It's Stampede Time

by Linda Farmer Harris

When I was in the fourth grade, Dad moved our family from Arkansas to New Mexico. In 1955, my love for everything horses, cowboys, cowgirls, and rodeos was born.

In junior high, I heard about the Calgary Stampede in that far away place Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Wish the Internet had been a reality then. Lovington's library didn't have books about the Stampede or Canada. It was just word of mouth from folks who had been there.

Fast forward to early August 2006. When we drove from Austin, Texas to Wasilla, Alaska, we spent the night in Calgary. The 2006 Stampede was held July 7-16, but the city was still alive and energized from the rodeos, exhibits, and events. It was exciting. A little girl's dream realized.

July 7-16, 2006 Calgary Stampede

When Jerry's brother went to Calgary during his tours of the major rodeo venues my interest was sparked again.

One of the taglines of the Stampede is We're Greatest Together. That sentiment embodies what I've discovered about the folks associated with the rodeo.

Meet Florence "Flores" LaDue known as the First Lady of the Calgary Stampede.

Written Permission from National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

Written Permission from National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

Flores was the stage name of Grace Maud Bensel (1883-1951). Her mother died when she was an infant. Her father, C.D. Bensel, was a criminal lawyer and later a judge. As a youngster, she lived on a Sioux reservation where her grandfather was the government agent.

She ran away from her home in Montevideo, Minnesota to join a traveling Wild West show. She changed her name to Florence Flores LaDue to avoid being found.

She became a teen trick roper. Less than five feet tall, it's recorded that she could lasso five galloping horses at one time. She is reputed to have been the first trick roper to perform the trick known as The Texas Skip. View a video demonstrating The Texas Skip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO_FjLzSIQY

Courtesy of Library of Congress—Florence LaDue

In 1905, while roping upside down on a horse, she caught the eye of Guy Weadick, an itinerant rodeo cowboy and accomplished rider and roper. 

Courtesy of Calgary Stampede—Florence LaDue

She was appearing in Chicago with the Cummins's Wild West Show and Indian Congress. They were married in 1906 and eventually made western Canada their home where they operated a dude ranch and produced small rodeos.

Courtesy Calgary Stampede—Flores & Guy Weadick @ 1930

During their life on the rodeo circuit, they appeared with Will Rogers' Wild West show in 1910. They appeared on Broadway in Wyoming Days and worked the vaudeville circuits, as well as appearing in Glasgow, London, and Paris.
 
Together, with the help of other rodeo-advocates, they organized the first Calgary Stampede and billed it The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. Flores was the event's fancy roping world champion from 1912 to 1919. Guy Weadick (1885-1953) became known as the Father of the Frontier Show.

Guy & Flores Weadick—Courtesy of the Calgary Stampede

1912 Stampede Poster—Courtesy of the Calgary Stampede

Program Page-1912 Stampede—Courtesy of The Calgary Stampede

After competing for 31 years, Flores retired undefeated as World Champion Lady Fancy Roper. She is the only cowgirl to claim three world championships for trick and fancy roping. Failing health forced them to leave Canada for Phoenix, Arizona, where she died of heart failure in 1951.

So much of what's known about Flores and her fascinating life is due to memories of her Alberta neighbor Lenore McLean, who grew up next door to Flores in the 1940's.

There's no dispute that Flores opened the way for and left a legacy for generations of cowgirls who followed. In 2001, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

July, 2010 marked the 100th year of the Calgary Stampede.

2010 Calgary Poster—Courtesy of the Calgary Stampede

Finally, books about Flores and rodeos in Canada:

The First Stampede of Flores LaDue: The True Love Story of Florence and Guy Weadick and the Beginning of the Calgary Stampede (Simon and Schuster, 2012)
by Wendy Bryden

A Wilder West: Rodeo in Western Canada (UBC Press, 2012)
by Mary-Ellen Kelm 

Blessings,

Linda "Lin" Farmer Harris

Turning Tidbits of History into Unforgettable Stories

Lin and Jerry live on a ranch in Chimney Rock, Colorado. She writes historical fiction for adults and middle graders.

In Treasure Among the Ruins, Delia and Jace jump The Texas Skip together.


Treasure Among the Ruins, Book 1 in the Voices in the Desert series (Winged Publications, 2016) is available from Amazon.com in Kindle and paperback.

Her novella, The Lye Water Bride, is included in the California Gold Rush Romance Collection (Barbour Publishing, 2016) and is available from Amazon.com in Kindle and paperback.

Black-eyed Peas

by Linda Farmer Harris

All of the Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities are behind us, and it's time to plan the event that welcomes in 2017.

What's your favorite traditional New Year's Eve meal? Jerry and I always serve a bowl of black-eyed peas with corn bread.

Black-eyed Peas and Cornbread

Our family in Arkansas serves Hoppin' John, a basic, simple stew with ham hock, onion, salt and pepper served over rice or collard greens. Of course, you can gussy it up with garlic, celery, red and green bell peppers. Or use Kielbasa or other meat.

I've heard several theories about the name—some that it originated locally and some had a more exotic origin.  I like the theory that it's an Englishized version of pois a pigeon, French for pigeon peas. Still doesn't fit Hoppin' John, does it! But it's served with the blessing of good fortune for the coming year, so it's all good.

We haven't gone so far as to eat one pea for every day in the new year, as is the tradition of some, but we do serve it on occasion throughout the year. That may count toward getting 365 peas eaten before 2018.

Considering black-eyed peas luck goes back to the legend that the town of Vicksburg, Mississippi ran out of food while under attack during the Civil War. The town folks discovered a stash of black-eyed peas and forever after considered them lucky.

It seems each culture has its lucky foods. A few examples:
> Spain—one grape for each stroke of the clock for each month of the new year
> Danish—stewed kale
> Germans—sauerkraut (cabbage) and roast pork and sausages
> U.S. southern states—collard greens-more greens eaten the larger the fortune
> Brazil—lentil soup
> Japan—sweet black beans called kuro-mame
> Cuba, Hungary, Austria—pork or miniature pigs made of marzipan
> Sweden—pig's feet
> Holland, Hungary, Greece, Norway—cakes and other baked delights

Yes, there are some foods considered unlucky.
> Lobster—they move backward & that signifies setbacks and regression
> Chicken—they scratch backward signifying regret or dwelling in the past

What's your favorite New Year's Eve food?

Blessings,

Turning Tidbits of History into Unforgettable Stories

Lin and her husband, Jerry, live on a ranch in Chimney Rock, Colorado. She writes historical fiction for adults and children. Her latest series is Voices in the Desert and Book 1 is Treasure Among the Ruins.

Santa Fe, New Mexico, May 1926—Cordelia Moulton searches for self-identity and finds that love is as sure as the spring grass under the winter snowflakes.

Treasure Among the Ruins, Book 1, Voices in the Desert Series is available in e-book for the holiday season at Amazon.com.

Read more about the Southwestern Indian Detours in her HH&H posts:

1926 Bucket List — http://www.hhhistory.com/search?q=1926+bucket+list

Southwestern Indian Detours (Part I) — http://christianfictionhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2013/06/southwestern-indian-detours-by-linda.html

Southwestern Indian Detours (Part II) — http://christianfictionhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2013/07/southwestern-indian-detours-part-ii.html


Her novella, The Lye Water Bride, is included in the California Gold Rush Romance Collection (Barbour Publishing, August 2016)

1926 Bucket List

It's May 1926 and a train trip to the American Southwest is on your bucket list. However, the thought of miles and miles of clickety-clack isn't appealing. Then, you find a brochure announcing Fred Harvey's newly formed Indian Detours.

These one to three day tours allow you to leave the train and visit Indian Reservations in New Mexico and Arizona. Visiting the painted canyons and giant masterpieces of stone in wilderness territory had been relegated to adventurers, photographers, and artists. Now these places are within your reach.

In cooperation with Fred Harvey, Major Hunter Clarkson opened the Indian-Detours headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico not far from the La Fonda Hotel.

Clarkson's words on August 25, 1925 (Thomas, 1978, pp. 52-53): "There is more of historic, prehistoric, human and scenic interest...than in any similar area of the world, not excepting india, Egypt, Europe or Asia...The big idea is not only to let people know what is in New Mexico, but to tell them what it is when they see it."

Tours would later originate from the Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico and other Harvey hotels—the Alvarado in Albuquerque, the Ortiz in Lamy, and the Navajo in Gallup.

The most popular detours were to the Taos, San Ildefonso, and Santa Clara Indian Pueblos. Other tours included the ruins at Puye and Frijoles and the old Spanish village at Truchas. They could tour the Grand Canyon, Rainbow Arch, the Petrified Forest, and other Indian lands.

Travelers who signed up for the Detour tours were called Detourists and/or Dudes. They were met at the railroad stations by women dressed in Southwestern attire and accompanied by a cowboy-driven Harvey car.

Harvey Cars waiting for Detourist at the Lamy, New Mexico train station

The drivers of the Harvey cars were chosen for their mechanical skills and knowledge of a wide variety of emergency procedures.

Elmer Shelton—HarveyCar Driver

The female couriers were qualified by a college education, social background, character, personality, and knowledge of the Southwest. The ability to speak Spanish was a benefit. Their four-month crash course training included archaeology, Southwestern history, politics, sociology, anthropology, geology, and the arts.

Facts the Couriers may have shared with the Dudes.
> Santa Fe, at 7,000 ft. above sea level, is the nation's highest state capital.
> Santa Fe was founded in 1607—13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.
> Santa Fe was originally called La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis. The name was changed in 1910.
> You can see five different states (Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico) from the top of Capulin Volcano.
> Taos pueblo has been inhabited for over a thousand years.
> Dancing while wearing your sombrero is illegal.
> In 1898, Carlsbad Caverns was discovered by sixteen-year-old Jim White. In 2016, we know it is the second largest cave chamber in the world.
> The Yucca, now New Mexico's state flower, has a high level of utility, functioning as a material for baskets, ropes, and footwear.

Southwest Indian Detour Couriers

The original four Southwest Indian Detour Couriers

One of the brochures for the tours

Advertisement for the tours

Couriers and driver outside Detours headquarters in Santa Fe.

Southwest Indian Detour Courier Mary Tucker

Courier Service Brochure

Dudes ready for a Detour adventure

Brochure for Indian pueblos

Would you have signed up for a tour? Would you have been interested in becoming a Courier?

What travel sites are on your bucket list?

Blessings,

Linda "Lin" Farmer Harris

Turning Tidbits of History into Unforgettable Stories

Lin and her husband, Jerry, live on a ranch in Chimney Rock, Colorado. She writes historical fiction for adults and children. Her novella, The Lye Water Bride, is included in the California Gold Rush Romance Collection (Barbour Publishing, August 2016)

Sand Sculpting

by Linda Farmer Harris 

I guess we all have a bucket list—those things we want to do before old age intervenes and our bucket has a hole in it.

My family has always lived in the desert or the mountains, and I've never walked on an ocean beach. Maybe that's why I want to take my bucket to a wide, isolated stretch of clean sand and play.

Historians surmise that sand art may have been part of our creative expression since the Egyptians used sand models to outline the design of pyramids before actual construction began. It wasn't until the 16th century that the art was documented.

I have no sculpting talent. Thankfully, it runs in my husband's family. Niece Tracy Diane Harris Sugg is an internationally renowned sculptor with commissioned pieces in the US and Europe.

One of my favorites of Tracy's many bronze and clay pieces is an American Revolution heroine Margaret Corbin. Her husband, John, dead at her feet, she bravely took up his part of firing the cannon until gravely wounded she was taken prisoner. She is buried at West Point US Military Academy. Tracy creates models in accurate historical clothing and accompanying artifacts.

Margaret Corbin, American Revolution heroine — Tracy H. Sugg, Sculptor

Yes, I'd love to take her to the beach with me and my bucket. She does commission work. Hmm, I wonder...

Having no talent myself, what other options do I have? Well, I can go to the festivals and enjoy the artwork of others - 88 Incredible Sand Sculptures, and it is art and it is work! Take your time to savor these master pieces.

I could buy a sandcastle tool kit and learn to do it myself.

Sandcastles Made Simple—Lucinda "sandy feet" Wierenga

Notice that Ms. Wierenga's book title implies a promise that sandcastles are simple to build. She recommends South Padre Island, Texas—The Sandcastle Capital of the World. We lived in central Texas for 41 years and never went to South Padre Island—6 hours and 8 minutes away. Shameful!  

Tools of the trade are essential in any craft and sandcastles have their requirements. A basic kit will have pastry knives, a corded blow tube, a pointed trowel, a floozy (duster), and custom hand tools.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

That seems to be a lot of work for a sand creation that will be swept away by the rising tide, crushed under the rolling waves; even when it's an historic reproduction or for a romantic reasons.

Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley University, CA, 2005—Kirk Rademaker

Courtesy of Sandcastlecentral.com

In 1897, Philip McCord is recorded as the sculptor of a woman and baby in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Documentation came from the folks who paid him for his creations.

In the 1980, Todd Vander Pluym started Sand Sculptors International, based in Redondo Beach, California, and is considered the organization that set the standards for this art form.

Sandcastles have been moved indoors and used as business logo presentations for a new business, mall openings, birthday and wedding venues, theme parties, etc.

Alice in Wonderland took 6 weeks to complete

I could get a kit and learn to use the tools, or I can learn to hand-stack a sculpture.

Hand-stacked sculpture in the 2003 Hot Springs, British Columbia World Championship

Or, I can choose to use the "drip" method, which depends on very wet sand dripped on top of other wet sand to create towers of sand globs.

courtesy of whatstherumpus.blogspot.com

I know I'll never be a professional sand sculptor like Karen Fralich, or have my own "Sand Masters" TV show like the Sand Guys, but wouldn't it be fun to see if I could do more than dig my toes in the wet sand and wait for the waves to fill in my footprints?

courtesy of earthporm.com

Flea Circus [Image Credit: Evelyn Tan]

Africa [Image Credit: Sandstorm]

Have you ever tried building sand castles? Don't forget the floozy!

Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of California Gold Rush Romance Collection.

Barbour Publishing, August 2016

Blessings,

Linda "Lin" Farmer Harris
Turning Tidbits of History into Unforgettable Stories

Lin and her husband, Jerry, live on a hay and cattle ranch in Chimney Rock, Archuleta County, Colorado. Monsoon season makes for good mud, but not sandcastles. 

Her novella, The Lye Water Bride is included in The California Gold Rush Romance Collection (Barbour Publishing, August 2016, print and eBook).