Vignettes of colorful individuals who have had an impact on Colorado's history, including Zebulon Pike, Chief Ouray, Horace Tabor, Mollie Brown, Nicholas Creede, and cannibal Alferd Packer, whose judge said, "There was seven Democrats in Hinsdale County and you ate five of them!"
The author tracks his Scots-Irish roots from the Irish Sea kingdom of Dal Riata in the 500's to McGee's Town (Balmaghie), Scotland in the 900's and on to McGee's, Colorado in the 1880's. He writes of his ancestors as they immigrate to America, participate in the Westward Movement, fight in the Civil War, experience the gold rushes of Colorado, the Great Depression, World War II and more recent events. The impact of these events on one family and its descendents is the story of America. History sings to us from the pages of this book.
The Cripple Creek District, on the back of Pikes Peak in central Colorado, first found fame through Bob Womack, the cowboy who publicized his knowledge of gold in the high country and drew thousands to the area. Gold fever allowed the region to flourish, while strikes, fires, and economic hardships threatened the district's survival. The dwindling population's fortitude, plus innovative ideas to boost the economy, carried the city from a struggling gold-miners' paradise to a favored tourist spot.
Throughout Teller County, history lovers can find abandoned towns and forgotten main streets that once bustled with life and commerce. Even before Teller was carved from surrounding counties, the scenic mountains and lucrative mines of the gold rush era brought thousands of settlers and attracted resort owners and tycoons eager to exploit the rich setting. Seemingly overnight, towns in the Cripple Creek District and other places popped up, flush with gold and people looking for opportunity. As the ore disappeared, the miners moved on in search of the next big lode. One by one, the towns were all but forgotten. Join Jan MacKell Collins and discover the booming history, lost towns and hardy settlers of Teller County.
Packed with chilling stories, GHOSTLY ENCOUNTERS is filled with practical information for anyone who dares to spend a night in a haunted house. Frances Kermeen bought the Myrtles Plantation of St. Francisville, LA, with the dream of turning the historic site into a cozy inn. But she was shocked to discover that the property was haunted. Instead of losing customers, however, business exploded. Since then, Kermeen has traveled to over 150 haunted inns and hotels throughout the U.S. and collected some of the creepiest ghost stories ever told-and they're all true. Readers will enter the Oatman Hotel, where the distinct outline of a man, once murdered in the room, remains imprinted on the sheets-no matter how many times the maids change them. And in the garden of the Myrtles Plantation, two little girls, who were poisoned there in 1824, are often seen playing.