COLD FOOD IN HOT TEXAS by Marisa Masterson

 There is one invention in my kitchen I particularly enjoy. Not my dishwasher, though I wouldn't want to live without it, or my stove. No, my favorite invention is my icemaker. It's built into the door of my fridge and even crushes the ice that I add to my glass of Dr. Pepper.

Believe it or not, I have access to that wonderful icemaker because of the beef industry. Inventors had already worked to develop commercial refrigeration. It was Andrew Muhl, though, who created the first commercial ice-making machine in San Antonio, Texas in 1867. 

Before that, ice had to be harvested from lakes and rivers. These blocks would be stored in ice. This was done in the North. 

During the American Civil War, the supply of ice was cut off. Necessity leading to invention the way it usually does, Texans saw a need and led the way in developing a means to create artificial ice. They had Texan beef to maintain and transport. 

Speaking of transport, even before the war a Texan envisioned a way to keep meat cold while ships moved the meat.

 

In 1834, Henry Peyton Howard of San Antonio became the first person to use mechanical refrigeration to keep beef from going bad during transit. Cattle lost 40% of their weight if shipped while still on the hoof, so to speak. Sending it by the halves or quarters in a refrigerated compartment saved money and meat both.

Fresh hamburger, crushed ice, and my Dr. Pepper. Lots to thank Texas for when I visit my kitchen.

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With a new name, Grace Winkelman fled west to teach in a small town. How could she anticipate her past following her that far?

Errol Marsden wandered for years, taking his cobbler's wagon from town to town fixing shoes. His heart broke with the sudden death of his young wife almost four years before. He's shocked to glimpse her on a street in Fort Bridger and follows her to Belle.

Will he get the answers he needs to understand why she faked her death? When the couple is drawn into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Grace's aunt, will they work together or let old lies stand in their way?

Epidemics in the Old West

By Marisa Masterson

If you're like me, right now you are either self-isolated or you live in a state where you have been ordered to stay home. In fact, my daughter has to carry a letter from her employer just to travel to work. While I felt like the government's response to the pandemic is extreme, I changed my mind after reading about killing epidemics in the Old West.

Cholera victim depicted in a 19th century medical textbook. Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images

Cholera repeatedly reared its filthy head and claimed lives. There had been a Cholera epidemic in 1832 that killed thousands in both Europe and on the North American continent. About half the population of New York City left to stay in the country while cases of the disease continued to spread.

At the time, no one understood the disease and associated it with the poorer classes. Now we know that contaminated water sources cause it to start so it makes sense that the poor who relied on those sources would be the victims. Living in the tight quarters of tenement buildings, they easily spread the disease from one person to the next.

Immigrants at Ellis Island, NY.

In 1873, at least 18 states and territories, including Texas, experienced a new Cholera epidemic. Dr. J. B. Van Velson, a physician in the Dakota territory wrote that his first patients with the disease were Russians who came directly from the port in New York. Like many others of the time, the doctor believed Cholera was brought to the country by immigrants.

Cholera Epidemic 1873

In the end, the epidemic that ranged across the western part of the country was so severe that Congress became involved. It authorized an inquiry into the causes of the disease. While most Americans already understood that contaminated water caused Cholera, this inquiry helped educate people on the importance of washing and disinfecting.

The idea of germs was very new. But, by studying cases, doctors realized that people who cared for victims of the epidemic stayed healthy by washing their hands and avoiding contact with the fluids produced by suffering victims of Cholera.


Dr. Worth, in charge of the inquiry, summed up his findings with one sentence. "What vaccination is to small-pox, disinfection is to cholera." https://truewestmagazine.com/the-fastest-killer-in-the-old-west/ Amazing, he got to the heart of the matter and didn't even have a microscope.

Consider that and think about 2020. It's no wonder all of the hand sanitizer disappeared first from teh shelves!

So, we aren't the first Americans to face an epidemic or to panic. I am choosing to view this as extra time to read. I hope you are, too.

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Faced with an opportunity to prove he can be a successful businessman, Bode is desperate to buy into it the business using his inheritance. His trustee, however, won't release the necessary funds unless Bode marries that the man's choice of brides by proxy. Easy enough, Bode decides. After all, he can annul the marriage after the money is in his possession.

All thoughts of annulment disappear when he meets his less than shy or wilting Violet. But will Violet stay with him when she learns how Bode makes his living? 

Why do attempts on his life start when he makes it clear to the people around him that he plans to stay married?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VC322BY

NAMING WYOMING by Marisa Masterson

My next book, The Teacher's Star, is set in Belle, Wyoming. That started me wondering why that state got that name. Where did the word Wyoming originate? 

To understand, we have to look at a piece of Pennsylvania history.

Wait one minute! How does Pennsylvania enter into the naming of a western state?

The year was 1778. The British had recently lost the Battle of Saratoga. The Seneca, Iroquois, and Mohawk nations, however, remained allies of Britain. John Butler recruited members of the Seneca and Iroquoise for guerilla-style attacks against colonists.

Patriot defenders massed to try to hold of the attackers. When the patriots were defeated, many started to run away. Rather than take prisoners, the native peoples and the loyalists slaughtered everyone they caught, amounting to about 300. Colonel Butler claimed that 277 scalps were taken during the attack.

It’s a brave tale from the American Revolution. But what does it have to do with Wyoming?

The spot where these colonists were butchered was the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania.

Later, Thomas Campbell wrote a poem titled Gertrude of Wyoming.  The poem's popularity led to the name of the western state. 

The poem begins with these lines:

On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming!

Although the wild-flower on thy ruin'd wall,

And roofless homes, a sad remembrance bring,

Of what thy gentle people did befall;

Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of all

That see the Atlantic wave their morn restore.

Sweet land! may I thy lost delights recall,

And paint thy Gertrude in her bowers of yore,

Whose beauty was the love of Pennsylvania's shore!

Rustlers and a mystified marshal. A treasure map and a missing child. Why does nothing make sense to this smart school teacher?
Forced into the role of a U. S. marshal, Delia Perkins keeps that a secret and goes on with her life as a teacher in the small town of Belle, Wyoming. After all, she's only a courier. While waiting for her contact, she's drawn to the man she's sure is a part of a gang of rustlers.
Roland Anderson juggles training both his horses and his daughter. The bad thing is that the horses are better behaved than his little girl. He has a job to do, but the new teacher is on his thoughts much too often.
Will Delia Perkins give him away before he can find and arrest the leader of the gang of thieves?
When the two are forced into a sudden marriage, will Roland be able to catch the thieves without losing either his wife or his daughter?

This is one Valentine's Day that neither Delia nor Roland will soon forget.

https://www.amazon.com/Teachers-Star-Belles-Wyoming-Book-ebook/dp/B0845TVC4T

COLD WEATHER, COWHANDS, AND CATTLE COUNTRY by Marisa Masterson

November started out feeling like January here in Michigan. The cold wind and blowing snow sent shivers down my back as I looked out the window. It was nasty weather to dart from car to store when I needed to shop for groceries.

Fall of the Cowboy by Frederic Remington

The cold started me thinking about cowboys and the winter weather. Here I am in my cozy, warm house. What about the cowhands?

Not every cowboy stayed employed year-round. The ranches required fewer hands after the fall cattle drive finished. The cattle still might wander during the winter so some hands were needed. Also, cowhands were kept busy cutting holes in ice so the animals could drink or checking on the herd as rustlers might strike, even during winter.

Waiting for a Chinook by C. M. Russell

One winter was particularly historic for the cattle industry. During 1886-1887, freezing temperatures and blizzards killed up to 90% of cattle that had been left to graze the winter range. No wonder that winter is also know as the Big Die-UP (a play on the term round up).

Prior to this winter, life had been relatively easy for ranchers with extremely mild winters in the previous two years. The summer of 1886 was brutally hot and dry which didn't allow for any hay to be harvested and stored in the winter.


That terrible winter began the end of the traditional cowboy way of life, at least that's what I've read. Ranchers faced foreclosure along with a range dotted by carcasses and live cattle that were far from healthy. (To read more about this, check out https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1887-blizzard-changed-american-frontier-forever-1-180953852/.)

Here I sit, much more than a century later, in my warm house kept warm by central heat. A little early winter might not be such a terrible thing after all compared with the life of a rancher or a cowboy in winter.

A man might homestead, but it takes a woman to turn that place into a home! This matchmaker will settle the West one couple at a time.

Under suspicion after his wife’s murder, Elias Kline  heads west. It seems a fine way to start over, but he’ll need a wife to raise his son and cook his meals. 

Reading the widower's letter, Ruby Hastings aches for the little boy and seizes on this chance to be a mama to him. It should be a convenient arrangement. 

What happens when danger follows him from Mills Bluff? Will Elias be able to keep his family together? 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YBK98P8

Christmas, 1921

Victrolas, flappers, and a rooming house where two lonely people live. Good thing for them that Mrs. Klaussen, their landlady, has Christmas magic at her fingertips.
Del Peale and Josephine Withers have both loved and lost. That is why neither has pursued their mutual attraction. A newborn left on the front steps brings them together. A cold house forces Del to face the home he shared with his wife and son. Is it enough to let them see that love is still possible if they share that love?
Will strange twists and an abandoned baby be enough to lead them to a Christmas wedding? Perhaps Mrs. Klaussen will need to step in with a miracle and a very special Christmas ornament?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081PBQCFY

A PRAIRIE BOUQUET FOR MAMA by Marisa Masterson

marisamasterson.com

Yesterday, as I wrote the following scene for my latest novel, Ruby's Risk, I tried to envision the Nebraska prairie as my heroine saw it.


With a nod, the older woman led her to the wood-framed house. While the livery itself wasn’t painted, the house boasted a coat of slate-blue. Small saplings had been planted on both sides of the house. Small rose bushes stood to each side of the white porch steps. The woman obviously loved her home.

“The color is lovely. I’d expect it to be white, but this color is one that has become very popular in my hometown in Massachusetts.”

The widow beamed. “I had my sister send it out. I do like pretty things.” Then her expression abruptly changed. “I’d hoped it would help me forget this horrible, barren prairie. No trees, nothing green and lovely.”

Unable to stop herself, Ruby looked beyond the home to the horizon. Though the summer heat had begun to turn the grass brown in spots, wildflowers and a sea of waving green met her eyes. She saw freedom and beauty. How this poor woman must hate this place if she couldn’t see that.

What does Ruby see as she looks at the horizon? What types of flowers will Buddy, her newly acquired son, pick for her when he wants to bring Mama a bouquet?

The first plant I found in my research was the blue wild indigo. It's native to the Midwest and can be found in states besides Nebraska. When I looked at photos of the plant that grows to about four feet tall, I could imagine a small boy being drawn to the beautiful color as well as the fact that the plant would be about his height.

A second plant I found in my research was yarrow. It can grow to be about three feet tall. Imagine the four-year-old surrounded on the prairie by these flowering plants. Won't this lacy, white blossom look nice in Mama's bouquet?

 A third plant for the bouquet that caught my eye was the silky aster or western silver aster. Unlike the yarrow which is found on multiple continents, this plant is native to the central plains of the United States. Neither Ruby nor Buddy would have seen this plant before their move west.




Imagine the three together to see the bouquet as the little boy presents it to Ruby. And what does she do when he hands it to her? She sticks the blossoms in a Mason jar and places it in the middle of her kitchen table, of course--just like my own grandmother always did.


 I'll let you know when Ruby's Risk becomes available next month for pre-order. In the meantime,
Grace for a Drifter is available now at Amazon.

Will a second chance at love reunite this husband and wife or will their past tear them apart again?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TSG28HM

GO WEST YOUNG WOMAN, GO WEST! by Marisa Masterson

Late Nineteenth Century Classroom

You don't need training. You don't need materials. Wyoming needs you.

That seems to be the idea after 1870 in Wyoming. The area had been a territory for a year and already people in every small town and even rural areas wanted  a school for their children. In fact, Wyoming passed a law requiring every child between the ages of seven and sixteen to attend school at least three months each year.

Rollins House, used in 1869 by the legislature.

To help attract both settlers and teachers, lawmakers met in 1869 and passed a resolution that granted women the right to vote. They also guaranteed female teachers the same salary as male educators. While those salaries were meager, at least opportunities for women to be independent existed in that state.

Women voting in Cheyenne, WY 1888

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/History_of_Wyoming/Territorial_Days:_Railways,_Suffrage_and_Cattle,_1868-1890

photo titled "Fairly Determined"

What most interested me about teaching in Wyoming at this time was the teacher convention. Each year, teachers banded together to put on teacher institutes. They'd share ideas which they'd learned would work in the classroom. It didn't end there, though, They explored new methods being used back East. Even if some of these teachers were poorly trained before coming to Wyoming, other educators helped them in this way to become better at their new craft.

By 1870, females experienced another first in Wyoming. The first women ever to sit on a jury did so in Wyoming. The judge praised women jurors as being more honest, I found in my research. Unfortunately, the practice didn't continue and women would wait decades to become jurors again. Remember that the next time you get a jury summons if you're female. It's a fairly new privilege for women.

One more thing. If you'd like to learn more about the Wyoming schoolhouse of yesteryear, there's a fantastic video available--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK_tILS_WGc

In my newest novel, the heroine is returning from the annual teacher institute. With a new name, she's fled west to teach in a small town. How could she anticipate her past following her that far?

Errol Marsden wandered for years, taking his cobbler's wagon from town to town fixing shoes. His heart broke with the sudden death of his young wife almost four years before. He's shocked to glimpse her on a street in Fort Bridger and follows her to Belle.

Will he get the answers he needs to understand why she faked her death? When the couple is drawn into a mystery surrounding the disappearance of Grace's aunt, will they work together or let old lies stand in their way?

This is a sweet, American western historical romance and mystery. Each story in this collection stands alone, though common events and characters appear in the novels.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TSG28HM

School Supplies for the Prairie Pupil

As the heroine of my next book is the school teacher in the Belles of Wyoming series, I started to wonder just what the students in her classroom would use during their day. Did they have desks or would they sit at tables? Did they use slates? Were they able to pull out a box of crayons and color?

To answer the questions, I started by researching student desks. There are websites devoted to the history of school desks, believe it or not, and I easily found out that Grace Winkleman, my heroine would have to use tables for her students. John Loughlin invented and patented the first student desk, but it didn’t go into production until 1881. Since my book is set in 1880, I can't use them in my story.

Next, I considered chalkboards. Would Miss Winkleman have a chalkboard in her schoolhouse? Was chalk even marketed to educators in 1880? I relied heavily on the blackboard during my years as a teacher, and I was happy to learn that Grace Winkleman would have one in her Wyoming classroom. From 1840, blackboards have been commercially produced by applying thick paint to smooth boards. Poor communities even made blackboards for the schoolroom by nailing pine boards together and covering them with a mixture of egg whites and carbon from charred potatoes. It seems I’m not the only one who recognizes the value of a blackboard. 

Chalk also was available in 1880, both white and colored chalk. By that time, Grace would be able to order from J.L. Hammett’s company, the man who invented the blackboard eraser and partnered with the Milton Bradley Company to make school supplies easy for teachers to order.

To be honest, I very much want to include crayons in the supplies available to my fictional schoolteacher. I suppose I could fudge and pretend students had them. I hate to do that, especially since they wouldn’t be available until 1903. 

Lastly, I investigated the use of slates versus paper. Would the students need to bring slates to school? Here I discovered an interesting fact. Paper became relatively inexpensive after the Civil War. The process to turn wood pulp into had been discovered by then, making it much easier to make, Still, I learned paper was typically used by older students only. Younger children carried slates to school and practiced writing on those.

While my research into the school day continues, I now have a solid idea of the tools students had available to them. In my August blog, I'll discuss the school building itself.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T2MY829

About Marisa Masterson

Marisa Masterson and her husband of thirty years reside in Saginaw, Michigan. They have two grown children, one son-in-law, a grandchild on the way, and one old and lazy dog.

She is a retired high school English teacher and oversaw a high school writing center in partnership with the local university. In addition, she is a National Writing Project fellow.

Focusing on her home state of Wisconsin, she writes sweet historical romance. Growing up, she loved hearing stories about her family pioneering in that state. Those stories, in part, are what inspired her to begin writing.

A SHORT HISTORY OF CREEDE, COLORADO AND ITS ‘GREAT FIRE’ by Marisa Masterson

In the last two years, I have read so many wonderful historical western romances set in Creede, Colorado. When I was asked to write for the Proxy Bride series, I decided that Creede would be a wonderful spot to set my book. This began my search for interesting tidbits about the town.

Early into my online search, I happened on an entry in the Colorado Encyclopedia about the Creede Museum (https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/creede-railroad-depotmuseum). After reading that article, my mind was set on the time and place. I wanted to set my book in 1893.

Why that year, you might ask? The fire!

According to Creede’s website, (https://www.creede.com/discover-creede/history.html), before 1890, the area around Creede drew tourists. It was a popular fishing area as well as being a spa. People came to bathe in the hot springs as well as to drink that water. Ugh! By 1883, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad transported these tourists. It must have been popular to have the railroad extended to it.

At first called Jimtown, the town changed quickly after silver was found in 1890. Its population boomed and, by the time the name was changed to Creede, the town had an estimated population of 10,000. That’s the Creede I wanted to imagine in my book.

But back to the fire…

One cold night a fire started in rooms above a barbershop. This spread quickly through the wooden buildings and destroyed much of the town. Because of the speed of the fire business owners weren’t able to even rescue their tills. Cash burned and the coins melted together. A great description of the fire was written twelve years later in an article for the Creede Candle (https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TCC19040604&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-creede+fire+1892-------0-).

This photo of Creede was taken in 1893, one year after a fire destroyed much of the mining town. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad depot, which currently serves as a museum, is the wood frame building under construction in the center of the photo. Boxcars are lined up to its right, and Main Street is in the foreground. (taken from the Colorado Encyclopedia)

After researching the fire, I imagined my hero as a business owner struggling to reestablish himself after the fire. Once I started writing the book, the size of the town of Creede was beyond what I wanted to depict in A Bride for Darrell. The great thing about being an author is the freedom to invite towns. So, I created Silver Town. I used the railroad history of Creede and even set Silver Town on the same branch line.

https://www.amazon.com/Bride-Darrell-Proxy-Brides-Book-ebook/dp/B07QJ79GZF/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=a+bride+for+darrell&qid=1558633508&s=gateway&sr=8-1

About Marisa Masterson

Marisa Masterson and her husband of thirty years reside in Saginaw, Michigan. They have two grown children, one son-in-law, and two old and lazy dogs. 

She is a retired high school English teacher and oversaw a high school writing center in partnership with the local university. In addition, she is a National Writing Project fellow.

Focusing on her home state of Wisconsin, she writes sweet historical romance. Growing up, she loved hearing stories about her family pioneering in that state. Those stories, in part, are what inspired her to begin writing.