Blogging Responsibly - It's Personal

Sometimes I forget that when I blog it's visible to more than just my fellow bloggers. And then something happens, like a friend or family member bringing up something I blogged about. For me, the wake up call to really pay attention to what I was posting if it had to do with a real life topic, such as a historical incident, were blog comments from people that weren't bloggers, but someone who had a personal connection to something I'd posted about.

Natalie Wood
By unknown photographer (ebay)
[Public domain],
 via Wikimedia Commons

You see, my topics for the 2012 A-to-Z Challenge and the 2013 A-to-Z were The Wild West and History's Mysteries, respectively. Several of my posts during those challenges caught the eyes of people who knew more about the topics than I did. One was a post about the mystery behind Natalie Wood's death. I heard from someone who had written a book about her death, and had worked with the captain of the ship they'd been on when she died. The post that drew the most attention, though, had to do with the outlaw Clay Allison. Oddly, he's someone I find few people have heard of, yet the tales of his outlaw days cause Billy the Kid to pale in comparison. I find him fascinating, and I had a lot of fun writing the post about him. 

Bearing in mind, of course, that this was during the A-to-Z, so research time wasn't what it might have been for a regular once per week post, I spent a few hours reading up on Clay Allison. There were some fantastic tales about his escapades, but what got skirted over in the information I found was the reasons behind what he'd done and how he'd become an outlaw. And a good percentage of the information out there was likely false, stuff made up in the publications of the day. 

Photo of Clay Allison courtesy of Find a Grave member John "J-Cat" Griffith

I was in it for fun, though, and posted the various tales and information. I hope that there were folks who did research on their own after reading about him, those whose interest was piqued by hearing his tales. But at the same time, I perpetuated the myths that were out there, too. And a few of his descendants contacted me in the blog comments. They were nice guys, no flaming or accusations, and they thanked me for bringing him back into people's awareness. But their comments reminded me that I was posting about real people, people who had family or acquaintances who were still around. Yes, I'm sure they're accustomed to reading the stuff that's out there, and I even got a book recommendation out of it so I can get more information on a subject that interests me. And I'm not going to lie. I'm enough of a wild west buff that I geeked out internally about being contacted by his descendants. But a subject I enjoyed reading and writing about was personal history to them, not just a story.

So my reminder to you is the same as the reminder to me: When you're posting away, thinking this is just a blog, not a newspaper or novel, remember that there's always someone out there for whom the subject could be personal.

Have you been contacted by someone with personal ties to a subject you've blogged about? How did it go? Are you aware of Clay Allison? Who do you think was responsible for Natalie Wood's death? 

May you find your Muse.

X is for X Marks the Spot

For you treasure seekers out there, how about a few places where stolen loot was said to have been hidden by outlaws of the Wild West?  I chose a few favorites in various states.

marks the spot!

Kingman, Arizona (Canyon Station) - In 1873, a man named McCallum, along with a partner, robbed a Wells Fargo stagecoach of its strongbox, which held $72,000.  They buried the strongbox when a posse came after them, and refused to ever say where they'd buried it.  When McCallum was dying in prison, he told another man, who went in search of a specific marker.  When he got there, he found that someone owned the property and had planted an orchard.  To this day, no one has reported finding the strongbox.  The ruins of Canyon Station, a stagecoach station, still stand near Kingman.

Davis Mountain (in Arizona) - Before you look, Davis Mountain cannot be found on a map.  There is no such named mountain these days, but at some point there was.  It is described as dome-shaped, and it's said that one can see Sugarloaf Mountain and New Mexico from atop it.  There, you will supposedly find diamonds and a ton of gold, stolen by an unnamed bandit, who robbed a smuggler's train (in other words, the bandit robbed another bandit).  Search around online and you can find precise directions to the treasure.  Only thing left for you to do is figure out what peak is Davis Mountain!

Murrieta's Caches (California) - Joaquin Murrieta was a Mexican Patriot, forced off his land by American settlers in California.  He became a desperado, leading a group called The Five Joaquins.  They stole cattle and committed robbery and murder in the 1850's.  He is said to have hidden several large caches of stolen gold: 1. $175,000 hidden off HWY 299, between Burney, California and Hatcher Pass.  2. $200,000 off HWY 36, between Susanville and Freedonyer Pass.  3. $140,000, buried in a strongbox by the Feather River, in a canyon south of Paradise, California.  4. This is the one that got Murrieta killed.  The amount is not mentioned, but it was said to be a wagon load of gold.  He and his men had stolen it from a mine, but a group of Indians ambushed them and took it, hiding it in a burial cave near the Old Carrizo Stage Station in the Anza Borrego Desert.

Maybell, Colorado (Browns Park, Irish Canyon) - $30,000 in silver is buried somewhere in this area, thanks to the Wild Bunch.  In fact, it is said that much more treasure is in this area, courtesy of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch.

Fort Collins, CO (Virginia Dale Station) - In 1863, a stagecoach carrying $60,000 was robbed by six bandits.  They shot the box to open it and buried the treasure.  The U.S. Cavalry chased them down and killed them, finding only the bullet-riddled strongbox.

Stevens County, Kansas (Cimarron River) - Remember Belle Starr?  Well, her nephew Henry Starr came to fame as the Cherokee Bad Boy, a robber of banks, train depots and stores, along with his gang.  Before he died, shot during a robbery in Arkansas on February 23, 1921, he claimed he had robbed 21 banks, for more than $60,000, some of which was hidden along the Cimarron River in SW Kansas.

There are a ton more if you want to look them up at Legends of America.

<b>Up for a little treasure hunting?</b>

May you find your Muse.


*Letter X courtesy of Mohamed Ibrahim, clker.com
**Wells Fargo Express Co. Deadwood Treasure Wagon and Guards with $250,000 gold bullion from the Great Homestake Mine, Deadwood, S.D., 1890; John C. H. Grabill [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

F is for Feature Friday & Frontier Forts

Today's Feature Friday will be featuring blogs that begin with the letter "F"! I'm feeling a little Sesame Street right about now...

Feather Stone is the author of The Guardian's Wildchild. She talks about writing and interviews/features authors and/or their books, but she also has a very peaceful way of looking at things and talks about things like meditation and caring for yourself.

At Feed me a Stray Cat M. Hufstader does short movie reviews. There are some good movies on there!

At Fiction and Film Kate Larkindale talks about writing and her career in cinema management.

At Finding Joy in the Journey Indie author Sheri L. Swift talks about day-to-life and the writer's life. Her book cover is a must-see!

Joyce from From This Side of the Pond talks about travels, writing and life, and does the Wednesday Hodgepodge Blog Hop.

The team at From the Write Angle give you tips and information on writing. They are currently holding an anniversary flash fiction contest!

Sarah Allen writes about writing on From Sarah, With Joy. Her "B" post was about blog incest, which amuses me, though the point was valid.

orts of the Wild West Frontier:

For the purpose of this post, forts are defined as permanent buildings that were created by the U.S. military.

Quick, why were military outposts, or forts, put up in the west? If you said to protect settlers from the Native Americans, you're wrong! As a matter of fact, they were put up to try to cultivate relationships between the Natives and white settlers, and to try to keep the whites from encroaching on Native lands. They also served to try to create peace between warring Native tribes.

Forts of the west were often built out of stone, wood logs or adobe, depending upon the location. They rarely had large defensible walls, despite what you may see in the movies, as they were rarely attacked.

Unfortunately, the encroachment of white settlers, prospectors and trappers on Native territories spawned the Indian Wars, resulting in new forts being built with defense in mind, or the modifying of already existing forts. This is when they became closer to Hollywood's definition of a fort. They were used as Indian Agencies, in some cases, during and after removals of the Native population to reservations.

Some forts you may have heard of (note: not all of these were established by the military; some were established as trading outposts first):

Fort Apache, Arizona
Fort Bowie, Arizona

Fort Defiance, Arizona
Fort Bragg, California
Bent's Old Fort, Colorado
Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Fort Sumner, New Mexico
Fort Sill, Oklahoma
The Alamo, Texas
Fort Hood, Texas
Fort Mason, Texas
Fort Stockton, Texas
Fort Douglas, Utah
Fort Duchesne, Utah
Fort Bridger, Wyoming
Fort Laramie, Wyoming

Three forts you might not have known were forts:

Fort Yellowstone, Wyoming
Fort Alcatraz, California
El Presidio, California

Visited any neat old forts? Do you already follow the featured blogs? Discover any new ones?

May you find your Muse.

*Letter F courtesy of NanoMobile at clker.com
**Fort Bowie, Arizona, 1880, courtesy of George Rothrock (from english Wikipedia) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
***Apache Prisoners at Fort Bowie, Arizona, 1884, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons
****Bents Old Fort, Gentlemen's Lodging, By Billy Hathorn (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
*****Fort Yellowstone, Wyoming, By Underwood & Underwood -- Publisher [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons