WHY MULES? by Zina Abbott

Why Mules?

Mules are known to be ornery and uncooperative as compared to horses. So, why are mules often preferred over horses by many for riding and for pulling a wagon?

Most mules do not require grain, even when they are being worked.

Compared to horses who will fill up on grain until they make themselves sick, mules don't tend to overeat.

Mules need less hay than horses -- and the hay doesn't need to be top quality.

Mules will drink only what is necessary.

Mules tend to be healthier than horses, a characteristic known as “hybrid vigor.”

Mules tend to live longer than horses.

Mules have a good sense of self-preservation. Unlike a horse, they will not go places they decide it is unsafe. They are less likely to become injured because of this.

Mules tend to not overexert or overextend themselves the way a horse can. Men have been known to run a horse to death. Mules tend to become “stubborn” and stop before they allow that to happen.

Mules usually have good, strong feet that don't require shoeing.

Because of their feet are smaller and more upright, mules tend to be more sure-footed than horses. Mules have been used extensively to transport cargo in rugged, roadless regions such as large wilderness areas.

Mules don’t tend to panic as easily as horses when they find themselves in difficult situations.

The debate rages between horse lovers and mule lovers as to which is more intelligent. Based on the above characteristics, it does appear mules tend to be endowed with a healthy dose of what can be called “common sense.”

 

1st Cavalry Tent Encampment showing mules-Fort Lawton, Washington

Because of these characteristics, many men in the old West preferred to ride mules over horses. Although mules did not have the pulling capacity of oxen, they were often used, particularly in rugged terrain, to pull wagons and even stagecoaches.

With its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hooves, and short mane, the mule shares characteristics of a donkey. In height and body, shape of neck and rump, uniformity of coat, and teeth, it appears horse-like. In spite of their reputation for being stubborn, and ornery, many familiar with both horses and mules will admit in difficult situations, a mule will tend to take better care of its rider than a horse.

Let’s give mules more respect.

In the series, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge, the Wells Fargo stagecoach is pulled by teams of mules. This is due to its setting high in the rugged Uinta Mountains where the roads are not good and there are a lot of ups and down. Likewise, in Diantha, Book 14 in the series, I wrote scenes where Buck, the hero in my secondary romance, arrives in Wildcat Ridge driving a wagon pulled by Mabel, the mare, and Charley, the ornery mule. Charley doesn’t like most men, and will bite and kick when they come too close to him. He likes Buck, and he particularly likes Buck’s sweetheart, Hilaina Dowd.

Diantha is now on preorder, but is scheduled to be released this coming Monday, April first. To find the book description and purchase link, please CLICK HERE.

Join me on the Widows of Wildcat Ridge Reader Group on Facebook between 9:00am and 4:00pm Pacific time to celebrate the release. To find that group, please CLICK HERE.

Sources:

https://animals.mom.me/advantages-mule-vs-horse-6118.html

Wikipedia

Wikimedia Commons

HOW TO CURE CABIN FEVER--READ A GOOD BOOK! by CHERYL PIERSON

When the cold weather starts up (and seems to continue forever!), I’m all too ready to just hunker down and get out of the Oklahoma wind—the older I get, the more I feel that way. But one thing I’ve discovered: If you have plenty of food (for both humans and the dog), running water, and firewood, it’s not terrible. Well, until you have to go out for MORE food!

In Oklahoma, we don’t normally get a lot of snow, but we do get some. The worst problem is the ice. It seems, here in Oklahoma City, we sit on the very cusp of the jet stream—and I can’t say how many times we’re told, “It COULD be just rain, but if the temps drop even one degree, it’ll be FREEZING rain and ice.”

I can’t even imagine how the men and women we write about in our novels survived those long, cold winters. They must have been chopping firewood every day, year-round, except when the freezing rains hit in the winter. With books so scarce, I’m sure the ones that were available must have been memorized by those who read.

Thank goodness we live in a day and age when we are able to read as much as we want—online (if the electricity stays on!) or the old-fashioned way—a paperback book in hand. I do a lot of reading for my work at Prairie Rose Publications, but I have books I read “for pleasure” when I get a chance—and in the winter months it seems I get a lot more time for that than in the summer. This is how I keep cabin fever at bay when the weather is too awful to venture out.

ONE OF THE FEW STORIES I'VE WRITTEN THAT TAKES PLACE DURING WINTER!

Here are some of my picks I read while I was waiting for spring to roll around. How about you? What do you do to stave off cabin fever in those winter months? Read any wonderful books lately? Please share! I’m always looking for more reading material!

I just recently started reading the COLLECTED COMPLETE WORKS OF CHARLES ALEXANDER EASTMAN and THE ESSENTIAL CHARLES EASTMAN (OHIYESA): LIGHT ON THE INDIAN WORLD (SACRED WORLDS). Here’s the blurb from Amazon about the latter:

This revised and updated edition contains the most important writings of Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa), the first Native American author to live simultaneously in both the traditional world of the Santee Sioux and the modern civilization of the white man. Dr. Eastman also attended the injured at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Ohiyesa's works represent a complete explanation of the philosophy and moral code of the Plains Indian. Ohiyesa's message speaks to every person who seeks a spiritual way in the midst of a society increasingly dominated by materialism and industrial technology. Sun Dance chief, James Trosper writes, It is a small miracle that these important spiritual teachings have been preserved for us. This new edition contains 10 sepia photographs from Eastman's life and a thought-provoking foreword by Raymond Wilson.

There are a LOT of books of writings by Charles Eastman—very thought provoking and just downright wonderful, in my opinion.

Another excellent book—not really a romance, but a true western, is by my friend Robert Randisi—THE GHOST WITH BLUE EYES. It’s a story of how one mistake can make a person sink to the depths of a whiskey bottle, and what it takes to make him climb back out of it.

HERE’S THE AMAZON BLURB: Lancaster hangs up his six-shooter and grabs a bottle after accidentally killing a young girl in a gunfight, but when another girl needs his help, he will fight to regain his soul and his honor in order to save her.

Okay, not a western, but a ROMANCE-- THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE is book 1 in the "Highland Pleasures" series, or what is known as The Mackenzies. This is an excellent tale by Jennifer Ashley, a shorter piece, and it has a hero you will not likely forget. Ian Mackenzie is afflicted by something—because of the time period this story takes place in, we don’t really know what it is, but it could be autism, could Asperger’s Syndrome—and he is very different. This is the first in a series and I would like to read the others!

I must confess, I did some re-reading of some old favorites, as well. GOLDEN NIGHTS by Christine Monson…speaking of “different” heroes—and heroines—Christine Monson’s characters are always intriguing and no matter how many times you read her stories, the next time you read it again you will find something you didn’t see before.

Here’s the Amazon blurb: Abandoned by her weakling husband on their wedding night, beautiful socialite Suzanne Maintree sets out to track him down in the wilds of Colorado, but is quite distracted by her guide, a handsome English adventurer.

By the way, this blurb doesn’t do this book justice at all. It’s like saying your grandma’s homemade chicken and dumplin’s and cornbread was “good”—there’s so much more to this story!

I could go on and on, but how about a MOVIE to break the cabin fever monotony? Have you ever seen this one? PURGATORY is one you will want to watch. Refuge is a small town in the west where no one carries weapons. There’s no jail, and neither the sheriff nor his deputy even carry a gun. It’s an odd assortment of citizens, who know the rules, and to kill someone else for whatever reason means their mortal soul. It’s not gory, but does have some supernatural elements that are very well done. Stars Sam Shepard, Eric Roberts, Donnie Wahlberg, Randy Quaid, and JD Souther, among others.

I will leave you with an excerpt from FIRE EYES that takes place (appropriately!) in my heroine’s cabin. FIRE EYES is part of a 6-book boxed set, UNDER A WESTERN SKY! I’m so proud to have my story in this set with 6 different authors (Agnes Alexander, Celia Yeary, Kaye Spencer, Patti Sherry-Crews, Tracy Garrett and Cheryl Pierson). The best part is, it’s only .99 right now!

What's your cure for cabin fever? A favorite book or movie, or something else?

EXCERPT FROM FIRE EYES:
THE SET UP: Jessica Monroe is living alone with her adopted daughter in the eastern part of Indian Territory. Her husband has been murdered by Andrew Fallon’s border raiders. Now, the Choctaws have brought her a U.S. Deputy Marshal who has been badly wounded by the same band of outlaws, in the hope that she will be able to save his life. Here’s what happens:

“You waitin’ on a…invitation?” A faint smile touched his battered mouth. “I’m fresh out.”

Jessica reached for the tin star. Her fingers closed around the uneven edges of it. No. She couldn’t wait any longer. “What’s your name?” Her voice came out jagged, like the metal she touched.

His bruised eyes slitted as he studied her a moment. “Turner. Kaedon Turner.”

Jessica sighed. “Well, Kaedon Turner, you’ve probably been a lot better places in your life than this. Take a deep breath, and try not to move.”

He gave a wry chuckle, letting his eyes drift completely closed. “Do it fast. I’ll be okay.”

She nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Ready?”

“Go ahead.”

Even knowing what was coming, his voice sounded smoother than hers, she thought. She wrapped her hand tightly around the metal and pulled up fast, as he’d asked.

As the metal slid through his flesh, Kaed’s left hand moved convulsively, his fingers gripping the quilt. He was unable to hold back the soft hint of an agonized groan as he turned away from her. He swore as the thick steel pin cleared his skin, freeing the chambray shirt and cotton undershirt beneath it, blood spraying as his teeth closed solidly over his bottom lip.

Jessica lifted the material away, biting back her own curse as she surveyed the damage they’d done to him. His chest was a mass of purple bruises, uneven gashes, and burns. Her stomach turned over. She was not squeamish. But this—

It was just like what they’d done to Billy, before they’d killed him. Billy, the last man the Choctaws had dumped on her porch. Billy Monroe, the man she’d come to loathe during their one brief year of marriage.

She took a washrag from the nightstand and wet it in the nearby basin. Wordlessly, she placed her cool palm against Kaedon Turner’s stubbled, bruised cheek, turning his head toward her so she could clean his face and neck.

She knew instinctively he was the kind of man who would never stand for this if it wasn’t necessary. The kind of man who was unaccustomed to a woman’s comforting caress. The kind of man who would never complain, no matter how badly wounded he was.

“Fallon.” His voice was rough.

Jessica stopped her movements and watched him. “What about him?”

His brows drew together, as if he were trying to formulate what he wanted to say. “Is he…dead?”

What should she tell him?

The truth.

“I—don’t know.”

“Damn it.”

“You were losing a lot of blood out there,” Jessica said, determined to turn his thoughts from Fallon to the present. She ran the wet cloth lightly across the long split in his right cheek.

His breathing was controlled, even. “I took a bullet.” He said it quietly, almost conversationally.

Jessica stopped moving. “Where?”

Here’s the BUY LINK for AMAZON:

https://www.amazon.com/Under-Western-Sky-Historical-Romance-ebook/dp/B078SGY1HW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520642631&sr=8-1&keywords=Under+a+Western+Sky

HENRIETTA KING, LA REINA

To celebrate Women's History Month, I want to share one of my personal heroines. She was spunky and intelligent and not afraid to stand her ground. She made a huge contribution to those who knew her, those who came after her, and to the state of Texas. 

Henrietta Maria Morse Chamberlain, the only child of Maria (Morse) and Hiram Chamberlain, was born July 21, 1832, in Boonville, Missouri. In 1835, her mother died. Her father’s Presbyterian missionary work in Missouri and Tennessee forced her to become self-reliant and introspective. 

At about age fourteen, she attended the Female Institute of Holly Springs, Mississippi, for two years. (Don’t you love the name of the school?) Although she is said to have chafed at the restrictions there, she believed every girl should be educated. She took refuge in the library where she studied classics, world politics, history, and philosophy. She wanted to teach. Henrietta was guided by her father’s life instructions that she "could master her own destiny and that a girl didn’t have to be a clinging vine".

Henrietta Maria King

 By February 23, 1850, she was in Brownsville, Texas, when her father organized the first Presbyterian mission in South Texas. She was scrubbing the deck of the Whiteville to ready it to house the Presbyterian minister’s family.

Captain Richard King’s steamboat chugged up and he bellowed at her to “cast off that line and let loose that stinking rat trap”.

She refused to back down and yelled, “And you, sir, are not a welcome visitor either. The Whiteville is a great sight cleaner than the Colonel Cross.” That was true, for on board the Captain’s boat were barrels of molasses with hordes of flies buzzing around them.

One of the captain's steamboats, the Bessie

The captain soon came to church to meet Henrietta. In 1854, she taught briefly at the Rio Grande Female Institute before her marriage to Richard King on December 10, 1854. He was ten years older than she and he called her Etta. She called him Captain.

Captain Richard King

They left Brownsville in a coach with armed guards to establish their home on the Santa Gertrudis Ranch. Their original three-room dwelling was a mud and stick jacal. Reportedly, he promised her he’d build her a mansion some day. 

She is reported to have answered, “I don’t need a mansion, just a larger pantry.” When she realized how much riding she would do, she remade one of her skirts into a split skirt so she could ride astride. In her memoirs, she wrote that, “I doubt if it falls to the lot of any bride to have so happy a honeymoon. On horseback we roamed the broad prairies. When I grew tired my husband would spread a Mexican blanket for me and then I would take my siesta under the shade of the mesquite tree.”

Many historians believe the largely unread captain relied on Etta in much of the ranch’s business. She took on the task of providing housing and education for the families of the vaqueros the ranch employed. She learned Spanish so she could teach the children.

Postcard of the King ranch headquarters, Santa Gertrudis

During the Civil War, the ranch was an official receiving station for cotton that was ferried first to Mexican ports and then on to England. Henrietta King was no pushover. When Richard King left the ranch to escape capture by Union forces in 1863, Henrietta remained—pregnant with one of their five children. After the house was plundered, she moved the family to San Antonio until they could safely return home. According to a 2011 Texas Monthly article, “the outlaws and renegades who infested the area preferred to approach the house when Captain King was at home rather than when his wife was there alone.”

When her husband died in 1885, his will said, “Etta gets it all.” Henrietta assumed full ownership of his estate, consisting chiefly of 500,000 acres of ranchland between Corpus Christi and Brownsville and, unfortunately, $500,000 in debts. Under her skillful personal supervision and with the assistance of her son-in-law Robert Kleberg, the King Ranch was freed of debt and increased in size. By 1895, the 650,000 acre ranch was engaged in experiments with cattle and horse breeding, in range grasses, and in dry and irrigated farming. The Santa Gertrudis cattle developed there were a boon to the Texas cattle industry because of their resistance to disease and heat.

Henrietta Maria Chamberlain King

Henrietta was also interested in the settlement of the region between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. About 1903, she offered 75,000 acres of right-of-way to men who planned to construct the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway. A year later she furnished townsites for Kingsville and Raymondsville on the rail line. She founded the Kleberg Town and Improvement Company and the Kingsville Lumber Company to sell land and materials to settlers in Kingsville. As the town grew, she invested in the Kingsville Ice and Milling Company, Kingsville Publishing Company, Kingsville Power Company, Gulf Coast Gin Company and Kingsville Cotton Oil Mill Company.

She constructed the First Presbyterian Church building in Kingsville and also donated land for Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, and Catholic churches. She constructed a high school and presented it to the town. Among her many charities were donations of land for the Texas-Mexican Industrial Institute and for the Spohn Sanitarium, for which her daughter Alice King Kleberg helped raise funds. In her last years, she provided land for and encouragement for the establishment of the South Texas State Teachers College (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville).

Alice and Robert Kleberg

About 1895, she gave her son-in-law her power of attorney and increased his ranch responsibilities. The ranch continued to grow, reaching a size of 1,173,000 acres by 1925. Today, the King Ranch owns 911,123 acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. The ranch is home to 35,000 cattle and over 200 Quarter Horses. The ranch company also own farm land in Florida. The ranch is owned by approximately sixty descendants of Henrietta and Captain Richard King. What a legacy to leave!

Henrietta King, La Reina

Henrietta King died on March 31, 1925, on the King Ranch and is buried in Kingsville. At her funeral an honor guard of 200 vaqueros—Los Kineños, or the King’s men—riding quarter horses branded with the ranch’s Running W, flanked the hearse. Some of these men had ridden two days across the vast ranch to get there on time. Each cantered a circle around her open grave and tipped his hat in reverence to a great lady, La Reina, Queen of the King Ranch.

Sources:

Stories from Texas: Some of Them Are True, by W. F. Strong, Berkley Place Books, 2018.

Texas Dames: Sassy and Savvy Women Throughout the Lone Star State, by Carmen Goldthwaite, History Press, 2013

Texas State Historical Associate Online Handbook of Texas, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/ by Edgar P. Sneed.

Photos: Google Commons

WOMEN, HISTORY, DOCTORS

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

In honor of Women's History Month, I am resharing a piece about early women doctors in the Pikes Peak Region. 

By the 1870's Colorado was known not only for the gold and silver the miners were pulling out of the mountains, but a destination for the ill to recover. Prior to the arrival of doctors, including medical school graduates Julia E Loomis, Esther B. Holmes, Clara Rowe and Harriett Leonard, the region was a place of businesses, ranching and some farming. Few, if any medical doctors were practicing in the area. Instead most people did their own doctoring.

It was not until the mid 1800's that hygiene and sanitation made their way into the medical field. Prior to and during the War Between the States, many doctors did not clean their instruments or hands between surgeries or seeing patients. After the practice became standard the mortality rate fell, but it wasn't until the 1920's that antibiotics came into use.

In 1871, when Gen. Wm. Palmer and Dr. Wm. Bell developed the towns of Colorado and Manitou Springs, Dr. Edwin Solly moved from England to Manitou Springs in the hope that the air would help cure the tuberculous he'd contracted. After regaining his health, he made it a point to sing the praises of the area far and wide. The region quickly became a mecca for health seekers. Into the mix of these migratory people came a number of doctors. The area around the base of Pikes Peak, the eastern most 14,000 foot peak in the Colorado Rocky Mountain Range, grew from a population of 3,000 in 1873 to about 10,000 by 1879. Of the twenty plus doctors who were in the area by 1880, four were the women mentioned above, Julia E Loomis, Esther B Holmes, Clara Rowe and Harriett Leonard.

At the time, most doctors either paid a practicing physician to study with him, or attended a two year school devoted to teaching doctors. In the early 1800's female students were not allowed. The field opened up after the graduation of Elizabeth Blackwell in 1849 from the Geneva Medical College in New York. She became the first women to received a MD in the United States. Still, some medical colleges did not allow women. Blackwell and others started colleges for women wanting to enter the medical field. In 1881 Colorado began licensing physicians, both men and women, a year after the death of Julia E Loomis.

Photo propery of the author

Julia E Loomis, born 1816, in New Woodstock, New York. After her marriage to John C Loomis, she and J C, as he was known, moved around a great deal. They had two children, a daughter, Gertrude and son, John Lewis. While the family was living in Buchanan county Iowa, her twenty-one year old daughter died after slightly over a year after her marriage. Julia, who may have been working as a healer, went to medical school after Gertrude's death. Julia was in her fifties when she attended the Cleveland Homeopathic College for Women in Cleveland, Ohio and obtained her M. D. By 1876 she was in Colorado Springs and working to set up a clinic for the treatment of consumption (including TB). She passed away in 1880 from pneumonia. Her 'death certificate was signed by doctor E. B. Holmes.

Esther B. Holmes was born in Rhode Island and records show she married in her mid teens. Records indicate she also attended the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College for Women. Esther and her husband George also arrived in Colorado Springs in 1879. Dr. Holmes was early recipient of the Colorado medical license. The state began the licensing process in 1881 and Dr. Holmes received license number 387 in 1882. She continued to practice in Colorado Springs until her death in 1910 at the age of sixty-five. Family stories say she was known as the 'baby' doctor.

The third doctor in the area was Harriet Leonard. In 1879 she was the proprietor of the Mineral Bath House in Manitou Springs. She was a graduate of the Keokuk College for Physicians and Surgeons in the Keokuk, Iowa. Dr. Leonard received her Colorado medical license number 706 in1885. Dr. Leonard may have moved from the area from time to time, but always returned and died here in 1907.

Clarabel Rowe, 1832-1924, and husband F. G. Rowe, an insurance agent, arrived in Colorado Springs around 1880. Dr. Rowe was also a graduate of the Cleveland Homeopathic College for Women. Dr. Rowe maintained a practice in Colorado Springs until her husbands death in 1890. Dr. Rose also received her Colorado medical license in 1882. Shortly after her husbands death she moved to Monterey county, California where she lived until her own death in 1924. She is buried in the El Carmelo Cemetery Pacific Grove Monterey County, California.

Dr. Loomis and Dr. Leonard are buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Dr. Holmes was originally buried there, but was disinterred approximately two years later, and the body sent to Denver. Dr. Loomis is the only early female medical doctor practicing prior to 1900 with an MD on her headstone.

There were other female doctors who came to Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City after 1880, for the area was one of opportunity for those wanting to cure the sick. The number of women who did have thriving practice in the area seem to belie the fact that women had a difficult time establishing themselves in the medical field in those early years. Colorado may have been one of the exceptions, in part due to the states reputation as a region where one came to restore health.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention "Josie's Dream". The women mentioned in this post were an inspiration for Josie.

Amazon ebook

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

Late Victorian Men's Clothing

As I indicated last month, my current book is set in Galveston, c. 1895. So far, I have researched settings, trolleys (streetcars), a Valentine's Day blizzard, and women's Victorian fashions. No, not cowgirls. Julia, my heroine is a big city gal, the daughter of a wealthy Houston businessman, so she dresses like a lady. Well, most of the time. She might end up riding a horse or sailing the ocean, not sure yet.

Corsario (Privateer) painting and photo by Mauricio García Vega; wikipedia

Now I'm researching men's clothing in the late Victorian era. My hero, Raphael, is a time traveling privateer (a pirate commissioned by his country) from 200 years earlier. He's used to wearing knee breeches and loose shirts that tied at the throat. Seeing the strange attire worn in 1895 is shock enough; being stuffed into such a monkey suit threatens his masculinity, but he will have to get used to his new duds, like 'em or not.

So, what did Raphael end up wearing? A question I finally found the answer to today on a wonderful site, the Historical Emporium. This is a retail site selling authentic Victorian and Old West apparel, but it also offers terrific descriptions of individual articles of clothing. I would love to copy and paste what I found in the men's Victorian section, but I'd rather not be sued for plagiarism. So I'll summarize.

For more details, go here: https://www.historicalemporium.com/

First, by the late Victorian era, clothing was being manufactured in factories and sold in stores and via mail-order catalogues. Men’s attire no longer had to be expensively tailored or sewn at home, although wealthy gentlemen still preferred custom tailored garments for better fit and exclusivity.

During Queen Victoria’s long reign, her son and heir Prince Edward, nicknamed “Bertie” and known as a playboy, was in modern terms a fashion icon. He traveled the world and popularized new styles. The newly rich middle classes, wishing to climb the social ladder, followed these styles, displaying wealth through clothing and possessions.

Frock coat, Victorian ers; public domain

Coats: Although the old-style frock coat gave way to the sack coat for informal day wear, the cutaway was revived in the 1880s, again becoming the choice for businessmen and gentlemen. For formal events, the tailcoat still dominated. The daring Tuxedo Coat was introduced in 1886, causing a shakeup in high society. (Raphael will likely wear a tailcoat to a formal ball.)

Cutaway coat, waistcoat, trousers & top hat; public domain

Vests: Usually called waistcoats, vests remained a staple for all classes. Shirts were basically considered undergarments and a man should not be seen in "bare shirtsleeves" by anyone other than his wife or close family.

Shirts: Since ready-to-wear clothes had become available to the public, a new shirt was quite affordable, but frequent laundering could be difficult. Detachable white collars and cuffs were vital. A proper gentleman stocked at least six collars and sets of cuffs to last a full year. They were the only part of a shirt that showed, thus hiding a dirty shirt from view. I keep thinking how nasty the man might smell. Eeuw!

Trousers: Black was the basic color for trousers, although other colors did appear. The zipper wasn't yet invented; pants featured button flies and suspender rivets. Belts did not become popular until the 1920s. For activities such as hunting, woolen breeches were worn, and knickers for sporting events. And as you western lovers know, Levi Strauss introduced denim jeans in 1873.

Hats: Tall black hats still prevailed for evening wear, but many different hat styles were available for other occasions. Derby hats remained popular; the stiff Homburg found favor during the 1880s among gentlemen and businessmen. Straw boaters might be worn during warm weather months.

Ties: Bow ties were popular during the late Victorian era, but the four-in-hand and ascot also gained popularity. Other types of ties were also mentioned in the article. Neckwear was a way to express individual style.

The article concludes: “As Victoria's reign ended and Edward ascended to the throne, men's fashion began to reflect his style even more. His preference for tweedy Norfolk jackets and Homburg hats figure prominently in men's fashion at the turn of the century.”

While we love our cowboys, it’s helpful to remember not all westerners lived on ranches, prospected for gold and silver or robbed banks and trains. A number lived in towns and cities, and they enjoyed keeping up with fashions just as we do today.

Lyn Horner is a multi-published, award-winning author of western historical romance and paranormal romantic suspense novels, all spiced with sensual romance. She is a former fashion illustrator and art instructor who resides in Fort Worth, Texas – “Where the West Begins” - with her husband and a very spoiled cat. As well as crafting passionate love stories, Lyn enjoys reading, gardening, genealogy, visiting with family and friends, and cuddling her furry, four-legged children.

Amazon Author Page: viewAuthor.at/LynHornerAmazon (universal link)

Newsletter:  Lyn’s Romance Gazette http://eepurl.com/bMYkeX

Website:  Lyn Horner’s Corner 

Twitter   Facebook   Goodreads   Sweethearts of the West