History – General

Jeanmarie Hamilton Says “Not Your Mother’s Civil War Romance”

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jeanmariehamiltonThanks Petticoats & Pistols for having me here today! Why did I join this anthology? Everyone’s enthusiasm made me want to take part. The Wild Rose Press’s editors’ interest in our proposal increased our desire to write the novellas. We all chose a different time, either before, during, or after the war in my case, and we dove in.

My family’s experiences inspired my story, Are You Going to the Dance? With TWRP’s support, it all came together easily. I enjoyed it so much I have written two other novella’s since, and I have one out now with Red Rose Publishing, titled Pure Pleasure, and have sent another novella, a werewolf historical, to The Wild Rose Press for consideration. Along with all our anthology stories, I’m anxious to see Are You Going to the Dance? in print because the story that inspired it is dear to my heart.

What did towns that didn’t choose to fight in the war do instead?

Jeanmarie Hamilton: My great great grandfather came to Texas from Holland. In Texas he married my great great grandmother who immigrated from Alsace Lorraine. My story, “Are You Going to the Dance?” is inspired by their experiences, but does not represent them. He and many folks in the German communities of the Texas Hill Country believed in preserving the Union. If he had been caught taking the mules he raised to the Union army, he could have been shot by the Confederates.

The town where he lived in Texas voted to form local militia units rather than send men to the Confederate army. His son joined the local militia unit and took part in protecting their own town. All of the local citizens, farmers, and ranchers enjoyed frequent weekend gatherings to dance and socialize.

My great great grandmother was also independent and it is said of her that she would have rather been outside riding her horse and working with the men than working inside the house. One night, she found an Indian brave who had been wounded during a raid, but not discovered by the farmers.

 She saved his life without the farmers knowing, and as a result his tribe never again raided their farm.

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Excerpt from Are You Going to the Dance?:

north-american-indians-5Lexie went to the front window. Friends from the Lipan camp had come to trade. They carried baskets of honey. Though she was happy to see them and trade for the honey, she worried for their safety. With the raids uncontrolled, and the militia convinced the Lipan were responsible, it could be dangerous for them to venture so far from home.

“I’ll see what they need. It shouldn’t take long. Go ahead with what we’ve started.” Lexie put down the dress pattern, left the parlor and opened the front door. The Indians were almost to the front yard. She waited on the porch for them. They waved to her and she returned their greeting.

The group included the fathers of two families and their older sons, all of whom she knew and trusted. She greeted them in their language, having learned from her mother. “Good evening. It’s good to see you.”

They answered her in kind, smiles on their darkly tanned faces.

“What are you carrying?” She waited while they started across the front lawn.

“Honey to sweeten your bread,” said Mr. Domingo, the older of the two fathers.

Lexie stepped down from the porch. She crossed to meet them and accept their honey. Hoof beats rumbled from the direction of town. Lexie recognized Clay’s militia racing down the road. They’d seen the Indians. Fearing Clay and his men would arrest them, she warned, “Go. You must get away. Hurry.”

The Indians left their baskets and ran for the corn field. As they started to hide among the tall stalks of corn, she turned to flag down Clay and his militia. Seeing that the oldest of the sons, Ynez Domingo, had been watching to make sure the others got away, she yelled and waved her arms at Clay, desperate to distract him from following the Lipan.

When the militia never slowed, she screamed Clay’s name. He and his men kept on. In horror she watched the brave turn toward her as an explosion blasted from someone’s rifle. He spun and ran deep between the rows of corn stalks.

“No!” she cried. She ran after her Lipan friends, desperate to protect them. Her hem caught on dried leaf stems. Strands of her hair tangled in the waving leaves.

Clay galloped his horse hard toward her. Before she could stop him, he swept her up in front of him in the saddle. In turmoil, she held onto his arms while he guided his horse to the back of her home. He reined his mount around the baskets of honey and toward the far side of the house to the back porch. He eased her from his lap and her feet touched the ground. She spun to glare at him.

“Go inside and stay down,” he warned.

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northernrosesandsouthernbellesJeanmarie Hamilton considers Texas home as it was to some of her ancestors — men who were farmers, ranchers, judges, lawmen, — women who would rather be outside riding their horses than inside cooking, who learned to speak the language of the Lipan Apache, stopped hangings, and raised children. She loves writing stories set in the Southwest about heroes and heroines, the problems they overcame, their fears and triumphs and the forever love they can’t deny. You can find her at:  http://www.jeanmariehamilton.com/

Susan Macatee: I didn’t know there were towns that didn’t chose to fight. I do know for a fact that families on both sides tried to keep sons from fighting. Many shipped their sons either North or South to keep them out of the war, but it often backfired as they ended up fighting for the other side.

Caroline Clemmons: Although there was no local militia in my story, I know there were in many parts of the country.  My family moved into town, and there were a lot of people migrating to escape the conflict.

Mary Ann Webber: I haven’t heard about this happening in either the North or the South. Emotions ran so high in the South that people were cautious about appearing “soft” on the Union. In my story, No Decorum, Juliet sits in church and nervously listens to her father’s sermon. She’s afraid the congregation will eventually notice he doesn’t speak out against Lincoln like the other ministers in town. Also, she is unnerved because he’s allowed a Yankee soldier to attend their church — that is, until she falls in love with the young man.

Jennifer Ross: Obviously, towns in Canada didn’t choose to fight in the American Civil War.  But I was totally amazed at the number of individual “Canadians” (we weren’t a country yet) who volunteered or were “recruited” for the Union Army.   Check out this site (Susan Macatee!) it even includes a Canadian woman who volunteered, posing as a man!

Isabel Roman: I had no idea that there were towns who decided not to fight! In school (and I have a BA in American History) I was taught that it was a country-fight: everyone took a side, families were torn apart, the literal north vs. south was the end all be all of the entire existence of the country! I’ve since learned the American Revolution was the true civil war, and there were entire sections of people who never fought, didn’t care because they weren’t involved, and barely kept up with the news. Huh.

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Jeanmarie will give away to 1 lucky commenter: $10(USD) The Wild Rose Press gift certificate. Remember, everyone who leaves a comment on the day of the post for each of the six days will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of Northern Roses and Southern Belles signed by all six authors.

The Civil War as you’ve never read it! Northern Roses and Southern Belles now available from The Wild Rose Press!

Blog Tour Calendar:

Saturday August 1: Isabel Roman is at Night Owl Romance http://www.nightowlromanceblog.blogspot.com/

Sunday August 2: Jeanmarie Hamilton is at Petticoats & Pistols https://petticoatsandpistols.com/

Monday August 3: Susan Macatee is at Love Romance Passion http://www.loveromancepassion.com/

Tuesday August 4: Caroline Clemmons is at Slip into Something Victorian http://slipintosomethingvictorian.wordpress.com/

Wednesday August 5: Mary Ann Webber is at Arkansas Diamonds http://arkansasdiamonds.blogspot.com/

Thursday August 6: Jennifer Ross is at Romantic Crush Junkies http://www.romanticcrushjunkies.blogspot.com/

northernrosesandsouthernbelles

Cowboys in Chicago

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I was watching a History Channel documentary the other night on the Chicago Union Stock Yards.

In 1848, when Chicago was only a hub 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. With the increase in the number of trainloads of livestock, the chicago-union_stock_yard_gate1need 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 wantechicago_union_stock_yards-pens_1866d 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 375-acre 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 working in downtcowboy-and-bearown Chicago.  [No, not THAT kind of Cowboy!]

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 shamecow-on-parade_belle really. A thousand head of longhorns mooing their way down Michigan Avenue ahead of a couple of heart-stopping cowboys would have been entertaining.

 

 

 

 

www.tracygarrett.com 

Train Doctors

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There are headlines aplenty these days around the topic of health care, but would it surprise you to learn that one of the early adopters of employer-based health care was the railroads?   

While the vast majority of nineteenth century workers had to find and pay for their own medical care, the railroads were developing a unique and valuable employee medical benefit. 

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Because the nature of railway work and travel conditions led to a heightened likelihood of injuries to employees as well as passengers and bystanders some form of available medical services became almost a necessity.  The problem became exacerbated with the opening of the transcontinental railroad.  As an ever increasing number of people were transported across unsettled territory, territory that never seen trained physicians or even the most rudimentary of medical facilities, the railroads had no choice but to hire their own physicians and set up medical facilities along their routes.

Thus was born the era of train doctors.  Most of the men and women who answered this call were actually general practitioners who could also perform surgery.   And because of the unique dangers railroad workers faced, the so-called train doctors found themselves faced with types of injuries which few had dealt with before.  They were pioneers in the development of trauma care under primitive conditions, developing techniques and treatments that eventually found their way into routine medical practice.

From the outset, most of these practitioners expressed concern over the conditions and equipment they had to work with, as well as the ability to see their patients in a timely manner when minutes could literally mean the difference between life and death.

first-aid-kitOne tool that resulted from the drive to get stop-gap care to workers who sustained injuries in remote areas, were special packs devised by railway surgeons to be carried on all trains.  These packs were stocked with basic emergency supplies such as medicines, sterile dressings and basic implements.  These were, in fact, the precursors of the modern day first aid kit.  Train doctors also promoted the training of key railroad workers in the use of such materials so that the injured party could be given appropriate first line aide until a proper physician could be reached.

As for facilities, at first, railroad doctors tried using hotel rooms, spare rooms in residences or even back porches for emergency medical care, but such rooms not only lacked the necessary equipment, their use also resulted in a large expense for the railroads who not only paid for the use of the room but also faced cleaning and replacement costs for bloodstained linens and furniture.  As an alternative, the train doctors pushed for the development and use of hospital cars to serve as both properly equipped surgical facilities and transportation for seriously ill or injured patients.  

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The adoption of such cars greatly improved the survival rate of the seriously injured railroad worker and eventually evolved into highly sophisticated facilities.  They contained room to bed and care for three to four patients as well as a fully equipped operating room.  They were scrupulously maintained in order to provide a clean environment in which the surgeon could effectively perform his duties, stabilizing his patients before sending him or her on to a regular hospital.

Speaking of hospitals, the railroads were also very influential in hospital2establishing such facilities along their routes.  In mid-century it was remarked that a person traveling from St. Louis to El Paso would traverse 1300 miles without passing a single hospital.    And this was only one of numerous such stretches in the country.  The first railroad to respond to this glaring need was the Central Pacific Railroad which opened its own hospital in Sacramento in 1869.  Other railroads quickly followed suit, establishing their own hospitals along well traveled routes.

Dr. C.W.P. Brock, President of the National Association of Railway Surgeons, was quoted as saying: Mr. Greeley’s advice to the young man to “go west” may be followed with great benefit by railway surgeons from the older sections of our country; and when they have seen the superb hospitals and the practical workings of the system they will say, as the Queen of Sheba said after seeing the splendors of King Solomon, “that the half had not been told.”

 

narsOn a more practical front, another surgeon was heard to estimate that “the daily cost per patient at a railway hospital runs from 40 to 60 cents, compared to $1.00 to $1.50 at a city or contract hospital.”

Train doctors were overall a progressive lot.  They endorsed the emphasis on sterilization and overall cleanliness in patient care well before such thinking was met with universal acceptance.  They were also progressive in their attitude toward embracing women into their profession.  In 1894. Dr. Carrie Lieberg of Hope, Idaho was appointed division surgeon on the Northern Pacific.

In addition to surgery on railroad-related injuries and general trauma care, railway surgeons also took on the role of overall health care provider.  They treated a wide range of illnesses, performed routine checkups, delivered babies and advised on safety, health and sanitation issues.

Alas, the train doctors are no more.  There are a number of factors that contributed to the eventual demise of the once highly effective and indispensible system.  Key among them was the change in government regulations and the explosion of medical advances in the 1950s.  The last of the railroad hospitals were sold or closed in the 1970s and the remaining train doctors retired, joined other practices or set up private practices of their own.

But these dedicated men and women left an enduring legacy.   badge

Their trade journal, The Railway Surgeon, though it reinvented itself a number of times, remains in print today under the name Occupational Health and Safety

The modern day specialty of occupational medicine can trace its roots to these surgeons.  They also helped to shape modern medical practice, especially in the area of trauma study and care.  They were pioneers in front line field care, in the stabilization and transport of the seriously injured, in overall trauma care and in the development and use of the modern day first aid kit.

All but forgotten by the vagaries of our national memory, train doctors nevertheless played a major, but largely unsung, role in making the settlement of the western frontier a safer proposition for all who travelled through or eventually settled in the surrounding areas.

 

‘Saving’ The West

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In trying to come up with a topic for today’s post I pulled up my lagniappe file.  That’s the folder where I stash all the interesting stories and factoids I come across during research – the unexpected little tidbits that have nothing whatsoever to do with my actual story need, but that spark my imagination and get my ‘what if’ meter vibrating big time.

The piece that jumped out at me this time was an article I came across when researching circuit preachers for a minor story thread in one of my books.  The article talked about a very unique tool utilized by missionaries who were attempting to do their own brand of ‘taming the west’ – namely Chapel Cars.

 

chap-car-ext02These were railroad cars that were modified to serve as traveling churches.  They road the rails from town to town, diverting to sidings for as long as they were needed, then moving on to the next stop.  These cars were outfitted with very modest living quarters for the missionary and perhaps his wife.  The rest of the space was utilized for church services.

Most western movies and tales glorify the gun-toting lawman or vigilante, portraying them as the tamers of the wild and wooly west.  In actuality, the peace-minded missionaries who road the rails played a larger part in bringing peace to the lawless west than any of their more aggressive counterparts.  They traveled in their mobile churches to remote areas of the country, bringing spiritual direction and a civilizing influence to people who were starved for something to offset the violence and loneliness of their existence.

These Chapel Cars traveled throughout the west and midwest – including North Dakota, Nevada, Minnesota, California, Louisiana, Texas, Oregon and Colorado.  They stopped at mining towns and logging camps, tent cities and newly established towns, bringing their gospel message and the reminder of civilization to people who had seen neither for a long time – if ever.

And, given the unfettered existence of those in the camps and towns, their appearance was surprisingly well received more often than not – especially by the ladies of the area.  The arrival of these Chapel Cars signaled not only the chance to attend Sunday services, but brought with them someone to perform weddings, funerals, baptisms and also a welcome excuse for social gatherings.  In addition, many a rough and tough cowboy who would have balked at attending a traditional church seemed to feel differently about these side rail services.  In fact, the very novelty of the Chapel Car brought folks from miles around just to have a look.

Of course, they didn’t always receive a warm welcome.  There are recorded instances of the Chapel Cars being pelted with eggs and refuse, defaced with graffiti and even set on fire.  But these were rare instances and the cars and their custodians survived to continue their mission.

 

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These repurposed rail cars were furnished with pews, a lectern, an altar table and in some cases an organ.  Depending on the construction, they could seat over 70 people inside.  The Chapel Car was a multipurpose unit, serving as a home, church, Sunday School, social hall, library and meeting place.  They carried bibles and tracts which were distributed all along the lines.  The missionary and his wife, in addition to their usual ministerial duties, were expected to function as singer, musician, janitor and cook.  They helped organize permanent churches, including raising the necessary funds and helping to construct the buildings.

There are records to support the existence of eleven Chapel Cars in all, though there is some evidence there may have been as many as seventeen.  Of the eleven known cars, three were utilized by Catholics, seven by Baptists and one by the Episcopalians.

Chapel cars remained in use throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  With the advent of World War I, however, the railroad tracks had to be kept clear for troop movement.  In addition, new regulations prohibited the railroad companies from giving ‘free rides’ to the Chapel Cars, something that had been common practice up until that time.  And as paved roads and the automobile became more prevalent it became easier for folks to travel longer distances on their own to attend church.  Thus, the Chapel Cars that had brought their spiritual message and civilizing influence to the rough and tumble west faded into history.

 

So, what is the most memorable place where you’ve attended a church service and what made it memorable for you?

The Crash at “Crush”

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It started as a publicity stunt. Crash two locomotives together and sell tickets. It had been done in Ohio to the cheers of delighted spectators.
 
William G. george-crush-sept-16-1896-galveston-daily-news1Crush, agent for The Missouri-Kansas-Texas “Katy” (MKT) Railroad knew that the public was fascinated by train wrecks. 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 steam 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, Texas. 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 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 tTrains at Crush Texasrack, 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.

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“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 traCrash at Crush Texas souvenir huntersin, 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.

 

Click on the cover to purchase Tracy’s latest release

Homesteading in America

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linda-sig.jpgAs most of you know, I recently bought a new house here in Ralls, Texas. At the closing I filed a homestead exemption on my property. That means I’m protected against the forced sale of my home to meet demands of creditors and it provides a $15,000 tax exemption so I only pay taxes on a portion of my home’s value. It’s easy to quality for this. It has to be my primary residence and I can’t have a homestead exemption on any other property whether in state or out.

Much has been written in western novels about homesteading in the old West and it’s been the subject of western movies. The unscrupulous land agent, the large ranch owner who’s intent on running out homesteaders, and the Oklahoma land rush.

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So what about homesteading back in our forefathers’ day? I recently took a look at the Homestead Act that was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862.

It stated: 

  •  The man or woman had to be 21 years of age or the head of a family 
  •  Be a U.S. citizen or in the process of becoming one 
  •  Had never taken up arms against the U.S.

If they met all of those qualifications, they could claim up to 160 acres of free land. Up for grabs were hundreds of thousands of unappropriated public acres, primarily west of the Mississippi River. The government saw this as a way to settle the country fast and boy, did it work. People rushed to cash in. Foreign immigrants flooded into the country. This was the chance of a lifetime to have something few had even dreamed of.

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Stipulations that had to be met: 

  •  Had to make improvements which usually meant farming
  •  Build a home on it 
  •  Had to reside there for five years

Once they played nicely by the rules, the land would become theirs free and clear. Anyone not wanting to wait the five years to get a clear title could pay $1.25 an acre and the land became theirs

There was also the Timber Culture Act of 1873 which provided claimants to secure an additional 160 acres of land if they planted and kept growing 40 acres of trees for 8 years. That obligation was reduced to 10 acres in 1878.

The Desert Land Act of 1877 was a ploy by the government to attract settlers to the arid regions. It was similar to the Homestead Act except a person could claim up to 640 acres that needed irrigation before it could be cultivated. It was cheap though-only 25 cents per acre with the stipulation that they live on it for 3 years. Or they could purchase it outright for a dollar an acre.

Most early homestead shacks were small, some as few as 8′ X 8′. And building materials were whatever was available. From log homes and frame structures to sod houses and dugouts. The settler was pretty inventive.

The homesteading process went something like this. A claim was filed at the nearest Land Office stating the homesteader’s intention. After checks for any ownership claims, the person would pay a $10 fee as well as a $2 commission to the land agent. Then the prospective homesteader would round up two friends who’d vouch for the truth regarding the stated land improvements and pay another $6 fee when he signed the “proof document.” In exchange, the homesteader received a patent for land. The paper was often proudly displayed on the cabin or dugout wall. And he was in business.

An  interesting side note: 12% of all homesteaders were single women. Yay for us!

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But the Homestead Act wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

1.)  It often attracted unscrupulous people who used the free land giveaway as a scam. They sometimes got the immigrants to file for land too bad to farm on, often in the middle of the drought-stricken plains. Not many homesteaders lasted the mandatory 5 years in this case.

2.)  A problem arose with the Native Americans. When homesteaders pushed them off land they’d lived on for thousands of years, they oftentimes pushed back with results the homesteader didn’t like.

3.)  The homesteader could clash with the established rancher which often led to range wars.

4.)  Not all land was available. Eight years after the Homestead Act passed, 127 million acres were granted to railroads with another 2 million for wagon roads and canals. Land adjacent to such grants could not be homesteaded and had to be purchased outright with cash. They were also limited to 80 acres rather than the 160.

5.)  Only surveyed land was available. No one could gain a title to unsurveyed land.

For all its advantages and faults, the Homestead Act of 1862 lasted until 1976. Although it continued in Alaska until 1986. Millions of acres of land was given away for a little of nothing. It stands as the biggest government subsidy program in American history.

How many of you have read a book or seen a movie where homesteading was part of the plot? Or do you have a homestead exemption on your house?

www.LindaBroday.com

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The Man Who Wrote the West

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elizname2smallHow did I first become interested in Western romance?   I could answer that question in two words—but first let me give you some background.  In my growing up years, my dad subscribed to some great men’s magazines, like TRUE and SPORTS AFIELD.  They were filled with action and adventure, and I read them from cover to cover.  I even enjoyed the ads, especially the ad that showed a long line of books with titles like RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE and LIGHT OF THE WESTERN STARS and a banner that read: “GET THE ENTIRE THE ZANE GREY COLLECTION!” 

By the time I fell under Zane Grey’s spell, that author had long since ridden into life’s sunset.  But his zane-greybooks were still bestsellers, and our local library had an entire shelf of them.  I was in sixth grade when I started reading them.  Not sure how many I got through, but I do remember how they fired my young imagination with vistas of raw beauty and rugged characters who were bigger than life. 

Pearl Zane Grey was born in 1872 in Zanesville, Ohio,  where he grew up reading adventure stories and dime novels.  He wanted to be a writer, but his father, a dentist with a violent temper, had other ideas.  When Zane wrote his first story at fifteen, his father tore it up and beat him.   Eventually the young man bowed to his father’s wishes, became a dentist and married a girl from a wealthy family.  At night, to relieve the tedium of his day job, he wrote stories.  His first efforts were awkward, but with the help of his wife Dolly, who edited his work and most likely financed the publication of his first novel, he slowly began to find success. 

Grey had inherited his father’s turbulent nature.  He was given to spells of anger and sank into despair when his work was rejected.  Restless to a fault, he was a deplorable husband and father, often staying away for months, traveling, hunting and fishing, and spending time with mistresses, while Dolly managed the household and raised their three children.  Dolly tolerated her husband’s lifestyle as she proofed his work and handled the business end of his growing literary career.  Their letters indicate that there was genuine love and respect between them.  

zane-grey-book-coverGrey’s early books were about the American Revolution.  After a hunting trip to Arizona he began to write the Westerns that would make him famous.  On his wilderness trips he took photographs and wrote copious notes.  Treacherous river crossings, unpredictable beasts, bone-chilling cold, searing heat, parching thirst, bad water, irascible tempers, and heroic cooperation all became real to him.   From the beginning, vivid description was the strongest aspect of his writing.  Grey’s first Western, THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT, became a bestseller.  Two years later he produced his best known book, RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, his all-time best seller and one of the most successful Western novels ever.  After that he became a household name.  In 1918 he moved his family from Pennsylvania to California, where he started his own movie production company.  He lived there on and off until his death in 1939 at the age of 67. 

Grey became one of the first millionaire authors. He connected with millions of readers worldwide and inspired many Western writers who followed him. Zane Grey was a major force in shaping the myths of the Old West and he helped transition the written Western into other media. He was the author of over 90 books, some published posthumously and/or based on serials originally published in magazines. His total book sales exceed 40 million  From 1917–1926, Grey was in the top ten best-seller list nine times, which required sales of over 100,000 copies each time.  Even after his death, his publisher had a stockpile of manuscripts and continued to publish a new title each year until 1963. 

Another great writer, Erle Stanley Gardner, would say that Grey  “had the knack of tying his characters into the land, and the land into the story…Somehow you got the impression that the bigness of the country generated a bigness of character.” 

What sparked your early interest in the West?  Do you have a favorite author?  A favorite story or film? 

Clicking on the book icon will take you to Amazon.com.

Hunting for Gold in The Lone Star State

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“A gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar at the top.” – Mark Twain

When I began doing research for my debut novel, Touch of Texas, I knew I was searching for a special type of location. It needed to be isolated, with a means of support for those who settled in the town. I didn’t want the town to be too prosperous – that eliminates some of the available conflict for a story. Also, the area had to be right for the nefarious to operate – cattle rustling, horse stealing, etc. – and have numerous places for them to hide.

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The hero of the book was a Texas Ranger, the tall, dark and dangerous type, who preferred taking on assignments that sent him out alone, far from civilization. My mental picture of the heroine was his total opposite, a fragile-looking woman with golden hair…

Golden? Aha! A gold mining town. But was gold ever mined in Texas in the 1800’s? I don’t mind making stuff up in the name of my art, but I believe fiction needs to have a basis in the credible.

Silver mining has been going on in Texas since the Franciscans Friars discovered the precious ore near El Paso in 1680. These mines were hidden by the good Friars from the Jesuit brothers and the locations lost for many years. One mine was rediscovered in 1793, then lost again, then found again thanks to church records in 1872. In 1880 the Presidio Mine was discovered. In the ensuing years, strikes were made in all over the western half of the state, and even in the Hill Country.

From The Handbook of Texas Online: “In 1905, 387,576 ounces of silver were produced in the state, and in 1908 the Bonanza and Alice Ray Mines in the Quitman Mountains in Hudspeth County were producing ore valued at $60 to $65 per ton. In 1918 the Chinati and Montezuma mines closed. The Presidio Mine was one of the most consistent producers of silver in the country; from 1880 until it closed in 1942 it had produced 2,000,000 tons of ore from which 30,293,606 ounces of silver, about nine-tenths of the total output of the state, had been extracted, along with a small value in gold and lead.”

There it is. The answer to whether anyone ever mined for gold in Texas. The operations weren’t profitable, but there have been gold mines in Texas since the 1800’s. In fact, there has been a gold mining operation going on in the Hill Country continuously since the expeditioBig Bend National Parkn of Bernardo de Miranda y Flores left San Antonio in February, 1756.

Most gold mining took place in the far southwestern part of the state, in the area called Big Bend. (That’s a picture of Big Bend National Park to the right. Gorgeous, isn’t it?)

There was some mining around Fort Davis and in the Davis Mountains, and also in Presidio County.

 While reseFort Davis, Texasarching the history of Fort Davis, a United States Army post in operation from 1854-1891, I found mention of a wave of gold seekers coming through on their way to California from San Antonio. The need to protect these adventurers and pioneer was part of what helped drive the placement of the fort.

Amateur prospectors have discovered arrastre, granite bedrock milling stones, abandoned by the Mexicans and Spanish in and on the banks of the creeks where they searched in vain for gold.

But since when has gold fever been cured by the words “you aren’t going to find it panhandlerhere”.  To this day, the persistent legends of large veins scattered through the state are enough to keep hopeful panhandlers searching.
 
Panning still turns up small amounts of gold around the ruins of Fort Davis, as well as in the Hill Country around Llano and Mason Counties, where there were mostly placer mines—that’s the mining of alluvial or sediment deposits for minerals. Despite the odds against finding anything, they’re still mining for gold in the Lone Star State.

While no one person or mining company ever got wealthy digging or panning for gold in Texas—the total recorded value of the gold dug out of the ground is less than $250,000—they did and still do hunt for the precious metal. And for a fiction writer, that’s all I needed to create my own little piece of the past.

Maybe Mark Twain had it right – although I’d rather consider myself a weaver of a tall tale rather than a liar.

Victoria Bylin: City Girl on Horseback

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 “Hold on!’ shouted the trail guide.

As I grabbed the saddle horn, the horse I was riding (sitting on would be more accurate) jumped over a narrow creek. Judging by the way my stomach lurched, you’d have thought we’d taken a five-foot fence. Far from it . . . I was on a trail ride in the San Emidio Mountains in southern California, doing a news story for a local newspaper.

For a western writer, I have appallingly little experience with horses. I’m not someone who grew up in the saddle.  My first horse was made of plastic and attached to sprspring-rocking-horseings.  Does anyone else remember “The Wonder Horse?”  They were made in the 1960s and graced living rooms throughout America. I rode my Wonder Horse for hours, but it was my brother who tested the limits. He managed to bounce it into the wall.

Hobby horses have been around for ages. They became popular in 17th century England, but they’re believed to have originated in ancient Egypt. Carved horses would be placed on four-wheel carts and children would take rides. A few of these toys have been found in ancient pyramids. With a son living in Cairo, I’m fascinated by the Egypt connection.

The hobbhobby-horsey horse (or broomstick horse) became popular in medieval times. A hobby horse consisted of a stick, a fake horse head and a child’s imagination. Can’t you just see a little girl naming her horse “Star” and dreaming of adventure? For a boy in medieval times, a hobby horse was more than a toy.  Pretending to ride imitated adult behavior and prepared him for a life of battle. Boys also practiced jousting with horses on wheels.

 

 Hobby horses eventually morphed from sticks into barrel horses. A barrel horse was made from a log mounted on four legs and had a crudely made head. They didn’t move or rock, but they gave a child the feel of sitting on a horse. As cabinet-making and carpentry skills advanced, the legs of these barrel horses became more elaborate.

The rocking horse as we picture it now came into being in the 17th century. Someone figured out that mounting a toy horse on a half barrel would create a rocking motion. Later the barrel evolved into the wide rockers we picture today. The earliest example belonged the boy who’d become King Charles I of England.  Antique Hobby Horse on wheels

It was only a matter of time before the rocking horse exploded in popularity. In the 18th century, some were elaborate works of art made by masters of the trade. Only the wealthiest of family could afford them. When the Industrial Revolution took hold, what had been a cottage industry turned into mass production and rocking horses were accessible to the general public. The dappled gray became the most popular model when Queen Victoria presented that style to her children.

Child on Hobby Horse c. 1860

 The rocking horse underwent another evolution in 1880 when J.P. Marqua, an American from Ohio, patented a safety stand. Instead of moving on rockers, the horse was mounted on springs in a frame. The safety base made rocking horses more stable than their ancestors, and the toy took up less room as a child played. They were also considered safer. Fingers and toes couldn’t be pinched under the rockers, and the horse was less likely to tip over.  (I can vouch for this. My Wonder Horse made some wild leaps in my imagination, but he never threw me off.)

Up until World War I, rocking horses grew in popularity. Unfortunately, the start of the war led to a shortage of materials and skilled craftsman. The Great Depression further lessened the interest in such toys. They never did make a strong comeback, possibly because of the advent of the automobile.  Instead of imitating their parents on horseback, children wanted toy cars they could pretend to drive.  

Even though interest has faded, rocking horses aren’t gone forever. They’re still made by artisans and loved by children with vivid imaginations.

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What about you? Did you ever have a rocking horse?  Do you remember Wonder Horses and stick ponies? Or maybe you were the girl I envied . . . Maybe you had a real horse of your own.  Memory lane, here we come at a gallop!

 

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And the Horse You Rode In On

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In my soon-to-be released novel Montana Rose, a side character, who will soon have his own book, has this stunning black stallion and he’s making money on stud fees. I have fun with this guy because his horse won’t let anyone near him except the owner…and barely him. And the owner is so cranky that man and horse, are two peas in a pod. Giving this man, Tom, a horse turned into research of course and that led me to today’s blog. Horse Breeds.
 
I’ll give you a quick run-down of Montana Rose before I start the very sane and lovely talk I have planned about Horse Breeds.

Left pregnant and widowed in the unforgiving west, Cassie is forced into an unwanted marriage to rancher Red Dawson.

No decent man could turn away from Cassie and leave her to the rough men in Divide, Montana. Red Dawson knows Cassie is beautiful and he’s interested in her, has been even when she was a married woman, but she’d spoiled and snooty and he’s purely afraid marrying her is a bad idea. But he’s too decent to leave her to a terrible fate.

He finds out real fast that Cassie’s not cut out to be a rancher’s wife. She keeps trying to help and Red has his hands full keeping her from killing herself with her efforts, and preventing her–in her attempts to be a good wife–from leaving his ranch in ruins.

While Red struggles with his overly obedient but badly incompetent wife, an obsessed man plots to make Cassie his own, something he can’t do as long as Red lives.

Now back to horses: The more I researched horse breeds for that small character, Tom Linscott, the more I wished I’d never started. There are over 300 breeds of horses. And I kept reading about ‘types’ and ‘breeds’. Those are different things. I think. I did find a few really interesting tidbits about some horse breeds we’d all recognize (by name if not by sight.)

Thoroughbred
Three foundation studs: Byerly Turk-from around 1690, Eclipse from around 1709, and Godolphin Arabian from around 1720. The Thoroughbred line was rooted in horses from the east, Arabians for example and they grew out of a desire to move away from the massive, powerful war horses bred to carry a knight wearing full armor.
Foundation studs? Does that strike anyone else as weird? That they can trace an entire breed of horses to three imported stallions? What about inbreeding? Didn’t anyone bring in a horse and just not mention it? How rare were horses? I’ll bet there are 400 foundation studs but only three guys bragged about their snazzy imported horses. The rest of the men probably had a farm to run.
 
Thorougbreds were lighter and faster but with great endurance. The main focus was on race horses and almost all thoroughbreds can trace their line to these original three horses.
This is a portrait of Darley’s Arabian, one of the Foundation studs but note that of course he is an Arabian, not a thoroughbred. A thoroughbred is what grew out of the cross breeding with Arabians and English horses.
The thoroughbreds came to America from the very beginning with the earliest pilgrims.
Is it just me or does the thoroughbred in the first picture, the portrait of Darley’s Arabian in the second picture and the white quarter horse below…all look a lot alike.
I don’t really understand horse breeds. I mean sure, I get Clydesdales. I get Shetlands, they’re different, Welsh, zebras…I get that. But the rest…pretty darned nit picky, I think.
That’s why I studied them. So would my hero have a thoroughbred? 
I still can’t decide and his book is half written. Maybe I’ll make that stallion a pure bred Arabian. That would be a little rare in America back then…right? The whole point is, he’s got this great horse and he’s making money on it. Well, that’s not the WHOLE point, but it’s important.
The other main choice is a Quarter Horse. They trace their roots to 1600.
The horses in America at this time were mostly of Spanish origin, with the greatest amounts of blood from Arabian Barbs (Barbs? I’ve got no idea what that means, must be a kind of horse breed though) and Turk lines. In 1611 the first significant import of English horses was made to Virginia. These English horses were of native, eastern and Spanish blood.
When the new English horses were bred to the native stock, a compact horse with heavily muscled hindquarters began to develop. But the horse owners also liked to race. Quarter horses were strong enough and fast enough to do both field work and win a race.
 
 
Another main kind of horse is the draft horse..such as Clysdale, Belgians, Morgan. Draft horses predate recorded history. Big strong horses were the earliest domesticated kinds because they could pull loads and work in the fields. In America, throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, horses in America were used primarily for riding and pulling light vehicles. Oxen were the preferred because they: cost half as much as horses, required half the feed and OOPS and could be eaten when they died or were no longer useful. Oxen, however, were slow. So there were many who preferred draft horses.
An interesting and tragic detail I found. In the five years surrounding WWI, Europe imported from America over one million draft horses to be used in the fighting of that conflict. Two hundred came home. Many of course remained in Europe but the death and injuries to horses were staggering. British veterinarians in French hospitals are reported to have treated 2,564,549 for war related inflicted injuries.
 
 
 
Mustang- The Mustang is a wild horse that descended from Spanish horses. The name Mustang comes from the Spanish word mesteño or monstenco meaning wild or stray. They don’t have a real breed because over the years they became a mix of numerous breeds. These were the horses which changed the lives of the Native Americans living in or near the Great Plains.
Catching and taming wild horses was a good source of income for ranchers. To sell them or to save the money needed to buy horses for their ranch.
I heard a theory once about why Native Americans didn’t make scientific progress, didn’t invent the wheel, didn’t becomes more settled and build cities. Didn’t learn to work with metals or invent guns.
It might have been because they didn’t have pack animals that could be domesticated. In Asia and Europe they had horses and cattle. But the only suitable animal of that type in American was the buffalo and it was just too unpredictable to ever make a good domesticated animal. Pack animals made life so much easier for people who had them, they had more time for pursuits including inventions.
 
I’ll make one more comment about Montana Rose. Have any of you ever read Janette Oke’s beautiful classic romance, Love Comes Softly? That novel inspired mine in the sense that my novel begins with a widow, pregnant, penniless and alone in the west, who must marry to survive.  And the man who marries her because she needs someone and all the other choices are unsavory. (that’s not in Love Comes Softly I don’t think. I don’t remember unsavory?) Both novels are classic marriage of convenience stories. (okay, maybe CLASSIC isn’t quite applicable to Montana Rose…YET!)
Unlike Oke’s lovely, sweet, gentle-hearted novel though, mine veers almost immediately to mayhem, gunfire and comedy. So I think of it as
Love Comes … Hardly.
Or maybe-
Love Comes…Loudly.
Or possibly-
Love Comes Barely…except that sounds kinda dirty. 🙂
So, any horse lovers? Anyone have a horse? Anyone fallen off a horse? I got a story there.  Or two. And the x-rays to prove it.
Petticoats & Pistols