5 minute read
The Book Wagon
Mining for (Literary) Gold: Colorado is Rich Ground for History as well as fiction.
Women’s Work
Gold was discovered near present-day Denver in 1858. From that day forward, fortune-seekers focked to the Colorado Territory. The story of fantastic successes, horrible failures, and the many who just scratched out a living included many women. Brave, spirited, entrepreneurial women rode the boom and bust cycles along with the men—sometimes alongside a man, other times alone, but always against the odds. And women weren’t just mining. Many came to the Colorado Territory knowing where folks gathered, services such as laundering, baking, and cooking—as well as more carnal needs—were in demand.
Women of the Colorado Mines (Far Country Press, 2024) is the story of these women.
Linda Wommack provides short biographies of twenty-four notable women of Colorado mining history. Some, such as Margaret Brown, better known as the dren to the auction block, was set free
Unsinkable Molly Brown, who made a home for many years while her husband sought their fortune. Others, such as Clara Brown, who endured slavery and the loss of husband and children to the auction block, was set free prior to the Civil War. After migrating to Colorado, Clara’s business sense made her a wealthy woman without the help of any man. Every story is well researched and provides concise insight into the lives these women lived.
I found myself initially disappointed that the style was more biographical instead of interlocking stories such as Clavin, Drury, or McCullough. By the end, however, I realized how well each vignette painted portraits of who each of these women were at their core and the strength that drove them forward. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in women’s history, the Old West, or mining history.
Rating: 4 Nuggets out of 5.
Where Silver is King
In Leadville, Colorado, silver is king, and that’s the issue in Ann Parker’s Silver Lies (Poisoned Pen Press, 2003). As 1879 draws to a close, assayer Joe Rose is found trampled to death behind Inez Stannert’s saloon. Most of the town, including the town marshal, dismiss the death as an unfortunate accident. Joe’s widow, Emma, asks Inez to settle Joe’s affairs, collect any fees due, pay whatever debts remained, and sell the business. Inez discovers assay irregularities and bogus greenbacks, leading her to wonder if Joe’s death was really an accident. Someone in town is uncomfortable with the inquiries and makes multiple attempts to quell them. To make matters worse, Inez’s own questionable past comes out, placing her under suspicion.
Ann Parker does a masterful job of keeping the reader guessing. Red herrings leap off the pages, yet the real clues blend into the noise-flled background as the story advances. Parker’s prose is tight while vivid descriptions transport the reader to Lead- ville. The plot is well planned. The pace begins at a trot and slowly picks up to a canter by the halfway point, when Parker touches spurs to the plot, whipping it into a hair-raising gallop along a crumbling, twisty mountain trail. Every chapter seems designed to jerk the reader’s thinking in a diferent direction. When all is said and done, she leads the reader to the obvious and inevitable conclusion they never saw coming.
Silver Lies is a fun and challenging read. With twists reminiscent of a good thriller in an Old West setting. Parker makes Inez Stannert worth rooting for.
Rating: 4.5 Nuggets out of 5.
Reach for the Sky
Robberies of silver and gold ore shipments, both by stage and train, nearly shut down the Leadville, Colorado mines in Paul L. Thompson’s Hang Shorty in Leadville, Colorado (DS Productions, 2022). The outlaws even seemed in control of the town lawmen. Spies inhabited every corner, preventing word from reaching state or federal authorities. In desperation, the local newspaper editor, Emmet Darnell, slipped a letter out of town, begging U.S. Marshal Shorty Thompson to come clean up the town. Shorty couldn’t say no. He boarded the next train, wondering how a town the size of Leadville could be taken over. On the trip to Leadville, he discovers the gang has set a trap to keep him from reaching his destination. Shorty quickly outwits them, relieving them of their rifes in the process. But he still has to get to Leadville and fgure out who’s behind the trouble and why. And try to stay alive in the process.
The plot and characters of Hang Shorty in Leadville, Colorado, are straight out of a 1950’s b-western. Stilted and cliched dialogue made Thompson’s portrayal of Leadville as f at as the cardboard Western towns kids in the ’60s played with. The only redeeming quality to the novel was the action. Gunfghts, chases, hold-ups, and a little romance drove the plot forward. Unfortunately, even then, predictable outcomes made the scenes much less enjoyable than they otherwise could have been.
The plot of Hang Shorty in Leadville, Colorado is as unimaginative as a sober drunkard. At its very best, the novel is a quick read when the grocery ads begin to look interesting. Don’t waste your time. This novel isn’t worth even picking up for your e-reader.
Rating: 1 Nugget out of 5.
