Guns of the Old West

The Cowboy’s Gun
Most cowboys’ didn’t carry one but when they did the 1873 Colt Peacemaker, a .45 caliber single action revolver was the gun of choice. And you could buy it mail order for less than twenty bucks including postage. It didn’t look fancy but was quite reliable; enough so that the U.S. Army adopted the gun. From that time on the gun was usually referred to as the Army Colt. The gun the military purchased came with a seven and one half inch barrel and was much preferred to the civilian mail order model with the shorter five and a half inch barrel. This became the gun of the gunfighters—even if most of the famous gunfighters were only in novels and later on television. This is the gun that won the west.
But not all famous gunman of the west carried the .45 Army Colt. Some like Bill Hickok (I really don’t like him) carried a .36 caliber Navy Colt made in 1851. As a matter of fact he carried three, along with an array of other weapons. Dime novelists claimed he often carried several knives and at least one derringer. His Navy Colt’s were a little lighter than the Army version but had the same barrel length. The model came out more than twenty years before the 1873 Peacemaker and fans of the Army Colt liked the larger caliber and claimed it to be more accurate than the Navy. Hickok and many others of the old west did not agree.
Hickok’s guns were chrome plated and engraved with his initials. Looked like TV western guns of the 1950s and 60s.
Oh, by the way—Wild Bill was killed by a .45 caliber Colt.

Carried Away—Again

Research can be tricky. If you get bored doing it – might not make a very good story. On the other hand if you get carried away and can’t write because the research is too good to quit reading—you have the start of a story. And that’s what happened to me the past few days researching Jack Wilson (Wovoka) for a story. Great stuff hope the story works out.

American Indian Wisdom

"Everything the Great Spirit has given you, you have to walk through,
you have to experience it. You can’t always walk in the grass, sometimes you have to walk in the sagebrush."
Anonymous—American Plains Indian

Today Non-Fiction

The First Tribal Indian People of Wyoming
Only the rocks and the mountains really know, only the rocks and the mountains have been here long enough to know and they are not saying anything. No one knows when the first tribal type American Indians first settled in Wyoming. We know for sure they were here before John Colter and the trappers came to Wyoming in the early 1800s. It is probable the introduction of the horse was responsible for bringing most of the Indian settlement to Wyoming and populating the state with several language groups of Indians. Most historians would agree only the ancient Sheep Eater tribe lived in Wyoming before the horse became a part of everyday live for the tribes of Wyoming.
Because the horse brought the Indian to Wyoming the Spanish were most responsible for the settlement of Wyoming. The Spanish and their flamboyant leader Francisco Vasquez Coronado, in 1540 explored much of present day Arizona and the American southwest, looking for the famed but mythical Seven Cities of Cibola. They failed to find the magnificent golden riches of the Seven Cites and Coronado turned northeast leading his 300 men to the fabulous area of Quivira in search of riches. After a long and fruitless search they turned back but not until they had reached southeast Nebraska near the present day city of Fairbury. On the way they left behind dozens of horses that would be the beginning of the famous Indian ponies of the plains. Coronado found no riches, instead found poor tribes leading a day to day agriculture existence, often living in crude stick and mud shelters, some tribes, of better hunters seemed a little better off, but no gold, not then and not today.
If all this makes sense then the Indian tribes of Wyoming were not here until much after Coronado introduced horses in the 1540s, best guess, the early 1700s. Indians of early Wyoming had already domesticated the dog and with the horse there were two animals to help with their day to day chores.
For more than a century (early 1700s to early 1800s) these, now indigenous, people roamed free on the plains and in the mountains of Wyoming. They may have experienced the freest existence in the history of the North American continent. Living a nomadic, buffalo hunting life fit these people well and they thrived, until the white men came, forever changing the life of Indians in Wyoming.
More than any group of people since, they respected nature and the powers of nature. Living a simple existence in the world’s first camper, the very mobile teepee, following the vast herds of bison and adding to their diet with antelope, rabbits other game animals and various wild roots, berries and other nourishing plants.
Life among these people could best be described as harsh and often short—but a better life may not exist. Who was first, the Sheep Eaters, as mentioned above, are thought by many historians to have been the first permanent residents of Wyoming and the one group to predate the horse in this area.

My Favorite Western Writers

In the past week I have been asked what western authors I read. We see so many lists, top ten’s, top twenty-fives and things like that, no list for me. I will give you a few of my favorites—my top 7. In order, my favorites
William L. Johnstone—Two of the best western characters you will ever find—Preacher and Smoke Jensen
Tony Hillerman—Modern day mystery westerns set deep in the Navajo country of New Mexico
Elmer Kelton—I live in Wyoming and he wrote Texas westerns but they are terrific
Larry McMurtry—Lonesome Dove
James Michener—Centennial—my favorite western
Don Coldsmith—Not as well know as some of the above but his White Indian series is a great read
Fred Grove—Another not as well know author but I never read one of his books I did not like
Well there you have it—my list of seven. Who do you like?

The 99 Word Western

I could see a body less than a hundred feet away. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get closer or farther away. I decided on closer but was going to be darn sure that this was a dead body, not a live one.
Fort Laramie had been abandoned for three years and I hadn’t been there in fifteen, I thought I might meet up with a few ghosts from my past, hadn’t expected a fresh one with a body attached. I dismounted and pulled my Winchester from the saddle scabbard and started toward the body. It was gone.


Some stories, even very short ones can be fun.

-N-

How About Western Fantasy?

Well, I did it. I got out of my comfort zone and read two—not just one—of Terry Brooks fantasy fiction books. It started when I read his book on writing. I can’t remember the name, (it is only twenty feet away on a bookshelves, but I am sitting in my easy chair and much too lazy to get up) It is a good read. I am now back to reading my typical, mysteries and westerns but I must say, I learned something. A good story is good regardless of the genre. Not sure if I will venture this far out of my comfort reading zone again but I liked Mr. Brooks work and can certainly understand why he has sold millions of books. Just in case anyone wants to know, I read, Magic Kingdom for sale—Sold and The Black Unicorn.
One caution—Terry Brooks tells a great story but he really likes adverbs.