THE MYSTERY OF TYCOON, WILLIAM RALSTON'S DEATH by Sarah J. McNeal #TheWildingsSeries

 

William Chapman Ralston, Tycoon

One of the first men to build a major financial empire in the Far West, Ralston was born in Ohio in 1826. In 1854, he immigrated to the booming town of San Francisco, a once sleepy Spanish missionary village that had become the center of the California Gold Rush five years earlier. There he became a partner in a steamship company, and 10 years later he used his profits to organize the Bank of California.

The Bank Established by William Ralston

Ralston’s bank quickly became one of the most important financial institutions in the West. Starved for capital, western businessmen were happy to deal with a reliable bank in their own region instead of the New York and Boston banks. Ralston committed his own funds as well as those of the bank to a wide array of western businesses. Many were unexciting but essential enterprises like water companies. Ralston also had an adventurous side, though, and used his money to support lavish hotels and theaters in San Francisco as well as the hugely profitable Comstock Lode silver mine in Nevada.

William Ralston's "Summer Home" In Belmont, CA Where His Wife And Children Lived Year Round

The always-treacherous world of mining, however, eventually proved to be Ralston’s undoing. Having made millions in the Comstock Lode, Ralston gambled on several silver mines that proved busts. News of the failed mining investments sparked a run on the bank, forcing the bank to close its doors on August 26, 1875.

The next day, a somber board of directors asked for and received Ralston’s resignation as bank president. A few hours later, after Ralston had gone for his usual morning swim in San Francisco Bay, his body was discovered. Whether Ralston had accidentally drowned or deliberately killed himself remains a mystery.

In Recent Culture

Ralston was portrayed by Ronald W. Reagan in a 1965 episode of Death Valley Days, "Raid on the San Francisco Mint." The episode dramatizes an 1869 event in which Ralston gets the head of the mint drunk in order to persuade him to authorize an exchange of bullion for coins. Vaughn Taylor was cast as financier and adventurer Asbury Harpending.

*Images from PeoplePill and Wikipedia

THE WILDINGS: A Family (Boxed Set only 99 cents)

Prairie Rose Publications

BY SARAH MCNEAL

Buy Link: THE WILDINGS

THE WILDINGS is a wonderful collection of western romance stories that follow the Wilding family through generations of love and loss, joy and sorrow, and wins and losses in life. Get lost in this exciting boxed set of full-length books and novellas that trace the adventures of the descendants of the Wilding family. From the lawless old west days of the early 1900’s in ruthless Hazard, Wyoming, through the generations forward, the action, romance, and suspense is nonstop.

Follow the saga of the Wilding family from the early days that begin with a haunted house, a trunk, and a date with destiny in Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant Bride. Can Joe and Lola’s unlikely romance last? Next, the dangers of World War 1 in For Love of Banjo, and a Prohibition-era kidnapping with Fly Away Heart will have you on the edge of your seat. Hollow Heart is a post WWII short story with a surprise twist, and The Beast of Hazard will touch you with its romance between a veterinarian and a beautiful circus performer facing danger. In Unexpected Blessings, a couple overcomes a seemingly insurmountable problem, and in Home For the Heart, a determined young woman must find a way into a confirmed bachelor’s heart. A conversation at a wedding spoils everything in It’s Only Make Believe, and in I Dream of You, a recurring dream, a kiss, and deadly secrets could unlock not only love but a very dangerous outcome for everyone. Three Christmas novellas, A Husband for Christmas, When Love Comes Knocking, and A Christmas Visitor are also included to round out the series and bring it to a very satisfying conclusion.

 

This wonderful collection will keep you entertained with richly-woven stories filled with real-life excitement, danger, and love from the heart of romance author Sarah J. McNeal. THE WILDINGS will enthrall you and keep you turning pages as you follow the multi-faceted characters and the stories of their lives! Don’t miss it!

 

Sarah J. McNeal

Author of Heartwarming Stories

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The Imperial Russian Samovar

Back in the winter of 1979, I was fortunate to visit the Soviet Union with a group of students from my university. It was a fabulous trip – even though the KGB sent at least two “guides” with us to every city. While in Leningrad (now back to being called St. Petersburg) we explored the Rominov’s Winter Palace. This almost obscenely opulent palace, which is now home of the Hermitage Museum, boasted of marble, mirrors, ceramics, artwork and more gold guilt than a European cathedral.

I remember being fascinated with the Russian samovar. Those in the Palace were ornate and, in some cases, enormous. But nearly every home had one. Brass, silver, ceramic, plain or highly decorated, they all served the same purpose: to keep hot beverages hot or cold ones cold.

The samovar has been around since the Romans used it to heat water to dilute their wine. In
Russia, they boiled water for tea.

The samovar is a large urn-like body with a space around or under the water tank into which hot coals or bits of wood were placed. The heat from the burning material would boil the water. The early Roman models, called an “autepsa”, had the body divided into two parts with a tank for water above and another tank for burning charcoal below. Later models had a single tank for water with a compartment down the center for the hot coals.

The Russian samovar had a spigot for dispensing the hot water. A concentrated tea “syrup” was made and kept warm by placing the tea pot on top of the tank. When you wanted a cup of tea, you measured some of the concentrated tea into a cup and added hot water.

And, if you needed refreshment during the hot summer months, ice was placed into the compartment to chill the water in the samovar.

The samovar can still be bought. The Russian town of Tula has become synonymous with the samovar because it is where all the craftsmen live and work. The samovar comes in all shapes and sizes, simple brass or silver, to works of ceramic and metal-working art.

Thank you for stopping by!

Tracy Garrett
www.facebook.com/Author_TracyGarrett

 

The Characters Behind the Characters - The Gentleman Thieves

The Characters Behind the Characters - The Gentleman Thieves   

C. A. Asbrey

It’s no secret that The Innocents Mysteries Series is partially inspired by the story, and the movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The idea of popular outlaws, who planned and trained to be better at stealing, and who had a mystique which followed them into a charismatic twilight of a mythical new life which allowed at least one of them to life happily-ever-after in domestic obscurity is an enticing trope. It seemed even more exciting to make the love interest a woman on the other side of the law.

But it also took me on another line of research. My characters were criminals, but who had limits as to their cruelty and venality. But did people like that really exist, or was it just a romantic fiction? Without dwelling too much on the story of Robert LeRoy Parker and Harry Longabough, and whether or not either of them did manage to go straight and live happily ever after, what about the rest of the criminal world?

My Innocents Mysteries series of books feature criminals who, while not being exactly squeaky-clean, are polite(ish), humane, and even chivalrous. So, did people like that actually exist or is the concept ridiculous?  

Charles Arthur Floyd

Let’s start with those who were definitely out for themselves, but who didn’t mind helping out the little fella while he was there. Charles Arthur Floyd, A.K.A. Pretty Boy Floyd hated his nickname.  A payroll master at a robbery described Floyd as “a mere boy — a pretty boy with apple cheeks.” Like his contemporary Baby Face Nelson, Floyd despised his nickname. His dying words, after being shot multiple times were in response to being asked if he was Pretty Boy Floyd replied, “I’m Charles Arthur Floyd.” Despite  an active criminal career he was often protected by locals in Oklahoma, where he was seen as the “Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills”. He had a reputation of helping to look after the grindingly poor by raiding shops to give away the food to starving people. He was also said to destroy mortgage records when he raided banks, although how the householder was supposed to know the bank no longer had proof of their mortgage debt is not clear.

Due to the violence of the men he worked with it’s hard to put Charles Arthur Floyd in the category of Gentleman Thief, but he does nod towards the dichotomy under discussion.

James Freney

Our next Gentleman thief actually lived to a relatively old age (69) for the 18th century and certainly seems to be a better fit for the model. James Freney was an Irish highwayman in the 18th century. He was driven to a life of crime when the bar he ran made insufficient profits to pay the exorbitant fees charged by the city corporation. He was officially proclaimed an outlaw in 1748. At the time, Ireland was suffering under England’s Penal Laws, which kept the Irish out of many  professions. This repression drove Freney to close down his pub and saddled him with so many taxes that he had little choice but to look outside the law to make ends meet. He lived to his otto, “Rob only those who are worth robbing.”

Like every true gentleman criminal, Freney insisted his gangs adhere to a code of honor, which included remaining courteous, returning goods if they held sentimental value or the victim needed them, and assisting the poor whenever possible. Even so, he was a first-class marksman and never feared getting into a brawl if someone crossed him.

He reigned supreme in his area for five years before he was captured. Freney work out a deal with the chief justices in which Freney would be allowed to emigrate as they feared civil unrest of such a hero was hanged. His gang were not so lucky and ended their lives on the gallows.  He published his autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Mr James Freney in 1754. It was a huge success and Thackeray included Freney in the novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, where he has Barry encounter Freney on the highway. The incident appears also in the film Barry Lyndon (in the film, Barry refers to the man about to rob him as “Feeney”). Local landmarks named after him include Freney’s Rock and Freney’s Well, and he was the hero of The Ballad of the Bold Captain.

Bill Carlisle

Our next candidate  for Gentleman Thief was one of the last great train robbers of the American Old West, a career he took up on something of a whim. An orphan, he drifted from one job to another, riding trains, working in the circus, and performing other odd jobs. In February 1916, he found himself in Wyoming with no prospects, only a nickel to his name, and a gun. Carlisle’s first holdup was a dime novel stereotype. He sneaked onto the train and fired a warning shot into the roof to prove it was a legitimate robbery (there were some doubters). He covered his face with a white bandana, gathered the loot, but tossed a few coins to the porter to make up for lost tips. He gave another man a silver dollar to pay for his breakfast. A woman tried to grab his gun, but he evaded her and gave her a bow before leaping from the train. The “White Masked Bandit” was now $52 richer. and he didn’t stop there.. He robbed Union Pacific Railroad several more times until they eventually offered a $6,500 reward for his capture, dead or alive. That’s $150,030.73 today. Motivated by the large reward money, a posse caught him in May 1916, and Carlisle was sentenced to life in prison. He later escaped, was recaptured, and then was paroled in 1936 for good behavior.Like other gentleman thieves, Carlisle had a moral code. As he never hurt anyone and never stole from women, children, or servicemen, I think he is a good candidate for the title. In one of his capers, he was attempting to rob a train when he realized it was full of soldiers returning from World War I. He let the men keep their money and claimed that he would have fought alongside them had he not been in prison at the time.

Bill Miner

Bill Miner epitomized what it meant to be an Old West outlaw and he had a longer career than Jesse James. This was mostly because he was terrible a evading capture and spent most of his career in jail. He was imprisoned seven times, escaped four of those times, yet still spent a total of 35 years behind bars. His criminal career stretched between 1865 and 1911. He was a true highwayman, robbing everything from stagecoaches to trains, and he spent his money on women and whiskey – and as the old saying goes, wasted the rest. He was reputed to be the first to say “put your hands up, and nobody gets hurt.”  Unlike other outlaws, he wasn’t known for spittin’ or cussin’ or gun-slinging. He was polite and soft-spoken. After his death, a major newspaper ran a four-column story on Miner, describing him as a “kindly, lovable old man, whose thoughts were humorous, whose manner was that of one who was a friend to all humankind . . . the most courtly, the most kindly spoken, the most venerable man . . . one whom they all regard with affection and something of esteem.” Miner had secured that soft spot in so many people’s hearts by stealing almost entirely from corporations, feeling that they robbed the common man. Many agreed, and he became a folk hero in both the US and Canada. On the occasions when Miner had to steal from an ordinary person to, say, facilitate his way out of town, he often made a point to return at least part of what he had taken. For instance, on one occasion, he stole $80 from a ranch hand and then later returned $10. In another instance, he robbed a driver of $5, his watch, and boots, yet was considerate enough to return the watch and boots after he finished with them. These types of thoughtful acts earned him the nickname “the Gentleman Bandit.”

Charles Earl Boles  (Black Bart)

 Black Bart was one of the first Gentlemen Thieves I came across and I admit to a sneaking affection for him, and for the fact that he later disappeared and nobody knows what happened to him. After the Civil War, Charles Boles was a former First Sergeant in the Union Army, and was happily making a living as a gold miner when he was forced off his land by Wells Fargo. They had apparently offered to buy Boles’s property they cut off the water supply when he refused. This shut down his mine. Boles was infuriated and cryptically wrote a letter to his wife saying he was going to take revenge against the bank. While he never explained the specifics of his vengeance, we can assume this is when his alter ego, Black Bart, was born.

From then, Black Bart had it out for the bank and subsequently robbed their stagecoaches 28 times. He was civil, never physically harmed anyone, and stole strictly from Wells Fargo and never from passengers. Even the bank described him as being non-vicious and “polite to all passengers, especially to ladies.” Amazingly, he traveled on foot to and from robberies and carried a shotgun so old that it couldn’t shoot (he didn’t even bother loading it). Although he always worked alone, he would often prop up sticks on nearby boulders to make it look like he had a posse of men standing by.Occasionally, he was thoughtful enough to leave poems behind—Wells Fargo was not amused. His last poem read: Here I lay me down to sleep
To await the coming morrow
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat
And everlasting sorrow
Let come what will, I’ll try it on
My condition can’t be worse
And if there’s money in that box
‘Tis munny in my purse.
Black Bart’s unique style and sophistication made him a hero in California (except to Wells Fargo), and it took over a decade before he was finally tracked down by Pinkerton Detectives. He went to San Quentin Prison for four years and was released early, in 1888, for good behavior. He disappeared shortly after and was never seen again. I like to think he went off quietly somewhere with a stash of cash to enjoy a happy retirement.

Excerpt

“She hasn’t got the combination to the safe,” said the manager. “You can scare her as much as you want. We all know you’re not gonna use that gun on us.”

Rebecca’s breath halted as she felt a careless arm drape around her shoulder.

“I don’t need a gun to hurt someone. Give us the combination.” The manager remained mute and turned his face away. “Your call, sir.” He pulled Rebecca around to face him as she gasped in alarm. “Just remember who you’ve got to thank for this, ma’am.”

He pointed over at the manager, who refused to meet her eyes. “That man right there.”

“Anything that happens to her is down to you. Not me,” said the manager.

Rebecca felt herself dragged from the room by one arm. She was pulled into the office next door and pushed against the wall. The man walked over and pulled down the blind before returning to her. Her breath came in ragged pants of fear. “Please, no. Don’t.”

He leaned on the wall, a hand on either side of her head, and pressed his face close. “You were gonna hold this place up. Are you some kind of idiot?”

She blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

The man pulled down his mask, revealing the face of the fair man who had walked into her office looking for Fernsby. “Don’t lie to me, honey. You had the same idea as we did— look at Meagher’s bank account to see where he gets his money. We’ve watched you march up and down outside this place all day, like you were on sentry duty, while you built up your courage. You even got in the way of us doin’ it. What the hell is goin’ on in your head? How dumb can a woman get?”

“You? Here?” She couldn’t quite decide whether to stop being scared or not.

“Yeah. Me.” He indicated with his head. “Now, Nat’s in there, and he needs the combination of the safe. It’s too new and sophisticated for him to crack the combination. You and me need to put on a bit of a show to make sure the manager gives it up.”

“You’re not robbing the bank?”

Jake huffed in irritation. “Try to keep up, Becky. I need you to scream for help so the manager gives Nat the combination to the vault. We want Meagher’s records too.”

She shook her head. “Me? I can’t scream.”

“What do you mean you can’t scream? All women can scream.”

“I can’t. I’m just not made that way.”

He frowned. “Look, Becky. If you won’t scream, I’m gonna have to make you. Let’s do this the easy way, huh?”

“Please, help! Noooo.”

Jake frowned. “You call that screamin’? That’s useless.”

“I told you. I can’t.”

Jake flicked up an eyebrow. “Last chance, Becky.”

“Aaargh—”

“Nope.” A gloved hand reached up to her hat as his eyes glittered with mischief. “Don’t say you weren’t warned, sweetheart.” 

     

     

New Release -- Knight of the Red Rose: The Rose and the Sword by Cynthia Breeding

French emissary Stephen Picard arrives a day early in London to attend King Edward’s masquerade ball in order to get a feel for how much support there would be to restore the Lancasterian King Henry to the throne.  Although he is on an official mission from King Louis to work on a treaty with England, secretly he’s on a double mission for his aunt, Margaret of Anjou, wife of the imprisoned King Henry.  He just doesn’t expect to meet a warrior maiden dressed as Boudicca—a Celtic queen even more formidable than his aunt— at the ball.

Luciana Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk and one of the Queen’s personal attendants, spots the handsome, mysterious man dressed as a pirate immediately, and wonders who he is.  She recognizes him instantly the next morning when he is introduced to the English Court, and when asked, she is more than happy to act as the official scribe to the treaty talks.

Only, she isn’t just a scribe.  She’s also been asked to spy on the emissary to make sure he does not secretly support Queen Margaret, who is in exile in France.

But spying becomes more difficult as she and Stephen are more and more attracted to each other, and she is torn between her duty to her York king and her love of a Lancaster knight.  Can there be a future for Luciana and her KNIGHT OF THE RED ROSE? 

Excerpt

 Her eyes scanned the hall once again and then flicked back to the entrance to the man who’d just entered. Even at this distance, she could feel the power he exuded. He was dressed as a pirate with a cocked hat and a wicked-looking, curved scimitar at his side, although he wore a black mask instead of an eye patch. Tight-fitting breeches clung to muscular thighs and a white linen shirt whose laces were loose exposed a broad, masculine chest. Rolled-up sleeves revealed equally impressive forearms. Everywhere she looked, his skin was sun-bronzed, and she wondered if he really was a pirate. Certainly, the raven-black hair that flowed to his shoulders added to the look. A rather dangerous look. She was sure she’d never seen him at Court.

Who was he?

As if he’d somehow fathomed her thoughts, the pirate turned his head and met her gaze. An odd tingle slid down her spine. She couldn’t tell what color his eyes were with the mask in place, but she had the feeling that the stare was both penetrating and bold before he turned abruptly and was lost in the crowd coming in.

Luciana blinked. Time had seemed suspended, but of course, it wasn’t. The harpist was still strumming the same melody. Where had her—the—pirate gone?

     

COCOA POWDER & CHOCOLATE CAKE

When researching for my latest work in progress, I started wondering if my 1870s heroine would bake a chocolate cake for that church social she was planning to attend. Since cocoa manufacturing was being done in the American colonies by 1765 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, she just might have.

Cocoa is the chocolate powder made by pressing most of the cocoa butter from ground and roasted beans, leaving behind powder and cocoa butter. In 1847, Fry and Sons, an English company, combined cocoa butter with chocolate liquor and sugar to produce what we know today as chocolate.

In 1876, Daniel Peter of Switzerland added dried milk to make milk chocolate. Milton Hershey, after seeing the German’s chocolate processing machinery at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, started his own chocolate company. And the rest is history.

February 14 -- Valentine's Day

February 14 is Valentine’s Day, the holiday when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts. Are you ready to tell your sweetie just how you feel?

As is the case with many of our holidays, this one has origins in an ancient festival. Valentine’s day comes from the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February, which celebrated the coming of spring and included fertility rites and the pairing of women and men.

The day is also known as St. Valentine’s Day. Legend surrounds the identity of the original Valentine. Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day may have taken its name from a priest who signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and, by some accounts, healed from blindness. Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the orders of Emperor Claudius II and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war and that it is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.

 

Formal messages, or valentines, appeared in the 1500s, and by the late 1700s commercially printed cards were being used. The first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid-1800s. With the introduction of penny postage and envelopes in England in 1840, the exchange of valentines increased, and the use of lace paper, delicately ornamented, became popular.

In the U.S., woodcut valentines were produced by Robert H. Elton and Thomas W. Strong of New York, but soon gave way to the lace paper delicacies imported from England. Less expensive creations by Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, first appeared in 1850.

Hallmark Corporation was started by brothers Joyce Clyde (J.C.) and Rollie Hall in 1910, when they sold postcards door to door in Norfolk, Nebraska, where they lived. At age 18, JC moved to Kansas City, Missouri, with two card-filled shoeboxes.  He traveled by train and peddled his postcards in the surrounding small towns, until he was able to open up a storefront in downtown Kansas City with Rollie.

The Hall brothers were the first to put greeting cards in envelopes in 1915, which they felt was more discreet. With the start of World War 1, their greeting card business took off, as servicemen and their families looked to stay in closer contact. The brothers are also credited with the invention of decorative wrapping paper in 1917—when they ran out of plain paper—as well as the card display racks you still see in every store today.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tracy

New Release — A Dangerous Liberty (Women of Destiny) by Mary Sheeran

World-renowned composer and pianist Elisabeth Winters returns to the United States from Europe only to discover her life is in terrible danger. Though she wants nothing but to perform her concerts, she finds herself embroiled in layers of political and personal turmoil that have intertwined through the years she’s been abroad. The stakes are high—her life is in certain jeopardy.

When she meets handsome William de la Cuesta under odd circumstances, she can’t deny her immediate feelings of trust. Yet, there is something that disturbs her about him, as well…a memory she can’t quite grasp. How can she trust someone she doesn’t know—someone like de la Cuesta, who could have everything to gain by her murder? Does she have a choice?

As Elisabeth invokes controversy on many levels, her world becomes even more chaotic with the treachery she discovers taking place in her own inner circle. As the daughter of a prominent senator who was murdered many years before, she takes up the causes he fought and died for—and discovers those powerful men who killed him are now out for her blood, as well.

In a post-Civil War America, can one woman fight to vanquish the same injustice her father battled? Elisabeth believes she can—for love of family, country, and William de la Cuesta—the love of her life— taking the risk of A DANGEROUS LIBERTY is worth everything!

EXCERPT

     “Is this your night shirt, señor?” she asked.

     His smile narrowed, he cocked his head, and he reached up one long arm so that his hand could grab the back of his own neck. He looked sheepish.

     “My good clean one,” he said, looking back at her and grinning.

     She saw her clothes then, hanging over wooden chair backs near the fire. Her blue velvet riding habit was probably ruined, but her petticoats, stockings, and drawers would survive. How good of him to take care of her things.

     He had gone from sheepish to embarrassed, but when he looked up through tousled locks like a bad boy caught with a firecracker, his eyes gleamed with some amusement.

     “Señor,” she said, gravely, “did you undress me?”

     He shrugged. “Someone had to. You were soaked.”

     She regarded him for a moment, trying to guess what he was thinking. She wondered what she was thinking! Did she mind that this very handsome man had undressed her and rubbed her down without her even being conscious? She looked at his huge hands, placed palms down on his muscular legs.

     She mustered a nervous smile and stuck her hand out of the covers.

     “Señor, thank you for saving my life,” she said sweetly. “I am Elisabeth Winters.”

     

LET'S GO RIDE A FERRIS WHEEL

I must admit, my very favorite ride at any fair or carnival is the Ferris wheel.  I love being “up” – someday I’ll tell the story of my 2-year-old self climbing to the top of the refrigerator.  I actually took up snow skiing just so I could ride the gondolas and see the view from the top of the mountains.

I adored the giddy feeling of swooping away from the ground, rocking a little with each stop as the cars were loaded, then going around and around…  Just seeing a Ferris wheel now brings back fond memories of our hometown fair and being “stuck” at the top and able to see forever.

The Ferris wheel, named for George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., seems to have its origins in a 17^th century “pleasure wheel,” on which passengers rode in chairs suspended from large wooden rings turned by several strong men.  These wheels or swings were in operation as long ago as 1615 in Constantinople. Pietro Della Valle, a Roman traveller who attended a Ramadan festival in Constantinople, described a Great Wheel which swept him upwards and downwards with some enjoyable speed.

 

A Frenchman, Antonio Manguino, brought the wooden pleasure wheel to America in 1848 to attract visitors to his fair in Walton Spring, Georgia.

In 1892, William Somers installed three fifty-foot wooden wheels at Asbury Park and Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Coney Island, New York. The following year he was granted the first U.S. patent for a "Roundabout." Ferris rode on Somers' wheel in Atlantic City prior to designing his wheel for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. [It should be noted that Ferris’ design was so similar that Somers filed a lawsuit for patent infringement. Ferris and his lawyers successfully argued that the Ferris Wheel and its technology differed greatly from Somers' wheel, and the case was dismissed.]

 

The original “Chicago Ferris Wheel” stood 264 feet high. The wheel on this behemoth rotated on a 71-ton, 45.5-foot axle, with two 16-foot-diameter cast-iron spiders weighing another 26 tons. There were 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people, giving a total capacity of 2,160 at a time (that’s another 2+ tons). The wheel took twenty minutes to complete two revolutions and carried 38,000 passengers daily at 50 cents each.

After the Exposition, the wheel was rebuilt on Chicago's North Side, near Lincoln Park, next to an exclusive neighborhood. It operated there from October, 1895, until 1903, when it was again dismantled and transported by rail to St. Louis for the 1904 World's Fair. The Chicago Ferris Wheel was finally demolished on May 11, 1906.

However, a new wheel has been built at Union Station in St. Louis, changing the skyline and offering a glimpse into the past. It’s 200 feet tall and offers a 20-mile view of the area. Next time you visit, check it out.

So, tell me. What’s your favorite ride at The Fair?

THE BADLANDS – A MAJESTIC SETTING

In the days before European settlement, prairie grasslands covered the Great Plains from west-central Canada to Texas. There were few trees, and those few were only found growing near water. Today, with development, fencing, plowing and planting food crops, it’s nearly impossible to imagine the scene that greeted the first settlers.

This summer, on my way to do some research Inga’s story in Laramie, Wyoming, my sister and I drove the length of South Dakota, from Sioux Falls to Rapid City and Custer. Along the way, I tried to imagine what the pre-settlement land as a potential setting for a future novel. And then, we made a stop at the Badlands National Park.

The formations found there, and in the surrounding area, are unique.

 

 

  

As we hiked a trail or two, I became confused. I felt that I was seeing grasses I had seen in remnants of native Tallgrass Prairie (usually found in the eastern part of the Great Plains) and species of grasses common to Shortgrass Prairie (usually found in the west regions). When we arrived at the visitor’s center, with its informative displays, I got my answer. Within the Badlands National Park we find the “largest extent of native mixed grass prairie in the park system,” with more than sixty species of grass growing there.

The Park provides a series of educational signs along the route.

Wisps of scrub and a few scraggly trees grow atop and sporadically along the sides of the eroded outcroppings. As we meandered through the park, we noted so subtle, and some not-so-subtle, variations in the colors of the formations. Granted, some of the subtle changes may have been affected by the varying light conditions.

   

 

  

The explanation for the spectrum of colors is that the Badlands were deposited in layers over millions and millions of years, over many historic periods with different environments including tropics, woodlands and meandering rivers, and seas. Oldest layers are at the bottom, more recent ones on top.

  

 

At one time, streams and rivers carried sediments from the Black Hills. This caused building up of the rock layers we see today. About 500,000 years ago, the Cheyenne River captured streams and rivers flowing from the Black Hills into the Badlands region. After this, the deposits stopped and erosion from winds and weather dominated.

The land is fascinating, and has made a unique backdrop for a variety of novels. My problem will be developing a fresh plot that rises to the grandeur of the Badlands.

Ann Markim

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