or Livia at livia@flash.net

Please wish us well on our new publishing adventure, and come on over to the website for more information on the anthology and submissions procedures.

Thanks for all your support!
CHERYL AND LIVIA