Cody's Wild West show in Golden CO

On July 28th Monarch Productions will present Cody's Wild West show in Golden Colorado. This will be a fun family event with a mixture of  Period music, and demonstrations by some of the top western performers in Colorado. You won't want to miss this exciting event as Cowboys display the roping and shooting skills of the American West, and you surrounded by the color, sounds and history of Colorado.

Anomaly Con and the Steampunk Genre

Anomaly con starts on March 23^rd at the Tivoli Student Union in Denver, CO. It will be a fun-filled event filled with Steampunk genre vendors and participants. This will be their 3^rd event here in Denver at a location that is sure to inspire the participants with its historic surroundings originally built in 1866 as a brewery. It can sometimes be difficult to describe exactly what it is and is not Steampunk.  My interest in it began long after my interest in the history of the American West as a re-enactor and living historian. Although Steampunk follows along the lines of the Victorian time period and the clothing and customs of the time, it holds on to a promise of what could have been if things in our collective past happened a little differently. It is a world of steam powered computers, high tech firearms and weapons, balloon air ships that are commanded by pirates and captains of the sky that do battle to the death, and just about anything else one can imagine. Stories such as Dracula and Frankenstein that were written in the Victorian Era have added greatly and had much influence on the dress and ideas that people involved in Steampunk have today. The latest Three Musketeers movie falls into the Steampunk genre, even though it is an earlier time period then the Victorian Era. The movie Wild Wild West with Will Smith and the Sherlock Homes movies with Robert Downey Jr. fall much more in line with the Steampunk ideas and were influenced greatly by events such as Anomaly Con. Ladies have found much more freedom in the Steampunk genre than in the western re-enacting community as they can dress in period costumes as a Steampunk participant, yet have much more freedom with the character she creates and items she adds to her wardrobe. Goggles, gears and brass also make up much of what is used to help add flare and design to costumes and weapons in Steampunk. The show Brisco County Jr. tended to walk a thin line when it came to Steampunk staying with the more authentic weapons of the American West such as the revolver and rifles, but would often wonder into the realm of Steampunk with new inventions, gadgets and dress that one would not have seen in the American West. Although we tend to still think of the American West as a time when people lived lives of hard work and drudger, we tend to often forget that it was a time of invention and discovery as the telephone and electricity were often available in many large cities as well as plumbing and all sorts of industrial machinery. Sometimes, I think that as a western re-enactor we often miss out talking about the many great inventions that were created during the Victorian Age.  Some think of the Steampunk genre as something not worthy to stand next to the history of the American West and tend to stare down their nose when a group show up to an event wearing the signature goggles and gears of a Steampunker. I however think that they fall right in line with today’s re-enactors of American West history. The imagination and skills of Steampunk participants is exactly what we need to help keep interest in what we do and to help keep history alive. After all, it may be closer to the reality of the American West then most of us would like to believe, but that is just the opinion of a frontier gambler.    

If you would like more info on the upcoming Anomaly Con and everything that will be happening at this event, be sure to visit the website at http://anomalycon.com/

A man named Santee

Hawkins sat on the porch of the hotel in Lordsburg sipping from a cup of coffee. They had been there almost a week now, and had no luck at finding someone to help them thru the Chiricahua Mountains and Apache pass.  He had spoken to Lieutenant Spear, who was camped out on the west end of town, but the Lt had no interest in trying to make his way back to Ft Benson until he got more men from Fort Stockton. The Calvary Soldiers had arrived the day after Hawkins and his men, and they had been attacked at Apache Pass and had lost six men, four others were wounded and being cared for by the town physician which left the Lieutenant and only three other military men. The Lieutenant was still shaken by his experience in Apache pass has he had only been in Arizona for a few months and was fresh from West Point. The Sargent that was with them, whom the Lieutenant had relied heavily upon, had been killed in the pass leaving the young Lieutenant waiting  for someone with more experience to help him out of his current situation, being camped outside of Lordsburg.

The Tall Texan walked out of the hotel and sat next to Hawkins on the porch. A young bar boy ran across the dirt street and up the steps handing the Tall Texan a glass of beer. Rooster stood in the doorway of the Saloon across the street and hoisted his beer to the Tall Texan who hoisted his in return. Rooster then turned and walked back into the Saloon. “Where’s Caed at?”  “He’s in the saloon playing cards, he said I was a terrible bore currently and he needed to find some entertainment.” Hawkins replied. The Tall Texan nodded and continued to sip the beer. “Well, at least we can still head north or south from here and aren’t held up in between some rocks surrounded by Apache Warriors in the Chiricahua Mountains” The Tall Texan said as he got up from his chair and headed across the street to the Saloon. Hawkins was sure he had made the right choice, all the signs had been there and the trip had been good so far. He wasn’t sure where he had gone wrong or maybe he just needed to be patent and wait as his answer was on the way. A man walked from the Saloon from across the street and stopped at the bottom of the steps. He had a mustache, and wore a long white duster, gray stripped pants, black vest, black Stetson hat, and white shirt. He stood there for a moment and pulled a Cigar from his vest pocket lighting it. He continued to stand at the bottom of the stairs puffing on the cigar and then took a long drag from it blowing the smoke out in one long breath. Without looking at Hawkins he said “I hear tell you fellas need a guide thru the Chiricahua Mountains”.  “Why you know an Indian that can get us thru those mountains?” Hawkins replied.  “Well, let’s just say I have some goods that I need to get to Tucson and I need a wagon. Now you and your friends got a wagon and are going my way to Tucson. So I figured it would be a good match, and we all get what we want out of the deal.” Hawkins sat in the chair silent for few moments while he thought about it. “Mister, I think we got ourselves a deal, when can we leave for Tucson?” Hawkins asked. “Tomorrow morning” the stranger replied, “Meet me down on the west end of town at the Mercantile with your wagon, and we will leave from there”. The stranger then turned and walked back across the street and into the Saloon. Hawkins continued to sit on the porch and wondered if he was making a good decision or if this was a trap of some kind to steal their supplies in the desert. He didn’t have the luxury of waiting to find a dependable and known guide to lead them thru the mountains, and he was confident that if they did find trouble the men he was with could handle it as they were all dependable men.

The next morning the Tall Texan and Hawkins rode down to the Mercantile followed by Caed driving the small wagon. The stranger was standing on the steeps talking with the store owner as the men dismounted and walked up the steps. “Good morning Hawkins” The man said smiling with an unlit Cigar in his mouth. He then looked over to the wagon, “Morning Caed”. “Good morning Santee” Caed replied looking down toward his boots. “Yea know Hawkins, Caed there is pretty good at Cards, But I wouldn’t let him play with dice. He just ain’t as good with them as he is with those cards” Santee said with a grin on his face.  Santee lit the cigar and began to smoke it. “Mr. Tailor, can you please have your boys load my supplies into these good Gentlemen’s wagon, so we can be on our way?” he asked the store owner. The store owner’s sons quickly brought out five sealed boxes that were two feet wide, two feet long and two feet high and loaded them onto the wagon followed by two bags about the size of flour sacks and a large wooden barrel. “Well, that’s everything Gentlemen, shell we head to Tucson?” he asked as Santee mounted his horse and headed out of town.

 The three men rode west out of Lordsburg followed closely by Caed in the wagon, and Rooster far enough back as to stay out of sight of Santee and the group. “Hey Hawkins, what happened to your Mexican friend Rooster?” asked Santee. “He headed south down into Mexico, as he didn’t like the idea of going thru Apache country after seeing what they did to those Solders back in Lordsburg”. “Hawkins, I didn’t figure you to ride with men that would turn tale and run at the first sign of trouble, so I figured you had him following us just in case I wasn’t as friendly a fellow as you hopped I was, and if he is following us and your lying to me. Well, then your exactly the kind of man I think you are, and I respect you being cautious.” The group continued to ride west until they reached the small town of Doubtful Canyon where they ate dinner and spent the night. The next morning the group continued west and into the Chiricahua Mountains following the wagon trail thru the mountain pass. A couple miles out of town a loan rider was stopped in the middle of the trail, he appeared to be an old Apache Indian dressed in a white cotton tunic shirt and pants like the Mexicans wore with a red sash belt and breechcloth, and he had on hide moccasins. The Tall Texan didn’t hesitate putting the reins in his mouth and pulling his pistols, he started to spur his horse toward the Indian when Santee grabbed him by the shoulder. “Now hold on their partner, that’s Cactus Jack up ahead and we will need him to get thru these parts. So you may just want to hold off shooting him for now” Santee told him. The Tall Texan put his pistols back in his sash and took the reins back in his hands as Santee rode forward to meet the old Indian. The two appeared to be speaking, but the group could not hear the conversation, then Santee yelled back to the group. “Jack says the rode is clear up ahead and he talked with a group of Braves a while back to let them know we had paid to travel thru here. We should be able to get thru Apache pass without any difficulties”. The group rode forward with Cactus Jack and Santee leading the way. The group traveled thru the pass without seeing a single Apache warrior. “Hey Santee, where are these terrible Apache Warriors at, I haven’t seen one of them”, Santee tapped Jack on the shoulder and made some hand gestures to him and Jack began to laugh. Santee yelled back over his shoulder, “Oh they have been watching us, and if they wanted you to see them you would”.  All of a sudden gun fire erupted from behind the group. Several shots rang out as Rooster charged forward on his horse firing his pistol behind him, in pursuit were a dozen or more Apache warriors on horseback and several more on the hills above firing on him with Rifles. Rooster lay low in the saddle firing from his right side riding hard.  Jack spurred his horse toward Rooster as the men in the group pulled their pistols. Rooster looked up to see the Old Apache riding toward him and almost fell off his horse as he passed him making signs with his hands to the Apache Warriors who were in pursuit. “So I guess Rooster was following us all this time wasn’t he Hawkins?” Santee asked. Hawkins looked at Santee “Hell yes he was, I don’t take nothing to chance”. “I respect that Hawkins, but you almost got him killed. Guess I should have known you would have had someone following us”.  Jack rejoined the group and made hand signs to Santee, than headed west down the trail. “Jack says we should head west to Tucson, just in case Rooster actually hit one of the warriors he was shooting at, they may want payment for that as well” Santee told the group, then turned and followed Jack as the rest of the group all followed closely behind.

The group arrived in Tucson four days later and unpacked the goods that Santee had loaded onto the wagon at a Merchant near the downtown area. Santee stood talking with the store owner and he was paid an unknown amount of money. He then walked down the steps and rejoined the group. Jack stood near Hawkins, and he looked at the Old Apache, “Jack, I am not sure that you understand me, but thank you for helping us to get thru the pass and into Tucson”.  Jack stood there for a moment, “Your Welcome” he replied, “And tell your friend not to follow so far behind next time or I may not be able to help him”.  The group all looked at each other with amazement, as it was the first time Jack had spoken during the entire trip. Santee walked beside the Old Apache handing him a wade of Bills, then yelled over his should “If you boys need to head back east from here, just asked for Santee and Cactus Jack” as the two men walked away and down the street. Hawkins just shook his head looking at the ground. The rest of the group stood there wondering what had just happened. Hawkins looked at the group, “Let’s find a place to sleep and get some food, my head hurts.”  

From Texas to New Mexico

It was nearly midnight as the four men sat at the small dining room table on the first floor of the boarding house in Corpus Christi Texas. An overhead lamp illuminated the room as a map of the western part of North America was rolled out on the table in front of them. A candle holder kept one end of the map from rolling up and a pistol lay across the opposite end of the map. The four men sat and studied the map carefully in silence. “I still think we should head across Mexico and then north into Arizona”, said Rooster. The Tall Texan shook his head in disagreement, “The only way into Arizona is north thru Albuquerque and then west thru Flagpole and down south to Prescott”. Caed had a double edged knife in his right hand and the knife point was in the table and he was turning it with his fingers. “I still don’t see why we just can’t head directly thru southern Arizona passed Fort Bowie and then thru Tucson and north to Prescott” Caed replied. “The Tall Texan shook his head once again, “Rooster and I waited three days at Fort Bowie and traveled from there to Lordsburg with a company of Cavalry Soldiers and a group of about forty men thru the Chiricahua Mountains and the Apache were still brave enough to attack us and take shots at us all the way thru the Apache Pass. There is no way that the four of us and half a dozen horses will ever make it alone thru there.” He Replied. Caed sat back in response replacing the knife back into its sheath. Hawkins sat back in the chair looking at the map. “Well gentleman, we need to get there one way or another, and I prefer the quickest way. One way or another we need to leave here in two days and head west. I suggest we meet here in the morning and make a final decision then”. Rooster, and the Tall Texan got up from the chairs around the table and walked upstairs. Caed lined back in the chair looking at Hawkins. “Well, you ever fought an Apache before?” Hawkins shook his head slowly looking down at the table, deep in thought. “I need to take a walk” Hawkins replied. He picked the pistol up from the table that was laying on the map and stuck it into the holster on his rig. He then got up from the table and walked out the back door leaving Caed sitting in the dining room alone.

Hawkins walked down the back steps of the two story house and across the small yard to the street, he then headed north to where the shops, restaurants and saloons were located. As he approached a small saloon he could hear the music from a guitar travel thru the night air filling it with the sounds of Spanish music. He walked into the saloon and could see the guitar player in the far corner looking down and playing his instrument. He had heard this type of music in New Orleans, but the man in the saloon was a much better musician. Several men sat around the saloon and stood at the bar as two women served drinks and talked with customers. Two men were playing cards at a table near the middle of the room and Hawkins walked to the table placing a small leather bag down on it with a metallic clang. One of the men looked up smiling “Have a seat gringo” he said, as Hawkins pulled out a chair and joined the men at the table. He ordered a cup of coffee and put down two silver dollars on the middle of the table as they dealt his cards. Hawkins picked up the cards; he had a pair of twos a five and a Queen.  Hawkins placed two more silver dollars in the middle of the table and discarded the five and the Queen. The dealer took the cards and gave him two new ones; another two and an Ace. Hawkins smiled three of a kind Ace High, just like the men he would be riding with in a few days, it was a good sign and he called the deal winning the pot. It was going to be a good night of cards, he could feel it.

Hawkins walked out of the Saloon as the sun was rising in the Eastern sky. The three men had played cards till dawn and although he didn’t win more than eighty dollars, he felt more clear headed then he did the night before, and he knew where he wanted to go and where the four men were headed next. Walking back to the boarding house he could smell food being prepared up and down the street and it made him realize how hungry he was. He walked thru the front door of the boarding house and saw the other three men sitting down to breakfast in the small dining room. Hawkins took off his hat and joined them at the table as Mrs. Shelby, the wife of the boarding house owner, brought them each a plate with eggs, biscuits, sausage and gravy. She then brought in a pot of coffee and four cups pouring them each a cup. The three men sat in silence looking at him as Hawkins began to eat. “Well?” Caed finally said to him. Hawkins continued to hungrily eat the food in front of him. “We head north thru San Antonio, then east To Fort Stockton and on to Lordsburg.”, “And from there Gringo” Replied Rooster. “We look for someone to take us thru Apache country” Caed replied.  Rooster and the Tall Texan shook their heads in disbelief and then began to eat the food in front of them. Hawkins finished his plate of food, drank the last of the coffee in his cup and wiped his face. He then got up from the chair and began to leave the room. “Hey Hawkins, what are we supposed to do?” asked the Tall Texan. Hawkins turned around to face the Tall Texas “get the horses and pack, I’m going to bed” he then walked out of the room and up the stairs. The Tall Texan just shook his head in disbelief and continued to eat the food from his plate.  

The next morning Caed, Rooster and the Tall Texan were completing packing the gear onto the three pack mules in the stables on the north end of town, when Hawkins walked up followed up a cowboy in a red bib shirt, blue pants, black and red boots and a big Blue sombrero style hat. “Good Morning Gentlemen”.  “Were just about ready to go Hawkins, but I hear we may have to pay a small toll north of here to pass thru the King Ranch” Caed said. Hawkins smiled, “Meet Henry Jesop, seems he lost some money to me the other night and wanted to know how to earn it back.  Come to find out he works for the King Ranch and can help us get thru for the cost of the money he lost to me the other night.” Caed shook his head, “I just don’t know how you do it sometimes Hawkins, I just don’t know he replied". The five men mounted up and headed north toward San Antonio, Henry did as he promised and led the group thru the King Ranch and Hawkins paid him with two twenty dollar gold pieces which were more than Henry had lost to him at cards. Henry thanked the men as the four headed on thru San Antonio and onto Fort Stockton, a United States Army post, where they stayed three days to rest the horses and bought a small wagon for the mules to pull. The wagon would carry the supplies, and three barrels of water thru the desert ahead. The four men continued west thru El Paso, Las Cruces and onto Lordsburg thru the Desert following the wagon and stage trails heading to the Arizona Territory. The hot desert sun baked the men during the day and the cold desert nights made it hard to sleep.  Even though it was fall the Desert heat was relentless reaching into the mid-nineties during the mid-day. The men reached Lordsburg and found a hotel to stay in while they made plans to cross the Chiracaua Mountains.