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Lies and Iron
Ties
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Here
are my local
stores,
those close
to my Colorado
haunts,
and a few
others:
Towne Center Books, Pleasanton CA
High Crimes Mystery Bookshop
The Book Mine, 522 Harrison Ave., Leadville CO
Black Cat Books, Manitou CO
The Book Haven, Salida CO
Murder by the Book, Denver CO
The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale AZ
My publisher
Poisoned Pen Press
As well as places like …
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Organizations
for writing
and reading,
mysterious
and otherwise
Mystery
Writers
of America,
Northern
California
Chapter
Mystery
Writers
of America
Sisters
in Crime
Women
Writing
the West
Western
Writers
of America
International
Thriller
Writers
National
Association
of Science
Writers (for
writing
of a different
sort)
DorothyL (Web
site for the
discussion
and idea list
for lovers
of the mystery
genre)
ClueLass.com (another
site for mystery
lovers)
Mystery
Lovers Corner (yet
more mystery)
CrimeThruTime (a
site dedicated
to historical
mysteries)
The
Historical
Novel Society (for
all kinds
of historical
fiction
Historical
mysteries
with women
sleuths
Of
characters,
places,
and times
in the Silver
Rush mystery
series
Leadville,
today and
yesterday
National
Mining Hall
of Fame
and Museum (housed
in the high
school that
my grandmother
attended
in early
1900s)
Stories
about Leadville,
as it was
A
first-hand
account
of Leadville
and the
Roaring
Fork region
circa 1880
NEW
STUFF!
About
the railroads
. . .
.
...
and more! The
Ted Kierscey
Photo Collection has
amazing
early photos of
Leadville and its
railroads, as well
as great capsule
histories.
A
great site for
exploring
and learning
more about
the history
of the Denver & Rio
Grande. Check
out the following
in particular:
The
rivalry (on
the rails
and in the
courts) of
the D&RG
and the Santa
Fe to obtain
the right-of-way
to Leadville
and other
mineral-rich
areas of the
Rockies can
be found in Part
7 and Part
8
More
about the great
railroad war
Some
historical
photos, pulled
together by
C.L. Clamp
and C.T. Adams,
authors of
Road to Riches.
See the photo
of J.
A. McMurtrie,
chief engineer
of the D&RG
(who appears,
fictionally
speaking,
in Iron
Ties)
The
Colorado
Railroad
Museum where
I finally
got to go
inside and
take photos
of a bunk
car. A wonderful
museum and
an awesome
reference
library!
A "how
to" for
railroad
construction
About
General
William
Jackson
Palmer .
. . .
A biography of
General William
Jackson Palmer,
the founder
of the Denver & Rio
Grande railroad
About
Ulysses
S. Grant
. . .
Really,
where does
one start?
How about
the Library
of Congress and
follow the
links?
Grant's
favorite
bourbon?
You'll find
it in this
little history
of Abraham
Lincoln
in Bourbon
Country
Details
of the private
D&RG train that
brought Grant
to Leadville
in August
1880
A
bit about Grant's
world tour,
from 1877-1879
Information
on Grant after
about 1878
is scarce… maybe
this will
help someday
About
the Civil
War
(as pertains to Iron
Ties) . .
.
Again,
there's so
much out there.
Here's just
a few of the
sites I found
useful.
American
Civil War
General
Palmer's
Civil War
exploits
Berdan's
Sharpshooters (site
of a reenactment
group, with
detailed
information,
i.e., a
bio of Hiram
Berdan,
how to care
for your
Sharps rifle,
etc.)
LOTS
of books on Berdan's
Sharpshooters
Photos
and more
photos
. . .
Western
History/Genealogy
Department at
Denver Public
Library.
Nearly 100,000
photos on-line.
Links to
some of
my favorites
follow,
newest first.
When
the first
trains came
to town,
it was a
very very
big deal.
First
Denver & Rio
Grande trains to
Aspen in
1887.
And
some of the crowd waiting
in the railroad
yard
The
cover of Iron
Ties is
actually a
portion of
this photo,
which shows
a Denver & Rio
Grande construction
train at Aspen.
This was the first
locomotive
to reach Aspen,
hence all
the citizenry.
Taken in 1887.
Another
of the first
train to Aspen,
with even
more people.
Also wooden
ties in the
foreground.
I'll
admit, I
became a
bit obsessed
about finding
photos of
railroad
construction
camps.
Central
Pacific
railroad
construction
camp circa
1865 (Nevada
area).
Possible
railroad
or survey
camp (preparing
a meal?),
South Park,
between
1875-1900.
Old
Judge Camp in
the Royal
Gorge at
the time
of the construction
of the railroad
in 1878
and 1879
Union
Pacific
railroad
survey crew members
pose in
their camp,
possibly
near Glenwood
Springs.
A
Denver and
Rio Grande
Railroad survey
team by
the Arkansas
River, between
1880 and 1890.
A railroad
construction
camp with
tents and
men and
D&RG
tracks near
the Colorado
River in
Glenwood
Canyon,
circa 1880s.
D&RG
construction
camp in
Crane Park
north of
Leadville.
Shows domed
and banded
structures,
possibly
coke (or
charcoal?)
ovens, and
piles of
railroad
ties. Mount
Massive
is in the
distance,
circa 1880s.
Possible
D&RG
camp by
the Colorado
River in
Glenwood
Canyon,
circa 1880s.
Men
working
on D&RG railroad
tracks,
circa 1880s.
Images
of Leadville,
inside and
out, people
and places
A
great lithograph
of Leadville's
Chestnut Street,
1879. Appeared
in Leslie's
Illustrated.
Lithograph
of the Clarendon
Hotel saloon
in Leadville
around 1890.
Very high-class
place.
Another
rendering
of the Clarendon
Hotel Lobby.
Ink
rendering
of Harrison
Avenue,
spring of
1880. I love
this one!
Harrison
Avenue in
Leadville,
all gussied
up with
small evergreens,
garlands,
bunting
and an arch.
Much the
way it's
described
for General
U.S. Grant's
visit in
1880.
Decoration
Day parade along
Harrison,
1884.
Another
favorite view
of Harrison
Avenue,
sans snow.
View
east along
7th Street to
Mosquito
Range in
distance.
Boardwalks,
and look
at that
mud!
Chestnut
Street about
1880.
Saloon
in Leadville,
circa 1880s
or so.
View
of (possibly) Hyman's
Saloon in
Leadville.
Note the taxidermy
on the back
wall. Circa
1880s.
Saloon
and games
of chance
in action.
Note the
picture
hangings.
Circa 1880.
Hyman's
Club circa
1900, from
the outside.
Complete
with dog,
loungers,
hitching
post, and
boardwalk.
Interesting
interior shot
taken in Leadville
circa 1880.
Title is "Probably
an early Leadville
Palace." ("Palace" was
sometimes
a euphemism
for brothel.)
Women
of a different
stripe:
Schoolteachers
and principal
from 9th
Street School,
Leadville,
1880.
Interior
shot of a photography
studio in
Leadville,
between 1880
and 1900.
Silver
bullion (lots
of it!)
and workers
at a Leadville
smelter
in 1880.
More
Photos!
(From
earlier
incarnations
of this
page)
More
photos from
the Western
History/Genealogy
Department at
Denver Public
Library.
Sketch
of Leadville
in August
1878
"Birds
eye" view
of Leadville
about one
year later.
(This is
my favorite
map. I have
a reproduction
hanging
in my office.)
Three
miners working at
the end
of a tunnel
using a
steel, sledgehammer,
and pickaxe.
Their work
area is
lighted
by candles
and an ore
cart track
leads away
from the
worksite.
Harrison
Avenue,
1879, with
the opera
house under
construction
and the
post office
visible
State
Street in
1880
A
photo of a horse-drawn
sleigh in
Leadville,
circa 1880,
complete with
a dog holding
the reins
in its teeth
Another
view of State
Street,
during the
1880s
Looking
over Leadville
rooftops to
Carbonate
Hill, 1881
Fryer
Hill,
1882-ish
California
Gulch Leadville
showing
Helen, Sellers,
Mover, & Minnie
shaft houses,
about 1885
The
telephone
exchange
building on
Harrison
Avenue,
looking
up Main
Street,
photo taken
between
1879 and
1884. (Yes,
Leadville
did indeed
have a local
telephone
system in
place in
1879.)
Another
interesting
site for
historical
Colorado
photos
Madam
Silks
. . .
Mattie
Silks (What's
fact and
what's fiction?
It's hard
to know
for certain.)
Mattie's
House of
Mirrors (Mattie's
last parlor
house, now
a banquet
hall and
nightclub
in lower
downtown
Denver)
A History
of Mining
in Eagle
County,
Colorado
by Bruce
Strasinger.
This is
a down-loadable
pdf file.
Not exactly
Leadville,
but gives
a nice overview
of a nearby
mining area.
Includes
info on
prospecting,
hard-rock
mining,
and a very
interesting
chapter
on financing.
Great pictures
and a mining
glossary.
Penny
Dreadfuls
and Dime
Novels (what
character
Susan Carothers
loves to
read)
Looking
for non-fiction
books
about
the times,
places,
and characters
from the
Silver
Rush series?
For Iron
Ties,
I became
obsessed
with the
Civil War
and railroads.
Here are
some books
I found
interesting
reading.
The
Civil War
and after
Confederates
in the Attic by
Tony Horwitz
Shook
over Hell:
Post-traumatic
Stress,
Vietnam,
and the
Civil War by
Eric T.
Dean, Jr.
Shades
of Blue
and Gray by
Herman Hattaway
The
Devil Knows
How to Ride:
The True
Story of
William
Clarke Quantrill
and His
Confederate
Raiders by
Edward E.
Leslie
The
Life of
Johnny Reb
and the
Life of
Billy Yank by
Bell I.
Wiley
The
Most Fearful
Ordeal:
Original
Coverage
of the Civil
War by Writers
and Reporters
of The New
York Times with
introduction
by James.
M. McPherson
Jesse
James: Last
Rebel of
the Civil
War by
T. J. Stiles
The
Louisiana
Native Guards:
The Black
Military
Experience
During the
Civil War by
James. G.
Hollandsworth,
Jr.
Melting
Pot Soldiers:
The Union's
Ethnic Regiments by
William
L. Burton
Civil
War Chief
of Sharpshooters
Hiram Berdan:
Miliary
Commander
and Firearms
Inventor by
Roy Marcot
The
Confederate
Withworth
Sharpshooters by
John Anderson
Morrow
Bushwhackers by
William R.
Trotter
All
the Daring
of the Soldier:
Women of
the Civil
War Armies by
Elizabeth
D. Leonard
Grant
and Lee by
Major General
J.F.C. Fuller
Grant by
William S.
McFeely
Railroads
and the
men who
built them
The
Denver and
Rio Grande
Western
Railroad by
Robert Athern
Nothing
Like It
in the World by
Stephen
E. Ambrose
Empire
Express by
David Hayward
Bain
Goin'
Railroading by
Margaret
Coel
A
Builder
of the West by
John Fisher
Leadville
and Colorado
Leadville:
Colorado's
Magic City by
Edward Blair
Leadville
in Rare
Photographs
and Drawings by
Christian
J. Buys
Leadville:
A Miner's
Epic by
Stephen
M. Voynick
Leadville
Architecture.
A Legacy
of Silver:
1860–1899 by
Lawrence
Von Bamford
and Kenneth
R. Tremblay,
Jr.
History
of Leadville & Lake
County,
Colorado, by
Don and
Jean Griswold
(warning:
over 2000
pages.)
Colorado
on Glass:
Colorado's
First Half
Century
As Seen
by the Camera by
Terry Wm.
Mangan
Victorian
West: Class
and Culture
in Kansas
Cattle Towns
by C. Robert
Haywood (not
exactly
Leadville,
but a fascinating
and thorough
look at
how "boom
towns in
boom times" mixed
it up with
American
Victorian
mores and
ways of
life)
Saloons,
red-light
districts
and ways
of the West
The
Saloon on
the Rocky
Mountain
Frontier by
Elliott
West
Hell's
Belles:
Denver's
Brides of
the Multitudes by
Clark Secrest
(there's
quite a
bit on Mattie
Silks in
this)
Bat
Masterson:
The Man
and the
Legend by
Robert K.
DeArment Whiskey,
Six-guns & Red-light
Ladies:
George Hand's
Saloon Diary,
Tucson,
1875–1878 Edited
by Neil
Carmony
(what was
it REALLY
like to
be a saloon-owner
in the 1870s?
This day-by-day
diary lays
it all out.)
Gold
Diggers & Silver
Miners:
Prostitution
and Social
Life on
the Comstock
Lode by
Marion S.
Goldman
The
Wicked West:
Boozers,
Cruisers,
Gamblers
and More by
Sherry Monahan
Want
to know
more about
what life
was like
for women
in the West?
Try these.
A
Victorian
Gentlewoman
in the Far
West by
Mary Hallock
Foote
Cripple
Creek Days by
Mabel Barbee
Lee
Tomboy
Bride by
Harriet
Fish Backus
Doc
Susie. The
True Story
of a Country
Physician
in the Colorado
Rockies by
Virginia
Cornell
Father
Struck It
Rich by
Evalyn Walsh
McLean
The
Life of
An Ordinary
Woman by
Anne Ellis
Gambler's
Wife. The
Life of
Malinda
Jenkins by
Malinda
Jenkins
No
Life for
a Lady by
Agnes Morley
Cleaveland
On
Sidesaddles
to Heaven:
The Women
of the Rocky
Mountain
Mission by
Laurie Winn
Carlson
First
Governor,
First Lady by
Joyce B.
Lohse
Keeping
Hearth & Home
in Old Colorado:
A Practical
Primer for
Daily Living compiled
and edited
by Carol
Padgett,
Ph.D.
If
you have other
suggestions
for sites
or books,
please email
me.
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