Dousing, Divining, and Pendulums - Free Book Giveaway!

Mom and Dad's cabin in South Park

When I was a youngster and still at home, my parents built a cabin in the Colorado mountains—in South Park to be exact (yes, that South Park). When it came time to have the well drilled, the contractor asked if we had witched the well yet? What? What magic is this, I wondered. Then the driller provided us with dousing rods and gave us instructions.

Metal Dousing Rods

The dousing rods were made of simple metal clothes hangers, straightened to form an “L” shape. I gripped the short end of the hangers, one hanger in each hand, with the long end pointing straight ahead. The driller told me to walk slowly down the hill…and holy-cow! In about ten paces, the metal rods turned in my hands and crossed each other. Then Mom had a try, then Dad. No matter what direction we started from, when we got to that sweet spot on the hill, the rods would cross. I tried to hold them so tight in my hands they wouldn't twist, but they always did.

Typical Pendulum

The well-contractor took into account the terrain, but drilled the well very close to where we had “witched” the well. Oh, yeah... I was hooked on paranormal.

Dousing rods, divining rods, and pendulums, work on the same principle. Something, or someone, from somewhere is providing information through the medium of a rod or a pendulum. Another theory is that our own “higher self” is controlling the divining rod and providing the requested information from our subconscious higher knowledge. Either way, when dousing for water with rods, the question is already given: where is the underground water?

Pendulum Board

A pendulum can be used, much like an Ouija board, to divine a number of different questions. To make a pendulum, all you need is a long string or chain, with a weight or bob on one end. A necklace and pendant would work just as well as the expensive, mystical pendulums you can purchase on-line. Rumor has it, a pendulum can be used to find missing objects, answer questions about the future, and predict the sex of your next child.

There are a hoard of websites that will teach you, convert you, and beguile you with information about divining, dousing and pendulums. As with everything, proceed with caution and with the understanding that they are all trying to sell you something. You don't need any of the fancy stuff to just have fun with a pendulum or dousing rods. And they aren't scary – unless you write it that way.

In Hunter's Gamble, included in the Cowboy Kisses anthology, Hunter uses a pendulum made from his father's pocket-watch chain, an arrowhead from his grandfather and a rose quartz from his grandmother. All the items have special meaning to Hunter, and give his pendulum special qualities. He uses his pendulum to help a young man, released from prison after the Civil war, find his missing family.

Hunter also uses his pendulum to help a young woman named Lily Graham find a kidnapped child in the story "Hunter and Lily Graham."

FREE BOOK GIVE AWAY -  Comment on the blog and tell me if you've ever used a pendulum, divining rod or Ouija board, and if you ever would again.  The winner will have their choice of e-books that include stories of Hunter and his pendulum; Hunter and Lily Graham in CCCv2, or Hunter's Gamble in Cowboy Kisses. Remember to leave your email so I can contact you!

Connie (C. Marie) Bowen is an award winning writer of paranormal adventures laced with suspense and romance. She grew up in Denver, Colorado and has a love of western history, science fiction, fantasy and ghost stories. Her life travels have taken her from Denver to Wichita, KS and eventually settling in North Texas to raise her two boys. A LEED accredited professional, she worked as an Architectural Project Manger for retail construction prior to deciding an empty nest gave her the opportunity to follow her writing muse.

She is a PRO member of Romance Writers of America, Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Sub-chapter of RWA, North Texas RWA, and Savvy Authors.

Learn more about her books and works in progress at her website: http://www.cmariebowen.com/

HIDDEN TRAILS RELEASES TODAY! I'M GIVING AWAY A COPY! by Cheryl Pierson

I’ve got a new release hitting the shelves today! Hidden Trails is my latest western historical novella. Lots of excitement and action—and a Valentine’s Day hope for new love. Leave a comment to be entered to win a copy of HIDDEN TRAILS. Take a look!

BLURB:

Levi Connor has never run from anything in his life, and he doesn’t intend to start now. After killing the two bandits who’d followed him into Indian Territory, he finds himself wounded and riding through a blinding February snowstorm. With no purpose ahead of him and no past to guide him, he discovers a reason to exist—the beautiful mixed-blood girl who takes him in and heals him.

Valentine Reneau lives in fear that her father will find her someday in the heart of Indian Territory and force her to return to Mississippi to take her mother’s place—in every way. She knows her time has run out when a stranger shows up on her land with two hired guns—and the devil in his plans.

With some unlikely help, Valentine must try to escape the slave’s fate that her mother left behind so many years before. Will Levi kill for a woman he barely knows? The chips are down, the guns blaze, and everything finally comes clear along these HIDDEN TRAILS…but who’ll be left alive?



EXCERPT:

She pulled the covers away so she could see his leg. Without saying anything more, she took the lantern from the nightstand and turned up the wick, holding it close to the wound.

“I better get to this,” she said under her breath. Then, she glanced up to meet his gaze. “How long have you been carrying this bullet? And what are you running from?”

Levi grimaced as she turned her attention back to the wound and prodded at it.

“Three days. And I ain’t runnin’, ma’am. A Connor don’t run.”

“And you are a Connor, I take it?”

“Levi Connor. Didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier,” he muttered, letting go a sharp breath as she laid a warm, wet cloth over the wound.

“Need to get it cleaned up,” she said. “I don’t want to hurt you, but it can’t be helped. Taking out a bullet is always painful, but when it’s been in there for three days—”

“I know.” He waved a hand dismissively. “I’m just obliged to you—and I’ll make it up to you—for bein’ such a bother.”

She shook her head. “No bother. Truly. My father was a doctor, so I do know a little about what I’m doing.”

Levi breathed a slow sigh of relief. This wasn’t his first bullet hole. But thank God, he’d ended up here, with a beautiful young woman who seemed capable of treating him. There had been times before when he would have prayed to be in this circumstance, rather than some of the ones he’d found himself in.

Gentle hands ministered to him, but he suddenly remembered the very delicate location of the bullet hole and tried to re-cover himself.

“Mr. Connor, I’ve seen everything you have—and many others just like it,” Valentine said matter-of-factly. “I can’t very well remove a bullet from a wound I can’t see.” She snatched the covers from his hand and threw them back to his side. “You’re making it harder for me to be able to do what I need to.”

“In a week or two, I’d pay money for you to flip those covers away like that,” Levi answered.

She bent a long, hard look on him. “I’m not for sale, Mr. Connor. Not at any price. You want to keep riding?”

Levi shook his head. “Forget I said that, Valentine. Just the pain and the…damn humiliation talkin’. I didn’t mean it.”

A slow smile quirked her lips. “I can’t imagine you ever being embarrassed.”

“Believe it or not, I was raised a gentleman, ma’am.”

“I believe it, Mr. Connor. I do believe it.” Her voice was soft and sincere, and full of loss for things Levi didn’t understand.

But just then, she pulled the wound open and probed for the bullet, and the pain stripped everything else away from him. There was nothing in Levi’s consciousness but Valentine and her tweezers, delving into the bloody hole in his leg. He swallowed back the cry that threatened to bring the roof down, forcing it away.


Thanks for stopping by today--hope you enjoyed this peek into my new story, HIDDEN TRAILS! Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway. If you just can't wait to see if you won, here are the buy links!

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#NewRelease -- Big Meadows Valentine by Zina Abbott -- Giveaway!

Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for a free ecopy of the first story in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series: Big Meadows Valentine.

Blurb

Some men left the civilized settlements of the east to risk life and limb in the lawless gold and silver mines of California and Nevada for wealth. Beth Dodd left behind her little sister and the civilized farming region of southern Ohio that she loved to travel to those same gold and silver regions in search for her scalawag of a husband who deserted her. In Lundy, Beth finds rancher named Val Caldwell with a heart bigger than all the gold in the Mono County mountains of the eastern Sierra-Nevada. She stays, knowing she has a responsibility to settle affairs with her husband. But, having lost almost everything she valued due to the decisions forced upon her first by her father and then by her husband, can she ever again trust a man to have any degree of influence or control over her life?

Bitter over laws that favor men over women and determined to start a new life for herself and her sister on her own terms and through her own efforts, Beth resists the attraction she feels towards Val. Can Val make any headway in his quest to persuade Beth to consider a future with him someday?

Excerpt

    “I done made provisions for you, daughter. You ain’t gonna be workin’ like this no more. I found me a man to buy the farm.”

    His words immediately propelled Beth into action. Her face suffused with shock, she threw her splayed hands up next to her head as she sucked in her breath. Next, she leaned forward and reached to grab her father’s hands clinging to the wooden arms of the rocker. At the last moment, she thought better of it and clasped her hands in front of her.

    “No, Pa! There ain’t no call you doin’ that. We’re doin’ right fine. Sellin’ the farm will force us to move to town. You don’t want that.”

    “We ain’t movin’ to town. We’re stayin’ right here. I done found you a husband, Beth. It’s part of the deal. He’s goin’ to marry you as part of buyin’ the farm.”

Buy Links

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YIKES, I'm Running Out Of Wildings!

Sarah McNeal is a multi-published author of time travel, paranormal, western, contemporary and historical fiction. Her stories may be found at Publishing by Rebecca Vickery and Prairie Rose Publications.

A few years ago I wrote Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant Bride as a stand-alone paranormal, time travel western with no intention of writing another western or another book related to Harmonica Joe. Interesting enough, I went into writer’s block in the middle of writing Harmonica Joe and thought I might never finish it. I took a RWA writers’ class about writer’s block which helped and I got some great advice from a fellow writer who told me I needed to love my hero. Taking the techniques of the WB class and my friend’s advice, I did manage to finish Harmonica Joe’s story. In the end, Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant Bride became a story very dear to me. So, you might think that would be the end of that…but it isn’t.

While creating the secondary character, Banjo, a homeless, streetwise, teenager, I found I really cared about that kid. He talked rough, didn’t mind mixing it up with someone hell bent on hurting someone he cared about, loved horses, and had a unique talent for inventing mechanical devices. I just couldn’t let him go, so I wrote his story. He almost lost his life on the battlefield during World War I, fell in love with his childhood sweetheart, found a lost relative, and settled down to raise a family in the fictional town of Hazard, Wyoming.

Was I satisfied? Nope. Naturally, Joe and Lola Wilding had some kids, Banjo had some kids, Banjo’s lost uncle, Teekonka Red Sky marries an English woman Banjo rescued along with her son and they had a son. I began to write about this second generation of Wildings which brought me into the era of World War II and the post war period of the 1940s and 1950s. Right now I’m writing about Banjo and Maggie’s twin boys Hank and Kit all grown up and in love. Teekonka and Jane’s son, Kyle, is the only second generation character left. He survived World War II, just as his cousins did, but his story will have more to do with his Lakota heritage than his war wounds.

And now what?

I have quite a few candidates for more stories because I’ve introduced another family, the Thoroughgoods, into Hazard along with some adopted children Juliet Wilding and Harry O’Connor raised, but it will take my stories into present day and out of Prairie Rose Publications because the company is for historical westerns. So, I’m at a crossroads.  I haven’t decided whether to go ahead and roll into modern westerns with my Wilding family saga, move on to other families in historical Hazard, Wyoming, or to create something entirely different. I’m open to some opinions here and would love to hear what your thoughts are.

Just for fun, I’m giving away a digital copy of Hollow Heart, now out in a single, to someone who comments today.

Lost love and the hope for possibilities

Blurb:

Madeline Andrews is a grown up orphan. Sam Wilding made her feel part of his life, his family and swore he’d come home to her when the war ended, but he didn’t return. With the Valentine’s Ball just days away, the Wildings encourage Madeline to move forward with her life and open her heart to the possibilities.  But Madeline is lost in old love letters and can’t seem to let go.

Excerpt:

Joey glanced through the kitchen window at the snow falling in the yard. “I’ll do it right away. I wouldn’t want any of Dad’s patients sliding off the road into the ditch. When Mom and Juliet come home, they’ll need a clear road, too. I’d feel terrible if anything happened to them.” He turned back to Madeline and took the broom and bucket of cleaning supplies from her and followed her down the steps to his father’s office. “Did Juliet talk you into going to the Valentine Ball?”

Madeline smiled. “Who could resist the persuasive powers of Juliet Wilding? It’s like trying to take down a brick wall with a wooden spoon.” They both laughed.

“I’m glad. It won’t be so bad, and I can tell you for a fact all my cousins will be standing in line for a dance. Before you’ve had a dance with those idiots, I’ll take a turn first, before you’ve suffered too much damage. Hope you don’t mind some broken toes. None of us can dance worth a hoot.”

“Thank you, Joey. It makes me feel better to know I’ll be surrounded by men who are like brothers to me.” Madeline gave him a friendly swat on the arm.

“You can count on us to get you into trouble or get you out.” He spoke as he headed back up the steps toward the kitchen. “Well, guess I better get on a warm coat and hat and get out to the t

ractor. Get busy with those mops and brooms, girl; daylight’s wasting.” With a chuckle, he disappeared beyond the kitchen door.

Buy links:

Hollow Heart (single for 99 cents) 

AMAZON

Hearts And Spurs Anthology

AMAZON KINDLE

AMAZON PAPERBACK

Just in case you want to know what my Wilding stories are, here’s a list according to the date of publication.

THE WILDINGS (in order of publication)

Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant Bride (time travel/paranormal)

For Love of Banjo (sequel to Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant Bride)

Fly Away Heart (novella)

A Husband for Christmas (short/also for sale as a single) included in Wishing for a Cowboy anthology

Hollow Heart (short Valentine theme) included in Hearts and Spurs anthology (now in single)

Unexpected Blessings (short) included in Lassoing a Bride anthology

Beast of Hazard (short) included in Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico vol. 1 anthology

When Love Comes Knocking (short) included in Present for a Cowboy Christmas anthology

Where you can find me:

Website: http://www.sarahmcneal.com  

Facebook

Twitter

My Amazon Author’s Page

Prairie Rose Author Page

#NewRelease -- By the Break of Dawn by B. J. Betts -- Giveaway

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free ecopy of the Valentine's day story By the Break of Dawn by B. J. Betts.

Blurb

Eli King has been in love with Isabella Rossi since they were children. Every year, he has given Isabella a valentine on Valentine’s Day. But this year, Isabella is old enough for Eli to court.

Since Isabella was a young child in Italy, her grandmother, Countess Rossi, has told her of the old wives' tale that a maiden must look out her window on Valentine’s Day morning, just before sunrise. The man she sees is the man she will marry within the year. Isabella hopes to see Eli, but the man she sees is one she's never met--Chace Monette.

Chace puts a villainous plan into action, determined to have Isabella for himself or ruin her family name. How can Isabella ever be happy with him? Can there be a happy ending for Eli and Isabella, or will the old wives' tale prove true?

Excerpt

Isabella rose from her bed just before dawn broke across the sky. She slipped quietly from her bed and took her place at the window. When she was a little girl her grandmother, Countess Carmen Rossi told her of an old tradition passed down from generation to generation.

“On the morning of Valentine’s Day a young maiden must go to her window and look out just before the dawn breaks. If she sees a man walking below her window, he is the man she will marry before the year is out,” Carmen said smiling down at her granddaughter.

Isabella looked up at her grandmother her brown eyes full of questions. “But  nonna, how can this be?”

“It is how I knew I would marry your grandfather, angelo. I looked out my window and there he was. So very handsome.” She’d put her hand over her heart and acted like she would swoon.

A smile had broken over ten-year-old Isabella’s lips.

Now, since she was of age to marry she took her grandmother’s saying to heart, that and she was a great fan of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the play the character Ophelia sings of the tradition:

“Good morrow! “

“Tis St. Valentine’s Day. “

“All in the morning bedtime.”

“And I a maid at your window. “

“To be your valentine.”

Isabella stood quietly in the darkness of her bedroom. She slid the window open and peered out, praying it would be Eli’s form she would see.

A man approached and she held her breath, afraid to even breathe.

The street lamp gave a clear view of the likeness of the man below….it was none other than Chace Monette, an associate of her fathers.

Buy Links

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FINDING THOSE OBSCURE STORIES........LOOKING TO BE TOLD! By Gail L. Jenner

How often do we as writers rely on “serendipity?”

It seems that we often think that our ideas are the result of hard work....but, in truth, many of our ideas and even our successes are serendipitous. Purely the result of one thing leading to another – one idea cascading into a series of ideas, one event stumbling into a series of events.

In thinking about where my ideas come from, I decided to investigate the history or definition of serendipity.  The result:

“Word Origin and History for serendipity.... n. 1754 (but rare before 20c.), coined by Horace Walpole (1717-92) in a letter to Horace Mann (dated Jan. 28); he said he formed it [serendipity] from the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip," whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of." The name is from Serendip, an old name for Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanskrit Simhaladvipa "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island."”

So that means ideas or opportunities, per chance, often come from things we are not actually in quest of.  Perhaps they’re accidental? As in stream of consciousness, perhaps they fall on the heels of other actions – thoughts—ideas—images—we are in quest of?

With that in mind, I found myself reflecting on where two of my story ideas came from. Let me see....

The “story idea” for ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS came as a result of teaching American history where I stumbled upon a little-known event, which should have been a WELL-known event: the Marias Massacre of 1870! Disgruntled, I began to dig...and, sadly, found little in the way of documented or written history. That led me on the quest to KNOW more...which led me to take a trip to Montana (at the insistence of my sister!). The quest began in earnest when I found few primary documents and decided “this story just had to be told!”

And so, the next year became two, then five, then eight! And finally I finished the novel--a romantic historical--which was anchored in and around the events leading up to and following the tragedy of the Blackfeet Massacre by the U.S. Army. 

That it won a WILLA Literary Award from Women Writing the West meant all the more to me because of how strongly I felt about the history and the people whose lives and living were destroyed by this rarely discussed but devastating history.

And after that, I found myself—through happenstance—introduced to a friend of my father’s who had spent six years researching the life of Charles Boles, aka BLACK BART. He didn’t consider himself a writer, but he’d spent six years traveling in Charles’s footsteps, from New York to California and back again, from the California Gold Rush through the Civil War years and beyond. Again, serendipitously, I found myself intrigued by the “lack” of story surrounding Black Bart. 

Yes, there were newspaper articles and a couple of books outlining his 28 successful Wells Fargo stage robberies, but there had never been a “STORY” about his life -- about why he chose the life he did. Why he abandoned his wife and family and became a stage bandit, albeit a “gentlemanly” one, who used a plugged shotgun and only targeted Wells, Fargo and Company! Thus the quest to understand the man behind the gunny sack mask became the foundation of the story that I penned (coauthored) entitled  BLACK BART: THE POET BANDIT.

As it turned out, this story placed 2nd in the Jack London Novel Contest.

And now—serendipitously—that book led me to another recent opportunity--so totally unexpected! I was asked to be interviewed for an upcoming history series on characters from the Old West, to premiere April 12, 2015, on one of the Fox Network channels. 

Entitled “Legends and Lies,” the series (that features 10 Old West characters) created and to be narrated by Bill O’Reilly. As “luck” or good fortune would have it, I was flown to Montana (is there something about Montana? <g>) just last week to be interviewed as one of several authors/et al, on the infamous and little-known life of Black Bart. 

The TV series will also be tied to an upcoming book. Promoted on amazon, the blurb reads:

The book tie in for Fox’s highly anticipated documentary series Legends & Lies, which exposes the truth behind the wild western legends we all think we know, with spectacular color artwork
Why did Black Bart, the "gentleman bandit" and one of the west’s most famous bank robbers, suddenly disappear at the height of his success robbing stagecoaches? For how long after he was presumed dead did Billy the Kid continue his mischief making? How did Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid really die? Generations of Americans have grown up on these beloved western legends. In Fox News’s forthcoming documentary series Legends and Lies, the true stories behind these infamous tales are revealed in the same gripping, edge-of-your-seat treatment readers have flocked to again and again in O’Reilly’s mega-successful KILLING series. The first of its kind for the network, Legends and Lies will be given a huge red carpet roll out when it debuts. Heavily illustrated and told in fast-paced, immersive narrative, Legends and Lies is an adventure packed ride back into one of the most storied era of our nation’s rich history.

After a series of phone calls back in August and October, I could only laugh when I told my husband that I was going to be flown to Montana, paid a stipend, and even given a car during my stay, just to share what I knew about this unusual and intriguing outlaw, Black Bart. My husband shook his head, “Wow,” he said. “All because of a STORY?”

“Yes,” I replied. “All because of a STORY. But a little told, little-known story,” I added (BTW, I had a great time in Missoula, MT!).

And therein, I believe, is the ultimate truth for we writers searching for “stories:” Look for those random, little-known, relatively obscure bits of story that are hiding in unusual—or maybe not so unusual places. These are the stories that are just waiting to be discovered!  

Just waiting to be TOLD. 

And......who knows where those stories may ultimately lead...?

Gail L. Jenner is the author ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS, recently re-released by Prairie Rose Publications.

She has also coauthored five nonfiction regional histories and has contributed to a number of anthologies, including ANKLE HIGH AND KNEE DEEP (GlobePequot/Two Dot), also Prairie Rose's LASSOING A BRIDE, PRESENT FOR A COWBOY, and COWBOY KISSES. Her work has been published in numerous women's and Christian publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, Everyday With Rachel Ray, Country Woman, Range, Parenting Teenagers, Living with Teens, Keys for Kids, Decision, and more. She writes for NPR/JPR's historical series and for JEFFERSON BACKROADS, a monthly regional publication.

Gail has also been interviewed for other "random" TV series, including: "How the States Got Their Shapes" (History Channel); PBS' "Oregon Experience"; and an upcoming episode on "Mysteries at the Museum." They were all the result of other serendipitous events :-)

THE WILD WILD WEST

Post by Doris McCraw

Ross Martin and Robert Conrad.

Lately I've been revisiting "The Wild Wild West" when I need break from all that is going on. The pure unadulterated fun of watching James West and Artemus Gordon maneuver their way through absurd situations is beyond joy for me. If you have watched the series, you know they have all kinds of 'inventions' and that the two not only use, but have to overcome. Here is a link on an episode from season one if you are so inclined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geiVy5kw9m8. Ross Martin was wonderful as the ever inventive Gordon, and Robert Conrad, does anyone remember him with the battery on his shoulder saying "I dare you to knock this off", was West. This television series ran from Sept. 1965 to April 1969, with two follow up television movies in 1979 and 1980. Watching the antics, the show was designed to be a James Bond in the Old West, made me think about the other unbelievable characters and places in Colorado's history. The people and places are real, but the stories? You be the judge.

First up, Mountain Charley, aka Elisa Jane Forest Guerin. The story goes that Horace Greeley met up with the young lady in 1859 in the Gregory diggings while she was trying to light a cigar. It seems Charley had married at fourteen (or twelve as she later stated) and was a widowed mother at sixteen. She had cut her hair and put on men's clothes to hunt down the killer of her husband. One source says she dressed as a man, but never tried to hide the fact that she was a woman. She drank, prospected and swore with the best of them. She was armed with a revolver or two and a knife in her boot. Eventually she met up with her husbands killer in St. Louis and again on the trail to Golden, a town just outside Denver. That she failed to kill him, or he her both times is funny and sad. After the attempt in Colorado, her husbands killer confessed all and Mountain Charley married a bartender named Guerin. She later wrote her autobiography "Mountain Charley, or the Adventures of Mrs.E.J. Guerin, Who Was Thirteen Years in Male Attire".

Robert Ford, undated.

Next, Edward 'Red' Kelly, also known Edward Capehart O'Kelley, the man who killed Bob Ford in Creede, Colorado. Yes, that Bob Ford, the killer of Jesse James. One story has Kelly killing Ford over the story that Ford had accused him of stealing Ford's ring while in Pueblo, Colorado. Another version has Kelly being told by con man "Soapy Smith" that he would be famous for killing Ford. That Kelly had a temper seems to be well known. He was caught and tried for the murder of Ford and sentenced to life in the Colorado State (Territorial) Prison in Canon City, but he only served about eight years before he was paroled. Two years later he was killed in Oklahoma City after a fight with an officer in that town. More on Kelly can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Capehart_O%27Kelley 


The town of Boreas (the Greek god of the north wind) stands at the top of Boreas Pass, a train route from Como to Breckenridge, Colorado. This high mountain town came into existence due to the mineral in the area and the train that traveled through there. Dyersville, founded my the intinerant preacher Father Dyer, is just a few miles west down the pass. During the long cold winter of 1899 when trains couldn't make it through about six young men skied from Breckenridge over Boreas and onward to Denver. One summer the P.T. Barnum circus train came through the pass. When the train failed to climb the grade the animal trainer had the elephants push the train to the top of the pass.

Boreas Pass section house, DSP&P RR.

Finally, no story of Colorado and the bizarre would not be complete without a word about Nikola Tesla. Tesla arrived in Colorado Springs in 1899. He told his backers he was going to send a wireless signal from Pikes Peak to Paris. During one experiment Tesla burned the dynamo at the El Paso Electric company and the city of Colorado Springs lost all power. For more on Tesla's time in Colorado Springs you can visit the following web site: http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html

As a history buff these stories whet my appetite for more. Each and everyone may end up as part of the stories I continue to tell, both fiction and non-fiction. Here is to your stories and the pieces of history that inspire them. You can read more on my love/hate relationship with research at the following link: https://writingwranglersandwarriors.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/cursed-resources/
Happy writing. (Now back to mine, SMILE!)

https://www.amazon.com/author/angelaraines-dorismccraw

Doris Gardner-McCraw 
Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Photo and Poem: http://fivesevenfivepage.blogspot.com
Blog: http://renawomyn.blogspot.com/