I’m just getting started on my next Proxy Brides book
(releasing at the end of March). A recent trip to hike in Death Valley has
given me so many ideas!! Have you ever heard of the California 49ers? Yes, they
are a sports team, but it also refers to the peak year of influx of people moving
to California searching for gold (1849). One group who were looking for a
shortcut to the gold fields got a wee bit lost and ended up wandering around
the desert for a couple months. Finally they burned their wagons and ate their
oxen and walked out on foot. Death Valley National Park has several monuments
to their adventures and losses. I can’t even begin to imagine how terrifying
that must’ve been! At least that story has a happy ending (except for the
oxen).
The trains only went so far West but were a whole lot faster
than travelling by wagon. You could get almost halfway across the country in a
week by the late 1840s. But then, if you didn’t get lost, it would take about
another month to get all the way to California from New York or Boston.
The California Gold Rush brought a sudden influx of gold
into the money supply and reinvigorated the American economy. The population
boom vastly altered California, leading it to become a state in 1850.
Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the
settlers. Roads, churches, schools, and other towns were built throughout the
state.
I think the groom in my next book will have made his wealth through
some of these exploits. It’s quite fascinating to read about the massive shift
in fortunes during the 40s and 50s. We’re so used to stores, and roads, and
hotels today. People must have been truly intrepid back then! I can’t wait to
explore some of these themes in my next manuscript J
I’ve got a series set in Missouri centered around train
travel (specifically young ladies escorting children on the Orphan Trains).
It’s fascinating how much the development of train travel changed life,
communication, and the economy. Check out the Orphan Train series. Here’s the
blurb for book 1 – Sophie’s story:
She’d happily give him her heart … if only it wouldn’t
cost her the only home she’s known
Sophie Brooks thought she had everything she could want in
life. Friends, loved ones at the orphanage where she was raised, a job that
gives her purpose, and a chance to help children every day … what more could
she need? But a chance encounter with a handsome stranger has her wondering if
a life—and love—outside the orphanage might be exactly what she never knew she
needed.
Renton Robert Rexford III has never wanted for anything.
Until he meets Sophie. The charming, intelligent beauty draws him like no
other. But, thanks to a disapproving benefactor who threatens to pull the
orphanage’s funding, his pursuit of her could cost Sophie everything she holds
dear. She’s all he wants in the world, but how can he ask her to give up so
much when all she’d get in return is his heart?
It’s not long before Sophie is forced to weigh her loyalty
to the only home she’s ever known against the needs of her heart. Can love
prevail—or is the cost simply too high?
And then travel along with the young women who escort the
orphans in Books 2-4
If you'd like to stay in touch with me more often, please sign up for my Newsletter and join my Facebook group.
I love stories about the orphan trains. I hadn't hear about the couple who became lost and had to eat their oxen. They must have been terrified and exhausted.
ReplyDeleteI know!! So scary! They were so brave.
Delete