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| https://www.sweetwaternow.com/ annual-rendezvous-started-in-sweetwater-county/ |
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| https://welovetoexplore.com/ abandoned-mining-town-ashcroft-colorado/ |
Untouched mountains. Fields of wildflowers left unplowed where horses grazed. Silver left in its veins.
Oops! That last one is a problem. The discovery of vast mineral and silver deposits was enough to cause the government to break a treaty.
Because of pressure by 'the elite' to mine the area, the army forced the Ute tribes off their land. Some went onto reservations, leaving homes behind. This left the area open for settlement and for mining. Towns rose in a day, like Leadville and Meeker. The Railroad rushed to lay tracks and expand into the area.
My new release--coming June 10th--starts at that point in Colorado's history. Even some army forts were abandoned and claimed by settlers. I used that historical tidbit and built my fictional town around one such fort.
Like other towns during the era, one man creates and controls it. For Ike Walton, that man is his stepfather. Little wonder Ike has to run away when the man decides to have him killed.
He turned, mindless of the pistol pressed to his neck. “Melvin, thank the Lord. I thought it was my stepfather.”
Melvin did not lower the pistol. Instead, he kept it pressed against the other man’s throat. His hand trembled as he held it there.
“It might as well be Mr. Oliver. He sent me here to kill you.”
The trembling from Melvin’s hand had traveled to Ike’s legs. They wanted to give out on him. He stiffened his knees to keep from tumbling to the ground.
“Kill me? My stepfather?”
“Yep, it’s a strange night. Ida’s in a rare taking once I told her that.”
The time period, late 1870s, is a strange one to set a mountain man novel. The fur trade was all but finished by 1850. This was a time for mining and settlement.
But I imagined three old men who hung onto their lifestyle as mountain men. They are there to help our hero, whose grandfather had once been a fur trapper. These men will turn the hero into a true mountain man, one who can survive and thrive amongst the rugged peaks.
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| Frederick Remington, https://www.sweetwaternow.com/annual-rendezvous-started-in-sweetwater-county/ |
For the first time since he rode through the dark night, Ike viewed his circumstances in a different light. He was not hiding on the mountain. No, he was claiming a life that might have been his. If not for his pa’s death by an outlaw’s bullet, Ike would have heard stories of his mountain man grandfather.
His gaze met Robby’s. “Will you teach me how to fire the Brown Bess?”
The man clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit, boy! Finally, the bear’s ready to roar.”
The younger man did not try to understand that analogy. He only smiled as he listened to the man describe the steps in loading a musket. Siting it was trickier than firing the Sharps rifle. Little wonder most folks no longer used the old-style weapon.
That afternoon, Ike learned to pan fry venison chops. While he picked his teeth with a bristle pulled from the broom, he listened to the trio play a song. Somehow, their music lost its earlier discordant sound.
He forgot that today he was meant to be at his own wedding. Snow drifts cut him off from her. Instead, he enjoyed staring out the window at holly bushes with bulging with red berries. Equally red cardinals sat on their branches and pecked at the fruit.
Tranquility filled him. For a time, he was far above the problems in Walton’s Valley. Figuratively and literally.
I invite you to travel back in time to the settlement of Colorado. Ike's Isolation releases Tuesday, June 10th.
US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DT7TFKV6
UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DT7TFKV6
CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DT7TFKV6
AU https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DT7TFKV6
