Historic Elks Theater by Shirleen Davies

The century old Elk House in Prescott Arizona, has been used as an opera house, live theatre, movie theatre, and concert hall. The acoustics are considered superb.

History

It all started with a proposal in the Prescott newspaper from the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge #330 to build an opera house. Residents raised the funds and the granite cornerstone was laid April 3^, 1904, for the three-story building. The lodge was on the top floor, offices on the second, retail space at ground level.

The classic design characterizes the turn of the 20^th-century transition from commercial Victorian to a modernized Sullivanesque style. It was described in the February 10, 1905, edition of the Prescott Weekly Courier. “The peer of that theatre is not found east of San Francisco until the great cities of the Mississippi Valley are reached, and even there our theatre is outclassed only as to size, for our theatre is about as perfect as the handiwork of man generally gets to be."



Opening Night

Feb. 20, 1905, the theater’s opening night, kicked off with the play. Marta of the Lowlands was billed as a romance of old Spain. It starred stage and screen actress, Florence Roberts, who came to be known for her later roles in the classic films Babes in Toyland, Off to the Races, and Make Me a Star. The talented musicians, who played in the live orchestra, came from Prescott, Jerome, and Phoenix.

Original Interior

Opera boxes went for $20.00. General admission cost $2.50. The box office proceeds were over 1200 dollars netting the Elks Lodge a nice profit of six to seven hundred dollars.

Prescott residents loved their opera house and built their businesses and social lives around it. The convenient location on a streetcar route near the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza was ideal for the locals as well as the many theatre troupes and shows who stopped over in Prescott on their way to perform in larger cities to the east and west.

Movie Theatre


The film masterpiece, Birth of a Nation, was shown at the Elks in 1916. During the silent film era, a small orchestra played accompanying music live. By 1929, all moves were talkies, and all the way through the 1970’s, large audiences continued to watch the latest films at the Elks Opera House. Then, in the 1980s live performances returned to the theatre.

Elk Theater Interior

In the 1940’s the opera boxes and ornamental finishes were removed to accommodate wide-screen movies. The theatre used to have a copper elk statue on top of the roof, a box office inside, and a second set of balcony stairs, which were all eliminated with remodeling through the years.

Who Performed

The venue originally had 900 seats and eight dressing rooms. Balls, civic presentations, and high school graduations were held there. The Elk Theatre also hosted minstrel shows, plays, and theater performances. Sir Harry Lauder and John Phillip Sousa were among the notable performers who appeared there. Also, Tom Mix and Tony the Wonder Horse were repeat performers at the theater.


Current Box Office




Some of the Famous People who performed were:

·       Sir Harry Lauder was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 King's Honors List for his services to entertainment. He was a Scottish entertainer, star of concert parties and the music halls from 1894. Lauder formed his own touring company with the violinist Mackenzie-Murdoch. He also appeared in short films from 1907 and performed pantomime and musical comedy in New York and London. He had his own recruiting band during World War I. 

 John Philip Sousa, the composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, was chiefly known for his American military marches and was referred to as the March King. In 1896 he wrote the national march of the United States—The Stars and Stripes Forever. Sousa composed many songs including the entire operetta, El Capitan. 

View from Balcony to Stage

·       Tom Mix was a movie star in early westerns between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of them were silent movies. Mix was Hollywood's first western star and helped define the genre in those early days of the cinema. 

·       Tony was the first horse to ever bear the name “The Wonder Horse.” Tony was the companion of actor Tom Mix. But he was also a celebrity in his own right, starring in over two dozen silent and sound films during his career. When Mix placed his handprints in the cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 192., Tony set his hoofprints in the cement right beside them. He was the first horse to have equal billing with his human costar, and was featured in the title of three movies: Just Tony (1922), Oh! You Tony (1924), and Tony Runs Wild (1926). 

Elks Opera House Guild

A costumed group, The Elks Opera House Guild preserves, promotes, and supports the grand historic Opera House Theatre. The guild hosts Tea Luncheons for the public, which include vintage fashion shows featuring Victorian and Edwardian attire. They also serve as docents, giving tours of the theatre and presenting "Living Histories". Additionally, they assist at performances by selling tickets and ushering guests to their seats.   

The historically renovated Elk Theatre is one of the oldest hemp theatres (pertaining to the traditional hemp rope that raises and lowers the stage curtain) still in existence. Elks Theatre is an exquisite blend of art and history that has provided top entertainment to Prescott for over 100 years.

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Curly Learns a Lesson

by Rain Trueax

When I wrote this blog, I didn't know it'd end up on Mother's Day. For all you moms, and all of us who have moms-- which is all of us--

You know, a mom isn't just about biological mothers but all those who nurture others. In the book, from which he arose, Curly was a man and a lifelong cowboy. He'd never had a child, but he was one of those who nurture others (which is what cowboys do-- sometimes having to pull life into existence and then fight to keep it alive). He's appropriate for Mother's Day :)

*****************

Years back, for a friend's summer short story blog, I wrote one that followed up some of my favorite characters in the contemporary western romance, From Here to There and follow-up novella, A Montana Christmas.  

Sometimes a character takes hold of you, but there really isn't a whole story for them-- at least not at the time. Curly was such a character, a cowboy all his life with no desire to change it. He thinks he knows all he needs to know but is about to find out he's not too old for some new lessons. This is a short story that stands alone. I have though been considering a possible novella for the Rocking H-- a senior romance. The question is who would the characters be? The short story offers a few clues.

Curly Learns a Lesson

by

Rain Trueax

“Amos,” Curly yelled wondering where his boss had got to. Seemed he was more and more disappearing at odd times. When his friend’s bearded face appeared, he was grinning and in his hand was a cell phone.

“Dang it all,” Curly said glaring at the phone. “You on the phone to that woman again.”

Amos’s smile broadened. “You know her name.”

“Supposin’ I do.”

“Wal, use it.”

“Ever since you reconnected with that old teacher of yours, you ain’t been no good for nothing!”  If he had expected his older friend to take offense, he’d been wrong. He was grinning like a fool teen-ager.

“Well, first off, wasn’t talkin’ on the phone. We was texting.”

“Only kids text.”

“That and those without enough signal to talk on the blamed phone.” Amos' smile hadn’t disappeared. Clearly he was proud of himself.

“She’s old enough to be yore mother,” he tried a new tack.

“But she ain’t,” Amos said with a chuckle, “and it ain’t like she’s all that old inside. She can still dance me under the table.”

“Ninety-five if she’s a day.”

“Ninety-four and I’m seventy-six. So what. We ain’t kids, and we know what we want. More than I can say for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Curly walked over to a bale of hay and plopped down wishing he still smoked. Stupid habit smoking but it gave a man something to do with his hands and an excuse not to answer without seeming like stonewalling.

“You danged well know what it means.” Amos sat on the feed bin across from him.

Outside a welcomed summer rain began. The distant hills were quickly swallowed by mist as the rain grew heavier. The sound on the barn roof was pleasing to Curly’s ears though he’d heard it thousands, maybe millions of time. Never a time where Montana didn’t need more rain especially in the summer.

The steady rain also kind of set him and Amos off into a little world of their own. Friends for well over fifty years, nearer now to sixty, this little man was important to Curly, as important as his own existence. He guessed he didn’t want to lose him and suddenly felt he might. Danged women. Nothin’ but trouble, that’s what they were.

“All right,” he gave up when Amos wasn’t willing to let this go. Bad as a dog with an old bone. “Ain’t really goin’ nowhere with Linda.”

“That yore doin’ or hers?”

“Both. She’s busy a lot getting that little deli of hers going. Still got that brat daughter living with her. Ah hell maybe it’s all an excuse.”

“You just scared is all,” Amos suggested.

“Not of nothin’.”

“Sure ya are. You don’t want to get burned.”

“Been married four times. Seems a man oughta learn something one of them and I see she ain’t wantin’ nothin’ with me... not with no man right now. She’s been burned too.”

Amos nodded. “All right, if not Linda, how about Marion, Belle’s friend?”

“Belle? Now ya call her Belle?” Curly felt his face pickle up as though he’d eaten something sour.

She likes it better than Annabelle.”

He looked around for another excuse. “Marion’s older than you.”

Amos shook his head. “Don’t look older than you, ya old coot.”

“Likely had that plastic surgery stuff or maybe that Bo something that they inject in their skin.”

“So what if she has?”

“Well it’s all to fool a man.”

Amos chuckled again. “Never know about that ‘til you find out what’s under the peelings.”

“You talkin’ dirty to me, Amos?” Curly tried to find a shocked look.

“I mean personality, ya dumb...” He stopped before he finished the insult. “Trouble with you, Curly, is you never did get to know women. Married ‘em maybe but never took the time to get to know one. How about you double dating with me and Marion, go to a movie or something. Dinner out.”

Curly stood up with outrage. “This is going too damned far. First, you’re texting. Now you’re wanting to double date. Good God, Amos, how far you takin’ this with that woman?”

“Well with Phil and Helene busy with two babies and Rafe off on a buying trip for Phil’s business and Emile and Nancy busy with school stuff, I shore got no family reason to hold me here. As for age, she’s more likely to bury me than me her. Man only got so many years and better make ‘em good. Only got one nursemaid wanting me to back off. And that ain’t happening. I had one good marriage; and if I get lucky enough to get another, why I’ll just damned well do it.”

Curly let that seep in and fully digest. He could lose his friend. “Where would ya live if ya done that? She’s still got that painting stuff she does and wants to be in Bozeman. I cain’t see her coming out here.” He felt fear now greater than before. He’d be alone because Amos was right, the young ones had their own lives. What did he have?

“I been thinkin’ about that and ain’t ready to take it that far yet. Might be Belle don’t want a husband.”

“She’d be a fool not to want you.” Curly still found it hard to believe their old teacher and his best friend had found love at their ages.

Amos grinned. As for where it takes you... Wal, I’d say—learning to text. Want Marion’s number or would ya rather it be Linda’s?”

“She’s got one? Hell, I ain’t even got a phone.”

Amos’ smile broadened. “Sure ya do. I bought it for ya a month ago. Ya just been too stubborn to learn to use it. Ain’t like a seventy-year old man can’t learn new tricks.”

Curly slumped back to the hay bale. “Could ya write it all out for me?”ow

From Here to There

A Montana Christmas

FLOUR by E. Ayers

 We are spoiled today. We don’t have to bake our own bread or even grind the flour. People used to mill flour with those big grindstones. This process produced whole wheat.

 Mount Vernon Ladies' Association

If you lived in a community, town, or city chances are there was a gristmill someplace nearby. From the mill, you could buy flour in sacks or in a barrel, depending on the gristmill. Whatever grain grew nearby was what was available.

     Anyone who has discovered weevils in their flour knows what a pain in the bum they are to rid from the pantry. But a hundred years ago, you just sifted your flour and hoped you removed them. Fortunately, the bugs are harmless to us. We just gag on the thought. In fact we probably eat plenty of their eggs all the time. Anyone who is into organic knows how difficult it is to keep the weevils out of any flour, cornmeal, oatmeal, etc. The easiest way is to keep the flour cold. Cold also prevents flours from going rancid.

     I’ve stored plenty of flour varieties in my freezer. I have plastic containers marked for each type of flour and I just keep those containers in there all the time. I merely drop the bags into the container and seal the container. I don’t know if our ancestors put flour into the cold cellars or spring houses to keep those little bugs from hatching. I’d like to think they did.

     

The processing of wheat into flour changed drastically in the 1800’s. In 1869, Charles A.

Charles Alfred Pillsbury by Minnpost

Pillsbury bought a third of a run-down mill known as Minneapolis Flour Mill. By 1872 he controlled it and quite a few other mills. But owning mills was only small part of it. Charles changed how flour was milled, or in today’s words, he updated the technology. Now it could milled faster and more efficiently. Suddenly everyone knew Pillsbury flour. And it was on every grocer’s shelves. 

     They also bought as quickly as it could be harvested. There are plenty of theories of how the demand for wheat pushed the farmers to produce as much as possible and mechanized farming made wheat an excellent cash crop. The desire to grow more and more also pushed the price of wheat down. Eventually the madness led to the dust bowl.

      But here’s a little tidbit that I recently learned which makes me wonder just how often someone "tinkers” with our bag of flour. Did you know that all-purpose flour that is sent to the North is different from the flour sent to the South? Why? Southerners like to make biscuits and Yankees make bread and rolls. Biscuits need softer flour.

     But flour is flour, right? No.

     A quick peek at the wheat berry.

Wheat Art by Johns Food Share

There’s the germ, which is the embryo part of the seed.

The bran is that outer shell.

Endosperm is that starchy part.

Flour falls into two major categories soft or hard. Soft is used in biscuits, cakes and delicate pastries, and hard is used in breads, pasta, etc. So that all-purpose flour headed to southern stores has more soft flour mixed in it and those going to northern households has more hard flour. Soft flour is taken from the endosperm and it’s very powdery. Hard flour is courser, absorbs more liquid, creates a more porous texture, and contains more protein and gluten.

All-purpose flour is a combination of hard and soft, and apparently blended differently depending upon its destination.

Soft flour is packaged usually as cake flour or for things that require a gentle touch.

Hard flour comes from spring wheat. It’s commonly packaged as bread flour. If you are

making bread, you’ll find that you are kneading it a little longer than the all-purpose, but it produces the best texture.

High gluten flour is a specialty flour and is usually added to other flours.

Whole wheat can be hard or soft, and it uses the complete wheat berry, the endosperm,

the germ, and the bran. It has a higher oil content, spoils quicker, and is best stored in the

refrigerator or freezer. It has less gluten, and usually needs the addition of plain white flour for most recipes otherwise it makes very heavy bread that is compact and dense.

iItaly.com

Some artisan breads are made with only whole wheat flour.

Graham flour is the basis for those graham crackers that everyone loves. It’s unbleached flour and not refined. It uses the endosperm of winter wheat and then mixes in the bran and a touch of the germ, giving it that sweet nutty flavor. It was developed in 1830’s as healthier flour than that plain refined white flour by a man named Sylvester Graham. So those little crackers have been around for a very long time! If you don’t plan on making too many s’mores, try added cream cheese or even peanut butter to those little crackers. (Yummy) Graham flour is course and not used often the kitchen, except for certain desserts such as cheesecake or fruit pies.

Sylvester Graham & Nabisco (National Biscuit Company)

Self-rising flour is an all-purpose flour that contains salt and baking powder. Personally I don’t recommend it for breads, but when your eyes aren’t ready to open and it's Sunday morning, you can whip up a batch of pancakes or waffles with self-rising flour. Add milk, an egg, a little melted butter and a pinch of sugar to taste. (My family doesn’t want sugar in their pancakes, but I’d add just little bit of sugar to give it a good flavor but not enough to make it sweet.) It also will make fast batch of muffins by adding melted butter, applesauce (or whatever), some brown sugar (applesauce can be sweet so the amount of sugar can be cut down) egg and spices such as nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon.

Wheat bran: I cheat. I grab that box of bran cereal if I can find the plain stuff that’s not mixed with other ingredients. Besides that cereal makes the best bran muffins!

Semolina is durum wheat flour, and it's very hard and used for pastas.

Rye flour is ground from rye. Pumpernickel is also a rye flour but ground more like whole wheat, and it’s courser. Since rye’s gluten doesn’t have much elasticity, rye flours are usually mixed with wheat flour.

Oatmeal is made from oats but is also ground into flour.

Oats

Now the flours start getting a little odd.

Buckwheat is not wheat. Not even close. It’s an herb. But it makes delicious pancakes. The seeds from the flowers are the "buckwheat."

Fagopyrum-esculentum (Buckwheat) by Satyam Prakash

Cornmeal or corn flour is made corn. The cornmeal is course and the flour is ground finer. Cornstarch is ground superfine from the endosperm of the corn kernel.

Soy flour is made from soybeans, once the oil has been removed.

Rice flour can be made from white or brown rice.

Potato flour is made from dehydrated potatoes.

There are many different types of flour used around the world, and if you can get your hands on the different flours, it’s fun to experiment.

I’ve ground my own wheat berries and made bread from it. We can chalk up that as

model116-01 GrainMaker® mill

being fun, and I now know to do it. It’s so much easier to buy it in the store.

So even our western settlers were probably buying flour, although many a farm woman ground her own flour. The flour milling companies put the flour in sacks and printed the sacks in floral and other prints. Frugal women made curtains, aprons, shirts, and dresses from the sacks. It really didn’t matter if the logo showed and was often incorporated into the outfit’s design. (Think concert tee shirts, favorite movie, or other logos we wear today.) It became a major advertising gimmick. Women would buy that brand because they wanted that material. Tins for staples and smaller batches of flour were developed and printed, and again women liked the tins. Barrels usually came from a local flour gristmill and contained a large quantity of flour.

 Flour has been around almost as long as mankind. Tools for grinding flour have been found and dated to 6000 BC. Bread has a been a staple ever since. Today we think nothing of it. Probably most American's don't even recognize wheat growing in fields. We have more varieties of flour available to use in our local food stores than ever before and with Internet, more recipes for those flours. Artisan breads have come into vogue, yet our ancestors didn't think of them as anything special. It was merely simple bread recipes, passed from mother to daughter. 

We don't have to grind our flour, but if you ever get a chance to do..go for it! It's amazing to see what comes out of the grinder, and it's fun. It's one of those things that everyone should have a chance to do it. That flour can be turned into a loaf of homemade bread. And while you're doing that back-to-our-roots thing, try making homemade butter. 

How Props Help My Writing Process

By Christi Corbett

Lately I’ve been thinking about how I write.  Not style, word choice, or my writing schedule, but the actual “how” of sitting down and writing a novel.

I have an active imagination for storylines, but need inspiration to get the thoughts flowing. Here’s how I do that…

For starters, I listen to music.

Anything from classical to Joe Cocker gets me thinking. Right now, my personal favorites are the soundtrack to the movie All the Pretty Horses, and a cassette tape (I know, I have to drag out a tape player every time I want that one playing) filled with songs about The Oregon Trail from National Geographic.

I also surround myself with various props.

I write historicals so when I need inspiration for what my characters look like I go to an antique store and browse through the collections of photos of people. I have about seven such photos right now for my WIP in a pile right next to my desk.

Also, a silver jewel case is very significant to the storyline of my debut novel, Along the Way Home. I found one I liked via Craigslist, complete with red velvet interior, and bought it---taking great safety precautions during the purchase process of course. It resides right next to my desk. And, you can see it in the opening shots of my book trailer.

*Fun fact: I produced the trailer so I took most of the pictures, including the one with the potatoes. My husband was hungry at the time, so right after I took the picture he knocked off the growths and ate all those potatoes!

I often dress in “period pieces”.

Dressing in clothes/styles from the past allows me to get into the heads of my characters and gives me a sense of what it must have been like for the character to wear such clothes. This includes bonnets, floor-length skirts, frilly things, various styles of cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and a leather holster complete with the fake gun. (I included several of these in my book trailer)

What about you? How do you inspire yourself to complete a task?

C. C. SLAUGHTER, CATTLE KING OF TEXAS!

Arletta Dawdy is having some health issues and had to skip her post this month.

This is a true story of rags to riches. Christopher Columbus “Lum” Slaughter claimed to be the first male child born of a marriage contracted under the new Republic of Texas. He was born on 9 February 1837 to Sarah (Mason) and George Webb Slaughter in Sabine County.  Lum was a ranching pioneer, banker, millionaire, and philanthropist. Yet at one time, he was so poor he had to ride bareback because he didn’t own a saddle.

Christopher Columbus Slaughter
"Lum"

He was educated at home and at Larissa College in Cherokee County. As a boy he worked cattle with his father and at age twelve helped drive the family's ninety-two-head herd to a ranch on the Trinity River in Freestone County, where the family moved in 1852. Because of his expertise in herding cattle across the often swollen river, he was regularly employed by drovers bound for Shreveport with Brazos-country livestock. At age seventeen he made a trading expedition hauling timber from Anderson County to Dallas County for sale and processing Collin County wheat into flour for sale in Magnolia, Anderson County, a trip that yielded him a $520 profit.

With what must have seemed vast wealth to him at that time, he bought his uncle's interest in the Slaughter herd. Having observed the better quality of the Brazos stock, he persuaded his father to move farther west. They selected a site in Palo Pinto County, well positioned to provide beef to Fort Belknap and the nearby Indian reservations. In 1856, Lum drove 1,500 cattle to his new ranch.

On 5 December 1861 (possibly 1860), Slaughter married Cynthia Jowell of Palo Pinto, Texas; they had five children. After being widowed in 1876, he married Carrie A. Averill (Aberill) in Emporia, Kansas, on January 17, 1877; they had four children.

A cattle drive before barbed wire

When open war with the Indians broke out in 1859, he volunteered his service and was in the expedition that unexpectedly liberated Cynthia Ann Parker from a Comanche camp. With the withdrawal of federal protection during the Civil War, Slaughter continued to fight Indians as a lieutenant in the Texas Rangers. He also served under Capt. William Peveler in Young County in the Frontier Regiment, part of the effort to maintain frontier protection during the war.

When the Confederacy fell and Indian harassment continued, Slaughter and other ranchers started for Mexico in search of new ranchland. During the expedition Slaughter suffered an accidental gunshot wound that incapacitated him for a year, causing a nearly ruinous decline in his cattle business. After his recovery he started a cattle drive to New Orleans in late 1867, but en route contracted with a buyer for a Jefferson packing business to sell his 300 steers there for thirty-five dollars a head in gold, a large sum. At some time during this period, people began referring to him as Colonel Slaughter.

With his new stake he began regular drives to Kansas City in 1868, selling his herds for as much as forty-two dollars a head. He sold his Texas ranching interests in 1871 and in 1873 organized C. C. Slaughter and Company, a cattle-breeding venture, which later pioneered the replacement of the poor-bred longhorn with Kentucky-bred blooded shorthorn stock. By 1882 a herd shipped to St. Louis received seven dollars per hundred pounds, several times what he could have made selling in Kansas. 

His income increased until it reached $100,000 per year, at which time he began giving away money to charitable purposes, donating from 10 to 25 per cent of his income to philanthropy each year.

Slaughter home in Dallas

 In 1873, Colonel Slaughter moved his family to Dallas and a few years later dissolved his partnership with his father. About 1877 he established one of the largest ranches in West Texas, the Long S, on the headwaters of the Colorado River and there grazed his cattle on the public domain. Desirous of becoming a gentleman breeder, Lum purchased the Goodnight Hereford herd in 1897 and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair grand champion bull, Ancient Briton. In 1899 he acquired the famous Hereford bull Sir Bredwell for a record $5,000.

Through these purchases Slaughter's purebred Hereford herd became one of the finest in the business. Around 1898 Slaughter undertook a major land purchase in Cochran and Hockley counties. He bought 246,699 acres, leased more, and established the Lazy S Ranch, which he stocked with his Hereford herd and mixed breed cattle from the Long S and consigned to the management of his eldest son.

In 1877, Slaughter helped organize the Northwest Texas Cattle Raisers' Association (later the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association), for which he also served a term as president in 1885. He was the first president of the National Beef Producers and Butchers Association in 1888, an organization formed to combat market domination by the meat-packing industry.

Frequently titled the "Cattle King of Texas," Slaughter became one of the country's largest individual owners of cattle and land. By 1906, he owned over a million acres and 40,000 cattle and was the largest individual taxpayer in Texas for years. For a time "Slaughter Country" extended from a few miles north of Big Spring for 200 miles to the New Mexico border west of Lubbock. By 1908–09, however, he opened his Running Water and Long S Ranches to colonization and sale.

Groundbreaking on
Baylor Hospital

Failure of the land company promoting colonization caused much of the land to revert to his ownership by 1911. Under the management of Jack Alley, it was restored to profitability by 1915. Slaughter maintained strict control over his operations until 1910, when he suffered a broken hip that crippled him for the remainder of his life, compounding problems caused by his failing eyesight. He consequently turned the business over to his eldest son, George.

In addition to ranching, Slaughter participated in banking in Dallas where he helped organize City Bank in 1873 and invested in the bank's reorganization as City National Bank in 1881. At that time he became its vice president. In 1884 he helped establish the American National Bank, which evolved by 1905 into the American Exchange National Bank (later First National Bank). He was vice president from its organization until his death.

Slaughter was a Democrat and Baptist who contributed two-thirds of the cost for the construction of the First Baptist Church in Dallas and served as vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, as president of the state Mission Board from 1897–1903, and as an executive board member of the Baptist General Convention of Texas from 1898–1911. His support of a plan to retire the consolidated debt of seven Texas Baptist schools and coordinate their activities into a system capped by Baylor University assured its acceptance by the general convention in 1897.

Slaughter also contributed generously to the establishment of the Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium, which later became Baylor Hospital in Dallas. This is especially interesting to me, as both our daughters were born at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. He also contributed to the medical school and to the Nurses Home and Training School.

His free clinic for minorities

Colonel Slaughter often summed up his philanthropic philosophy saying, "I have prayed the Master to endow me with a hand to get and a heart to give."

He died at his home in Dallas on 25 January 1919. However, his death precipitated a tangled family financial scandal. Less than a week after his death, his younger brother Bill, with whom he had had a long and strained financial relationship but who managed the Long S, was accused of fraud. Bill had attempted to sell his nephew Bob Slaughter’s new Western S Ranch on the Rio Grande in Hudspeth County to an unknown company from Mexico. Learning of the fraudulent negotiations and backed by his brothers, Bob confronted and fired his uncle. Although Bill Slaughter later filed a $3 million slander suit against his nephews, he apparently never collected anything from it. Colonel Slaughter’s family continued to give to causes close to the heart of C.C. Slaughter, and Baylor Hospital became one of many testaments to his generosity.

Caroline Clemmons' latest release will be A BRIDE FOR GIDEON on May 9. This title is already available for preorder at the Universal Amazon link of http://mybook.to/Keira 

Keira desperately wants to belong somewhere

Gideon is haunted by a secret too horrible to share

Fate conspires against them…    

Keira Cameron came to Boston from Scotland after the death of her parents. She wanted a job, a husband, and eventually a family. She fees rejected because she’s too tall, too foreign, and too pretty for a wife  to want her working near her husband. Were her expectations unreasonable? Her cousin convinces her to enter a proxy marriage to his friend, Gideon Ross, who lives in Montana Territory. Out of options, she agrees and hopes her goals will be realized.

Gideon Ross is a large man at five inches over six feet. His business is a smithy and gun repair shop. The war left him with a terrible scar on his face. He wears a beard to try to conceal the scar but still hears people whisper he’s a monster and a giant. Do they think he has no feelings? He’s haunted by the war and has terrible nightmares. Reluctantly, he agrees to wed Keira by proxy.

 Outside forces work against the couple. Keira and Gideon must 

MY BUCKET LIST OF WESTERN MUSEUMS By Cheri Kay Clifton

Knowing our love of all things western, I'm fairly certain most of our Sweethearts of the West authors have had the pleasure of visiting a few western museums.  And if you're like me, whenever I travel, I'm always looking for another museum to spend a few hours immersed in the exhibits and displays of objects, artwork, documents, and photos, especially if they pertain to the American West.

Several years ago I wrote about a few I've already checked off my "bucket list," and a few I would like to visit someday. Well, I've added two more to that list.

I'd also like to know what western museums you all have visited or still have on you bucket list.

One of the finest and most remarkable western museums I've ever visited was the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.  I spent not hours, but two full days there and with so much to see and do, I could have gone again and again.  Founded in 1917, the complex of five museums include Buffalo Bill Museum, the Plains Indians Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum, the Draper Natural History Museum and the Cody Firearms Museum.  Preserving the legacy and vision of Col. William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, the center is the oldest and one of the most comprehensive museum complexes of the West.

Don't confuse the aforementioned with another museum, The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave in Golden, Colorado which I've also visited.  It has a number of permanent exhibits about Buffalo Bill Cody's life and times as well as special temporary exhibits every year.  Of course, the most important exhibit on-site is Buffalo Bill's grave. By his request, Buffalo Bill was buried on Lookout Mountain in 1917, overlooking the Great Plains and the Rockies.

Many of you who are historic railroad buffs would thoroughly enjoy spending a day as I and hubby did at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.(Mind you, my beloved is used to being dragged around museums and even a ghost town or two!)  For Hell on Wheels fans the museum has the Transcontinental Gallery on display through August 31, 2016.  With props and costumes on loan from Legends Memorabilia & Auctions, the focus of this exhibit is to demonstrate how the fictional Hell on Wheels program has sparked interest in the actual series of events that led up to the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

The locomotive collection in the Railroad Museum contains 19 steam locomotives dating from 1862 to 1944. The Museum’s locomotives illustrate the development of steam technology from its early years in the mid-nineteenth century through its apogee and climax in the 1940s.  The engines range in size from the diminutive Southern Pacific No. 1, “C.P. Huntington,” to the million-pound giant, Southern Pacific articulated cab-forward No. 4294. Fewer than 30 full-size steam locomotives built prior to 1880 exist in the United States. The Museum has five of these, including Central Pacific Railroad locomotive No. 1, “Gov. Stanford.” While the locomotive collection of the California State Railroad Museum is extensive, only a portion is on public exhibition at any one time. The remaining engines are either undergoing restoration or awaiting restoration in the Museum’s shop facilities.

While in Sacramento, a must see for me was the Wells Fargo Museum at the Capitol Mall.  At the time I was writing Book 2 of my Wheels of Destiny, titled Destiny's Journey, a story about a Wells Fargo detective.  (No, I didn't name my hero after the star of the old TV western, Tales of Wells Fargo, though I remember the handsome actor, Dale Robertson well!)

Not only did the museum have an authentic 1866 Abbot-Downing stagecoach, but also a working telegraph line, real gold specimens of the area and artifacts, documents, furnishings and photos of Wells Fargo history.  I also visited Wells Fargo History Museum in the Hastings building in Old Historic Sacramento where Wells Fargo opened its second office over 160 years ago.

As for my not yet visited "bucket list" of museums, here's five more that I'd like to check off.

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.  This facility has more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works, artifacts and regalia as well as boasting the world's most extensive collection of American rodeo photographs, barbed wire, saddlery and early rodeo trophies. 

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, TX.  This museum showing how rough and daring cowgirls are has my vote!  The museum is dedicated to honoring women of the American West who have displayed extraordinary courage and pioneering fortitude.  

Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City, KS.  Located on the original site of the Boot Hill Cemetery, the museum provides visitors with a nostalgic trip back to when Dodge City was a "wild and wooly" cowtown, where millions of Texas longhorn cattle came up the well known Western Cattle Trail and other famous trails.

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art that opened 2018 in the city of St. Petersburg, Florida where I grew up. The museum features over 500 modern and historic works of art that evoke the spirit of a wide-open frontier and the beauty of life in the American West. I can't wait to visit it!

 Gall-Sitting Bull-Crazy Horse Bronze

by John Coleman

The Golden Spike National Historical Park located in Promontory, Utah. It commemorates the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific Railroad and the first Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869.^[3] The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of the ceremonial Golden Spike.

 In 2019, Spike 150 is Utah’s celebration of the 150-year anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad.  When we're at our home Nevada, hubby & I plan on going there!

Replicas of the Union Pacific No. 119 & the Jupiter at the last spike site.

HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU!

Born in Nebraska, Cheri Kay Clifton loved researching the Oregon Trail, historically known as the "Gateway to the West." Her passion for those brave pioneers, Native Americans and 19th Century America led her to write the epic western historical Wheels of Destiny Trilogy.  Cheri is married to her high school sweetheart and has one grown son.  I'm currently writing the third book in the Wheels of Destiny Trilogy which includes already published Book 1, Trail To Destiny and Award Winning Book 2, Destiny’s Journey.

"The Old West isn't just a time or place, it's a state of mind."

"I get ideas, do a lot of research, then breathe life into my characters.  I like strong heroines, but lovable; strong heroes, but vulnerable."

Reviews from Easychair Bookshop judges:  "A must read western romance." "A 10/10 read." "Action, adventure, romance at its very best."

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A Stagecoach Journey

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

One of the modes of travel in the mid-1800s was by stagecoach. The coaches came in many styles from drab to plush. Big Dog Adams, the hero in Love's Embrace, drove the Hughes family governess from San Francisco to the Northwoods in a stagecoach. It was a long and dusty drive, but Big Dog knew he'd been born to be a driver. The coach was his favorite vehicle to drive, and he drove it well. None of his passengers ever feared for their lives when they knew the six-foot, five-inch man was driving.

The best seat inside a stage is the one next to the driver. Even if you have a tendency to sea-sickness when riding backward - you'll get over it and will get fewer jolts and jostling. Don't let a sly-speaking traveler trade his mid-seat for yours.

In cold weather, don't ride with tight-fitting boots, shoes, or gloves. When the driver asks you to get off and walk, do so without grumbling. He won't request it unless absolutely necessary. If the team runs away, sit still and take your chances. If you jump, nine out of ten times you'll get hurt.

In very cold weather, abstain from liquor while on the road, because you'll freeze twice as fast when under its influence.

Don't growl at the meals served at the station. Stage companies generally provide the best they can get.

Don't keep the stage waiting. Don't smoke a strong pipe inside the coach. Spit on the leeward side. If you have anything to drink in a bottle, pass it around. Buy your stimulants before starting on the ride, as "ranch" (stage depot) whiskey is not "nectar."

Don't lean or lop over neighbors when sleeping. Take some small change to pay expenses. Never shoot while on the road as the noise might frighten the horses. Don't discuss politics or religion.

Don't point out where murders have been committed, especially if there are women passengers.

Don't lag at the washbasin. Don't grease your hair, because travel is dusty. Don't imagine for a moment that you are going on a picnic. Expect annoyances, discomfort, and some hardships.

LINK: books2read.com/u/mdW76w

As posted in the Omaha Herald 1877