Coming Soon - A Visit to Fort Laramie - Again

Seems like my blogging has slowed significantly since the weather started to cooperate with my summer activities.

Summer means getting more time out with my camera

      Speaking of summer activities, I see that next Saturday, June 17, is one of my favorite summer events, Fur Trade Day at Fort Laramie. Over the years I have spent much time in the study of the Mountain Man era and loved teaching that part of the growing west in my history classes. Fur Trade Day is one event that really fits my interest. Over the past few years, we have made them all and found the reenactors to be knowledgeable, friendly and willing to answer any and all questions. In case any readers are thinking about going it takes place from 9:30 – 5:00 on that day. (Saturday, June 17)

My wife trying out a trapper recliner

I am the not so Mountain Man-ish one at Fur Trae Day last year

    Must be my preparation because I am presently re-reading, Donald Clayton Porter’s classic novel, Fort Laramie. I read this one so many years ago that it reads like a new story to me.

    Because both of my western mysteries and several of my short stories include Fort Laramie, we visit four or five times each year, depending on visitors to our house, it can sometimes be more. 
Click anywhere on the above sentence for the link to my books.

The Ruts south of Guernsey Wyoming

    We enjoy living only 13 miles from the Fort and less than a mile from the most famous ruts of the Oregon Trail. Life is good when it is summer in Wyoming.

For Your Enjoument - Fort Laramie Trivia 
 Answers under the last photo

1.    What two rivers come together near Fort Laramie?

2.    Which well known and now well-preserved building at the fort served as Officer Quarters and as the Post Headquarters?

3.    Where did Fort Laramie get its unique to Wyoming name?

On the grounds of Fort Laramie - July 4, 2016

Answers

1.    North Platte and Laramie

2.    Old Bedlam – May now be the oldest building in Wyoming

3.    Jacques La Ramie sometimes spelled Ramee - I prefer Ramie

Wyoming Wildlife

Random Thoughts on a Windy Wyoming Day

Today in my little part of Wyoming we are experiencing warm weather, in the mid-fifties, and incredible wind. Weather app says winds are blowing 25-45 with gusts to 60. Good day to stay inside.

Bison - The two main species of Buffalo in the world reside in Africa. In America we have Bison, and lots of them, over a half million by recent count.  For some odd reason, in the past two years sportscasters have started to pronounce Bison when talking about the North Dakota State Bison as if it were – Bye -zzon, instead of the correct Bye-son. Drives me nuts, but since they keep doing it, I guess no one else either notices or cares. Hope I never read a novel with hunters or native tribes are off, hunting bizzon.

Pronghorn - In that same vain people in the west have referred to Pronghorn as Antelope for years. There are 91 species of Antelope but none in the western hemisphere. As for the Pronghorn there is only one, and in Wyoming, we have a varied population that now numbers around 400,000, it was as high as 600,000 plus, as recently as 2005, but drought and bad winters have moved the total lower. I hunted Pronghorn for years and enjoyed it, but now hunt only with my camera and they are a most interesting subject.

American Sagebrush Ecosystem – Looks like sagebrush is on the decline in the west. At first, this may look to not be a problem, but like all ecosystem’s destroying or greatly changing one will gradually change others, much more than at first believed.

Wyoming is also home to 50,000 or so, Mule Deer. We have a terrific population around here, even in town. They can be a menace, especially when they eat the blooms from my strawberries and tops from my tomatoes. They also love to take a bite from green tomatoes, sorry deer it’s not an apple, then spit it out. How many albino mule deer are there in the state? Well, that’s a good question. I have found researchers that say one in 500,000 others that say it could be much lower, one in 20,000. That means we, have two at any one time or one every ten years. Either way, it is exciting to see one. 

What About That Wyoming Wind

Not sure about you, but I am getting tired of all the wind. Where we live in the North Platte River Valley, we don’t get as much wind as most of the state, except, it seems, this time of year. So many days with gusts around the state at 60 or more mph, seems unusual even for Wyoming at this part of the year.

Where the Wind Really Blows - I did a bit of research to see how Wyoming compared to other states and, as expected, this is a windy state. Wyoming trails only South Dakota and Montana in average wind speed. I found it both funny and appropriate that the list has the District of Columbia at the top with a wind speed more than ten mph above than South Dakota. Imagine that, D.C. with all the politicians is the windiest place in the United States. (I do hope the people that compiled this list I used do know that The District of Columbia, is not a state).

That’s a Lot of Wind - Last year Casper had a wind gust that reached 103 mph in February, as much as a class 2 hurricane. So what is the windiest town in Wyoming? Good question, either Medicine Bow or Rawlins, depending on the source, and if you dig deep enough, other towns and cities will probably pop-up.

But all of Wyoming is not considered windy, Worland, Lander, Guernsey, and I am sure a few others will pop up as members of the least windy cities in the United States. How do these places qualify? With average wind speeds of around eight mph or less for the year. With the speeds at that level, cities are in the bottom 20% for the wind in the country.

Is it Spring Yet? - It has been warm enough to play golf if not for the snow and wind. Now the snow, because of the wind, has melted and I may head out to the golf course the next time the wind is not so bad. I know what you are thinking – “Well, good luck with that.”

That’s it, one very windy post, but I still do not want to live anywhere else.

Today’s photos from our drive west of town this morning – enjoy!

Snow and the Blizzard of 1887

Last night it was cold, really cold. When I got up this morning, I checked our indoor outdoor thermometer which read -20. The weather app on my phone said -25 with a wind chill of -41 now that is cold. We live in a nice valley where we don’t see such extreme temperatures as a norm but this year seems a bit different. Coming out of the Wyoming news this morning was the fact that Wyoming was reporting five of the ten coldest temperatures on earth last night. Sometimes the old, “We’re number one chant doesn’t feel all that good.

Under Our Feeder - Temperature Up to Zero at Noon

The winter of 1885-86 should have been an indication of what was to come with the great blizzard of 1887, but as people say in today’s world, “who knew?”

Fall and early winter in 85-86 were some of the most pleasant days, for that time of year, on record. Reminds me of last year when I played golf six or eight times in December. Hope that was not a harbinger of even worse things to come this winter.

In 1887, January 9^th Wyoming and a big area including most of the states around were hit with the great blizzard. Snow fell at the rate of nearly an inch and hour for 16-20 hours and temperatures plunged as low as -46. The temperatures stayed bitterly cold for ten days when the snow came again.

The rest is history, starved cattle, snowed in towns and ranches, starving people. Ranchers lost from a third to all of their herds. In all, an estimated five million cattle died. That winter changed the way American ranchers would operate forever. 

Wyoming Day and Books For Sale

Looks to me like I missed the only specific Wyoming Holiday – Wyoming Day, which is celebrated each year on December 10.  On that date in 1869 Territorial Governor John Campbell signed the bill that granted women the right to vote. The new law made Wyoming the first to allow the vote and the ability to legally hold elected office to women.

The bill originated because legislators believed the idea of women suffrage would be good publicity for the territory and might bring more single women to the state.

By Wyoming Statute, Wyoming Day, is supposed to be observed in schools and by other groups around the state each year. I am afraid that practice has long since fallen by the wayside. Too bad, this was a most significant step in American rights.

So How Cold Was It? - Seems like this time of year I normally post something about the weather and how tough the cold was on early settlers. I suppose that will be coming soon, but for now, I will only say, “I cannot imagine how early trappers could survive the cold like we had last week with temperatures plunging to double digits below zero.” BURR!

Thank You, Readers - Many thanks to all of the readers that have pushed my latest Wyoming novel, Ghost of the Fawn, up to number 30 in its category in softcover and number 91 in its eBook category.

If you have not given it a look yet, you can read a free sample here. The book was originally written for teenage readers, but it has found a terrific audience with adults. Thanks!

Meanwhile stay warm and keep reading and watching Christmas movies, we watch one nearly every evening. Christmas movies may be mostly sappy, but we need them, we need the feel good and warmth of the stories. I hope they keep them coming for many years to come.

A Nice Christmas Gift – Speaking of Christmas stories, here is the link to my book, from last year, of Christmas stories, you can read the entire first story for free, enjoy. UnderWestern Skies – 14 Tales of Christmas.

*All photos were taken on our Sunday trip to Laramie, Laramie City, in the old days, 100 miles away.

John Jakes Short Stories

Fall in the Mountains

I just finished, last evening, reading John Jakes book of short stories, The Bold Frontier. This collection covered much of Mr. Jakes writing career, stores from as far back as the 1950s. I especially enjoyed the first story in the book, The Western and How We Got It. That story gives a background of where and how the western genre started. Other than that, the stories run the gamut from traditional to a bit quirky.

Not everyone that reads westerns is a Jakes fan, but after reading all the books of his Kent Family Chronicles, many years ago, I then read his North and South Trilogy which included North and South, Love and War and Heaven and Hell. Guess that makes me a pretty big fan.

Oh, one last note, the 84-year-old Jakes is still alive and well, the Chicago native now lives in Flordia.

Seems like I am not getting much writing done lately. Might be I am enjoying the great fall weather a bit too much. The photos on today's post came from our ride out west of town this morning. We covered 85 miles enjoying the wildlife and fall colors along the way.

Keep on reading and keep on writing. 

Nice Black Bear, but lots of timber between him and us - probably a good thing.

Photos From Around Here

Thought I might post a few of my favorite photos from the last three month's. Actually to lazy and too hot to attempt to write anything. All photos are from my Eastern Wyoming neck of the woods.

Remains of ancient man

Lots of Pelicans

Cow Moose

The Horns are bigger and no velvet by now

A Goose out for a walk?

Osprey's are pretty cool looking

Monarch of the plains for more than a 1,000 years

Nice view

Hello

Think I will walk the other direction

Part of Rocky Mountain National Park horse and mule herd at Fort Laramie

These guys are fast - really fast

Still Wild In Wyoming

They saw me, shortly after, okay, probably before I found them. This one is checking to make sure no more crazy with a camera was nearby.

And off they go - laughing

Also found a couple of cow moose lounging along a nice mountain stream.

Tough For Tough Winters

Ever year about this time, I have the same thoughts. How did early people survive the winter? Putting up food and laying in fire wood was a must. If someone fell short in either of these areas it was sure death.

Living in Wyoming, where we have four seasons, winter always comes. Some winters are better than others but they always come, and no matter how mild, in the old days, there was always a starving time.

I was able to take several nice walks in December and as I walked I tried to observe what wildlife was still about. Then I looked for anything else, anything edible, and there isn't much.

Native People, Mountain men, early settlers, those were some tough people. A breed we will not see again.

In a society where a new video game is a great new adventure and a new pizza crust excites a segment of the citizens, we have lost touch with what it takes to be tough and along with it, maybe great.

Cold - both physically and metaphorically 

These old time people survived and thrived in hostel winters and against dangers and hardships that today we may not be able to imagine. Only wish I could be so tough.

A Few Ducks Find Open Water