More Yellowstone Savages

James Perry cuts loose in his memoir of twenty-five years as a concession employee in Yellowstone National Park. Although his outlook is often jaded and sometimes sarcastic, his viewpoint is honest as he withholds very little in describing life in the nation’s oldest and largest national park. My outlook in A Yellowstone Savage: Life In Nature’s Wonderland is decidedly more optimistic, as he readily points out with a funny jab about the potential for singing…

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2014 Women Writing the West Conference

Mid-October marked the culmination of a year and a half of planning for Women Writing the West’s 20th Anniversary Annual Conference in Golden, Colorado. The result of work by Colorado’s WWW Conference Planning Committee to plan the event spread among several venues was a huge success. The City of Golden was a perfect fit for our group. A synopsis of highlights will give those with a passion for the craft of writing an idea of…

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Happy Birthday, Baby Doe Tabor … or is it??

When I began my research on Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt Doe Tabor, aka Baby Doe Tabor, I soon discovered that searching for her birthdate might be problematic. The first date I saw tossed around was October 7, 1854. It was hard to pin down, and often overlooked or unmentioned in accounts of her family and childhood. It turns out that was the date of Elizabeth’s, or Lizzie’s as she was known to her family, christening. The…

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A Yellowstone Christmas

An excerpt chapter fromA Yellowstone Savageby Joyce B. Lohse Chapter 24: A Christmas Tradition Many years before our year in Yellowstone, a tradition to celebrate Christmas in August began. A big party was planned, a tree was decorated, and a Christmas feast was cooked and served. According to legend, the people who organized the celebration were snowbound at Old Faithful Inn, but the story was never documented. From about 1950 on, August 25 became Christmas…

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Burro Races in Colorado

In 1949, the first burro race took place from Leadville to Fairplay over 13,185 ft. Mosquito Pass. In these races, prospectors or recreational runners lead the burros, which carry a cargo pack on their backs. It takes patience and a genuine rapport for runner and pack animal to maintain a steady pace and avoid stubborn altercations. In the mid-1960s, the race was broken up into two races. During Boom Days, the first weekend in August,…

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A Biographer On Reading Biographies

As an author of award-winning biographies, I take my craft seriously, and I am fairly critical when I read those written by other people. I recently read three totally different biographies. These particular subjects may or may not appeal to you for summer reading, but you can apply the same principles when choosing subjects of your choice and selecting your biographies this summer. These books all receive my biographer’s nod for excellence. Cecil Smith: Mr.…

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Same Road, Different Day

Writing feels all-consuming at times. When I have been pushing hard on a historical biography, a change of scenery can jolt my brain like a bolt of lightning. Once again, I found myself on the highway near Meeker when we encountered an unlikely greeting committee. Traffic came to a halt as literally hundreds of sheep surrounded the automobiles. The herd extended beyond our vision. I rolled down my window to enjoy the sounds of plantive…

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Elusive Historical Markers

Meeker Massacre Historical Marker How many times have you passed a historical marker, thinking that you would stop to see it “next time”, only next time never comes? As we were driving through the Rio Blanco, or White River Valley in Colorado last week for the umpteenth time, my hubby surprised me by stopping at the historical marker. I always wondered where the Meeker Massacre took place, and whether this marker might enlighten me. It…

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Galvanized Yankees

  One of the true pleasures of longtime membership in the Columbine Genealogical and Historical Society in Littleton, or a group like it, is that we learn so much from attending programs and sharing information with other members of the group. This was especially true recently during a presentation about Galvanized Yankees in the Civil War, presented by Karen Hancock. Her message for our group related to genealogy research. If we had such a person…

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In With the New

I enjoy the arrival of the New Year. It is an inspiring time of optimism with an empty calendar waiting to be filled with interesting new adventures and quests for historic tidbits and treasures. To celebrate the arrival of 2014, I ordered a banner to use at upcoming events. During the last weekend of July, I will be promoting books and talking history, along with South Park Perils author Christie Wright, at Burro Days in…

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