The Scourge of the West?

 

Blackfoot Indian, painting by Karl Bodmer ca. 1840-1843
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Have you ever wondered how folks from the Wild West would react to the western myths we believe today? What? Wasn’t the landscape filled with marauding Indians, brave lawmen, settlers packing heat, desperate outlaws, and bawdy dancehall girls? Well, yes—but also no. When it comes to understanding the American West, those of us who live in the modern day are at a disadvantage. The Old West is gone.

Echoes remain. We might attend a rodeo, employ western slang, ride a steam train, or gather to “swing your partner.” It’s possible to read diaries, newspapers, and official records from back in the day. Visiting a museum exposes us to fading artifacts in a historical building alive with forgotten footsteps. 

Rodeo image from cjuneau, CC BY 2.0
 via Wikimedia Commons

From remnants, we piece together a blurred picture. For some, imagining what should have been is more fun than ferreting out information. 

Take those marauding Indians, for example. Old western movies and popular literature would have you believe that Indians were just waiting to murder settlers at the drop of a cowboy hat. These “red devils” set up ambushes for their hapless victims Any sight of Indians signaled the immediate need to prepare for battle. (Fun fact: we still use “circle the wagons” to mean “hunker down and get ready to fight.”) The facts don’t really support this. 

Plenty of wagons were lashed together, but usually not for defence. They formed a makeshift corral so the livestock wouldn't stray at night. Also, skirmishes between settlers and Indians were rare. According to historical studies referenced by the Oregon Trail Center, during the main emigration years (1840-1860), Indians killed 362 emigrants. With all respect to the deceased, that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 350,000 pioneers who traveled the trails. The number of Indians killed by settlers comes to 426, which is greater. 

Let’s take the long view of what happened to America’s indigenous population following Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1492. At that time, North America boasted nearly 55 million people. By 1900, the native population had declined by 80% overall and 98.8 percent in some areas. How did they die? The answer isn’t an easy one.

A painting by Alejo Fernández between 1531 and 1536. It is the only state sponsored portrait of the First Admiral of the Indias called Don Cristoval Colon known today as Christopher Columbus in English.(1475-1545), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In the days following the Civil War, soldiers crowded into western forts, many with the express intention of subduing Indians. Bored after the excitement of the war, they were chafing for a fight. By this time, Indians were wising up about the land grab going on. The last straw was when the railroads started laying track through their ancient hunting grounds. None of this, as you can imagine, encouraged thoughts of happy co-existence. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a book written by Dee Brown, describes not how the West was won, but how it was lost. Its pages recount the tragic fate of tribe after tribe of Native Americans. Violence played a part, but it wasn't the worst culprit.

When colonists came to the New World, they introduced diseases to which native tribes had no immunity. The most deadly, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia were smallpox, malaria, viral influenza, yellow fever, measles, typhus, bubonic plague, typhoid fever, cholera, and pertussis (whooping cough). Millions died in what was termed the "greatest demographic disaster in human history."

Painting of "Indian Burial Ground" by Seth Eastman, 1849–1855; Dakota graveyard with elevated burial sites, located seven miles above Fort Snelling along the Minnesota River. This graveyard served three Dakota villages; public domain image via Wikimedia Commons

Indians weren’t the only ones to suffer. The number one killer on western trails, claiming the lives of nine out of ten pioneers, was infectious disease. The hardship and privation emigrants endured weakened them so much that epidemics spread like wildfire.

So, what was the scourge of the West? Suffice it to say that it looked nothing like an Indian in war paint.

What's New with Janalyn Voigt

In Sojourner, one of my Tales of Faeraven epic fantasy novels, the hero and heroine must cross a swamp where fresh and salty waters collide. At the heart of this fenland lies a ruined castle that both draws and repels them. The more they travel toward it, the further away it gets. 

This scenario best expresses how I feel when editing one of my novels. I slash words, but then add even more of them. I write spare, and then fill in layers of complexity through rounds of edits. The book's length increases as the end moves farther away. You can imagine the effect this has on my moral. Perhaps you will share my joy at closing in on the final pages of this project.

I can't be alone in this. Have you ever experienced an ever-retreating endpoint?

Discover Montana Gold

Learn more

The Pony Express in a Nutshell By Donna Schlachter -- with Giveaway

Poster advertising for riders

Most people know a little about the Pony Express, but few realize it only operated from April 1860 through to November 1861. The first ride left St. Joseph, Missouri heading west, and from Sacramento, California heading east, on April 3rd, 1860. 

The idea for a Pony Express was conceived in the minds of its owners because of the possibility of winning the contract for the overland US mail. Another company, Butterworth, was running a southern route that took up to three weeks to deliver to the west coast, and Majors and Waddell thought they could beat that time by taking the shorter northern route.
The irony of the matter is they never won the contract; instead, they merged with Butterworth to form the Overland Mail Company, and closed with the Pony Express over $200,000 in debt.


From idea to the first mail run took less than six months. First they identified the easiest and shortest route; then they contracted with stagecoach stops, mercantiles or other businesses in small towns and cities for the home stations, where a rider lived and worked, making his runs about a hundred miles east and west. For the relay stations, where horses were changed out, the Pony Express contracted with ranches, outfitters, and ordinary folks to stable three to six horses and have somebody on hand with a saddled horse for the incoming rider. These relay stations were fifteen to twenty miles apart, depending on the terrain. Sometimes they had to start from scratch and hire somebody to build a barn, corral, and cabin to be in the right place at the right time.

For a period of about six weeks in the Spring 1861, the mail run was halted due to unrest between settlers and the native peoples, and while records aren’t clear, it appears no rider or mail bag was lost during the eighteen months of its operation. However, there are stories that talk about a horse shot out from under its rider and the mail bag being stolen, only to be recovered a year later.

As with any great piece of history, there will be myths and stories told. Among the famous legends are that Buffalo Bill Cody rode for the Pony Express. Records and recollections vary and contradict each other, but it is possible he rode for them for a short time as a young boy. Another great story is that women disguised themselves as men in order to sign up, but again, records are not clear whether this is true or not. However, it is documented as fact that women did sign up as soldiers in the Civil War, so it could be true.

Riders were hired for their ability to ride, endure the elements, as well as perform other necessary tasks around the home stations. Posters that advertise for wiry orphans are not completely true, but no doubt orphans could have been preferred. The pay started at around $25 a month plus room and board, which was a lot of money in those days, particularly for a teenage boy. However, along with their horsemanship and ranch skills, they were also exhorted not to drink, not to cuss, and not to shoot people without cause. At their swearing-in, each took an oath to act like a gentleman, and were issued a handgun, a rifle, and a Bible. Most carried their rifle in a scabbard, but often left the pistol and Bible in their bunk to reduce weight.

The time period, 1860, fascinates me as there were so many changes happening in America. The train is a near dream; the cross-country telegraph is nearing completion; the country is brewing for civil war; women are campaigning for voting and civil rights. In just a few short years, cameras will photograph the first war ever; telephones will be installed in people’s homes; electricity will light our lives into the dark of night. Despite the changes, one thing is sure: the Pony Express lives on in our hearts and our folklore much longer than it actually ran.

In my story in the “Pony Express Romance Collection”, Echoes of the Heart, both characters are running from bad situations, which mirrors the thinking of the day: go West and start over.

Leave a comment, and I will draw a lucky winner of a print copy (US only) of “Pony Express Romance Collection”.

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of ACFW, Writers on the Rock, SinC, Pikes Peak Writers, and CAN; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests.

Echoes of the Heart: http://amzn.to/2lBaqcW
www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com
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Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm About Echoes of the Heart:

Catherine Malloy, an orphan girl running from a compromising situation in Boston, answers a personal ad in a magazine, on behalf of her illiterate friend. Through his letters, she finds herself falling in love with this stranger. Benjamin Troudt is crippled and illiterate, and knows nothing of this ad. His route supervisor, Warton, who was helping Benjamin with the paperwork, has been given only a short time to live, and knows Benjamin needs help, so he places the ad. Can Catherine overcome her belief that the God of her parents has abandoned her? And can Benjamin allow God to open his eyes and his heart to love?

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving Then and Now
by Martha Rogers

For most families, Thanksgiving is a time to come together for good food and good fellowship. Every family has its own traditions. Some of those have been passed down for generations, and some are made new as the family expands and grows.

It’s a holiday that is celebrated in many cultures as a time of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest. Both Canada and the United States celebrate a Thanksgiving Holiday on the North American continent.

Two of the many things associated with fall and Thanksgiving

Good Food

The Colors of the Season

The history of our holiday is based both on legend and fact. The legend has our Pilgrims in the state of Massachusetts being the first to celebrate a harvest after a harsh winter in 1620-21 when they had so little food. During the spring of 1621, it is said that the Wampanoag Iroquois Indians taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn and other crops and how to hunt and fish.

Traditions that stem from that celebration include the foods from the harvest such as corn, barley, beans, cranberries, squash, and pumpkin as well as deer, turkey, and other wild game. The Pilgrims and the Indians came together and celebrated with a large feast.

In 1789, George Washington suggested a date to observe a day of thanksgiving for the nation on November 26 and call it Thanksgiving Day. Later presidents were not so keen on the idea because it seemed to be a religious holiday and violated the separation of church and state. Because of this, only two presidents, John Adams and James Madison were the only two to proclaim a day of thanksgiving.

As early as 1846, the editor of Godey’s magazine published editorials which encouraged readers to celebrate what she called the “Great American Festival” in hopes it would unite the country and avert a war among the states.

In 1863, in the midst of a civil war of such magnitude and severity that it tore our nation apart, Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday of November as a day of giving thanks.

Here is an excerpt from that speech:

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that these gifts should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people; I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and a Prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” (Abraham Lincoln, October 3,1863)

Families gathered after the proclamation to give thanks for the blessings they

had received in the previous year.

After that, it became a yearly celebration, and from those early days many traditions have evolved. Family traditions abound from the kind of dressing to be served and the kind of meat with which it is served to the activities planned for the day. Some families use the holiday as a time for family reunions that spread across generations while other may only include the immediate family.

One tradition that seems to be enjoyed by a great many people judged by the crowds which attend them, is that of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy’s parade in New York began in 1924 and is the best known one today. It was immortalized in the film Miracle on 34^th Street. Now, many other cities across our nation have similar parades attended by young and old alike.

Football has also become a tradition dating back to the early days of television in the 1950’s and even earlier on radio. College rivalries made for great games enjoyed by those who attended in person or watched on the screen of their television sets.

This is a picture of my own table ready for Thanksgiving

No matter where you live, or how large or small your family is, Thanksgiving is most likely celebrated at your home or the home of a relative. It is indeed, a day to reflect on and give thanks for God’s great blessings of the past year.

This month, in honor of the holiday, I’m giving away a copy of my novella, Thanksgiving in the Valley. Leave a comment below to tell me about one of your Thanksgiving family traditions to be entered in a drawing for the book, either paperback or e-book. Be sure to leave your email address as well, so I can contact you.

From our house to yours:

Travis fell in love with Violet when she was fourteen. Now, ten years later, he returns to Ridgewood Valley as a lawman and still loves her. Violet has always loved Travis and when he returns from serving in the U.S. Cavalry, her love

grows. Because she’s a preacher’s daughter, and he has less than stellar reputation while in the cavalry, he doesn’t feel worthy of Violet’s love and tries to avoid her. A few days before Thanksgiving, while he is away on a man hunt, Violet is shot during an attempted robbery of the church’s offerings. When Travis returns to town and learns of Violet’s injuries, he realizes he can’t live without her. Will this Thanksgiving Day be one of great blessings for these two hearts?  

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Since receiving her first novel contract at age 73, Martha has written and published over 50 books. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com, www.hhhistory.com                   Twitter:  @martharogers2
          Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaRogersAuthor

Grand Canyon National Park

by Jennifer Uhlarik

So…I had the great fortune to take a two-week road trip with my family this summer. We were able to see a lot of great things on our cross-country travels, stopping in several states along the way, but our big destination was Arizona’s Grand Canyon. I’d been to see it when I was roughly 10 years old, but neither my husband nor my 18-year-old son had been. So that was the anchor location that we built our trip around, and while we didn’t attempt going down into the canyon, we were each awed by the splendor and beauty we saw from the South Rim. If you have never been, let me just say it is so worth the trip.

Grand Canyon At Sunset

© Jennifer Uhlarik

 

Another view of Grand Canyon
© Jennifer Uhlarik

Here’s a few facts. Grand Canyon is 277 miles long. At its widest point, it is eighteen miles wide, and at its narrowest, it is four miles wide. It is approximately one mile deep. Temperatures at the South Rim can range from 30-40 degrees in winter, with a good chance of snow at times…to 100 degrees or above during summer, though the nighttime temperatures can fall quite a bit, causing a big discrepancy. Inside the canyon, temperatures are known to reach 120 degrees easily.

Ancestral Puebloan granaries high above the Colorado  River at Nankoweap Creek, Grand Canyon.
(Photo: Drenaline, Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0)

Grand Canyon was the seventeenth national park to be established within the United States, and was granted that honor in 1919. But long before it was discovered by white men, Grand Canyon and the surrounding area was home to various tribes of Indians. Ancient Puebloan Indians, the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people, were thought to be some of the earliest settlers to Grand Canyon. Like I said, my family didn’t hike into the canyon, so we didn’t see them in person, but this photo of Ancient Puebloan granaries found within Grand Canyon indicate the Indians’ presence from long ago. In addition to the Ancient Puebloans, the Cohonina, the Sinagua, the Hualapai, and Havasupai—among many others—lived around or in the canyon long before the white man came along.

With that in mind, it was a real pleasure for us to see an authentic display of Native American dances

put on by a group of very talented folks. We had a truly amazing time watching the various dancers in their colorful regalia as they performed a traditional grass dance, hoop dance, and others for the park goers.

A Young Native American man performs a dance
honoring the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII.
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A young girl and her grandmother perform a traditional women's dance.
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A Native American Man performs the Grass Dance
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A young woman performs the Butterfly Dance
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A Native American man performs a traditional
Hoop Dance.
© Jennifer Uhlarik

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado

So how did the white or European settlers come across Grand Canyon? In the mid-1500’s, the Spanish found their way to the area as they searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola under orders from Conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado. The small band of Spanish soldiers followed a Hopi guide about a third of the way into the canyon, but were forced to turn back because they lacked water. In their notes on the foray, they expressed concern that their guide purposely didn’t show them watering holes along the way for fear that the newcomers would stay. In 1776, Spanish priests returned, this time to the North Rim, as they searched for a way to reach California from Santa Fe, while others spent time attempting (unsuccessfully) to convert the Havasupai Indians to Christianity.

In 1826, a group of American trappers and mountain men traipsed into the area and “discovered” Grand Canyon. By the mid 1800’s, Lieutenant Joseph Ives led a military survey party into the canyon, only to deem the area “altogether valueless” and a “profitless locality.” (Doesn’t that make you laugh when you consider that five million people visit Grand Canyon National Park each year?)

Grand Canyon at Morning
© Jennifer Uhlarik

John Wesley Powell

In 1869, John Wesley Powell, who later founded and ran the U.S. Geological Society, explored the Colorado River with a team of men using wooden boats, and went back to explore the river again in 1871. Soon after, lead, zinc, asbestos, and copper deposits were found in the canyon, which led many to stake mining claims across the next two decades. Unfortunately for them, the process of mining in such inhospitable conditions proved to be difficult, if not deadly, and Grand Canyon finally shifted from a miner’s playground to one of the most sought-out tourist attractions within the United States.

There are lots of great things to do at Grand Canyon today. Both the North and South Rim areas are run by the National Park Service today. You can hike or ride a mule into the canyon, or white-water raft down the Colorado River. Helicopters rides are available for a price to those who want to see an up-closer view of the canyon floor without the hike or mule ride to get there. Hiking along the rim provides many scenic and beautiful views, and there are many historic buildings with interesting stories to be explored along the South Rim. The North Rim is much more rugged with fewer services than the South Rim. And the Western Rim, which is run by the Haulapai Indian Tribe rather than the National Park Service, is where tourists can go to experience the “Skywalk”—where they can walk out over the Grand Canyon on a crystal-clear pathway that provides a view into the canyon like no other. (Unfortunately, as one who has a very healthy fear of heights, I doubt I’d be able to experience the Skywalk or a hike/mule ride into the canyon).

Rugged terrain at Grand Canyon
© Jennifer Uhlarik

It’s your turn: Have you ever been to Grand Canyon? Did you stay on the rim or did you hike into the canyon? If you haven’t been, would you hike down? Why or why not?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.