Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo! ROLLING DOWN THE RAILS ON FREE LAND by Marisa Masterson

 

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How was the West settled? Last month, I spent a good deal of my free time (not that there was a lot of it) researching land claims given to railroads in the United States.

No, I used the wrong word. They were not land claims. The government awarded grants and 'right of ways' to various railroads laying tracks west of the Mississippi River.

This is where it gets interesting. While most railroads received 400 feet right of ways, divided in half by the tracks, this changed after 1850. In that year, the government began to give away large chunks of land. 

Officially, this award was designated to be used exclusively for 'railroad business'. It gave the railroad a chance to survey the land and choose what would be the best stretch for their right of way. Then the railroad was supposed to file their choice and give back the other acres. 

Again, the word is OFFICIALLY. That rarely happened.

Instead, the General Land Office that oversaw claims withdrew almost two hundred million acres from what was available to claim based on the grants. For example, this made two-thirds of the land in Iowa no longer available to settlers. 

But what business did Congress imagine the railroads had that required this amount of land?

Settlement! The government turned a blind eye while railroads sold off parcels of land. At the same time, a growing part of the population was pushing westward, wanting to claim that land--but they wanted it under the free land act passed by Congress. 

Learning that the railroads owed huge chunks pushed the public to act. They forced the government to stop giving away the land. 

But what about the land already given to railroads? They were selling land for cash. These were the best parcels if a person wanted to settle near a town. The Homestead Act that allowed for free land had virtually no claims near to what some would call 'civilization', and all because of the railroad grants.

Confusing, right? Laws went back and forth, based on the elected Congress. It gave me a great idea, though.

My imaginary town named Fox Creek sits near the railroad tracks. In my next book for the Uncertain Sweethearts series, a man arrives in town and announces that he owns it. 

From the book, Maude Ropes the Sheriff:

A chair scraped. The rancher stood. He rolled up the deed, showing he was finished reading it. “You bought the land from the railroad. It’s what I thought.”

“So you know I got a right to everything.”

Evans moved his chin from side to side, denying Clyde’s statement. “Folks in town will need a judge to rule that you own their places. The government sold this same land to Paul’s father.”

“Hey! You tryin’ to pull a fast one? The land agents wouldn’t make that kind of mistake,” Clyde protested.

Paul shrugged as he stood and offered his hand. He looked at it and reluctantly took it. The two shook, with Clyde gripping the offered hand more tightly than he should. The other man did not grimace, and that disappointed him.

“We will need a judge to visit and decide the matter,” O’Hanlon said, repeating the rancher’s conclusion.

“What about the rent owed me? I want that money.”

Evans sighed. “Wait for the judge.”

He spoke slowly, as if he gave instructions to an idiot. It rankled Clyde. He wanted to reach across the desk and grab the rancher by the throat. His fingers clenched, ready to act.

A sudden question distracted him. “Why’d you choose Fox Creek to build your saloon?”

“Huh?”

He turned and stared at O’Hanlon. “What kind of question is that?”

The store owner shrugged. “I’m curious. Seems kind of a big coincidence, you knowing the sheriff and all.”

“Yeah, Fergus, how come you settled here?” The rancher asked, his green gaze piercing. He wanted an answer.

O'Hanlon was the kind of man Fergus could ignore. Sort of mild and wimpy. Evans was a different matter. He was all steel and iron, as hard as a man could be. Clyde knew he would appear weak if he refused to answer.

“Well, I ran into a woman who told me ‘bout the place. She lived here, but she hated it.”

The store owner’s eyes widened. “Did she tell you her father is the blacksmith in town?”

“Yeah, Mick something or other.”

“Murphy,” the other man supplied. “She left her two little girls and ran off with a salesman.”

Clyde grunted. “Yeah, she surely did hate Fox Creek. And she told me all about the people living here. Said they needed a saloon.”

“And when you heard Jeff’s name, you made your plan,” the rancher interrupted.

Rubbing his hands together, Clyde chuckled. “Yep, I decided to take this town away from him.”

Are you wondering who Jeff is? Why does the man named Clyde want to steal his town?  Also, what can be done to keep him from claiming the town? After all, he has a deed from the railroad.

You will need to read the book to find out.

COMING SOON!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DD7SB7N9

Gambling in the Wild West

Towns sprung up quickly in the 19th-century American West, sometimes starting out as mining camps, wagon train river crossings, or army fort support areas. Many times these little towns were comprised mostly of men. Those men needed recreation. Usually that recreation consisted mainly of drinking and gambling. It’s no surprise that saloons or gambling halls were the first buildings to go up in these fast growing towns.

These places seemed to appear almost overnight. They might be tents with dirt floors with flimsy tables and mismatched chairs and a make-shift bar. None of these establishments were high class by any means. They didn’t need to be. The activities they offered were enough to draw the clientele needed to keep them going.

Finally, as a rough neck town grew and began to prosper, the rickety shanties were replaced with wooden or brick buildings. Some of the saloons in what would have been considered a city were rather ornate with elaborately carved bars and high class chandeliers.

 
There was a time when gambling was considered an occupation. While there are professional gamblers today, a gambler back then lived a much different life. And it must be said that any man who decided to leave what he knew in the east and move to an uncivilized place had to be a gambler at heart. It made sense that there were more than a handful of gamblers moving around from place to place and card game to card game.

In the years prior to the War Between the States, gambling along the Mississippi River flourished. Riverboats running up and down the river from St. Louis to New Orleans offered gamblers the perfect place to practice their trade.

The California Gold Rush attracted some of the riverboat gamblers to San Francisco where money was flowing like water. Gambling halls opened all over offering more than card game. These halls were open all day and night and enormous amounts of money changed hands each and every day.
With the success of the halls in San Francisco, more similar establishments started in Nevada City, Sacramento, and other boom towns in the west. Shootings, stabbings, and killings in general weren’t uncommon in the areas near the gambling meccas. Violence finally reached a level that became unacceptable to the people living in the areas.  They called for law enforcement to stop the criminal activities that surrounded the gambling profession.

In the 1860s, the Comstock Lode in Nevada brought men there to prospect and seek their fortunes there. Just like had happened in San Francisco, gambling houses opened up all over. Accounts report that gambling was rampant in Virginia City and surrounding areas. In fact, a report from an agent of the U.S. Geological Survey found that the town of 18,000 people had a gambling house for every 150 citizens.

Gamblers might have been unruly and predisposed to cheating, but that didn’t keep them from holding important positions. One famous gambler in Nevada was William DeWitt Clinton Gibson. William was elected to the Nevada Senate once he slowed his gambling career down. And some of the men who ran the gambling halls also ran banks or held other important financial positions in town.

One of the most important events of the late 1860s was the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The small towns that sprung up along the tracks were the perfect spots for the lower class swindlers to gather. As the railroad moved west, the less reputable gamblers loaded up the tricks of their trade and moved with it ready to take the money of the new and naïve men they would soon meet.

Most of the low rent crowd who preyed on the unsuspecting railroad construction workers were forgettable small-timers, but a few went on to prominence among the gambling men of the West. Most claimed to follow the respected profession of gambling, but really just fleeced their victims with well-honed tricks and crooked gambling games. When the steel rails at last spanned the country, many of these sure-thing gamblers continued to work their swindles on railroad passengers, using the rail center of Omaha as headquarters.

The 1870s brought the great cattle drives from Texas up through Kansas and even further north. Some of the most revered names in Western history are part of this period. Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson, and Wyatt Earp were lawmen and well respected for their fearlessness. All were well known gamblers. History shows that they spent more time at the tables than they did keeping law and order.

It’s no surprise that many of the most prolific gunfighters of the Western frontier were also well known gamblers. And along those lines, men who had developed reputations as good gunfighters were in high demand as dealers at the tables. Where large amounts of cash was changing hands, a man with gun skills and nerves of steel were needed. It wasn’t uncommon for a gambler’s reputation to spread and locals were quick to join games to try to match wits with the likes of the celebrity gamblers.

The truth is, that gambling was romanticized in spite of the danger and lawlessness it brought with it.

In A Life Transformed, our former gambling hero tells how he learned he was a good gambler during his time in the mining camps. Find out a little more about this new Hero Hearts release here:
Ellie Brown is on her own and she's got a successful ranch to prove she'd made her own way without the help of her father or a husband. She's proud of what she's done in spite of the fact that it's been a difficult and lonely road paved with hard work and some disappointment thrown in for good measure.

Ross Miller is an opportunistic gambler who's just won a mighty big pot. Though he has a tough exterior, he's got a soft heart. The pot includes something that will be hard to take away from it's owner, but a deal's a deal. He's going to be sure to get his pay out, but he's trying to find a way to get it without too much damage to the person it will affect - Ellie Brown.

He comes up with an idea that Ellie accepts, though she doesn't really have an option other than to not have a place to live. She goes along with the marriage of convenience, but finds a big hurdle to get over. Ross is handsome and deep down he's kind. As she gets to know him, she realizes he's not the soulless man she thought he was at first.

Can these two put their rocky past behind them and find true love and happiness together?

***

Find this new release on Amazon. If you prefer to read with your Kindle Unlimited subscription, this title is available there!

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Annie Boone writes sweet western historical romance with a happy ending guaranteed in every single story. Inspiration comes in many forms and Annie finds more than one way to make her stories entertain and inspire.

To connect with Annie, find her on Facebook or her website.

Follow Annie on Amazon, Bookbub and get email updates.

How Did They Do It?

I'm very blessed to have the kind of job that allows me to work from anywhere. One of my dear friends has taken a job in St.George, Utah and I'm visiting her this week. What a beautiful place! Different in so many ways from my beloved Georgia, I'm loving the amazing views.

Two other friends joined us (along with one of their sons) and we've had a wonderful reunion. Here's a picture I took. From left to right - Carol, Kate, Alison, and Jay.

Yesterday, we took a trip to Snow Canyon for a short hike and some photo ops. As we stopped to look at God's beauty around us, we wondered how the pioneers who went west in covered wagons managed to get across this rough terrain. I wondered if they were as taken with the lovely mountains and desert expanse below them as we were. Then I thought that possibly they couldn't see the beauty for the hardships it would cause for them.

Research over the years has told me that crossing rivers were likely the most dangerous part of the trip west. When rivers were swollen with snow melt or when they were flowing quickly, wagons were most vulnerable to turn over. Loss of life of people and animals was common. Supplies were lost. Losing the precious supplies they'd brought or managed to buy along the way could be catastrophic. Obviously, losing parents, children or friends was an unbearable consequence of taking this amazing risk for a different life.

The terrain is rutted and rugged. The mountains are jagged and steep. A typical wagon train only traveled between ten and twenty miles per day. Adding obstacles like this could slow them even further. They followed hunting trails where they existed and some of them used guides. Many had to walk through the rutted trails hunting for smoother places for the wagons to follow.

The mountains couldn't be avoided. They'd go around where they could, but it wasn't possible to go around all of them. They were far to vast for that. Scouts would search for spaces and holes in the rocks that were large enough for the animals and wagons to get through. Some of my research includes tales of wagons being dismantled on one side and rebuilt when they got to the other side. The idea seems a little far-fetched and impractical, but I did see it in more than one account.

 

One thing is certain... The people who settled the west were determined, hearty, and amazing. Their vision for what they wanted from life was clear and they were willing to sacrifice to get it. What inspiration for any of us as we face difficulties and obstacles in life!

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Annie's latest release is Book Eight in the Colorado Matchmaker Series. You can find Delilah and Ethan on Amazon.

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Annie Boone writes sweet western historical romance with a happy ending guaranteed in every single story. Inspiration comes in many forms and Annie finds more than one way to make her stories entertain and inspire.

To connect with Annie, find her on Facebook, Twitter, or her website.

Follow Annie on Amazon, Bookbub and get email updates.