A bit about Leadville, Colorado

    Leadville, the highest incorporated city in North America, even the name sounds dangerous, and the town was. Fortunes were made and lost in a heartbeat. And some heartbeats were cut short by mine cave-ins, gun fights, starvation, and cold weather. 
    The characters in my book A Cowboy’s Fate, take an 1800’s road trip from Denver to Leadville. Despite being occasionally called Cloud City, it was a rough and tumble place, with flashes of cultural enlightenment and high living.  

  The town definitely had its ups and downs. In 1860 gold was discovered, but that played out quickly. Then in 1877 silver became the magnet drawing thousands back up the mountain. 
  During its peak, Leadville bragged over 30,000 residents. It became the second largest town in Colorado. With 100 saloons and gambling places, multiple daily and weekly newspapers, and 36 brothels. It was even slated at one time to be the capital.

                             

   Hardscrabble miners, and ruffians of every nature “settled” the town, but the wealth amassed soon drew all manner of folk to the city, both the famous and infamous. They made the daunting trip by foot, by mule, and finally by train. 
   The Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railway still follows the headwaters of the Arkansas River route.

                                                    

   And the French Gulch Water Tower is still standing, amidst terrific views of Mount Elbert, Colorado's highest snow-capped peak.
                                            
         One of the most famous stories associated with Leadville is the saga of Baby Doe Tabor, and it reads like a tragic soap opera. 

   Previously married and divorced, Elizbeth (Lizzie) McCourt, had already acquired the name Baby Doe and when Horace Tabor saw her, he was enchanted.                    

   Tabor built a grand theater in Denver, and an opera house in Leadville. 

    The Leadville structure was touted as being the best between Chicago and San Francisco. 

   John Phillips Sousa performed there, Jack Dempsey boxed on the same stage...the stage which still features a trap door Houdini allegedly used during his famous disappearing act. Susan B. Anthony and Oscar Wilde also tread the boards.
                                          

    Infamous characters like ...Doc Holliday, Frank and Jesse James, Buffalo Bill, Tom Horn, Bob and Cole Younger and the Daltons passed through Leadville. And stories of Wyatt Earp shooting a marble off the piano at the famous Pastime Saloon (still in operation) are a part of what has made Leadville one of the last remaining authentic early western towns.

                               
   With the repeal of the Silver Act and the panic of 1893 the Tabor’s fortunes were wiped out. Horace died in Denver. Baby Doe returned to Leadville, and although she found religion, she could find no investors for the Matchless Mine.                 

   Out of sheer guts and determination, she survived another 35 years, visited only on occasion by her two daughters. During the winter of 1935, after a severe snow storm, she froze to death, surrounded by her ramblings and journal entries. Some called her a madwoman—she was definitely a woman from which legends are born, and Leadville claims her as their own.

  In 1895, in an attempt to draw tourists to their town to bolster their flagging economy, Leadville constructed a mammoth ice castle. It opened January 1st 1896. Encompassing 58,000 square feet, it was dubbed the Crystal Palace. The palatial building included an ice skating rink, a merry-go-round, a toboggan run, and several social enterprises, including gambling, restaurants, and dance rooms.   

 Unfortunately, Leadville had a very early thaw in March, which destroyed the most magnificent ice palace in history.
  

  Today, one of the winter attractions in Leadville is ski-joring, where they close off main street, build terrifying ski ramps, and pull fearless skiers behind a horse running at full-gallop.    

  For those who prefer summer sports, there is
 pack burro racing....up a mountain.                                 

I hope my characters, Cody and Britania lived a long and happy life in Leadville. A town where, if you're lucky, dreams can come true. 

Blurb: Colorado, 1880

   Kicked out of England for offending the Royal Family, Britania Rule heads for Leadville, in the Colorado backcountry. Passing herself off as a highborn lady, she pursues her dream of opening a parlor of spiritual enlightenment. 

  Cody James, her guide, thinks he must be half-crazy to hire-out to a female. But his luck at the gaming tables has run dry, and she’s his meal-ticket out of town. Betrayed by the only woman he ever loved, and shot and left for dead by a man he once called friend, Cody declares himself a loner. 

   Traveling side by side, they deny their desire for one another, but the Tarot cards say otherwise—and their hot night of passion confirms the prediction. Will love be waiting at the end of the trail? Or could Cody’s past destroy their future? 

Excerpt:

   Cody burst out laughing, this time even harder.  

   Glancing around the back of the wagon, the reason became clear and Britania gasped in alarm. One of her trunks had burst open, spewing lacy be-ribboned undergarments hither and yon. These were not items worn by the type of lady she pretended to be. They were outrageous dainties, a jezebel’s delight, couture de jour for a whore. 

  “Oh, bloody `ell.” 

   She clamped a hand over her mouth wishing she could call back the words as her upper-class accent gave way to East End twang. On hands and knees, she scurried around gathering up the incriminating garments and stuffing them back into the trunk.

     Using only thumb and forefinger, Cody carefully disengaged a pink rosebud-covered corset dangling off the back of the wagon. “Interesting choice of underclothing, Miss Rule. Can’t say as I’ve seen such pretties outside a bordello.” He offered up the garment, the garters taunting and swinging back and forth in front of her nose.

   “They were gifts, if you must know,” she said, wresting it from his grasp, “going away presents from my girlfriends. And since I nearly met my death a moment ago, I would think you would be more worried about me, rather than the contents of my wardrobe.” 

   “Sorry,” he said, his tone indicating he wasn’t—his half-smile reinforcing the point. 

     He rummaged around in another pack, and extracted a bottle of liquor. “I guess you being such a lady, it would be foolish of me to offer you a snort of whiskey. I know I could sure use one.” Uncorking it, he took a large swig.

   Her mouth watered. She had done her share of elbow bending, and right now, a drink sounded just the thing.

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My Stories: 

Western Romance: Break Heart Canyon * Undercover Outlaw * Cowboys, Cattle and Cutthroats * A Cowboy’s Fate*Special Delivery. 

Contemporary Romantic Thriller: Fatal Recall

Medieval Romance: The Dragon and The Rose * Iron Heart *Promise Me Christmas. 

Victorian Romance: Lady Gallant * Victorian Dream 

Romantasy: The Fae Warriors Trilogy: Solace * Bliss * Portence 

Blog www.ginirifkin.blogspot.com

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November tenth, remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald

The haunting song The Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot, is born of sorrow and tragedy. 

The Edmund Fitzgerald

June 1957 to November 1975 

                                                  listen and lyrics

The large cargo vessels that roamed the five Great Lakes were known as lakers, and the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was, at the time, the biggest ever built. Weighing more than 13,000 tons without cargo, it was christened on June 8, 1958, and made its first voyage on September 24 the same year. 

                                                           The HOMES

According to Michael Schumacher’s The Mighty Fitz, with the commissioning of the Fitzgerald, Northwestern Mutual became the first American insurance company to build its own ship—at a cost of $8.4 million.

It was named after the head of the company, and the ship's main job was hauling iron ore. 

Its impressive size made the ship popular with boat-watchers, and

over the years it garnered many nicknames, including “The Queen of the Great Lakes,” and “The Toledo Express,”

 Crowds would watch as the massive freighter moved through the

locks at Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The “Soo” Locks, which connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron, allowed the Fitz to reach ports on the lower Great Lakes.

November is a brutal month on the Great Lakes with frequent storms and hurricane-force winds. On November 9, the Fitz was loaded up at the Burlington Northern Railroad Dock in Superior, Wisconsin with 26,116 tons of iron ore pellets  It left at 2:30 p.m. A second ship, the Arthur M. Anderson, sailed 10-15 miles behind the Fitzgerald as a precaution, and the two ships remained in radio contact until just after 7 p.m. on November 10.

  As swells reached 35 feet and winds raged at nearly 100 mph, the ship contacted Coast Guard officials in Sault Ste. Marie and said they were taking on water. Later, a blizzard obscured the Fitz on the Anderson’s radar.

   At 7:10 p.m., Captain Ernest McSorley assured a crew member of the Anderson “We are holding our own.” It was the last anyone heard from the Fitzgerald or Captain McSorley, who was on his final voyage before retirement, 

The ship was approximately 15 miles north of Whitefish Point

when it seemingly vanished with nothing on radar, and no radio contact. Captain Cooper, on the Anderson, was in contact with the Coast Guard and made it to Whitefish Point sometime after 8 p.m.. Captain Cooper bravely turned the Anderson back into the storm to search for the ship, but found only a pair of lifeboats and debris.

     The Captain and all 28 crew members died. Most crew members were from Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota. There is still no definitive explanation for the ship sinking. With help from the Canadian Navy, the National Geographic Society, Sony, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians—The ship's bell was retrieved.

    Their is an annual Edmund Fitzgerald memorial ceremony at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. The recovered and restored bell tolls 29 times for each member of the Fitzgerald's crew, and a 30th for the estimated 30,000 mariners lost on the Great

 Lakes.                    

 Go here for interview with the brave Captain who tried to help.    Through the eyes of Captain Cooper  

 Go here for more info

   Documentary on the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald

      Thanks to mentalfloss.com for several bits of info.

Trapper's Moon winner of Maple Leaf Award.

                                   

Available paperback or e-book  

   This month see the biggest, brightest full moon of the year. It's also the perfect time to read "Trapper's Moon" Winner of the Maple Leaf award, 4 stars from NetGalley, and Reader's Favorite award. 

 Blurb: As a free trapper, mountain man Kade McCauley is wary of the Hudson Bay Company. Their form of vengeance against those who are not part of the company can be deadly. When he and his partner are attacked, he fights back, only to discover one of his shots struck an innocent. A woman who touches his soul, and he will do anything to keep her safe. 

    While searching for her Native American tribe, Blind Deer crosses paths with Kade—with near fatal results. Once she is patched up, she decides it is safer to travel with him than alone Their uneasy alliance turns to genuine caring, but Blind Deer's past gets in the way, and she must choose between her new love or her old obligations. 
   But nothing in life is carved in stone except the mountains, and those formidable peaks have been known to change the course of a man's life or a woman's.

 Excerpt 1

    The cabin door flew open. Blind Deer jumped and leaped aside. Favoring his right foot, Kade lumbered forward and flung himself toward the nearest chair.
     “Dang mule.” He bent forward to unlace his moccasin. “Stepped on my foot—not once but twice.”
     “Let me help.” She crouched down at his side. “Does the animal seek to harm you on purpose?” She slid the leather from his foot.
     “No, it was my fault for getting between the two of them hitched to a rail.”
     “Then I suppose shooting and eating this animal is out of the question.”  She peered up at him through her lashes. 
      He chuckled and relaxed back in the chair. “Sorry for bursting in on you in such a lather.” 
     Rolling a stump closer she up-ended it, placed a folded blanket on top, and rested his foot upon the trade wool. “I just brought in fresh water from the stream, the cold will help your pain and discourage the swelling.” 
      Soaking a cloth in the icy water she applied it to the top of his foot. Holding the cloth in place, she noticed a scar near the bruised flesh. Red and twisted, the old wound curved upward disappearing beneath the leg of Kade’s buckskin pants. The healed scar still appeared angry, as if refusing to be forgotten. “Did the mule do this too?” She gently ran a finger across the puckered flesh.
     “No. A Blackfoot brave accommodated me there. After he killed my parents.”
     Blind Deer drew back her hand as if it touched fire. “You must hate Indians.” She leaned away from him.
     “Some.” 
     “The Blackfoot people.”
     “Just that one.”
     “But not all?”
    “Why should I? They haven’t all tried to kill me.”

Excerpt 2
     Sitting by the door of the cabin, Kade tipped his chair back against the wall, then he reached down to scratch the big dog lying at his side. “Where do you hale from, Blind Deer?”
      Coming at her out of the blue, the question took her by surprise. She considered her answer. The Bitterroot Valley had been her home, but she had yet to make it back there in her current travels. Besides, why should he care? 
   “Where I am from depends upon whom you ask.” At her evasive answer, Kade raised a brow in exasperation. Regretting her sharp words she continued. “Having a white mother, and an Indian father, the Salish say I am from the circle that overlaps. They think I am honored to walk in two worlds. The Missionaries say I belong nowhere, and I corrupt both worlds.”
     “And what do you say?”
     She hesitated before answering. Here was a question no one had bothered to ask her before. “I am just me. And for now I am where I belong.”
     “Or maybe you’re a world unto yourself.” Kade tipped his chair forward, and the front legs thumped back down onto the floor.
     Did he laugh at her? His expression was serious, and kindness lived in his eyes. 
     Kade McCauley seemed very different from most of the dogface white men she’d met. 

                             Available paperback or e-book  

"Let's each write a ghost story."

                          

 This casually tossed out challenge lead to the creation of the most iconic, enduring, groundbreaking horror story of all times,                                               Frankenstein. 

   In the summer of 1816, Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Shelly, and Mary's half-sister Claire, took a trip to Geneva to visit Claire's lover, Lord Byron. 

   The weather was beastly, the world was locked in a long, cold volcanic winter caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815.  

    There at Byron's Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, in Switzerland's Alps, the friends sat around discussing Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, atheisms, the political times, and the unrest in France. Even the scientific theories of galvanism and reanimation. 

    One evening (this had to be the original dark and stormy night) Byron and the visitors were again forced to stay indoors. To help pass the time, they read stories from Fantasmagoriana a French anthology of German ghost stories

     Byron suggested that he, Mary, Percy, and Byron's physician, John Polidori (credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction) each write a ghost story. Mary's attempt, eventually became the famous Frankenstein. 

   Mary was very well educated. Her father was a fairly well known philosopher and author. Her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist and women's rights advocate, and author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. 

   Although her mother died shortly after young Mary's birth, while growing up, Mary was surrounded by her father's friends as they enjoyed many political, scientific, and philosophical discussions.  

 The subtitle of Frankenstein was The Modern Prometheus, and volumes of information have been penned regarding the influences and underlying theme surrounding the basic story. Even parallels between Victor Frankenstein and Mary's husband, Percy Shelley have been explored. 

    Published on 1 January 1818 by a small London publishing house, the book was issued anonymously, with a preface written for Mary by Percy Bysshe Shelley and with a dedication to philosopher William Godwin, her father. 

                              

   The second English edition was published in August 1823 in two volumes. October 31,1831 saw the first "popular" edition in one volume. This one was heavily revised by Mary Shelley, partially to make the story less radical. It included a lengthy new preface by the author, presenting a somewhat embellished version of the genesis of the story.

  But Mary's life seemed destined to be filled with loss and sadness. As noted, she lost her mother in infancy, she married Percy only three weeks after his first wife died of suicide, she lost two children early in life, and then Fanny, another half-sister, also died by suicide. But was anything as devastating as her final loss, that of her beloved Percy? 

                                   Photo by Paolo Razzauti
    There are rumors, his drowning in the bay of Lerici, Italy was due to piracy? Percy Shelley’s boat, the Don Juan, was one of the largest ship in the region. In town, he was known as an Englishman of wealth. There truly were pirates about, and they could be violent in their attempts at stealing. 

                   Statue by Henry Weekes, 1854 Christchurch Priory, England

   After several weeks, Percy's body washed ashore, identified by his friend Edward Trelawny from the clothing and a copy of Keats's Lamia in a jacket pocket. The body was cremated nearby. When the ashes cooled, Trelawny retrieved a piece of what remained and swore it was Percy's heart which he gave to Mary.  

   

   It is doubtful it was really Percy's heart, but the important thing is that Mary thought it was. She kept it with her throughout her life. After she died of brain cancer at age fifty-three, her only living child found the relic in her desk.

   Trelawny also collected ashes and supposed fragments of Shelley’s skull, now residing at the British Library. 

  How tragic and sad Percy and Mary's great love ended so abruptly when they were young and vibrant. Yet Percy accomplished much in his twenty-nine years, and Mary promoted his work, and remembered him always. 

My Stories: 

Western Romance: Break Heart Canyon * Undercover Outlaw * Cowboys, Cattle and Cutthroats * A Cowboy’s Fate*Special Delivery. 

Contemporary Romantic Thriller: Fatal Recall

Medieval Romance: The Dragon and The Rose * Iron Heart        *Promise Me Christmas. 

Victorian Romance: Lady Gallant * Victorian Dream 

Romantasy: The Fae Warriors Trilogy: Solace * Bliss * Portence 

Blog www.ginirifkin.blogspot.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/people/Gini-Rifkin-Author/100001680213365

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Anna Mazzola
https://annamazzola.com/did-mary-shelley-keep-percys-heart/#:~:text=How%20could%20it%20have%20survived,calcified%20due%20to%20earlier%20tuberculosis.

Is there a castle, right here in Colorado?

                      
The "castle" is located southwest of Pueblo, Colorado in Rye on State Highway 165 in the Wet Mountains. 

      Named after its creator, the late Jim Bishop, construction on what was originally intended to be a simple family cottage, started in 1969.

   Over the forty years it took Bishop to build this amazing structure, he not only battle the elements, and hard working conditions, he was also engaged in a running battle with Washington bureaucrats over the rocks that he used, which

came from the National Forest surrounding his property. 

    Bishop felt that they were his for the taking, the government wanted to charge him per truckload. That dispute was settled. In 1996, he was challenged by the local and state government over unsanctioned road signs that pointed to the site. They settled the dispute by issuing official road signs.

     Jim was a man with a big heart, big ideas, and big opinions.

 RoadsideAmerica.com devoted a chapter to the castle and rated it "major fun" and describing it as, "one man's massive-obsessive labor of medieval fantasy construction". But it also issued a "parent's alert," warning potential visitors that Jim Bishop was "a tough-talking man with strong, extreme beliefs, and sometimes he expresses them bluntly and loudly. If you and your children want to avoid potentially offensive rants (involving politics), you may want to steer clear."

   Jim Bishop passed away on November 21, 2024, in Pueblo, Colorado, at the age of 80. His son Dan took over as the castle's caretaker.

             https://www.facebook.com/bishopcastlecolorado/

                                  You can get driving directions here

If perhaps this got you in the mood for a good medieval romance, please try....  

The Dragon and The Rose https://books2read.com/u/3JOyOK

Iron Heart https://books2read.com/u/m2AxAd

Promise Me Christmas https://books2read.com/u/4EYMYE

My Stories: 

Western Romance: Break Heart Canyon * Undercover Outlaw * Cowboys, Cattle and Cutthroats * A Cowboy’s Fate*Special Delivery. 

Contemporary Romantic Thriller: Fatal Recall

Medieval Romance: The Dragon and The Rose * Iron Heart *Promise Me Christmas. 

Victorian Romance: Lady Gallant * Victorian Dream 

Romantasy: The Fae Warriors Trilogy: Solace * Bliss * Portence 

Blog www.ginirifkin.blogspot.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/people/Gini-Rifkin-Author/100001680213365

Amazon author  https://amzn.to/2R53KA9

Pinterest             https://www.pinterest.com/ginirifkin/pins/

Goodreads                     http://bit.ly/2OnHbrK

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