Colorado Springs - 1907

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Pikes Peak
Image (C) Doris McCraw

By 1907, Colorado Springs had grown from its founding in 1871 into a thriving 36-year-old community. In just over three decades, the city had undergone a significant transformation, shaping its identity through rapid growth, cultural development, and historic events.

1. It had been 101 years since Zebulon Pike had attempted his climb of Pikes Peak.

2. It had been 87 years since Dr. Edwin James had accomplished that feat as the first white man to reach the top of that mountain.

3. It had been 16 years since the Cog Railway, partially financed by Zalmon Simmons of the Simmons mattress company, had begun taking people to the top of Pikes Peak.

4. It had been 14 years since Katharine Lee Bates had taken a carriage and a mule ride to the top of Pikes Peak, which inspired her to write the phrase: "Oh beautiful for halcyon skies, for amber waves of grain."

5. It had been 33 years since the Colorado Deaf and Blind School was founded by the grandfather of the actor Lon Chaney.

In the Garden of the Gods
Image (C) Doris McCraw 

6. It had been 33 years since Colorado College was founded.

7. It had been 20 years since the trolley system began.

8. It had been 6 years since they buried the century chest to be opened in 2001.

9. It was the junction for six railways between 1870 and 1900: The Denver & Rio Grande, The Denver & New Orleans Manitou Branch, The Colorado Midland, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, The Rock Island, and The Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek.

10. It had been 34 years since Helen (Hunt) Jackson, the author of "Ramona" and "Century of Dishonor," had made Colorado Springs her home. (She died in 1885 and is buried here.)

11. It had been 4 years since the El Paso County Courthouse had been built.

12. It had been 41years since the creation of the Goodnight-Loving Trail that ran just east of Colorado Springs.

13. It had been 34 years since Isabella Bird, the Englishwoman who wrote "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, spent time in Colorado Springs

14. It had been 48 years since Garden of the Gods received its name.

A lot happened in the town William Jackson Palmer and his associates founded back in 1871 as a tourist and resort area for his European investors. So much history to draw from as I write, and I do use it a lot. It plays a large role in my soon-to-be-released "Isabella: Rocky Mountain Bride" in the National Park Brides series. You can pre-order it here:

Amazon

Until Next Time: Stay safe, Stay happy, and Stay healthy. 

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

Mr. Mills

 Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

Like many in the 19th and early 20th century, Enos Mills, born in Kansas in 1870, made his home in Colorado.

At the age of fifteen, he climbed Long's Peak, a 14,000-foot peak in Colorado, during one of his early trips to the Estes Park area. During his life, he soloed the peak forty times and guided others another three hundred. He also wrote several books about the area and wildlife.

Recovering his health, Mills traveled extensively until 1902, when he returned to Colorado and settled near Longs Peak. During his travels, he encountered the naturalist John Muir, who changed the course of his life.

Enos Mills
photo from Wikipedia

Mills dedicated the remainder of his life to preserving the land around Longs Peak. At one point, it was said he wanted to preserve the area from Longs Peak to Pikes Peak, encompassing over 100 miles. With the help of groups like the Sierra Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution, he did accomplish the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915.

In my upcoming book, Isabella, Mr. Mills makes an appearance. The story will be available in October.

Until next time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

It's Almost Here

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines 

The title of this post has two meanings. 

1. Christmas and New Year are just around the corner

2. My ebook in the Christmas Quilt Bride series goes live on December 20, 2024, two days after this post goes live.

With Thanksgiving happening late this year, it seems like there isn't time. Many times, the discussion at work has been, "Where did the time go?" When you couple this with gift shopping, holiday parties, and holiday meals, you just have to save your energy and then go for it. However, there is joy in spending time with friends and loved ones. It is a gift we can sometimes take for granted. 

During all this, the finishing touches of "Mack" were happening. It's a story I enjoyed writing, and I hope others will also. 

Amazon

Like the holidays, things can happen over which we have no control. We want the books we write to be perfect, and we want the Holiday Season to go smoothly. Neither is in our control. Technology can do weird things, and people can do strange things, but we love it all the same.

So, as we celebrate the Season, be kind and forgiving. We are only here for a short time. In addition, Christmas and the New Year are almost here.

I wish everyone the best Holiday Season possible and a beautiful New Year.\

Until Next Time: Stay safe, Stay happy, and Stay healthy. 

Doris

Raising Children in Colorado Springs in the 1870s

 

Rose Bartlett - Raising Children in the New Town of Colorado Springs.

This is part of a series I've been writing and wanted to share Rose's story...this is a repost from another blog.

Post (C) by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

Photo (C) Doris McCraw

In 1900 Rose E. Bartlett celebrated twenty-eight years of marriage to Ephraim C. Bartlett. The couple, who married around 1872-3 were both from Maine and married in that state. At the time of their marriage, Ephraim was thirty and Rose was twenty-one 

It seems Ephraim had returned to Maine from Pueblo, Colorado where he was living in 1873. Rose had started teaching school at age seventeen. However, census records show she left teaching and listed the occupation as a housewife from her marriage forward. You do have to wonder, with her background, what kind of foundation she gave her children as they grew.

Copy of Old Birth Record
from Ancestry

The couple had seven children, five who were alive in the 1900 census. 

Frank Arthur Bartlett, born 1888 in Colorado, who was a music teacher in Colorado Springs in 1911, died in 1962 in California at the age of seventy-four. He served in World War I as a Sergeant.

Guy Roderick Bartlett, born in 1874 in Colorado, died in 1940, in California at the age of sixty-six. He was married but had no children as far as any records show.

George Powers Bartlett, born in 1885 in Colorado, died in 1974 in Colorado. He was married and had three children.

Harvey Lewis Bartlett, born in Colorado in 1879 died in 1920 in Colorado. He was not married.

Frances Lena Bartlett Hill, born in 1875 in Colorado, lived to be ninety-two and was buried in The Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles, California. So far, I've not located a spouse for Frances.

The other child listed to the couple is Alice Dell Bartlett. She was born in 1877 and died in 1879 in Colorado.

Rose Ella Powers Bartlett died in 1919 just four days shy of her sixty-seventh birthday. She is buried with her husband who preceded her in death in 1912. Although they married after the end of the Civil War, they were both from the same area in Maine and Ephraim may have known Rose before he served the duration of the War.

For other stories in this Civil War series, click the links below.

John H Long -73rd Illinois - Western Fictioneers

Isabella Long - Prairie Rose Publications

Sgt. James W. Bell - Western Fictioneers

Martha Lynn Bell - Prairie Rose Publications

Captain Richmon Finch- Western Fictioneers

Sarah Jane Durkee Anderson - Prairie Rose Publications

Esther Walker, Part 2 - Western Fictioneers

Esther Walker - Prairie Rose Publications

Alpheus R. Eastman - Western Fictioneers Blog

Helen Rood Dillon - Prairie Rose Publications Blog

Virginia Strickler - Prairie Rose Publications Blog

Henry C. Davis - Western Fictioneers Blog

Chester H. Dillon - Western Fictioneers Blog

Until Next Time: Stay safe, Stay happy, and Stay healthy. 

Doris

Writing Immersion?

Post (C) Doris McCraw\

aka Angela Raines

How many of you immerse yourself in your story, your characters, and your setting?  Sometimes I do and sometimes not so much.

I do write about the physical area I live in with my historical westerns. I also will write about areas of research I am involved in.

Yes, I do write non-fiction but there are times when the story I'm telling was inspired by a piece of research. My first story "Josie's Dream" with this group was inspired by the research I was and am still doing on early women doctors in Colorado.

Photo (C) Doris McCraw

My first novella "Home for His Heart" was inspired by my many trips up into Colorado's high country and the history of the people who built towns, ranches, and so much more against the backdrop of storms, fights over land, and finding the place you were meant to be in.

Sometimes music plays a part. If I have to write a fight scene I will almost always play Saint-Saens. Here is a link if you want to hear it.Danse Macbre

Additionally, photographs and paintings also help give a sense of place. Many times I will take photos to remind me of where I have been. When describing an area, the photo helps fill in the details I want to include.

When you read, do you see what the author is describing? Do you hear the music that inspired them? Let me know.

Amazon Author Page

Until Next Time: Stay safe, Stay happy, and Stay healthy. 

Doris

Is it Real?

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Photo (C) Doris McCraw

We write the story and our characters experience the highs and lows of life. But are they real? We hope they are real to the reader, but the emotions we elicit, where do they come from?

In this year where my word is 'experience' I look at events and my part in them as having experiences. This also brought to mind where do we find the depth we have our characters dive into as they maneuver their way through a story. Is it what we have experienced? Perhaps it's what we believe they would feel and experience. Pulling from real life does add a level of reality. Yet, sometimes we have no experience that fits that situation.

Photo (C) Doris McCraw

As I research and write, for two complementary blogs, the story of Civil War Soldiers and Civil War Wives who are buried in the local cemetery, I know I've no experience of what they must have gone through. The best I can do is take the facts as I find them and work to access some emotion that might be comparable. A poor second I admit, but it may be better than no emotion at all. If you wish to read about these people, there will be links at the end of this post.

As I write the next book, a story that partially takes place on a train, I can use my own experiences of traveling the rails. Yes, I've ridden on an old steam engine train with the requisite old cars. Yes, experience does help. Stay tuned for more about these two people and their train journey.

Virginia Strickler - Prairie Rose Publications Blog

Henry C. Davis - Western Fictioneers Blog

Chester H. Dillon - Western Fictioneers Blog

For anyone interested, I have a monthly substack newsletter: Thoughts and Tips on History

Until Next Time: Stay safe, Stay happy, and Stay healthy. 

Doris

 

The February Experience & Happy Valentine's Day

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

(C) Doris McCraw

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - 

In the last post, I wrote about what I wanted to experience in 2024 and the joys of research. In this post, I'm sharing some pieces that caught my interest.

Between bouts of snow, there have been some amazing sunny and warm days. It was nothing to go from 20 to 60 in thirty-six hours. On those warm days, I was out when work would allow. One place nearby is the city cemetery. So many stories waiting to be found and told. One such person I've been digging into was Dr.James B. Gisbon. He'd come to the region suffering from tuberculosis of the kidneys.

The main branch of the local library was getting ready to close for renovations, so I spent as much time in the special collections as possible. It helped that I was doing some additional research on early Leadville, Colorado. The Ladies Relief Society worked actively to aid those unable to pay for health care. This was the group that Dr. Mary Helen Barker Bates was active with. I'd written about Dr. Bates in other articles so this information was exciting.

Dr. Mary Helen Barker Bates
from Wikipedia

Finally, I've been researching Social Media to learn all I can. It helps that I work with and can ask questions of my co-workers who do that as part of their job. It's fascinating but so time-consuming.

Of course, I'm working on my next Christmas Quilt book. The characters are taking me for a fun ride.

What experiences have you been enjoying lately?

If you're interested in history or research I am starting a newsletter focusing on that subject. If you wish to sign up, here is a link to that publication: Thoughts and Tips on History

Until Next Time: Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and Stay Happy

Doris