Fun Facts About Wild Turkeys

                         
                          
Wild turkeys, which are native to North America, have been around for almost 10 million years and diverged from pheasants. The usual lifespan of a turkey is 10 years. A mature turkey has about 3,500 feathers. The heaviest male wild turkey recorded weighed 38 lbs.
        
   They were domesticated by the Aztecs long before they were introduced into Europe by the Spaniards. The King of Spain was so impressed by the new bird that he ordered every ship returning from the New World to bring along 10 turkeys in addition to the gold and silver that they looted. The popularity of the turkey soon spread throughout Europe replacing the peacock at banquets.

  Contrary to popular belief turkeys can fly, at least wild turkeys, their domestic counterparts are now not able to do so due to selective breeding. Wild turkeys are capable of flying at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour for short distances and can travel on the ground at speeds of 25 miles per hour.

In the wild, turkeys sleep in trees, furthermore they prefer oak.
Wild Turkeys forage for food such as acorns, seeds, roots, insects and wild berries. Domesticated turkeys weigh twice as much as a wild turkey, this is because they are fattened in factory farms and fed growth hormones and have no room due to close confinement in which to exercise. 

Dispelling the myth: Although there is no documented evidence of this, we've all heard the story of a turkey looking upward in a rainstorm and drowning. The behavior is a genetically-caused nervous disorder called tetanic torticollar spasms, which causes the bird to hold it's head at unusual angles. 

Turkey talk: They don't just gobble. But when they do, they can be heard as far as a mile away. However, turkeys have been known to have over 20 distinct vocalizations including “yelps,” “purrs,” and “kee-kees.” Turkeys can recognize each other by their unique voices.



   Turkeys are highly social, affectionate and love to play. They create long-lasting social bonds with each other and with humans. Turkeys love to be stroked, petted and cuddled. They will remember your face and if they like you, they will come up to you to greet you. Turkeys also love music and will cluck along with the songs.   

         If Turkeys were stupid, they wouldn't be so hard to hunt. 
                                              

Poker Alice: Gambler, Dealer, Wife, and Mother

At my age I suppose I should be knitting. But  I would rather play poker with five or six  'experts' than eat."
-- Alice Ivers Tubbs; aka: Poker Alice


    Born in Devonshire, England in 1851, Alice Ivers and her family came to America and settled in Virginia when she was still a small girl. Her father, a conservative schoolmaster made sure Alice attended an elite boarding school through her teen years. Then the family moved to Leadville, Colorado where she met Frank Duffield a mining engineer whom she married at the age of twenty. 



Gambling, almost unavoidable in the mining camps of the Old West, Frank became a regular player. Alice not wishing to stay home alone, often accompanied him. At first she quietly watched from a far, but having a sharp mind and a competitive spirit, before long she sat at the tables winning her share at poker and Faro.  




A few years into the marriage, Alice's husband was killed in an explosion and she was left with no means of support. There wasn't a school for her to teach in and other female occupations didn't appeal to her. Capitalizing on her gambling skills, she became a Faro dealer. A petite 5'4" beauty with blue eyes and silky brown hair, and dressed in the latest fashions, she was soon in great demand. 

     As she traveled from camp to camp, playing in cities all over Colorado including Alamosa, Central City, Georgetown and Trinidad. As a dealer and a player, she acquired the nickname "Poker Alice", and could often be seen in her frilly dresses while puffing on a large black cigar. She never gambled on Sundays, and carried a .38 revolver which she had no reservations about using. She was welcome everywhere as her presence always drew a crowd and was good for business. 


Expanding her horizons, Alice made her way to Silver City New Mexico. She won $6,000 a the Gold Dust Gambling House which prompted a trip to New York to replenish her fashionable wardrobe. 




Later, in Creede, Colorado, she met and went to work for Bob Ford (the man who killed Jesse James. In 1890 she ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota, and met Warren G. Tubbs, a house painter from Sturgis. 

She saved Tubbs with her .38 when a miner pulled a knife on him. The couple married, moved to Deadwood to homestead on the Moreau river and raised 7 children. But luckier at cards than love, Warren contracted tuberculosis and despite her dedication to making him well, he passed away in 1910

After that, things spiraled downward. Gone were the fancy clothes as she enjoyed a good cigar. She ran a brothel and saloon in South Dakota, shot a man in self-defense, and after repeated convictions was sentenced to prison. However, Alice, 75 years old at the time, was pardoned by the governor.

At the age of 79 she underwent a gall bladder operation in Rapid City, but died of complications on February 27, 1930. 

In her later years, Alice claimed to have won more than $250,000 at the gaming tables and never once cheated. In fact, one of her favorite sayings was: "Praise the Lord and place your bets. I'll take your money with no regrets."

Hauntings in Central City, Colorado

                        
        If you take Eureka Street west out of Central City,
in about a mile, you will come to at least four cemeteries--the Central City Cemetery, the Knights of Pythias, the Masonic, and the Catholic Cemeteries. 
The sun is shining, and the trees are bursting with fall colors, all seems right with the world. Until you get there...














     Clouds roll in. 

                                          The sky grows dim, and the breeze grows cold. 
                                                   
There are hundreds of ornate stone markers and intricate grill work, doting the landscape, with headstones dating back to the 1860s.

                      
         Some  plots still seem well tended, others seem forlorn.  
                                           
                                     

Sadly many are children's graves, and the inscriptions don't always list birth date, but record date of death and the number of years, months and days they lived. 



















Passing through the 
gates of the Knights of Pythias was like walking into a different realm. The terrain is wild and uneven, branches not caring that they block your path. Brambles and vines reaching for your ankles as you make your way along.

A little farther away is the Masonic Cemetery and the grave of John Cameron who died in 1887 at the age of 21. Information on who John was is rather vague. It is known that he was a local miner. 


  As the story goes, twice a year, a lady dressed in black Victorian regalia appears bringing flowers to the grave site. The date of her visits seems to vary, some say it is on April 15 and Halloween, other April 5th and November 1st. November 1st makes sense as this is the day John died. Several sightings have been reported, but when approached, the Lady In Black quickly disappears into the woods. 

 Supposedly, another of these old cemeteries holds the remains of a woman who was determined by her peers to be a witch. If you can find the grave, it is said when you stand a few yards away and watch, a green mist will surround the area. Further witnesses purport that if the lighting is right, hundreds of maggots can be seen covering the ground. 

Several of the played out mines inspire tales of hauntings as well. Although the actual mine was closed over 85 years ago, rumor has it the Pozo shaft still remains home to a few ghostly miners.

Many a night-time skeptic has become a believer when they see faint yellow lights coming from the old mine and hear the sounds of men working deep down in the abandoned shaft. (photo is not the Pozo shaft)

  I didn't see any ghosts, but there was definitely an eerie aura about the area, and that was in the light of day! 

             Wherever you are on October 31st, wishing you a
                   HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN.  
                            

photo's by Steve Brown and Gini.

Central City, Colorado: the "Richest Square Mile on Earth"

Central City is located in the rough and rugged Rocky Mountains, 35 miles west of Denver. At an elevation of 8,496 feet, it stands ready to face the elements..
  
How did it all start? 
On May 6th, 1859, John H. Gregory found a gold-bearing vein in Gregory Gulch. By 1860, as many as 10,000 prospectors had flocked to the town, then known as Mountain City. This great influx of people was due the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, named for the not too distant mountain. 














The Gregory Lode was located between Black Hawk and Central City. Within two months, many other veins were discovered, including the Bates, Gunnell, Kansas, and Burroughs.

   

During the early days, many Chinese lived in Central City, working the placer deposits of Gregory Gulch. They were forbidden work in the underground mines. Most of them are believed to have returned to China after making their stake.

The year 1863 brought the first attempt by hard rock miners to form a hard rock miners' union. 

Of  the 125 miners signing a union resolution in Central City, fifty or so workers got out of hand breaking windows and doors at the Bob Tail mine. After a night of shooting and fighting, the union effort among Central City miners failed.

                                                   
                                     

                                                     Not everyone in Colorado struck it rich, but those who settled in Central City were never hard up for wild times. In 1861 alone Central City recorded 217 fist fights, 97 revolver fights, 11 Bowie knife fights and one dog fight. Amazingly, no one was killed. 

  

   In 1871 the Republican Convention was held in Central City. And even that turned rowdy when the second floor of Washington Hall collapsed and deposited 200 (uninjured) men into the Recorder's office on the first floor.

   Central City had its share of fame. In 1872 the Teller House Hotel was built, and was said to be the finest hotel west of the Mississippi River. In 1873 President Ulysses S. Grant came to see his friend Henry Teller and his new hotel. 

Unfortunately, in 1874 most of the buildings in Central City were destroyed by fire. The town was rebuilt, this time of brick and stone; most of these stand today.

       

The grand opening of the Opera House in 1878 began a tradition of entertainment ranging from opera to vaudeville. Buffalo Bill performed there as well at P. T. Barnum's circus. 

Over the years many movies have been filmed here; several by Cowboy Tom Mix as well as "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox", portions of the TV mini-series "Centennial" and "Dream West", and several Perry Mason episodes.

               

    Marie Curie used to mine in an area south of the Glory Hole mine for her radium studies in Paris. Public health practitioner Dr. Florence Sabin lived in the mining camp and was the first female physician to graduate from John Hopkins University. Baby Doe Tabor, wife of the silver magnate Horace Tabor, was another resident of Central City and Black Hawk.

 Around the card table, frontier gambler Poker Alice, a player and a dealer, could be found. 

    

   Gold mining in the Central City district decreased rapidly between 1900 to 1920, as the veins were exhausted, and then virtually shut down during World War II when gold mining was declared nonessential to the war effort. The district was enlivened in the 1950's by efforts to locate uranium deposits, but these proved unsuccessful.

   The 1900 census dwindled to 3,114 people, and in the last U.S. Census of 2010 the city population was only 663.                                                                           
                       
But while the gold in them there hills may have disappeared, the hope of gold on them there tables is still a draw at the casinos. 


                      Cody James, and Marshal Virgil Kincaid, 
                        enjoy a bit of poker and chance. 
                                     Check them out in 
                          
          A COWBOY'S FATE  & SPECIAL DELIVERY

Living my VICTORIAN DREAM

    Being an author of historical romance it was with great joy that on a recent jaunt up to Central City, Colorado, my sister and I discovered a wonderful shop taking old time photos. 


  It's called Reliving the Past, and is run by the lovely and talented Milda. 303-582-3881 http://www.relivingthepaststudio.com/                                                 

   You can chose from several settings including Western, Steampunk, and straight Victorian settings. And she also has a line of beautiful clothing for sale. Miraculously, I managed to curb my addiction for costumes and headgear (at least that day).

                   My dress and hat were amazing, and I felt like 
              I just stepped out of the pages of "Gone With the Wind".

                           And thanks to Milda's expertise, 
          and a little photo-shopping, we both looked totally terrific. 


Follow my characters on their many adventures in this fabulous era.                     Available in e-book or paperback
      at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and The Wild Rose Press. 

                                                                

                                                                   Amazon link
                                           The Wild Rose Press 

                                                     
                                           Amazon link
                                     Barnes # Noble
                                         The Wild Rose Press

                                          

 Amazon link

                                            Barnes & Noble
                                      The Wild Rose Press 

                                             Amazon 
                              Barnes & Noble
                                The Wild Rose Press


 www.ginirifkin.com