These author's notes go with my latest published book, Lauren, from the Rescue Me (Mail-order Brides) series. A few explanations before I get started:
This book involved a lot of research. When began planning the plot for my 2021 book, Mail Order Blythe, I decided upon a railroad detective for my hero, and set the story in Wyoming Territory. I then looked for a year when interesting events took place. I settled upon summer of 1878 because two events caught my interest. First, the total solar eclipse on July 29, 1878, and second, the attempted train derailment on August 15, 1878. (Different sources indicate it could have been the 14th or 16th.) By the time I finished the scenes with the eclipse, that book had passed the word count allowance for that series. I pulled out my railroad detective hero and all references to the train derailment--plus one of the eclipse scenes. I added a different hero and focused on the eclipse as it took place in Rawlins, Wyoming Territory.
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| 1868 Locomotive built for UPRR |
Almost two years later, I published my railroad detective hero story with the scenes involving the attempted train derailment. As with the first book, I drew heavily on real events for my plot and real historical people for my characters.
This book also had a word count limit. I had to cut my finished manuscript to keep it under the absolute maximum allowed. There was no room left to add Author's Notes at the end. This is an abbreviated summary of my research notes. To include everything I learned would require I write a full non-fiction book. I have shared some of my research in other blog posts, some on other multi-author blogs for which I write. In case some readers wish to delve in the subjects more fully, I will include hyperlinked titles.
My heroine, Lauren Brower (aka Alice Bowers) and my hero Jeb Carter (with the alias Jeb Johnson) are strictly fictional.
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| UPRR Special Agents |
There were, and still are, Union Pacific Railroad special agents who investigate railroad crime. To learn more, please read my earlier post, 19th Century UPRR Special Agents, which also tells about two real people who are included in my book.
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| Rattlesnake Canyon |
One was Henry C. "Tip" Vincents, a UPRR Special Agent who was stationed at Carbon City, Wyoming Territory. After the attempted train derailment, he was one of two men who made the initial search for the gang. He, along with Carbon Count Deputy Sheriff, Robert Widdowfield, was killed when they found the gang's hideout in Rattlesnake Canyon on the northwest side of Elk Mountain. They were the first two lawmen killed in the line of duty in Wyoming Territory.
The second man featured in that post who played a role in my book was Edward Dickinson who, at the time of the attempted train robbery, was a UPRR dispatcher and superintendent stationed in Laramie, Wyoming Territory. The day after the attempted derailment, he and Albany County Sheriff Nottage did ride the train to where it happened and interviewed Eric Brown, the section foreman who discovered the disturbed rails. Brown flagged down the westbound train to prevent a derailment until his crew could repair the tracks.
Eric Brown was a real person, and I found his story in several sources. In Lauren, I devoted an entire chapter told from his point of view. His personality and attitude is my own invention. You may learn more about section crews, also known as gandy dancers, in my post, I've Been Working on a Section Crew.
Once Sheriff Nottage realized the crime took place in Carbon County, not Albany County, he bowed out and insisted Ed Dickinson contact Ike Lawry, the sheriff there.
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| 1872 map showing original tracks and station locations. |
Note: The above map was drawn prior to the survey party that came through in 1878, which you can read about in Billy Owen, Surveyor and Eclipse Observer.
The detail about the location of Medicine Bow Mountains, Elk Mountain,
and Medicine Bow River are not correct. Also, the county line is farther east than shown.
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| Contemporary map of region showing Medicine Bow River and Rock Creek |
Note: At the time of my story, Hanna, seen on the above contemporary map, did not exist. Carbon City was south of Hanna, as were the UPRR tracks. When Carbon City ran out of coal, coal mining operations and the tracks were moved to Hanna.
Also, Rock River on Rock Creek did not exist. When the Lincoln Highway was built in about the 1920s, since Como Bluff and all the excitement about dinosaur bone finds had passed, it was constructed in more of a direct line between Medicine Bow and Laramie. Both Como Station and Rock Station, which was about twelve miles east of current Rock River, became defunct. Also, on the above map, note the location of vertical orange line, which shows the county line between Albany and Carbon counties. Also, the angled black line is the outside limit for seeing the 1878 eclipse in totality. The Medicine Bow mountains, where I place my hero seeing the eclipse with Billy Owen, is well within the path of totality. Rock Creek Station is outside, which is why I did not say much about my heroine, Lauren, viewing the eclipse.
The above map shows three planned and actual routes for the UPRR tracks in this region. One was the original, shorter route which would have bypassed Medicine Bow, the Rock Creek Stagecoach Station, and Como Bluff (favored by Grenville Dodge, construction manager for the Union Pacific), one shows the current route to which the tracks were moved after the construction of the Lincoln Highway in the 1920s, and one shows the route of the original tracks, which connected with Rock Creek Station and Como Station, just south of Como Bluff.
As for the attempted train derailment itself, it took place between Como Station and the ridge by the Medicine Bow River. There were reports of someone working on the tracks on the west side of the bridge the day before Eric Brown found the loosened rails on the east side. Those on the Eastbound train assumed it was a section crew doing repair work. The engine nearly knocked one man standing on the bridge off into the river.
It turns out the man who was caught on the bridge and almost knocked off was robber and all-around outlaw, George "Big Nose" Parrott. Those who recorded many of the details of Parrott's involvement probably got this information from his confession after he was captured about two years after this incident took place.
The accounts of the attempts to derail the train, the reason why the section crew was not fired upon as they repaired the tracks, but the two lawmen who found the hideout in Rattlesnake Canyon were killed (including what took place in the canyon) came from members of the gang after they were captured. Many of those confessions came from Big Nose George, who claimed he and another man were opposed to killing the section crew, which put them at odds with the rest of the gang. Also, the information about George being the one nearly knocked off the bridge probably came from him. This dispute over the murders and attempted murders led to the gang splitting up and each going their own ways. In coming months, some were caught.
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| Halleck Ridge and Rattlesnake Creek leading to Elk Mountain |
Why were the men working on the west side of the bridge the day before the disturbed rails were found? It was their intent to derail and rob the eastbound train. Unfortunately, that train came through earlier than expected and before the gang had caused enough damage to the rails to derail it. My theory, which might be fiction, is they already planned to use Rattlesnake Canyon as their temporary hideout after the robbery until they either planned their next move or went their separate ways. The initial investigation into the missing lawmen showed tracks leading along the southern edge of Halleck Ridge, which then turned southeast along Rattlesnake Creek.
It was at the point where the trail led into the canyon that Dickinson went to Carbon City to inform Carbon County Sheriff Lawry of the crime. Widdowfield and Vincents were sent out to gather information. They were to pose as cattlemen looking for grazing land. If they found something promising, they were to return so a larger posse could be formed to pursue the gang. Unfortunately, they stumbled upon the hideout. It was nine days after their murders before their bodies were found.
Dutch Charley, one of the original gang members, formed a new gang in September of 1878. Only a few of the original gang members joined him.
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| Ruins of Rock Creek |
I set part of my story in Rock Creek Station, which was located between Laramie and Medicine Bow. (see above) To learn more about that station, please read last month's post, Rock Creek Station. I chose to have Lauren sent there because I knew about the hotel and restaurant owned and operated by John Thayer were targeted the December following the attempted August train derailment. Dutch Charlie planned to rob the train as it crossed Rock Creek north of Elk Mountain. He also decided to go after the payroll for Fort Fetterman he believed John Thayer held in his safe until it could be transported by freighters.
Fortunately for Thayer, Dutch Charley sent gang member, John Howard, to investigate. Howard got cold feet and confessed all. John Thayer responded by hiring former Albany County sheriff, N.K. Boswell, to track down and arrest the gang. Boswell hired a private posse, promising to pay $250 for the capture of the gang. The gang was captured on Christmas Day in 1878 in--guess where? Rattlesnake Canyon.
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| Thayer's hotel and restaurant at Rock Creek |
Most references say the restaurant and hotel were owned by Governor John Thayer. However, I discovered that John Thayer was governor of Wyoming Territory from 1875 until May of 1878. By December, he was again living in Nebraska, where he had been before his appointment. It might have been the governor's decision to have the business built. He might have provided the funding. However, it was run by his son, also named John Thayer. I developed the fictional personality of my character, the son named John Thayer, based on the assertive manner in which he went about ridding Rock Creek and environs of Dutch Charley's gang.
Another town to which my hero and heroine travel is Rawlins. It is a real city. The Railroad Hotel and U.P. Restaurant did exist, as did Allen and Mary Hayes. I have written about this couple and their hotel in earlier books, as well as about the Rankin family. James Rankin was a deputy sheriff and assistant U.S. Marshal in 1878. He was later elected sheriff of Carbon County. One brother, Robert, was the jailer, and his other brother living in Wyoming Territory, Joseph, worked at the family livery. You can read about the Rankin family in my post, The Rankins of Rawlins.
I thoroughly enjoyed writing Lauren, Book 2 in the Rescue Me (Mail-order Brides) series.
To find the book description and purchase options, please CLICK HERE.
Sources:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14059595/henry-h-vincents
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147220794/robert-widdowfield
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113556618/charlie-burris
http://www.prairierosepublications.blogspot.com/2014/10/big-nose-georgewhat-nice-pair-of-shoes.html
https://buckrail.com/how-a-notorious-wyoming-outlaw-became-a-pair-of-shoes/
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/rawlinsa.html
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/lincRKcreek.html
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/medbow2.html
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/photos10b.html
https://truewestmagazine.com/article/history-haunts-and-hotels/
