Here is one beguiling beauty and her early concealed carry firearm of choice, the 1849 Colt pocket model. View this photo and many others in Phil Spangenberger's article "Twelve Guns That Tamed the Wild West" at True West Magazine here. For a fascinating look at historic firearms through the decades, visit the National Firearms Museum… Continue reading 1870s Law and Order, firearms
Category: Ralls’ posts
American Westward Migration, riding the Transcontinental RR
The Transcontinental Railroad was the ultimate luxury ~ for some First class passengers boarding the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1870s stepped into an elegant, extravagant world of dark, polished woods, velvet upholstery, and gilt-framed mirrors in palace Pullman cars, slept in private rooms, and enjoyed opulent "feasts of antelope, trout, berries and Champagne," describes History.com,… Continue reading American Westward Migration, riding the Transcontinental RR
American Westward Migration, building the Transcontinental RR
The Transcontinental Railroad, Change and challenge Central Pacific Transcontinental Railroad, Tunnel No. 27 The completion of the monumental task of building almost 1,800 miles of track in the late 1860s had a dramatic impact on the future of the United States. According to James P. Ronda, co-author of The West the Railroads Made, “What the… Continue reading American Westward Migration, building the Transcontinental RR
American Westward Migration, beginnings
Before there were trains on tracks, there were carts and wagons on trails Life and Death on the Trail 30-100 prairie schooners in a caravan4' x 10' size of a prairie schooner wagon15-20 miles per hour a prairie schooner could travel2,170 miles of various routes on the Oregon Trail420,000 pioneers traveled part of the Oregon… Continue reading American Westward Migration, beginnings
Breads that sizzle
Chuck, grub, chow, all names for chuck wagon food in the wagon train and on the cattle drive, featured basic starches and staples cooked over a fire. Beans cooked all night, bread cooked quickly in hot cast iron. Those breads are still popular today, whether cooked over a fire or on top of the stove.… Continue reading Breads that sizzle
Cowboy cooking, chuckwagon style
Photo from Chip Schweiger's Cowboy Lifestyle, used with permission Carl Clancy in the upcoming historical fiction Cat's Cafe lived in the family chuck wagon in the hills above Eagle Rock. He became quite a good cook for himself, and for the seductive Fannie Smiles. Carl Clancy in Cat’s Café grew up as the youngest member… Continue reading Cowboy cooking, chuckwagon style
Pioneer Food, part one
Image by Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay Corn+Bread=Sturdy, satisfying survival food Contemporary cookbooks offer all sorts of entertaining and delicious sounding recipes for early American cooking, cowboy cooking, and pioneer cooking. But cooking in the late-1800s American West was really all about survival, not taste and variety. According to Richard Erodos in Saloons of the… Continue reading Pioneer Food, part one
Saloons in the Old West ~ Beer moves west
Known by such colorful names as “John Barleycorn, purge, hop juice, calobogus, wobbly pop, mancation, let’s mosey, laughing water, mad dog, Jesus juice, pig’s ear, [and] strike-me-dead,” according to NotesFromTheFrontier.com, most of the beer in the late 1870s was a dark, tepid, low-quality, low-hop, home brew that was quick to go flat. Eventually, keg beer… Continue reading Saloons in the Old West ~ Beer moves west
Saloons in the Old West ~ Whiskey and Women
Image from LegendsofAmerica.com In Cat’s Cafe, two saloons compete for hard-drinking rail workers, cowboys, bullwhackers, and others in Eagle Rock who love a stiff drink as oftenas they can afford it. Pott’s Saloon, supported by the corrupt town boss, sells cheap, bad tasting beer and, for what passes as whiskey, a house blend of grains… Continue reading Saloons in the Old West ~ Whiskey and Women
Saloons in the Old West ~ Mirrors and Mahogany?
Patrick’s Saloon in Cat’s Cafe wasn't the highly polished, rich mahogany, mirrored saloon depicted in film and television westerns -- at least not in the beginning. Western towns in the 1860s and '70s were thrown up faster than they could be properly built. Only a few buildings were built to last. Most began as tent… Continue reading Saloons in the Old West ~ Mirrors and Mahogany?