Is there gold in the Uinta Mountains? by Zina Abbott

Is there gold in the Uinta Mountains? This mountain range is separated from other known gold-producing areas in Utah, although Utah as a whole never produced much gold in relation to other regions.

Not much is known about the backside of the Uinta Mountains. To access the Eastern Uintas, backpackers need to begin in Whiterocks on tribal grounds—a place hikers seldom visit. Thousands of acres of wilderness remain mostly untouched. Ashley National Forest borders tribal grounds which strongly discouraged trespassing. Treasure hunters, explorers and lost gold enthusiasts have determined that east of Fort Duchesne, in Whiterocks’ Rock Creek is the place where millions of dollars of gold lies in abandoned mine shafts and caverns, left there by both the Aztec empire and Spanish explorers.

Chief Wakara "Walker"

Thomas Rhoades

There is quite a tale about Thomas Rhoades, founder of the town of Kamas on the western edge of the Unita Mountains, and of his dealings with Ute War Chief Walker (Wakara) who had been baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In July 1852, Wakara reportedly agreed to reveal the location of the gold as long as it was used exclusively for the benefit of the church. He allowed Brigham Young to choose one white man to travel to a sacred mine called "Carre Shin Ob," or "There dwells the Great Spirit," and bring back gold if he swore not to reveal the location. The Utes had no real interest in the gold, but still greatly resented the Spanish overlords who had mined the metal at the expense of their people. According to legend, at the time the region fell under Spanish rule, many Utes were taken as slaves to work in mines (both silver and gold) in the Uintas for their Spanish captors.

President Young chose Thomas Rhoades, a stalwart member of the church who spoke fluent Ute. When Thomas became ill in 1855, he sent his son, Caleb. They continued to make trips in and out of the region for years. They managed to evade gold-seekers following them, and no one ever found the location of the mine. Some suggest the location is near Bald Mountain and Hayden Peak in the Uinta Mountains.

 

Bald Mountain - Uinta Mountain Range

There is also Gold Hill in the Unita Mountains west of Road 150 and near Moffit Peak. Today, Road 150 is a two lane paved road that is closed in winter. The streets off that road that lead to Gold Hill and Moffit Peak are dirt roads. The nearest road to Gold Hill is a mile from the mine site. Visitors must hike in to see the mine. To see images of Moffit Peak and Gold Hill, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

In the northeast corner of the state, the Green River has produced placer gold below Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

 

Uinta Mountain Range, Duchesne in south, Flaming Gorge in north - Ctsy Perry Castaneda Maps

So, yes, indications point to there being gold in the Unita Mountains—not a lot, but enough to provide a setting for the series, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge.

A week from today, my newest book, Nissa, from The Widows of Wildcat Ridge series will be released. I am having a mini-celebration over on our Widows of Wildcat Ridge Readers Group. If you have not yet joined this group, now is the time—PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Nissa is still on preorder for only one more week. To read the book description and reserve your copy, please CLICK HERE.

To see the other books already published or available on preorder in The Widows of Wildcat Ridge series on Amazon, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Also, please enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to to be the one to win my pre-celebration prize of two of my autographed print books: Independence Day 1881 and Harvest Dance 1881 (USA readers only. Outside the USA I’ll send digital versions.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sources for article:

http://utahtreasure.blogspot.com/2011/05/lost-rhoades-mines-overview.html

http://utahstories.com/2013/08/buried-treasure-in-utah-how-to-find-it/

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/74154/LEGENDS-OF-UTAH-GOLD.html

http://www.goldrushnuggets.com/goldinutah.html

https://www.summitpost.org/moffit-peak-gold-hill/images/p-153507

https://www.summitpost.org/moffit-peak-gold-hill/153507

BOOKS in Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection, true to 1887

by Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author

I'm rather picky about historical accuracy. Let's just say that I've not always known as much about research or the way things really were (and my early titles show it). With every book I write, I fall more and more in love with the accuracy, and tiny elements that create a beautiful setting for a romance novel. Today, I want to share the "Books" part of the "Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection One" Series. Oh, and stick around! Make sure you stick with me 'til the end, so you can enter my PRIZE DRAWING for an ebook, standard paperback, or LARGE PRINT paperback of this NEW RELEASE.

All authors in this 9-author series were instructed to include books, any way we wanted, in our Thanksgiving romances. Given my circumstances and setting in Unmistakably Yours, I ended up electing to name true-to-history titles that the Ladies' Lending Library would have actually purchased (or received as gifts to the library), and have a era-appropriate book titles within other story elements (such as Jane's gift to the Murphy boys, and Hank's not-so-appealing nickname by the town's naysayers when they refer to our hero as "Chicken Little.") [Read the book description here-- after all, our hero is FAR from an anxious biddy. He's rather intelligent and wise.]

Vintage Book One: Chicken Little

We all know "the sky is falling" and "Chicken Little"... but just how old is old? Hmmmm.... I was thrilled to find Mrs. M.E. Hall, widow of the late Salmon Hall advertising the sale of all kinds of books (even if she misspelled stationery as stationary) at her residence one door east of the Book Store formerly occupied by her late husband... as she's selling all of his remaining wares... In New Bern, North Carolina. In 1842.

Chicken Little is for sale, along with many other still-familiar titles, in the Newbern Spectator of New Bern, North Carolina, on February 19, 1842.

Yay! Proof that "Chicken Little" was plenty familiar by my story, set in 1887.

But what are the chances that this "Chicken Little" is actually of The Sky is Falling vintage? Another historical newspaper clipping, published in The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, Louisiana on April 15, 1843, verifies the connection. See the transcription, below (I've taken care to maintain everything from paragraph breaks to punctuation-- quite different from today's). The original image is dark and difficult to read.

THE SKY FALLING.---The following humorous little nursery story, told by N. P. Willis, has a very ingenious and excellent point to it, showing, as a moral, how timid persons may be thrown into terror, and how there is always a "Fox Lox" ready to take advantage of their fright. Silly superstition and love of the marvellous [sic] will furnish capital to support humbug and imposture, until the end of time. Let the "Chicken Little" followers of Parson Miller look out for their "Fox Lox."

"Did you ever hear of Chicken Little, how she disturbed a whole neighborhood by her foolish alarm? Well, Chicken Little was running about in a gentleman's garden, and she ran under a rose bush, and a leaf fell on her tail; and she was dreadfully frightened, and ran away to Hen Pen. 'Oh, Hen Pen,' said she, the sky is falling!'  'Why, Chicken Little, how do you know it?' 'Oh, I heard it with my ears, I saw it with my eyes, and part of it fell on my tail.'  'Come, then,' says Hen Pen, 'let us run as fast as we can!' So they ran till they came to Duck Luck. 'Oh, Duck Luck!' says Hen Pen, 'the sky is falling!'  'Why, how do you know it?' says Duck Luck. 'Chicken Little told me.'  'Chicken Little, how do you know it?'  'I heard it with my ears, I saw it with my eyes, and part of it fell on my tail.'  'Oh, let us run,' said Duck Luck; and they went on until they came to Goose Loose.-- 'Oh, Goose Loose!' says Duck Luck-- 'the sky is falling!'  'Why, Duck Luck, how do you know it?'  'Hen Pen told me.'  'Hen Pen, how do you know it?'  'Chicken Little told me.'  'Chicken Little, how do you know it?'  'I heard it with my ears, I saw it with my eyes, and part of it fell on my tail.'  'Run! run as fast as you can,' says Goose Loose.---And away they all went until they met with Fox Lox. 'Oh! Fox Lox, the sky is falling!'  'Who told you?' says Fox Lox. 'Goose Loose told me.'  'Goose Loose, who told you?'--'Duck Luck.'  'Duck Luck, who told you?'--'Hen Pen.'  'Hen Pen, who told you?'  'Chicken Little.'  'Chicken Little, who told you?'  'I heard it with my ears, I saw it with my eyes, and part of it fell on my tail!'  'Make haste,' says Fox Lox, 'and all come into my den.' Fox Lox opened the door, and in they went, and he made a supper of them;---and all this from the foolish fright of Chicken Little."

This example is common of the Victorian Era in the United States-- Newspaper stories retelling folk tales or fairy tales (all of which were not happy endings), intended to teach the morals of the day: honesty, obedience, integrity, wisdom, etc.

Here's a thumbnail image of the original clipping from 1843:

Vintage Book Two: The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde 

Naturally, my Ladies' Library Association would want to buy the most popular new titles. I was tickled to see that The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde fit that bill. The following newspaper clipping was published in the Chicago Tribune of Chicago, Illinois on July 31, 1886... and my story opens in August of 1887. Notice the timing:

The Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1886.

Note, above, "His (Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson's) "Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" was published twenty-two weeks ago, and 22,000 copies have been sold--a thousand a week."

The following newspaper clip was published in The Clay Center Dispatch of Clay Center, Kansas on June 17, 1886, illustrating the likelihood that this title would be quite available (and of interest) in Mountain Home, Colorado, that very autumn.

The Clay Center Dispatch of Clay Center, Kansas on June 17, 1886.

Vintage Book Three: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Yipee! This well-known title was published in 1876, and though originally a commercial failure (according to wikipedia), newspapers of the decade show the title was certainly available for sale and people did buy it.

"Adventures of Tom Sawyer" won as a prize in a spelling match. McPherson Freeman newspaper of McPherson, Kansas on August 13, 1886.

Prize Copy of New Release: Unmistakably Yours

I'm pleased to offer to one winner his/her choice of the kindle edition, standard paperback, or large print edition of the paperback (paperbacks will be awarded to winners residing within the United States only; if the winner lives in another nation, I'll substitute the kindle edition).

 

TO ENTER THE DRAWING: 

• comment on this post
• include your thoughts about books in an Old West (Victorian / 19th Century American) novel. Here are a few sample questions to spark your ideas... No need to answer them all, but to enter, please answer at least one (or something similar that is of interest to you): 
• What books have you seen mentioned? 
• How do books play a role inside a story? 
• If you were an author, and needed books to play a role in a book you're writing, how would you include that element?
• etc.
• ONE winner will be drawn at random on Monday, October 8th at 7 PM Mountain Time and the winner's name will be posted here. Set an alarm in your cell phone so you'll remember to check back!

Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author, writes Sweet Victorian Romance set in the American West. She writes frequently about Old West history and contributes monthly to Sweet Americana Sweethearts.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

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Copyright © 2018 Kristin Holt LC 

Nineteenth Century Sporting Goods ...

Eat your heart out, REI. Back in the day, catalogues carried a pelothra of goodies with catalogue writing as uplifting as the 23rd Psalm. Kit Morgan here and today I want to show you that folks wanted to stay in shape back in the 1800s much as we do today. If one couldn't hit the gym, (yes, they had them back then) you could order items to help you stay in shape from a catalog! Take the Columbia Instantaneous Doorway Gymnasium and Parlor Exercising Rowing Machine, for instance.  No ordinary exercise bar, this. It "brightens the eye, quickens the hearing, increases the wind, elevates the mind, increases the appetite, causes good digestion, prevents sickness and bad vices." All for $14.50. Not to mention the excercise in diction one gets just speaking the name!

The afore mentioned ad is from a catalog in 1866.  The Peck and Snyder catalog was filled with all sorts of wonderful items.  Football jerseys, stocking supporters, yachting shoes, Eureka rowing machines, house brand Indian clubs, jockstraps, velocipedes, Excelsior bait pails, mosquito shields for the head and that's not all. One could get gavels, police clubs, secret ballot boxes, trick cigars, ballroom dance guides, even Dutch and Irish dialect readings.  These were the sorts of catalogs that came out when  baseball was two words and a bicycle was $12.50.

You could also buy books of all sorts. Dictionaries, books on etiquitte, the science of self-defense, how to do card tricks and magic. You could even order a book of Honest Abe's jokes.  When it came to sporting-goods and games, you could probably find it in Peck and Snyder's catalog.  For those less inclined to indulge in physical activity, one could order a lawn tent and a hammock or two.

Ordering goods from a catologue back in the 1860's wasn't exactly like ordering from Amazon. For one, the folks at Peck and Snyder recieved hundreds of orders with little more than the company name and city written on the envelope. When looking at the Post Office Guide, they found 28 places of the same city name and in as many different states. Apparently back then, some folks didn't think to add the name of the state when mailing letters. But eventually people's orders made it to Peck and Snyder and were filled. Just think if they had Amazon Prime?

In my book Trail to Clear Creek, I'm sure my characters would have like to have shopped on Amazon before embarking on the Oregon Trail. I wonder if they could have ordered themselves a coverd wagon? Surely their other supplies could have come from there. Unfortunately, the wonder that is Amazon didn't exist back then. Sigh.

But fear not! You can tag along with my characters as they prepare for their journey, disembark from Independence Missouri, and travel the Oregon Trail with them. Oh, and did I mention you'll be traveling with a newly married couple who have five sons between them? The ultimate road trip! You can find the book here.

Until next time, happy reading!
Kit

Texas Towns and Cities Part One - Irving, Texas

Writers are encouraged to write about what they know.

Consequently, in my first historical Christian romance series, the Texas Romance Family Saga, I elected to use my new hometown of Clarksville, seat of Red River County and its surrounding locales in the far Northeast corner of the state.

I even located my hero & heroine’s home on the nine hundred acre ranch my husband and I presently live on seven miles south and east of the square.

With my new Cross Timbers Family Saga series, I decided to go back to my roots and set in it Irving, Texas where my husband and I grew up and lived over fifty years as my backdrop. My first twelve grandsugars all went to Otis Brown Elementary, across the street from our home.

Of yet, I’ve not named the settlement my four families in book one GONE TO TEXAS—the O’Neals, Worleys, VanZandts, and Harrells—homesteaded. In the series’ coming novels, the real life settlements of Sowers, Kit, Shady Grove, Union Bower, Finley, Estelle, and Bear Creek will be part and parcel of the stories.

As with our fictitious settlement in GONE TO TEXAS, these real life places sprung up because of pilgrims from all over the Eastern states hunting a new life on the wide open lands of Texas. And they brought like-minded friends and family along with them.

In 1903, all of that changed. Two young men, Otis Brown, twenty-four years old, and his boss, head of the Rock Island Railroad surveying crew, twenty-eight-year-old J.O. Schulze, surveyed a ten-mile stretch of land between the existing cities of Dallas and Fort Worth for the future rail line between the two cities.

Knowing what a boon the railroad would be to the area, Schulze suggested to Brown that it would be the perfect place for a town. The men left the employment of the railroad in the fall of 1902 and purchased eighty acres from Henry Britain who owned a ranch about nine miles west of Dallas.

Most of 1903, the worked diligently cutting timber and blowing out stumps then that December, they auctioned off forty town lots.

The only buildings in what was to be named Irving—Brown’s wife’s favorite author, Washington Irving—was the partially constructed railroad depot and the newly built home of Otis Brown and his wife Netta.

So unlike the afore-mentioned settlements, the Irving Community was planned because of the railroad. Two young men saw an opportunity and seized it. Schulze also built a home for his wife in 1904, but returned to Iowa the next year due to her poor health.

Brown stayed and became Irving’s first mayor in April 1914 when the city was incorporated, taking in all of the smaller surrounding settlements that Irvingite's today still know and love.

For the Frugal Kitchen - Kitchen Hints - Parsley

I admit, that I am NOT a fan of parsley, but my great-grandmother was. She could eat it like candy. When we'd go out to eat and they'd put parsley on our plates, we'd pass it down to her on the bread plate and she'd eat it all like a side for her dinner. So when I saw the mention of Parsley in an 1890s Ladies Magazine, I couldn't resist. She lived to be 93 and saw my son on his first Mother's Day. It made me so proud and teary to see my son held by his great-great-grandmother. 

So, I hope you'll enjoy this kitchen hint about the use of PARSLEY -

Careful women of modest incomes and gentle tastes should luxuriate in back-yard beds of parsley. A few cents' worth of seed will supply abundantly the need of a whole neighborhood, and save countless pennies to those who otherwise would purchase tiny bunches at the market. But buy the seed of curly parsley, and have no fear when it fails to appear above the ground with lettuce and beans planted the same evening. "After many days: - twentyone, I think - the little leaves will push up and grow rapidly. Then may a plain omelet be transformed into the French "omelette aux herbes" by adding parsley - a tablespoonful, chopped quite fine. Then may broiled steak be dressed with "maitre d'hotel butter," which is simply butter creamed and mixed with a goodly portion of chopped parsley and a few drops of lemon-juice. Then may good soup be made better with parsley-branches boiled in the stock, and parsley-leaves chopped into the tureen. Then may excellent hash be perfected with the piquant flavor lent by this simple herb, and carefully-made drawn butter or brown sauce improved by its pleasant taste. In serving any dish of meat of fish, a border of parsley around the platter's edge will go far in helping to accomplish the daintiness and prettiness which all women of good breeding must desire in their table-service. Late into our frosty weather, the hardy little plant survives its tender mates. In good season to escape the killing frost, a box should be planted full for winter use. If a south window be available, and moderate care be given in watering and in loosening the earth with a large fork, you will be supplied all winter. But, while the garden-crop is plentiful, it is well to gather parsley in large bunches, dry it on tin plates in the warming-oven, then chop fine, discarding stems, and preserve in glass bottles or small tin boxes, for use in winter. While not as desirable for delicate gravies and nice dressings as fresh leaves picked from teh growing plants, it answers well for soups and hashes.

- 

As I read the instruction for drying parsley for the winter, I think about how many times I go to the spice aisle at the grocery store and pick up a bottle. How simple is our modern life when so many things are done for us! 

Dime Novels--Television of the 1800s, part 1

In my latest novel, Chasing Adventure, book 8 of the Entertainers of the West series, the heroine, Thora Alviss, is a published author with The Oceanside Library, a New York City-based publisher of dime novels. She writes female-centric stories and learns of an opportunity that sends her west to interview a famous U.S. marshal so she can create more believable heroes. Trouble is, said U.S. Marshal Harte Renwyck wants nothing to do with his previous life after a tragedy related to his last arrest. The two butt heads and their interactions were so much fun to write.

Several earlier books in the Entertainers series had mentioned dime novels in passing. For this novel, I did in-depth research and was fascinated with what I read. The earliest rendition of this printed entertainment was called story papers with the first edition titled The Young Gentleman’s Magazine in England published in 1777.  The stories were printed on eight pages of cheap paper, with sizes varying from tabloid style to regular newspaper format. The writing wasn’t expected to be great, because the issues sold for a penny, thus coining the term “penny dreadful.” The first story papers started in American in the 1850s and had series that ran on a weekly basis for fifty years. Lots of companies printed the stories in England under such titles as Boys of England, The Boys’ Herald, Boys’ Best Story Paper, The Modern Boy, and Boys’ Champion. Fewer titles were aimed at females--Peg’s Papers, The Schoolgirl, Schoolgirls’ Weekly. The Boys’ and Girls’ Penny Magazine (1832) was the first story paper to gain popularity.

In America, most historians agree the first acknowledged dime novel was published by Beadle & Adams Company and titled Maleaska, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter written by Ann S. Stephens. The date of the publication is July 9, 1860, but the story first appeared in three parts in Ladies’ Companion magazine during January through March, 1839. Thus started the habit of reprinting already published material, because at that time, the copyright laws didn’t protect the author. Beadle’s Dime Novels were 6.5 by 4.25 inches (a little shorter and a little wider than current regular-sized novels) and 100 pages each. The first issues were printed with a plain salmon-colored cover. Issue 29 featured a wood-block cut illustration. This series ran for 321 issues and is credited with establishing the standards for the genre: outlandish plots, lurid action, and the melodramatic title and subtitle to entice the readers.

The vast majority of the early stories were set on the frontier (a geographic line that kept moving west) and included encounters with vagabond travelers, scary wildlife, and Indians. As the American West became settled, these stories evolved into westerns. Due to an increase in literacy around the Civil War, the volumes became very popular among young, working class people. Following a story line or character from week to week was similar to the scripted television shows we currently watch. The first dime novel detective, Old Sleuth, appeared in 1872 in the Fireside Companion. Some characters became so popular that issues were published with only stories featuring that character. By the 1880s, with other publishers like George Munro and Robert DeWitt starting publication, stories set in cities appeared, as well as medieval-set romances and soap opera-ish titles.

Publishers were eager to find stories of all types. The publication that had a set format needed to fill 50 or 100 pages every week, 52 weeks a year. Original stories were sought and many women found a place for their creations. When a character grew popular, publishers gathered 4-5 stories featuring the main character and printed a separate issue under a new title. A practice that became confusing to reads but proved popular with those who collected the issues.

Next part: In depth with Penny Dreadfuls

Look for Chasing Adventure here (don’t buy until October 2 to ensure you received the correct copy. A glitch occurred with the pre-order copy) An e-copy will be gifted to one lucky person chosen from those who comment on this blog post by Sunday, September 30.