A History Presentation by Author Joyce B. Lohse: “Mining for the Real Baby Doe Tabor” at Historic Tattered Cover LoDo Bookstore 1628 16th St. at Wynkoop in Denver Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. A legendary pioneer woman, Baby Doe Tabor, provided us with one of the greatest rags-to-riches-to-rags stories in America’s western history. Award-winning biographer Joyce B. Lohse has written her biography set in Colorado’s days of boom and bust. The story appeals…
Publication date of my latest book, Baby Doe Tabor: Matchless Silver Queen, is fast approaching. As we struggle through final edits in an attempt to provide the most interesting and correct factual information possible, I am enjoying revisiting Colorado’s mining history as I have throughout the process. Just as I learned about railroads and their impact on our country’s western expansion during my work on General William Palmer: Railroad Pioneer, I have experienced a similar…
My spring calendar has two dates related to Mrs. J.J. “Margaret” Brown, the inspiration of this Unsinkable blog site. One event will be a Women’s History gathering at the Molly Brown House Museum 5:30-7:30 on Wednesday, March 23. The other will be my presentation, “Red Hot Activism: Molly Brown Style” at the Aurora History Museum, during their lunchtime gathering on Wednesday, February 16. I’m looking forward to both, and am happy to revisit this interesting…
It always happens sooner or later. The subject eventually returns to food and cooking. It is especially appropriate now with the Thanksgiving holiday looming. As you think about these types of cooking, consider the experience of roasting a turkey using either method. A trip to the Wheat Ridge Historical Museum was instructive. Their restored sod house offers two styles of cooking in close proximity. At the hearth is the traditional style used by pioneers. They…
Nothing beats a road trip from Colorado to Arizona to get in touch with the Old West. Once again, Women Writing the West outdid themselves by producing the best conference experience ever near Wickenburg, Arizona. We took advantage of the destination by taking to the highway to get there, via the Grand Canyon. As if the stupendous beauty of the Grand Canyon was not enough to feed our spirits, there was plenty of western culture…
Sometimes it is easy to become complacent and forget about the rich history in our own backyards. A walk on a sunny Saturday morning in Denver led us to Civic Center Park, where we stepped into the recently restored Greek Theater in the South Pavilion to enjoy a historic scene called “The Trapper”, a 1920 Allen True mural. Allen True was a local artist and illustrator who provided the city with public art, which we…
Every year, I look forward to taking a fall daytrip when the aspen leaves are at their peek of goldness in the high country. This year, we found splendid scenery by driving over 11,000+ foot Boreas Pass, from Como in Colorado’s South Park, over the Continental Divide, into Breckenridge. You might say we “crossed over the Great Divide” (a common western expression for dying), and lived to tell about it! The Boreas Pass road follows…
I love fall. When the morning air gets crispy, it is time to take a drive along Federal Blvd. in Denver, with the car windows open, to smell the aroma of roasting chiles. As if by magic, stands spring up along this busy city thoroughfare. A tent in a parking lot marks the spot where one can stop and buy produce from New Mexico. Before your eyes, Hatch chiles are thrown into a cylindrical cage,…
We are fortunate in Colorado to enjoy the most beautiful scenery in the world. No matter how much you travel throughout the state, there are still surprises left to discover. This was the case this past weekend. On a jaunt to the West Slope, we were running early and decided to take a side trip to Grand Mesa. Although we had been there many years ago, we had approached from the south. Lured by a…
Filter Press hosted a fabulous garden party last weekend to launch author Patricia Werner’s book, The Walls Talk: Historic House Museums of Colorado. The circumstances were unusual. A fine author and researcher, and a member of Women Writing the West, Pat passed away a couple of years ago following her struggle with cancer. Filter Press fulfilled their agreement to publish Pat’s book, which she struggled to finish during her final days. Much work was then…