I have a cover reveal for my next release in June, and I wanted to share some fun research I found while writing it. So far, this has been a fun and interesting series!
When I think of the west, especially when I think of cowboys, I don’t think of automobiles. In fact…I had to check to see if there were even gas stations or places to buy fuel in the Black hills in 1906. Luckily, there were. But in rural South Dakota, especially in the Black Hill where it feels (because it is) remote, automobiles weren’t as popular as they were in other parts of the country.
In To a Brighter Tomorrow, I introduce the Johlman and Douglas families. Two groups fighting for one verdant valley. Both thinking the other will waste or ruin the resource. We also have some bad guys, because what’s a western without a few vagabonds?
A judge, his hired Pinkerton, and the judge’s daughter are headed to Belle Fourche in the early part of winter, so they will arrive by car, rented of course. I hunted for a car that would give them privacy to speak and I found this.
It was call the landaulette which was a style of vehicle with the driver separate from the passengers, allowing for private conversation. I’m sure the driver was quite cold though, and doubt the passengers were much warmer, since there was no heat in these early cars other than that which naturally came off the engine.
This is an image of the steering, which was quite basic, but kind of elegant in it’s own way. I like the fact that it looks a little like a stage coach. Many taxis of that time (in larger cities) were Rolls Royce landaulettes. How else would a wealthy judge and his only daughter arrive in town?
If you lived in the west in the early 1900s, would you trust a car or stick with horse and wagon?
Without further ado, here is book 2 in the Belle Fourche Chronicles! Valley of Promise
Armstrong has never had a choice in his life.
Pa has made every decision, from who his friends are to when he will take over their huge cattle spread. He’s made plenty of enemies in Belle Fourche, SD along the way. Especially their neighbors, the sheep ranching Johlmans.
When a judge arrives in town to look into all the misdeeds of both families, Armstrong’s carefully planned world begins to crumble, particularly when he meets the judge’s daughter. A woman who could have his heart, unless her father finds out what his family has been doing.
Dosha Cattrel’s father has threatened every man who’s shown interest. She’s given up hope of ever finding someone perfect enough to suit him, much less love her.
Her father brings her and a secretive Pinkerton agent to investigate a land war. She fully expects to be bored silly until she meets Armstrong, one of the very men under her father’s spyglass. What Armstrong doesn’t know is that she is related to the Johlmans, his fiercest enemy.
Can a forbidden love survive the light of day, or will secrets kill the growing love between them?
Preorder this sweet, forbidden romance now!
Belle Fourche claims to be the Geographic center of the US. I later found out there are about three monuments just like this, and they all fight for the “actual” claim. I’ll just say the monument is cool to go see, no matter where the actual center is.
research a town before I write about it. I was so afraid that I’d gotten it wrong though. *Secret writer fear: We can’t always travel and we’re always terrified that we didn’t get a town quite right.
I love taking real history and making it relatable and helping people “live” through a period of history that they enjoy but would never want to actually live through, I mean, the necessary was a necessity but who wants to use one when it’s 40 below? We do live in the great white north.