Bøger udgivet af WESTERN REFLECTIONS INC (CO)

This book contains short stories with interesting facts about Grand Mesa, America's largest mesa located near Grand Junction, Colorado. Written by Abbott Fay, one of the area's greatest story tellers, it tells true stories that were nearly forgotten but preserved in this compilation of interesting facts.

Colorado Mining Stories is a collection of tales depicting the hazards, heroics and humor of hardrock mining in Colorado. While collecting the stories for her book, Caroline Arlen would hear the same type of contradictions. Most men and the few women who worked the mines would talk about how they loved mining and in their next breath would tell about horrific accidents that happened daily. These miners put their lives on the line, hoping they would not be the next one to die or be maimed in a cave-in, premature explosion or by a falling slab. But mining was a way of life that paid well and created a close community where folks found it necessary and important to look after each other.

The History of "Ouray -- Gem of the Rockies" is a fascinating tale of the typical boom and bust cycles of all of Colorado's major mining towns. Silver brought the first prospectors to the beautiful valley, but gold kept Ouray from becoming a ghost town after the Silver Crash of 1893. The town rebounded because of the demand for metals during World War I and II but slipped into an economic depression after each war. Although tourism was always important, in the 1970s it became more vital to the economy, and the town has continued to grow and prosper since that time. The abandoned ghost towns and mining relics that litter the local hillsides can be seen by anyone traveling the jeep trails interlacing the local mountains.

Journalist Robert Strahorn came to Gunnison County, Colorado in the summer of 1880 to see firsthand what the excitement was all about. The Utes had been told they would have to leave Colorado, thus opening a vast and rich land to the west of Gunnison to white ranchers, prospectors, and settlers. Strahorn took it upon himself to spread the news about this unknown land and its rich mineral discoveries (most of the area's mines are described in detail in this book). He recognized the potential of this new frontier's coal, timber, grasslands, marble, iron, real estate investment opportunities, and much more. The result was this interesting overview of the first few years after mining came to what has been termed Gunnison country, and the formation of the towns of Gunnison, Crested Butte, Pitkin, and Aspen, as well as the present-day ghost towns of Irwin, Ruby, Gothic, Willard, Hancock, Independence, and Schofield. Strahorn wrote of a need for more hotels, machinists, and capitalists with money to help spur the development of this burgeoning area. Then he turned his attention to the San Juan District to the south, and touted that area's booming towns and mines of the time -- Summitville, Lake City, Animas Forks, Silverton, Eureka, Ouray, Rico and Durango. Strahorn reported that in 1880 "every newcomer is a prospector," and wrote of the energy and wonder of being in a booming mining district where great stories of striking it rich were heard every day. Because everything that Strahorn wrote about in Gunnison and San Juan is true, readers will be captivated by this portrait in time, when even an Eastern greenhorn could get rich in a minute.

The presence of gold in the Rocky Mountains had been rumored in the United States since the Mexican-American War and the gold rush to California. But, when gold nuggets were found in Clear Creek in 1859, the cry Pike's Peak or Bust swept the nation, and the Rush to the Rockies began in earnest. In 1859 and again in 1860, almost 100,000 gold seekers joined the rush. It was into this flood of Pike's Peakers that Dr. Charles M. Clark plunged. From the notes Clark kept during his travels and of his experiences in the gold fields, came A Trip to Pike's Peak & Notes by the Way - perhaps the best contemporary account of The Pike's Peak Gold Rush -150 Years ago and counting. Clark's book tells in detail what it was like to be on the dangerous trail to the new diggings, which took him forty-five days using oxen to pull his wagon. Then he discloses his observations on where the gold lay and why most prospectors didn't find it. Although revised for easier reading, the editors endeavored to keep the flavor of Clark's original tale. Illustrations from many other sources have been added to enhance the original story. This book will give you a true feel of what it was like to be a '59er.

Not all that glitters is gold, warns George Thomas Ingham in Digging Gold Among the Rockies, a Colorado and Dakota mining book for both the casual reader and hardcore mining historian. As a Deputy Mineral Surveyor for the United States during the late 1800s who was involved daily with the technical aspects of mining, Ingham infuses this book with a wealth of facts and a truly colorful history that defined the mining industry of the time. Digging Gold Among the Rockies provides a brief history of the discovery of gold and silver in the eastern United States and California, but quickly claims the Colorado Rockies and the Black Hills of the Dakotas as its primary focus. In this fascinating book, Ingham explains the differences between placer and lode mining and the equipment used for each. He writes about the first discoveries, early mining laws, mine locations, mining terms, towns that sprang-up in the mining areas, and the contagious boomtown atmosphere that was everywhere. He explains the salting of mines, warns of robbers and thieves and the dangers of gambling and drinking, and also includes short biographies of some of the mining giants of his era. Yet, even with mining being central to this work, Ingham still takes the time to describe the pleasures he experienced while hunting in the mountains and fishing in the area's clear, rushing streams. This reprint of Ingham's original book is a must read for all who love the West.

Western Reflections is reprinting an engaging, historical autobiography for the general public -- "The Snow-Shoe Itinerant." Reverend John Dyer, an intrepid Methodist minister, came to Colorado in 1861 at the ripe old-age of forty-nine, but soon fit in as one of the "boys" in the remote mining towns he served. "Father Dyer," as he was respectfully called by the locals, was very well liked among the miners and prospectors. He frequently preached in saloons after politely asking customers to suspend their drinking and gambling for the interim. And, sometimes toting a gun, he would confront drunkards and others who tried to interrupt his service. Dyer's ministry eventually covered most of Colorado and much of northern New Mexico, but he began his Colorado career in South Park (the southern part of Park County), spending much of his time in Fairplay and Summit County's Breckenridge. It was during this time that Dyer pioneered the use of skis (then known as snowshoes) for winter travel in Colorado. Drawing on the knowledge of Scandinavian friends in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Dyer would deliver the gospel on twelve-foot long "snowshoes," dragging a long pole in the snow for control. Neither snow, nor cold, nor dark of night would deter him from his rounds. As tales of his dependability became widespread, Father Dyer was often asked to deliver the mail and sometimes carry gold bullion destined for the Denver Mint. In The Snow-shoe Itinerant, Dyer tells captivating tales of the sights, sounds, people, and events he encountered and experienced. His stained glass portrait is in the dome of the Colorado Capitol Building. One of only sixteen Colorado pioneers to be so recognized, it is an honor that Father Dyer definitely deserved.

Helen Sloan Daniels, now deceased archeologist, anthropologist, and historian from Durango, Colorado, wrote The Ute Indians of Southwestern Colorado in 1941 as a project for the Durango Public Library. It was one of the first popular books written on the Ute Indian culture. Unfortunately, Helen had to mimeograph the book and result was a hard and sometimes impossible to read. The original printing of the book soon became very rare and was not widely distributed. Western Reflections has edited and retyped the book and has included some of the original drawings, making this rare work available to the general public. It is an interesting (and sometimes shocking) book, not only about the Ute culture, but also about the way this tribe was viewed by local whites in the 1930s and 1940s. Daniels includes quite a bit of material about the Utes from the 1880s and 1890s. And, the book shows the split in white attitudes towards Native Americans during both timeframes. Much of the information in this book cannot be found elsewhere.