Copyright 2019 by Gary L. Pullman
When we think of the towns
of the Old West, only a few names are apt to come to mind: Abilene,
Kansas, Coffeyville, Kansas, Dodge City, Kansas, Deadwood, South
Dakota, Tombstone, Arizona, and—uh?
Of course, these towns are
largely associated with bigger-than-life figures: Wild Bill Hickok
(Abilene, Kansas, and Deadwood, South Dakota); the Dalton gang
(Coffeyville, Kansas); Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday
(Dodge City, Kansas, and Tombstone, Arizona).
There are other ways to
identify—and to think about—the towns of the Old West, though. A
map of the route of the transcontinental railroad, like maps
of other Wild West occasions and enterprises, reveals the names of a
lot of towns (some of which, such as Laramie, Wyoming, and North
Platte, Nebraska, developed alongside the railroad).
Note:
Reading about such towns is interesting in itself for Wild West
buffs, the writers among whom may develop plots and plot twists, and
situations; meet and invent characters; find or create settings;
discover conflicts; encounter true-life incidents and scenarios; and
obtain facts by which to make stories more interesting, realistic,
and authentic.
Black dots = gold mines; red dots = mining towns
Click the image to enlarge it.
A map showing gold or
silver mines will usually also show the boom towns that grew up
nearby, many of them during the years of the Old West; some are
Sutter's Mill, California; Central City, Colorado, Leadville,
Colorado, and Silverton, Colorado; Silver City, New Mexico; and
Virginia City, Nevada.
Note:
Reading about these mines and boom towns is, again, both intriguing
in itself and, for Western writers, offers a wealth of potential
material and a mountain of facts.
Click the image to enlarge it.
Source: Pinterest.
Maps of cattle trails
show the towns (and Army posts) through which the trails ran and
towns nearby, including (in Texas) San Antonio, Austin, Fort graham,
Fort Worth, and Doan's Crossing and (in Kansas) Wichita, Caldwell,
Newton, Ellsworth, Abilene, and Dodge City (Chisholm Trail); (in
Texas) Fort Belknap, Concho, and Fort Concho, (in Colorado) Pueblo,
and (in New Mexico) El Paso, Tularosa, and Fort Sumner; and (in
Texas) Bandera, and (in Nebraska) Ogallala (Western Trail).
Note:
Not only do the towns, terrain features, and other points of interest
in specific maps relate to particular aspects of the western
experience—in this case, mining—but they also provide the other
benefits already mentioned in previous notes.
A good
road atlas, such as Rand McNally publishes, is also an
excellent way to locate settings for Westerns or for readers and
writers to identify sites that may be of interest to fans of the
genre.
For example, Interstate 80 pretty much follows the route
of the transcontinental railroad, and U. S. Highway 50 connects towns
to which the Southern Pacific Railroad was linked by trunk lines:
Austin, Eureka, and (later) Ely.
In Colorado (and elsewhere), several present-day cities
along U. S. Highway 50 existed during the days of the Old West,
including Grand Junction (incorporated 1882), Delta (incorporated
1882), Montrose (incorporated 1882), Gunnison (incorporated 1880),
Maysville (early 1880s), Salida (incorporated 1891), Canon City
(incorporated 1872), Pueblo (incorporated 1885), Rocky Ford
(incorporated 1887), La Junta (incorporated 1881), Las Animas
(incorporated 1886), Fort Lyon, Lamar (incorporated 1886), and
Granada (incorporated 1887); plenty of other nearby towns also
existed during the heyday of the Wild West.
On the Rand McNally atlas pages for Colorado, red
squares along the highway identify points of interest, many of which
pertain to the Old West: Ute Indian Museum near Montrose; The Angel
of Shavano near Monarch; Koshare Indian Museum and Kiva near La
Junta; Bent's Old Fort National Historical Site, Fort Carson Museum,
Boggsville, and Fort Lyon National Cemetery between la Junta and Las
Animas; and Big Timbers Museum near Lamar.
On the Rand McNally atlas pages for Colorado, red
squares along the highway identify points of interest, many of which
pertain to the Old West: Ute Indian Museum near Montrose; The Angel
of Shavano near Monarch; Koshare Indian Museum and Kiva near La
Junta; Bent's Old Fort National Historical Site, Fort Carson Museum,
Boggsville, and Fort Lyon National Cemetery between la Junta and Las
Animas; and Big Timbers Museum near Lamar.
Click the image to enlarge it.
A map of the Pony
Express route, from St. Joseph, Missouri, west to Sacramento,
California, identifies numerous towns, cities, rocks, bridges,
creeks, rivers, forts, mountain passes, mesas, and other points of
interest in the Old West, including
(in
Kansas) Elwood, Kennekuk, Kickapoo, Granada, Log Chain,
Seneca, Guittard's, Marysville, and Hollenberg;
(in
Nebraska) Rock Creek, Big Sandy, Thompson's, Kiowa, Liberty
Farm, Thirty-Two-Mile Creek, Lone Tree, Summit, Hooks, Fort Kearny,
Platte Station, Craig's, Plum Creek, Willow Spring, Midway, Gilman's,
Sam Mettache's, Cottonwood, Cold Spring, Fremont Spring, O'Fallon's,
Alkali, Beauvai's, Diamond Spring, Lodge Pole, Thirty-Mile Ridge,
Midway (yes, a second one!), Mud Springs, Courthouse Rock, Junction,
Chimney Rock, Ficklin's, Fort Mitchell, Horse Creek;
(in
Colorado) South Platte and Julesberg;
(in
Wyoming) Spring Station, Beauvai's (yes, a second one!), Fort
Laramie, Cottonwood, Horseshoe, Elkhorn, La Bonte, La Prelle, Box
Elder, Deer Creek, Platte Bridge, Red Buttes, Willow Spring (yes, a
second one!), Sweetwater, Independence Rock, Devil's Gate, Split
Rock, Three Crossings, Saint Mary's, Rock Creek, South Pass, Pacific
Spring, Dry Sandy, Big Sandy, Big Bend, Ham's Fork (Granger), Church
Buttes, Millersville, Fort Bridger, Maddy, Quaking Aspen, and Bear
River;
(in
Utah) Needle Rocks, Echo, Hanging Rock, Weber, Henefer, Dixie,
Snyder's, Mountain Dell, Salt Lake City, Traveler's Rest, Rockwell's,
Joe Duquut, Crittenden's Pass, Faust's, P. T. Lookout, Simpson's
Spring, River Bed, Dug Way, Black Rock, Fish Spring, Boyd's, Willow
Spring (yes, another one!), Canyon, and Deep Creek;
(in
Nevada) Eight-Mile or Prairie Gate, Antelope Spring, Spring
Valley, Schell Creek, Egall, Butte, Mountain Spring, Ruby Valley,
Jacob's Well, Diamond Spring, Sulphur Spring, Robert's Creek, Camp
Station, Dry Creek, Cape Horn, Simpson's Park, Reese River, Mount
Airy, Castle Rock, Edward's Creek, Cold Spring, Middle Creek,
Fairview, Mountain Well, Still Water, Old River, Busby's, Nevada,
Dessert Wells, Dayton, Carson, Genoa; and
(in
California) Friday's, Yank's, Strawberry, Webster's, Moss,
Sportsman's Hall, Placerville, Folsom, Mills, and Sacramento.
Note:
The points along the Pony Express map identify more than towns and
cities; terrain features, way stations, important travel information,
such as the locations of passes, springs, and rivers, are identified;
landmarks are provided; and, it seems, the locations of private
persons' property are supplied. Such elements suggest that the route
was more than merely a trail for Pony Express riders; it was
something similar to a road atlas, offering not only points of
interest, but also information about travel, the availability of
water, danger spots, and more. The Pony Express rider, for example,
would know that a dry spring lay ahead, that once he reached Quaking
Aspen, he didn't have to ride much farther until he'd enter Utah or,
if he were in need—perhaps a band of Indians were in hot pursuit,
he'd know that, just past Mountain Dell, he'd reach Salt Lake City,
where, hopefully, assistance would be available to him. Such
information could prove both vital and comforting on a route that was
1,900 miles long!
Wikipedia
offers a ton of helpful information to jump start a writer's or a
reader's research. (Of course, Wikipedia
should be only a starting point, and any information it provides
should be verified; often, Wikipedia's
own footnotes provide sources that allow just such verification.) For
example, the article on “Boot
Hill” includes a section, “List of places with Boot Hill
cemeteries.” There are forty of them! By perusing the articles
associated with the places on the list, one can acquire interesting,
relevant information in a matter of minutes, from the convenience and
comfort of one's own home or office. The first place on this list,
Alma, New Mexico, for example, provides this tidbit—useful for
readers and writers alike (the footnotes and hyperlinks are not
included here):
Sergeant
James C. Cooney laid out a town on site of Alma in the early 1870s,
but left it undeveloped. The town was bought by a Captain Birney, who
named it "Alma" for his mother. In 1882 the U.S. Post
Office opened in Alma, lasting until 1931.
The town was home of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang for a short period. They worked at the
nearby WS ranch. Reportedly, the foreman and ranch manager were very
happy with the Wild Bunch's work since the rustling stopped while
they were employed at the ranch. Tom Ketchum, Harvey Logan and
William Antrim, Billy the Kid's stepfather, also lived in Alma at
some point. Artist Olaf Wieghorst once worked on the Cunningham Ranch
near Alma.
Charlie
Siringo wrote that Butch Cassidy "ran a saloon there under the
name of Jim Lowe."
Alma
is the site of a Boot Hill cemetery, which is located about two miles
north of the town.
Whether a reader or a
writer of Wild West adventures uses these and other resources to
research the Old West, he or she is likely to enrich his or her
knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of this unique time period
in American history, which, in turn, should allow him or her to read
with greater discernment and discrimination—and with greater
enjoyment!—or to write with more accuracy, verisimilitude, and,
indeed, greater elan. It is by knowing our past that we become able
to learn from it—and to celebrate it, in fiction and in life.
