Survival in the West by Paty Jager

She was shunned by society.
He must fit in to survive.
Will their love be enough to battle both their demons?

Anyone who reads my books has learned that I don't sugar coat anything. Life is harsh. But no matter how harsh if we have hope, find love, and live life to our fullest, we have won.

My Silver Dollar Saloon books have heroines who have found themselves wishing they were dead, that the man who beat them had killed them, or that they could hole up somewhere and not deal with humanity anymore. They all have had a past that most would have given up over, but they all have been found by the owner of the Silver Dollar Saloon and given a reason to get up every morning and have been shown that they are still a valued person who should have friends, love, and a feeling of community. 

Back in the late 1870's when my stories take place, most saloons consisted of a bar, a few tables for drinking, and a few for gambling. The whiskey was watered down and the quality of beer might be not as good as they touted. Women with questionable reputations delivered the drinks and gave favors upstairs. Many of these women were kept like slaves or prisoners to keep the thirsty men coming back to the establishments. Many saloon owners  were the equivalent of today's pimps. They didn't care for the women other than to make sure they were selling whiskey and selling their bodies to whoever asked. 

My character, Beau Gentry, is different. His background makes him very conscious of how badly woman can be treated and what lengths they will go to keep their children and themselves alive. He finds women who have been cast aside by their families, their churches, their husbands, and gives them a job at his saloon. A saloon where the men are not allowed to touch the women or make lewd remarks. The best whiskey and beer are sold and the woman sing and dance as well as deliver drinks. But because of Beau's strict rules and the steely presence of Mrs. Dearling in the boarding house where the women stay, the community doesn't reject or look down on the Ladies of the Silver Dollar Saloon as they do the other saloon girls in town. 

Here is my latest release in the Silver Dollar Saloon series.

Lottie Mae

Book 2 Silver Dollar Saloon series

Lottie Mae Peck believes she isn’t worthy of anything more than being a saloon girl after a brutal attack. However, the school needs another teacher and her heart has taken a liking to a soft-spoken man.

Manfred Albrecht suffered a loss shortly after arriving in America. The voluptuous Lottie Mae catches his eye the first time he walks into the Silver Dollar Saloon. Her intelligence and good humor as she teaches him to read and write English, stirs feelings he thought he’d never have again.

But her happiness may be fleeting. The man who sent her life into a downward spiral years ago arrives in town, destroying her hard-fought battle to believe she deserves more.

Universal link: https://www.books2read.com/u/m0gJJ0

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 34 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters.This is what readers have to say about the Silver Dollar Saloon series: “Paty Jager brings her characters to life, right off the pages of her book. You will laugh, cry, be sad and get angry right along with the characters.”


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photo source: Canstock

Horn of Plenty in NE Oregon by Paty Jager

From Baker County Historical Society

The Cornucopia Mine group located 12 miles west of Halfway Oregon in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest was once one of the 6 largest gold mines in the United States. It ran the longest continually of any mine in Oregon. It had 36 miles of tunnels with a depth of 3,000 feet.

It’s believed the mines output was $20 million from gold, silver, lead, and copper.

The mining area began when Lon Simmons one of the first to discover gold in the early 1880’s. It’s said he hadn’t planted the first stake of his section before men were all over the side of the mountain looking for gold.

There were many small mines in the area. The Cornucopia Mine group was made up of Union-Companion Mine(the biggest), Last Chance, Queen of the West and Red Jacket.

Last Chance was a pocket mine. Meaning it was a dense accumulation of ore that was under the surface and down to the bedrock and perhaps in the bedrock. While the other mines were dredged and drilled.

Union-Companion produced the most and was said to be on the mother lode. This means it was located on a vein of the ore it produced.

The mines were so remote they used outdated equipment and methods to extract the ore. Only horses and wagons were used for transportation. The first few years were a slow process of not only getting the ore out of the ground but also delivering it to a railroad station. Baker City was the closest and it was a 3 day trip.

They still used teams of horses to haul the heavy wagons in the 1920’s. In 1922 electricity came to Cornucopia. With it came a twenty-stamp mill.  The heavy stamps were like huge 1,000 to 2,000 pound hammers which could crush 60 tons of ore a day.

It wasn’t until the railroad came to Robinette on the Snake River, electricity and the pneumatic drill that finally had the mines producing to their fullest potential.

1894 the Union -Companion sold for $800.

1895 it sold for $60,000.

1897 it sold for $200,000.

Later the mine sold for $700,000

In the early 1900’s the Cornucopia mines employed 700 men.

During the years the mines operated the price of gold was from $20.67 to $35 a troy ounce.

High graders were men who worked at a mine and somehow or another, nuggets of pure gold found their way into their shirts and boot tops. Many nationalities worked at the Cornucopia mines. Being as remote as it was the miners had to create their own fun. They had Saturday night dances. Anyone who could play an instrument was included in the band ensemble for the dances.

A shift was 10 hours in the mine and 12 in the mill. They worked 7 days a week, so holidays were well-earned. They celebrated Christmas and the Fourth of July. Then when Labor Day was recognized as a holiday in Oregon in 1887 they relished that holiday.  The city ordinance of Cornucopia only allowed saloons to serve beer. But when there was a holiday it brought in ranchers, townspeople, the miners and the millworkers. And someone would bring along some “tangle leg”. A mixture of Pine Creek water and corn squeezins. "It’s said a few drops would turn a squirrel into a screaming panther."

While I didn’t have any dances or holidays in my book, Isaac: Letters of Fate, you will find the mining area of Cornucopia. Isaac is a mine guard at the Union-Companion at the start of the story.

 Historical western filled with steamy romance and the rawness of a growing country.

Alamayda Wagner’s life has left her cynical, but also vigilant, and that’s what propels her to Cornucopia, Oregon to uncover the secrets her father took to his grave. She quickly discovers her only hope includes trusting Isaac Corum. That soon proves to be expensive, and not just financially.

The last thing Isaac Corum needs or wants is a snooty woman telling him he didn’t do enough to save her father, which is what her letter implied. He’d helped the man more than most people would have, and swears he won’t go out of his way like that again. He’ll meet her at the Baker City train station, deliver her father’s belongings, and send her back the way she came.

universal buy link:  https://www.books2read.com/u/mVBAjl

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 32 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. This is what readers have to say about the Letters of Fate series- “...filled with romance, adventure and twists and turns.” “What a refreshing and well written love story of fate and hope!”

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 I used the book Oregon's Golden Years by Miles F. Potter for all the information for this post. 

Deadwood South Dakota Like You've Never Seen It Before by Paty Jager

I'm proud to be part of a 17 author anthology that is available in both ebook and print. Wild Deadwood Tales has stories that are set in Deadwood and show the historical and contemporary lives in that town. All the short stories in the anthology had to be connected to Deadwood.

Some authors spun a short story that goes along with a series they write. Others used historical events to concoct their version of history. Others used the ghosts of Deadwood's past to build their story. Which gives readers a variety of genres in which to learn about Deadwood.

My short story in the anthology is Saving Dallie. I have one of my main characters from my Silver Dollar Saloon series in Deadwood along with his Silver Dollar Saloon partner, to check out a brewery in Deadwood. While there, Beau Gentry sits in on a card game at the Gem Theater.

The theater was notorious for the owner telling women he wanted them to come to the theater to sing and they ended up working as prostitutes. When they tried to leave, he would beat them up and threaten to kill them. Al Swearengen wasn't a nice person.

At the time of my short story there were 75 saloons in Deadwood. Many were canvas and wood structures using barrels and wood as the bar. There were 7 wholesale liquor dealers, 5 brewers, and 38 bartenders. making the liquor trade an employer of 3% of the population.

Not only was there liquor at the Gem Theater, there was gambling. Hundreds of professional gamblers arrived in Deadwood hoping to take some of the gold from the prospectors pockets while the prospector was gambling for entertainment.Nearly every saloon had gambling. The games played the most were blackjack, poker, faro, roulette, and policy- a game like keno. In my story, Beau is sitting in on a game where a miner throws his daughter into the pot. Beau knows that the girl will do more than sing if Swearengen gets a hold of her.

Not every bar in Deadwood had prostitutes, but every house of prostitution had a bar. Most of the bars who professed to be theaters, such as the Gem, had women and men who sang and danced. Most of the entertainment was said to be "ribald song and smutty jest."

The Gem was one of the lowest places and one of the longest running even though it was dubbed, "dissolute and degraded." While it started out with accolades and boasted being neat and tasteful, it soon fell into "an infamous den of prostitution under the guise of being a dance hall."  Many leading citizens prospered financially from the establishment. Swearengen's wife continually wore at least one black eye and his "girls" were managed by a man who treated the women worse than Swearengen treated his wife.

Saving Dallie

Beau Gentry, owner of the Silver Dollar Saloon, has vowed to help every woman he comes across that reminds him of his mother’s past.  When a miner tosses his daughter into the pot at a poker game and the winner is a brothel owner, Beau is determined to keep the young woman out of the man’s hands. Even if it means putting himself in danger as they travel from Deadwood to Shady Gulch.

If you'd like to checkout the other stories in the Anthology you can find the information here:

WILD DEADWOOD TALES Anthology

Rodeos and romance, Old West adventure, and even a few ghostly tales. Deadwood's wild past and exciting present come alive in seventeen original short stories written by USA Today and Amazon bestselling authors to benefit the Western Sports Foundation. Contributing authors: E.E. Elisabeth Burke, Zoe Blake, Paty Jager, Teresa Keefer, Megan Kelly, Sylvia McDaniel, Amanda McIntyre, Peggy McKenzie, Angi Morgan, Nancy Naigle, Jacqui Nelson, Terri Osburn, Ginger Ring, Maggie Ryan, Lizbeth Selvig, Tina Susedik and A.C. Wilson

Proceeds from this limited edition collection go to benefit the Western Sports Foundation, an organization providing critical assistance to athletes competing in Western lifestyle sports. Whether they need help recuperating from an injury or planning for the future, WSF is there for them.

website: http://bit.ly/DeadwoodTales

universal by link https://www.books2read.com/WDTales


Paty Jager is the award-winning author of the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.This is what readers have to say about the Silver Dollar Saloon series: “Paty Jager brings her characters to life, right off the pages of her book. You will laugh, cry, be sad, and get angry right along with the characters.”

Source: Deadwood:The Golden Years by Watson Parker

Wagons, Trains, and Sternwheelers by Paty Jager

Travel to the west started with the horse and canoes as the trappers and explorers moved across the continent looking for more riches and more land. As the military and families moved toward the Pacific Ocean wagons, buggies, and stage coaches moved the people and freight. The larger river systems had sternwheelers.  And eventually railroads stretched from one coastline to the other, making travel even easier.

Part of researching for a book is learning what conveyances were used where and when.My first published book, Marshal in Petticoats,  I'd set the date and wrote the book with a train scene, only to find out there were no trains in the area at that time. Wanting to keep the integrity of the time, I tried writing the scene with a stage coach . A stage coach didn't work nearly as well. I changed the time of the story and had to go through and re-read newspapers for the new time to make sure I had other aspects correct in the story. but I ended up with a book I was happy with. If you would like to read this book it is free at all ebook outlets. 

1880's train in the Black Hills

The lowest price ticket, third class, put a passenger in an open car with a wood seat and one “washroom” to be shared by men and women, situated at one end of the car, and unsavory company. The washroom would have a reservoir to dip water to wash and an outhouse style  “commode”.  These people could usually only afford the low price ticket and brought their food, if a long journey, with them.

The next level of traveler, second class, purchased a ticket for an enclosed passenger car with padded seats, a men’s and ladies, “wash room”, and they could either bring their own food, or purchase meals at the meal stops. But the meal stops were only fifteen to twenty minutes long while the train took on water and the food was usually not very good.

While researching the trains I came across sternwheelers on the Columbia River and set my book, Gambling on an Angel there. The fourth book in the Halsey brother series, Doctor in Petticoats, has the hero and heroine traveling by train and required even more research to find out about what kind of cars were on the trains in Oregon at that time and how they were set up. In Doctor in Petticoats and Savannah: Silver Dollar Saloon the characters ride in style. 

Until 1857 when George Pullman, a carpenter, invented the Pullman Sleeping car, first class passengers had leather upholstered seats in enclosed cars with two washrooms- men’s on one end and women’s on the other and use of a buffet or dining car.  When the sleeping car began being used on the overnight trips, railroads used this new luxury coach in their ads to increase train travel. Before Pullman’s luxury cars were built, there had been railroad cars which had wooden bunks and a passenger could bring their own bedding and use.

The plush Pullman coaches had padded velvet seats that folded down into comfortable beds and beds were pulled down from the ceiling as well. The first cars had curtains that closed for privacy. And special “Pullman Porters” were men trained to attend the passengers needs.  These cars were made of mahogany, black walnut, and oak with etchings on the glass doors on the ends and gas lit chandeliers. One end of the car had a man’s salon, wash room, and lavatory while the other end had these same amenities for the women. They also had hot running water.   

 

Whitehorse Steam Locomotive

The first class passengers in the Pullman coaches either ate in the dining car, if the line they were riding had them, or the buffet car, where they could purchase sandwiches, drinks, and snack items, or they could also suffer the poor fare and get a rushed meal at the meal stops.

The dining cars by the 1870’s offered a menu of over 80 dishes with a price of 75 cents per meal- the equivalent of an average traveler’s daily wage. Even though the second and third class passengers could eat in the dining car, few were able to afford the luxury.

Of course this in only a fraction of the information I uncovered, but I thought you might find it interesting.

Some of the books I use for researching trains are: Early Oregon Days by Edwin D. Culp, Out West on the Overland Train by Richard Reinhardt, Rand McNally's Pioneer Atlas of the American West as well as several sites on the web. http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Car_Builders_Dictionary/

http://www.pnwc-nrhs.org/hs_or_n.html

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 32 novels, 6 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. This is what readers have to say about the Silver Dollar Saloon series: Paty Jager brings her characters to life, right off the pages of her book. You will laugh, cry, be sad and get angry right along with the characters.

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Wild Deadwood Reads by Paty Jager

photo taken by Paty

Have you ever wondered what a gunfight would have been like in the Old West? Having studied up on many things about the old west the one thing that struck me was how inaccurate the rifles and pistols were and yet men would stand in the street shooting at one another without regard for the people who might be in the street. Smart citizens would hide inside, knowing that most bullets wouldn't be anywhere near the target the other man was shooting at.

And that is what makes watching the Deadwood actors portray a shootout in the streets of Deadwood, South Dakota so much fun.

I attended the Wild Deadwood Reads last June and had a great time. The downtown area is filled with history. You can't walk into a building without seeing it and hearing about it from a proud owner.

In the summer of 1877, there were 75 saloons in the town. Some grandiose establishments and others makeshift bars with two barrels and a board nailed across them. There were also Theaters. Some were legitimate places to see plays and hear singers, while others were brothels and gambling dens.

The theaters that were brothels and gambling dens usually coaxed young women from other places to their establishments, saying they would be put up and paid to sing. Only when they arrived they realized they also had to sell drinks and themselves. They were treated poorly and those with strength would get away.

Because of the huge masses of gold, the gambling, and drinking, there were also the criminals. The seedier side of mankind hung around waiting for a chance to knock off someone who won big at a gambling table, a miner who hooted too much about his strike, or the mines' payrolls.

The fun part about visiting Deadwood is the fact that the townsfolk now, revel in every good and sordid detail about the growth of their town. Which makes hanging around there so much fun.

I'll be attending the Wild Deadwood Reads again this summer. It's June 7th-10th at the Deadwood Mountain Grand hotel. There is a meet and greet on Thursday night with the authors who are attending. Friday there is a motor coach trip to some of the surrounding sites. There are ghost tours, book readings, a breakfast with the authors on Saturday morning, a book signing, and then a fantastic VIP PBR package where we meet behind the chutes with bull riders, the announcer, and the rodeo protection athlete(clown). Then we have special seats for the rodeo and a dinner afterward.

You can find information on all of this here: http://wilddeadwoodreads.com/

guide on the train

I had a fun time on the 1880's train through the Black Hills. If you've never ridden on an old steam train this is a great experience to understand how it felt back then.

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 32 novels, 6 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery, western romance, and action adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters.
This is what readers have to say about her Silver Dollar Saloon series: Paty Jager brings her characters to life, right off the pages of her book. You will laugh, cry, be sad and get angry right along with the characters.



blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest

A Family Tree and Free Christmas Novella by Paty Jager

The first historical western series I wrote is the Halsey Brother Series. I wrote the first book not thinking about making it a series but when it published and readers wanted to know the other brother's stories it became a series. 

The best and worst part about a series is watching the family grow. First there are the spouses, then as the stories progress adding years to when the first book starts, you also have to add children. When I ran out of the 5 brothers for the Halsey Brothers series and readers still wanted more, I used a brother of one of the heroines and then the two children from a first and second marriage of one of the heroines. That added three more novels and one novella to the Halsey family series and A Husband for Christmas was the last book. 

To write the last book, I had to come up with a family tree to show the marriages and births to be able to bring everyone together for Christmas in the last novella. This tree doesn't show the marriages of Colin, Shayla, and Jeremy. Which are the books in the Halsey Homecoming Trilogy, along with Donny's book. He as a secondary character in Doctor in Petticoats who moved to Sumpter, Oregon with Clay and Rachel from that book. But using this tree helped me keep couples and children straight when the family arrives and at the table during meals. Yes, I had the whole family gathered for meals in a scene or two. That was an undertaking! I actually drew a table and made place cards on the table so I knew who was next to whom and how far down the table they would be looking to talk to another character. To me the staging is one of the fun parts of writing a story. 

Now until the end of December, A Husband for Christmas is free at all ebook vendors. It is my gift to readers. 

A Husband for Christmas

Final Novella in the Halsey Homecoming and Halsey Brothers Series

Shayla Halsey wanted to be home for Christmas, but never imagined her travels would include spending the night in a brooding stranger’s cabin. Snowballing events cause her to look inside herself and recognize maybe it wasn’t being home she wanted as much as it was to have a home.

    

Mace Walker has his life in order and doesn’t want it disrupted again. Yet, when he discovers a woman stranded in the snow, he has to help her—despite her overbearing and reckless fiancé. In a matter of days, Shayla turns his life upside down and forces him to decide if he should leave town or face the consequences. 

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https://www.books2read.com/u/4NDZW3

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 30+ novels, novellas, and short stories of murder mystery, western romance, and action adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

 

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