TEXAS TRUE--The Cameron Sisters: Book II

Location, location, location. When I write novels set in Texas, whether they are Western Historical or Contemporary, I use a mix of real locations with a few I created. Even with the invented places, I set them in areas that are quite real.

TEXAS TRUE

 TEXAS TRUE allows the youngest Cameron sister, True Lee, to tell her story. She had graduated from an Eastern boarding school and moved in with her older sister, Jo King. Jo had her turn in a story (Texas Promise), so she had ridden off into the sunset with her man and left True alone in Austin.

AUSTIN, TEXAS
EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Austin, Texas, 1900, the state capital, located on the Colorado River and Interstate Highway 35 in Central Texas, situated on the eastern edge of the Hill Country and the Edwards Plateau. The photo is actually a few years later than the time of this story, but you can get an idea of how Congress Avenue looked, with the state capitol on a rise at the end of the long street. The dress shop which Jo owns—and True now runs alone—is on this street in the novel.

DRISKILL HOTEL
TURN OF THE CENTURY

 The Driskill Hotel, a posh establishment then and even today, is used in the story. When True meets Sam Deleon, he wants to impress her, so he takes her to dinner in the dining room there—a very expensive affair. The hotel's 60 rooms included 12 corner rooms with attached baths, an almost unheard-of feature in any hotel of the region at that time.

EARLY OIL DERRICK

After True marries Sam, she finds herself alone once again when he returns to the oilfield.

OIL CAMP FAMILY TENT
(The old ones weren't quite this nice!)

She asks her friend, Adam Carter, to help her move out of Austin to the oilfield camp where wives and children live—a couple of miles from the oil wells. The camp consists of two facing rows of platform tents. This photo gives us a vague idea of such a tent. True learns the word "hardship" for the first time in her life. But during the hot summer she lives there, she grows up, into a determined young wife.

Later in the story, Sam finally takes over the family ranch in South Texas. The ranch home is a huge hacienda (estate) and casa (home.)

A SOUTH TEXAS/SPANISH HACIENDA

There, the story plays out. What happens at the ranch? Why does Sam need to reclaim his inheritance from his younger brother? What part does True play in the process? How and why did Sam deceive her in the beginning? Does Sam make atonement for his sins? Is True generous and loving enough to give their marriage a chance?

Read: TEXAS TRUE

BLURB:

At a Governor's Ball in Austin, Texas, True Lee Cameron meets suave Sam Deleon. Before the night is out, she transforms from the coddled and protected younger sister to a woman in love. Reality crashes down when she accidentally learns he has deceived her. Daring to disobey him, she follows Sam to the oilfields and determines to live wherever he does. Has she made a mistake? Will she give up and return home where she can make her own rules?

When Sam Deleon meets the gorgeous young woman his mother has chosen for him, he fears falling in love, because he knows nothing about love. In order to carry out his mother’s plan, he marries True and moves her to his mother's home, intending to visit enough to set the plan in motion. When True fails to obey him, he faces the possibility of losing her, thereby losing his inheritance and the family property.

Sam and True attempt a reconciliation and compromise. Together, they now face a nemesis, someone who determines to thwart every action they take, endangering not only their lives, but also those whom they love.

BUY LINKS: eBook

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-156/Celia-Yeary-Cameron-Sisters/Detail.bok

http://www.amazon.com/Cameron-Sisters-Book-Two-ebook/dp/B004UM92O4/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301749418&sr=1-2-fkmr0

Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas  
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com http://www.celiayeary.com

http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com 

LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY! WESTERN ANIMALS

Chaparral, or Roadrunner
not a cartoon character

Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my! Animals often appear to menace our characters or at least to give color to our novels. As readers and writers, we want the animals in the novels we read to be realistic.
When we write or read about the Southwest, our characters often encounter annoying critters on four legs as well as those on two legs. I wanted to post some of these because I've had people from other areas ask what a parricular thing was--a chaparral, for instance. When I explained they were commonly called a roadrunner, she said, "Oh, I thought that was only in cartoons. You mean there really is a roadrunner?" Yes, there is, and in fact one lives in our orchard. Others doubt that a particular animal, the Mexican black panther, for example, actually makes it as far north as North Texas.  As an eyewitness, they do!

Wily Coyote, also real

Another creature we hear far more often than we see them is the coyote. As so-called civilization encroaches, coyotes become more aggressive. You may remember reading about a young Canadian author who was attacked and killed by a pack of coyotes while she was on a hike not that far from her home. In the area of North Central Texas in which I live, we've only seen lone coyotes. Usually sightings are early morning, but we hear them from their dens under the train track a half-mile and further away.

Glen Rose (Texas) Gray Wolf

Along the same avenue is the repopulation of wolves in Texas, as we learned from Jeanmarie's post. The Texas Gray Wolf became extinct in the 1960's, but wolves are now being reintroduced in natural areas. Ranchers are not happy about this, and I can understand their anger. On the other hand, I hate to see any species go extinct. But then, I'm one of those weird tree-huggers--NOT the militant type, just privately. And I wouldn't mind if things like fire ants and poisonous snakes and mosquitoes were extinct. Not a bit!


Javelina--does "Ugly" come to mind?


We have all heard of javelinas, especially if you're from Arkansas where the Razorback is the mascot of one of the universities. I always picture them as a red cartoon like the university symbol, but the real animal is ugly as mud and meaner than you can imagine. They roam in small packs or herds--whichever is the term for swine. One of the new developments is the plague of feral formerly domestic hogs destroying crops and pastures. These also are dangerous, and authorities encourage hunters to shoot the feral animals--being careful they're not targeting some farmer's swine.

Mexican Black Panther

Here's one animal I've been accused of making up. Years ago a friend was deer hunting on Thanksgiving weekend. Her deer stand was under a large tree, and she was sitting there freezing when leaves drifted down on her. She heard a loud noise, like a kitten purring, but magnified a hundred times. She looked up, and a black panther perched in the tree overhead. Needless to say, she panicked. Moving slowly, she climbed down from the stand and sidled away. As soon as she was in her pickup, she called Parks and Wildlife to report the sighting. The Ranger told her the animal was a Mexican black panter and she was lucky the cat had already feasted on a rancher's calf further down the creek. [*Note* I've included this in one of my works in progress. LOL] Last year, our neighbors lost their elderly dog to a black jaguar who looked like a black leopard. The coat was black with darker spots in the pattern of a leopard or jaguar.



Cougar, also called Mountain Lion

 Two years ago, our nearest neighbor, a woman rancher who raises black angus cattle, was training blackberry vines on the side of her farm tank. When she reached the top of the bank, she looked across the tank and met the gaze of a large cougar. She froze, and the cougar lowered into the grass and disappeared. She never saw where it went. Another friend who walks each morning stopped to admire a herd of deer grazing as sunlight hit the meadow. While she watched, a cougar took down one of the deer. Now she walks on her treadmill and/or later in the day. LOL

Red Fox--Don't let
cute fool you

Before we wised up and kept our cats permanently in the house, we had a lovely orange tabby named Tiger who had kittens on our patio. I was talking with her when a red fox sneaked up, grabbed a kitten, and took off into the orchard. Tiger screamed so loud I would have thought she was a cougar, and we both took off after the fox. Tiger lasted longer on the chase than I did, and those who know me won't be surprised at that. I run like a duck, a very slow duck. Until then, I had no idea kittens were vulnerable to foxes.

Black Bears are edging into East Texas

My eldest daughter lives in East Texas and is a Master Gardner who also works closely with the County Extension agents. Recently they have received warnings that black bears are moving into their area as the woods of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma are being cut. One more critter to contend with.
 

Bobcat

One day I took home from our church women's meeting a very nice lady who no longer drives. We sat in her drive finishing a conversation when a Bobcat walked by. Unsure I was really seeing a Bobcat, I asked her. She said the bobcat comes by about once a day. Her home borders a very wilderness-like canyon area so I suppose the bobcat felt unthreatened. He was not huge, really not much bigger than our large house cat, Sebastian, but I wouldn't have wanted the bobcat angry with me. Hmm, I wouldn't want twenty-pound Sebastian angry with me either. :/

Siberian Tiger grooming

As a side note, are you aware that there are more rescued tigers in captivity in Texas than there are in the wild? Sad but true. Some of the "rescue" places are humane and some are not. Most of the tigers are from people who acquired them illegally then had to turn them over or have them confiscated. Tigers, while cute little kittens, make huge pets that require a lot of food, space, and care. My friend Dee Stuart has written a great mystery novel about a veterinarian who rescues tigers and I'm eager for her to have it published. She did a lot of research, which is how I learned about the tigers. There are different species and coloration.

There are many other interesting animals in the Southwest, but I'll save them for another day or another person to post. Let me leave you with this photo that I love. I don't know who took the photo, but he has a much better camera than mine. Here's a red-winged blackbird hitching a ride on a red-tailed hawk.

The TEXAS SAGA continues....

Years ago, I wrote a Western Historical Romance titled TEXAS BLUE. The heroine was Marilee Weston, a young woman who had a five-year-old daughter and lived in isolation in the East Texas Piney Woods. Her father had banished her...and she was trapped. There was no way out.

A tracker named Buck Cameron found her, and following the instructions he'd been given, he talked her into leaving with him and going to Nacogdoches to the west. 

TEXAS BLUE was a finalist in The Romance Studio Best Historical of 2010, and received numerous glowing reviews.

Sometime later I wrote a sequel titled TEXAS PROMISE. This story is about Marilee and Buck's little daughter, Josephine, now grown-up and ready to tell her story.

An excerpt from TEXAS PROMISE, a Western Historical romance.

***********

As he sat and attempted to form some sort of resolution concerning how to get on with her without giving in to how he really felt, the subject of his thoughts swung up into her saddle and raced off down the street.

Dalton spurred into action. Almost toppling his chair over, he grabbed his hat, threw a coin on the table, and ran out the door. His limp slowed him some, but not so much that he couldn't move fast enough. All in one motion, he swung into the saddle and kicked his horse into a gallop. He caught her quickly, for his big stallion could outrace her gelding any day of the week. The first thing he noticed was the gun belt strapped around her hips, and the holster holding a Colt 44.

He reached out and grasped the bridle on her horse, and slowed him by force to match his own horse's gait. They came to a stop, and she viciously turned on him.

"You leave me alone!" she yelled. "Turn right around and go on back to where you came from! In fact, why don't you run away again? No, no, I'll run away this time. You can be the one left behind. I won't allow that to happen to me again. First, I was an abandoned bride, and then I was a lonely widow. Now, I'll be a... I'll be what I want to be. And, and--" Her tirade stopped, as though she'd run out of words or thoughts.

"Are you finished?" he asked quietly. "I'm not going to run away, as you put it."

"We're finished, Dalton. Things are so wrong and so bad between us that I can't even inquire about your health. That's my right as a dutiful wife, but you don't see me in the role of a loving, caring mate. You never have and you don't now. I can only believe that you never will."

The silence between them matched the silence of the wide-open spaces. Neither had any appropriate words to say. So, they sat on their horses, pointed in the same direction, but in reality, going in opposite ones.

Dalton felt a chill creep in his belly, and he tasted panic rising in his throat.
*****
BUY LINK: EPUB, HTML,LIT, PDF, PRC (OR go to KINDLE Store on Amazon.)

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-109/Celia-Yeary-Texas-Promise/Detail.bok 


REVIEWS and AWARDS:
*TEXAS PROMISE: The Cameron Sisters-Book I
*Love Romances Café-Best Historical Romance 2010-Honorable Mention
*The Romance Studio-Five Hearts
*Love Western Romance-Four Spurs
*Sherry Gloag, Reader-Five Hearts
*Steph Burkhart, Reviewer-Five Hearts

COMING IN APRIL: TEXAS TRUE, the younger daughter True's story.


Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas

Head 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out: Texas Trail Drives



Modern cattle drive at the Matador Ranch in Texas

 As long as cattle have been in America, there have been trail drives to move the animals from Point A to Point B. As settlers moved west, so did their cattle. Great drives ended in Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and anywhere ranching was possible. But those of Western movies and novels were primarily from Texas to the railheads in Kansas.

After the Civil War, the South faced high taxes imposed by the Northerners brought in to rule and many Southerners hadn’t the resources to pay. Other homes had been seized or burned, families had been killed or scattered. Many Southern men were left homeless and drifting. Most went West of the Mississippi looking for a new life.

Cattle ran free
during Civil War

During the Civil War, ranches were left almost untended while able-bodied men went to fight. Cattle continued to breed, but their progeny went unbranded and scattered. After the war, those cattle belonged to the man who could round them up and brand them. Drives to Kansas began in 1866 and lasted only a little over twenty years.  

According to LONE STAR, T. R. Fehrenbach’s history of Texas, when cattle brought two dollars a head in Texas, they sold for seven to ten dollars a head in Kansas. Cowboys were paid by the month, so it cost the rancher no more to have his men drive cattle to Kansas than to keep them in Texas. At times many ranchers went together for the drive, or one rancher’s hands would drive several combined herds. They also took extra horses for the cowboys to rotate on their ride.

Herding horses behind
the cattle--dusty job!

Driving cattle to market was a dangerous journey with long hours for the men. They faced outlaws, Indians, stampedes, swollen rivers, and inclement weather. At the end of the drive, the trail boss sold the herd on a handshake. His honor depended on final head count being what he told the buyer.

In 1867, Charles Goodnight invented the chuck wagon for use on trail drives. I don't know if many cowboys knew who invented it, but I'll bet they were all pleased to have it with them. It was a modified Army wagon that could carry substantially more and better food than horseback allowed. Other ranchers soon copied him.

Chuck Wagon

Cattle move slowly, so the chuck wagon could go ahead of the herd, find the camping place, and set up for supper. Generally there were only two meals a day, breakfast and supper, although that depended on the trail boss.

For all its fame, the era of the large cattle drive was a short one. By the 1880’s, railroads had begun spiderwebbing across America. Barbed wire had been introduced. The combination meant the end of the massive trail drive across several states. Fort Worth became the Texas destination, and their stockyards were immense. Swift and Armour built packing plants on the hill above the stockyards, which meant the beef was processed immediately and shipped out in refrigerated rail cars.

Famous 6666 Ranch, Guthrie,
Texas, also appears in
movies and commercials

Railroads continued to expand, making it possible to ship cattle to market rather than drive them. That is not to say that cowboys were out of work. There are still large working ranches in Texas—the 6666, King Ranch, Matador, Spur, and others—as well as hundreds of large and small ranches all across the West. But by 1890, the era of the trail drive had ended.

This is the era I write, and in which THE TEXAN'S IRISH BRIDE occurs. Hero Dallas McClintock has a horse and cattle ranch near Bandera, Texas. Dallas is also a horse whisperer as well as a rancher and is gaining fame as a horse breeder and trainer. That buy link is at:
http://www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html 

It's also the era of THE MOST UNSUITABLE WIFE from my backlist, now available with its new cover at  www.smashwords.com/books/view/37683 In that book, hero Drake Kincaid goes on one of the last cattle drives and leaves his angry wife at home. He discovers many surprises when he returns. 
　
Thanks for stopping by Sweethearts Of The West today. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

　

SPECIAL GUEST: ANNE CARROLE and Love Western Romances

(Celia) I'm so pleased to introduce Anne Carrole, a Western Romance author and co-founder of the very popular website Love Western Romances.

Anne says she is "a Jersey girl with a Western heart who was raised on a farm in NJ with horses, dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, and whatever other animals she and her sisters could convince their parents to shelter." Besides reading and writing romances, you can find her rummaging around antique stores, in the garden, or on the tennis court when she's not watching the rodeo. She is married to her own urban cowboy, and is also the proud mother of a teenage cowgirl.

Anne, please tell us about Love Western Romances, the site you and Karyna DeRosa created several years ago. Why and how did this idea come to you?

(ANNE)

Thanks for having me here at Sweethearts of the West—just love that name.

Love Western Romances is a review site devoted exclusively to western historical romances. Our goal is to help readers find new authors and authors find new readers.

Karyna and I met at our local RWA chapter and were bemoaning the fact that we couldn’t find enough of the books we loved to read (and write), that is western historical romances. We figured a lot of other fans of the genre were having the same problem. Being Karyna is a whiz on the computer (she manages website design and programming for her corporate day job), and my day job used to be in marketing, the idea of starting a website devoted to promoting the genre seemed the answer and Love Western Romances was born.

(Celia) With all the success of Love Western Romances, is there extra pressure on you to live up to higher expectation?

(ANNE)

If you mean do we feel pressure to keep things going, we do. I won’t lie that there aren’t days when it seems too much, given we both have day jobs, personal lives, and are working to get our own books published, but when we hear from readers and authors, that keeps us going.

(Celia) I know the website well, and notice you have three main areas of promotion to offer authors of Western Romances. First, explain the Author spotlight and how does it work?

(ANNE)

Each month we feature a western historical romance author. We try to have a mix of up-and- coming authors as well as established authors. Many of the established authors we contacted and asked if they’d appear, but western historical authors can contact us through the site and if we have an opening, we’ll place them in our spotlight. We try not to repeat authors more than every two years and if we do repeat, it has to be because they have something new to say for a visitor’s interest beyond a new book to promote, though we are all for letting people know about the latest books. That’s why readers come to our site, to learn about what’s new in western historical romance.

 When we first got started we were a little intimidated about asking some of the “big names” in western romance to be in our spotlight. I mean, who were we but just an upstart website.  Our first author, Stacey Kayne/Harlequin Historical was releasing her debut novel and so we sort of launched together. After that, Cheryl St. John, another Harlequin author, graciously agreed  to be in our spotlight(she’s a real sweetheart). They both were very helpful in supporting us since they were starting their own blog, Petticoats and Pistols, and felt the more the merrier. Once we had a few authors in the spotlight,  I got bold and approached Leigh Greenwood, because I thought having one of the few male romance writers would be a good draw to our site. He couldn’t have been nicer. In fact that is what I have to say about ALL the authors who have been in our spotlight; every one of them has been gracious, generous and just plain nice.

For me, though, a highlight had to be when I gathered up my courage to ask Linda Lael Miller to be in our spotlight. Anyone who knows me knows she is my idol as far as western romance goes. In the very early days of our site, her publicist had contacted us about reviewing A Wanted Man—still a favorite of mine. So, through her publicist, I contacted her. Talk about being nice and supportive. She mentioned it on her blog, mentioned us on her publisher’s site, put up our logo during that year’s Best Western Romance and donated several times to our voter bundles. She appeared again in 2010. She’s a fan favorite and will always be one of ours.

 (Celia) The review section, I notice, is huge. How does an author get a review from LWR?

(ANNE)

Most of the time they contact us through the website. We get most of our books to review from the authors themselves, rather than their publishers. We can only handle about five a month because we don’t have that many reviewers. (Anyone who wants to review western historicals and will accept them in pdf format, please feel free to contact me. We are always looking for new reviewers.)

We accept only western historical romances because that’s what our site visitors are looking for and, just because of volume, we do not accept self-published or re-issued books for review, though we are happy to mention them in the author news section of our newsletter. Anyone can join our monthly newsletter, which is another way to find out what is happening in western romances at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lovewesternromances/

(Celia) The third important part of the site is the offer to buy ad space for a book cover on the Home Page. How does this work?

(ANNE)

This is the only form of paid advertising we accept on the site. The fees we charge ($10 per month per book cover ad) go to cover our maintenance of the website and to fund our Best Western and other contests. We’ve never made a profit on the site, take no money ourselves (there isn’t enough). This is truly a labor of love because we don’t want this genre to disappear.

An author who has a western historical book cover they want displayed on the Home Page can pay through Paypal on the site. Then they need to e-mail us at

annecarrole@aol.com

and provide us their book cover or banner in jpeg format.  We’ll then link the book cover back to their website. That’s it.

(Celia) One trivial question: If you bought a car that matched your personality, what would it be?

(ANNE)

Well, that’s definitely a question I haven’t been asked before. I’m not sure of the particular model but it would definitely be red and sporty, I think, but not necessarily an expensive one. Just one that’s fast and nimble. My favorite car back in the day was my Honda Prelude so maybe it would be that.

(Celia) Now, we'd love to know about your books in general and your newest release.

(ANNE)

I have a short story published with the Wild Rose Press called Re-ride at the Rodeo, a contemporary western, that’s available separately as an e-book or in print as part of the anthology Return to Wayback.

(Celia) Can you give us a blurb and a buy link for the book?

BLURB for Re-ride at the Rodeo:

Saddle bronc rider Clay Tanner is looking for a good time and the tempting little blonde who’s working the beer concession at the rodeo looks like she could use one—except she turns him down. Feeling like he’s been bucked off his bronc before the eight second buzzer, Clay’s betting he can score if she’ll give him a re-ride. But qualifying may call for more than he’s prepared to give.

Dusty Morgan’s nonplussed when hard-bodied cowboy Clay Tanner hits on her. She doesn’t exactly have the kind of figure that attracts Texas cowboys. Besides, even though Clay’s deep timbre voice sends tingles clear to her toes, he’s an undependable rough stock rider and a player to boot. Though he may be what she desires, Dusty knows from experience he isn’t what she needs—or is he?

(Celia) I remember this one from the RETURN TO WAYBACK anthology! In fact, I wrote short reviews for each story and posted them on my blog.

Friends--if you want a good read, check out Anne’s rodeo story. It’s part of a series from The Wild Rose Press--I think there are 14 books in the series (I have one in there, too.)   

BUY LINK:

Re-ride at the Rodeo: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/reride-at-the-rodeo-wayback-texas-series-p-991.html?zenid=932786aba858d911d196098c840f5f9e

Return to Wayback: http://thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191&products_id=3435&zenid=932786aba858d911d196098c840f5f9e

Where else can we find you?

www.annecarrole.com  and, of course, http://www.lovewesternromances.com/

Thank you so much, Anne, for visiting the Sweethearts of the West. Good luck and best wishes for your continuing success.

Celia Yeary

RESEARCH IN PERSON IS MORE FUN!

Cat Helping With Research

Most writers have a substantial home research library on their areas of interest. Each of us has learned how to surf the web for additional information. Sometimes, though, it helps to go in person and experience a setting first hand. Since most of my books are set in Texas and I live in Texas, this usually doesn’t present a problem for me. Hmm, maybe I should write foreign settings so I could really travel. <G>

Available Now From
The Wild Rose Press, Amazon,
and other online stores

When I was writing my western historical, THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE, I needed to see the setting once again to refresh my memory and fill in missing details. I already knew I loved the Central Texas area around Bandera. Years before our family had stayed at the well-known Mayan Dude Ranch near Bandera. My husband was not captivated, but our daughters and I loved the place.
　
A while back, my youngest daughter and I attended a conference hosted by the San Antonio RWA chapter. (They have a great conference, by the way.) Afterward, my daughter and I took a detour by Bandera and Medina. We love road trips and are famous in our family for our "detours" that seem logical only to us. To us, everything is "on the way." <G>

Lost Maples

This time, I needed to visit Lost Maples State Natural Area in Bandera and Real Counties, five miles north of Vanderpool, Texas on Ranch Road 187. The setting for this particular book was a fictional ranch near Bandera in 1885, but Lost Maples plays an important part in the book's plot when the hero and his family chase rustlers there.

Lost Maples State Natural Area covers 2174.2 scenic acres on the Sabinal River. Long before the area was a park, sightseers crowded the narrow gravel road winding its way along the Sabinal River Canyon to see the fall colors. Acquired by purchase from private owners in 1973 -1974, the site was opened to the public on September 1, 1979. The annual visitation is approximately 200,000 visitors.

In pre-history, dinosaurs roamed here and left their prints in the limestone mud. Footprints were discovered by Roland Byrd in the 1930’s on what he labeled the Mayan Ranch Trackway. When the ranch owner wouldn’t allow excavation, Byrd moved on to Glen Rose and excavated on the Paluxy River. Those tracks are in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Archealogical evidence shows that prehistoric peoples used this area at various times. In historic times, which began with Spanish exploration and colonization efforts in the late 17th century, the Apache, Lipan Apache, and Comanche Indians ranged over the land and posed a threat to settlement well into the 19th century. In the late nineteenth century, Texas was still a pretty wild place in some areas. By 1875, the time of Indian raids on settlers had passed, but that doesn’t mean that life was safe or easy. That's why I thought this an ideal spot for rustlers in my story.


Fall View of Lost Maples

 Lost Maples is one of the loveliest areas in that part of the state, but it was used as a route for rustlers, renegade Comanche, and the evil Comancheros who victimized everyone. They traveled through Lost Maples on their rides between Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and Mexico. Abundant water, high canyon walls, and tiny side canyons and creeks offered protection for criminals. The well known Indian trail along the Sabinal River was marked on early Spanish maps as Comanche Trail.

Golden Cheeked Warbler

The park is an outstanding example of Edwards Plateau flora and fauna. It is a combination of steep, rugged limestone canyons, springs, plateau grasslands, wooded slopes, and clear streams. Rare species of birds such as the Green Kingfisher live there year round. The endangered Black-Capped Vireo and Golden-Cheeked Warbler nest and feed in the spring and early summer.

Uvalde Big Tooth Maples

Lost Maples features a large, isolated stand of uncommon Uvalde Bigtooth Maple, whose fall foliage can be spectacular. Generally, the foliage changes the last two weeks of October through the first two weeks of November. To northerners these maples might appear ordinary, but this is the only place in Texas that these trees are native, so Texans value and protect their existence.

Tranquil, reverent scene

The first thing my daughter and I noticed is that the area offers tranquility—almost a reverent, religious experience. In fact, the Sabinal River was originally called Arroyo de la Soledad, Spanish for "stream of solitude." The river rises in fissure springs that flow from great slabs of limestone southwest to the Balcones Escarpment. The river is sixty miles long. In several places it sinks underground to rise again downstream. It is fed by Hale, Hollow and Can Creeks within the park and by Mill, Little, and Onion Creeks south of the park. Canyon Creek in Uvalde County is called the West Prong of the Sabinal.

No article can convey the beauty of this park. Seeing this impressive canyon and the huge Bigtooth Maple trees left an unforgettable image in my mind that helped me as I wrote my story. Sometimes, research in person pays off not only in information gathered, but in a pleasant experience! I hope I conveyed that mystical experience in THE TEXAN'S IRISH BRIDE. If you want to find out, you can buy my book at
www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html and at Amazon, Digi-Books, and other online stores.

Thanks, Caroline