Ethan McCoy

By Vernon B. Bushway, Jr

Ethan and Jack McCoy return to their home in Tennessee to find it destroyed. they decided to head West to find a new home for their family in the Colorado Territory. They find their new home to start a cattle ranch in the Colorado Territory along with riches and a great deal of trouble in the far West.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vernon B. Bushway, Jr
• Release date: Feb 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463715284

Book preview

Chapter One:

Colorado Territory 1867:

I, Ethan McCoy sitting on my horse Jackson among the pine trees, at about the ten thousand foot level, along with my identical twin brother Jack, who is on his horse Bradley and our pack mule Fred. Jack, as I am, is six feet five inches tall, broad shoulders, lite brown wavy hair, and always a smile on his face.

We both were looking down at a long green valley several thousand feet below us that stretched for several miles to the west, in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This location for the taking is exactly what we have been searching for the past two years.

Gold was found in Colorado a few years back, and we have been panning gold for the last two years along with hunting for the right place to start a ranch. We now had the necessary funds needed to start a horse and cattle ranch. This area would be perfect, due to its location in the backcountry where no one would bother us.

We had left our home in Tennessee after Lee’s surrender, bidding our Mother, our two younger brothers, and two sisters farewell looking for a better life for the family. Our Father had died in the battle of Gettysburg, along with many others from the South. How Jack and I survived the bloody War Between the States I guess is a miracle.

Slowly we descended through the Lodge Pole and Ponderosas Pine Trees down a game trail that only our mountain bred Mustangs could follow into the valley below from the high ridge we had been sitting on. When we reach the sloping valley floor, we stopped by a river that ran through the entire valley, just what you need for a ranch. The ranch had been our whole motivation in the two-year search, while panning for gold, to start a new life for our family back in Tennessee.

We set up our new campsite next to the river, by a sandy type beach where weeds and brush would normally grow along a rivers edge were nonexistent. We now had all we needed to begin our exploration of the valley and the surrounding area over the next few weeks. At some point, Jack and I would have to ride down to the town of Canyon Creek to buy supplies and send for the family.

The weather was warm and pleasant for early May and the first item on our agenda was to start a fire and make some coffee. Jack unpacked our gear from Fred, stored it in under the nearby trees, and we decided a tent was not necessary at this time of the year.

Once I had the fire going and the coffee hot, I sat on a log and sipped the coffee thinking of the name we should come up with for the our new ranch, when I said to Jack,

I think the name should be The McCoy Cattle and Horse Ranch. I believe the brand for the ranch should be a Circle with MC in the middle of the circle; it makes our branding easier.

That sounds fine with me Ethan!

When we go to town for supplies in the next few days, I’ll register the brand with the Territorial Government.

We decided that night; we would leave in the morning

for Canyon Creek to obtain the necessary supplies needed for the next couple of months.

Chapter Two:

Canyon Creek Colorado Territory:

We finally reached the town of Canyon Creek late in the afternoon along with our pack mule Fred, after one day of hard riding through mountain passes from the valley. I thought to myself, if we are going to drive cattle and horses into the valley, we must find an easier way, but not simple to locate, or we will have people from the outside gaining entrance into our valley.

Canyon Creek is a gold mining town do to the huge gold strike back in 1863, and is still going strong. The population now exceeded two thousand with miners everywhere filling the four saloons drinking and gambling and generally raising hell.

We stopped at the livery stable to put up our horses along with Fred for the next few days, and then check into the International Hotel for a nice soft bed and better food than I had been preparing the past month.

We left the livery stable and walked down the old worn wooden boardwalk to the three-story hotel. Upon entering the hotel, I noticed in the lobby the finest furnishings of couches, chairs, and crystal chandlers hanging from the ceiling. The floor was of highly polished marble which you could see your reflection. We walked up to the registration desk, where an older looking man with grey hair, in a dark blue suit with a white shirt and black string tie who said,

Good afternoon Sirs, how may I help you this afternoon?

My Brother and I would like a room for two, for about three days by a front window, if possibly?

Yes we have just the room for you at two dollars per day. Just sign the registration book and I will have a Bellman take your luggage to room 301. and I` answered,

A Bellman won’t be necessary; we have only our rifles and saddle bags for this trip to Canyon City.

Your live locally Sir?

Yes I have a ranch nearby.

I signed the registration book Ethan McCoy. We picked up our rifles and saddlebags and headed for room 301 with the front window overlooking the main street.

Jack and I entered room 301, and walked over to the window, looked down on the street, and observed the various businesses located in town. Bens Dry Goods, Henrys Feed and Fuel, Jeff’s Livery Stable, Betty’s Dress Shop, Doctor Blains Medical Office, a Wells Fargo Bank, Stagecoach Office, a restaurant named Mary’s Diner, a Blacksmith Shop, and of course the four saloons in town, The Four Aces, Jakes Drinking Well, Sam’s Saloon and the Long Branch.

We then turned from the window and placed our rifles in the corner by the window, our gun belts with our Colt 44’s in the holsters on the two beds, which were against the wall. I removed my sweat soaked shirt, and walked over to a tall chest of drawers to unpack our saddlebags. After our meager belongs were placed in the chests drawers, I poured water into a white porcelain bowl from a glass pitcher of water, which was on top of the chest and washed the sweat and dirt from my body. Once cleaned, shaved, I combed my lite brown hair, put on a clean shirt and I felt like a new man. Jack also went through the same procedure. Once he was ready to go, we strapped on our gun belts, placed our tired looking hats on our heads, and headed for Mary’s Diner for our first decent meal in months.

Chapter Three:

Canyon Creek Colorado Territory:

We left the hotel as the sun was setting in the west behind the high mountain peaks. As I was walking down the wooden boardwalk to the diner for supper, I thought to myself. In the morning, we must go to the dry goods store and order the necessary staples to last us for the next few months in the valley, while we build a house for when our family arrives. After ordering our supplies, I will send a letter along with a thousand dollar bank draft from our account at Wells Fargo to the family. In the letter, I will and provide the necessary instructions on how to proceed to Canyon Creek by train and stagecoach from Tennessee. I imagine the overall time it will take from when I mail my letter until they arrive in Canyon Creek, should be about six months.

Jack and I entered Mary’s Diner and the aroma from the cooking food started our mouths to water. The diner was crowded with miners and business people from town and there were only two empty tables left near the rear of the restaurant, by the kitchen.

We sat at the table nearest the wall in the corner. This provided us a clear view of the entire room and the entrance to the diner. I wasn’t expecting any trouble, but old habits I guess are hard to break. I surveyed the people in the room as I was waiting for the waitress, and noticed there were some very rough looking men eating supper, ones I will avoid for I did not want to be involved in any additional gunplay in Canyon Creek as I have had in other Western towns.

The waitress, a dark haired, blue eyed beauty, came to our table and said,

Good evening, have you two picked out what you would like for supper from the backboard menu on the wall?

Yes we both would like the beef steak rare with potatoes and lots of hot coffee. By the way, my name is Ethan and the good looking guy next to me is my Brother Jack and yours?

I am Mary and your order will be right up, and she turned away and walked back into the kitchen. In a few minutes, she returned with two large white cups of steaming coffee and I asked,

Mary, what saloon is the best one in town?

Well Ethan, since I do not go to saloons, I personally wouldn’t know, but what I hear from customers the Four Aces is the best!

Thanks Mary for the tip, and she walked away with a little sway in her hips to another table on the other side of the room.

I finally was able to start sipping the hot coffee. I asked for hot and I got hot. In a few minutes, another waitress returned with our meals, and we dug right into the steak, which tasted wonderful. When we had finished our excellent supper, I paid the bill of two dollars and Jack and I left for the Four Aces Saloon to try our luck at the poker tables.

We walked in the Four Aces Saloon through the half bat wing doors and found the place was jumping with miners spending the gold dust like there was no tomorrow.

Jack and I strolled over to the long dark stained wooden bar with a highly polished oak bar top, and walked down to the end of the bar. There we found the last open space for the two of us at the bar. I stood watching the two bartenders serving beer and whiskey to the mass of men standing at the bar, when finally one of the bartenders with a handle bar mustache and plastered down black hair stood in front of us and asked,

What will it be for you Cowboys? and I said,

I’ll have a beer and shot of whiskey, and Jack responded make that two."

Coming right up, and within a few minutes he returned with our beers and whiskey. As I was sipping my beer, a tall man with blond hair and a red leather vest crowded in beside me and yelled at the bartender he wanted serviced. I in turn, because he irritated me by crowding in between me and, Jack, and yelling in our ears, turned to him and opened my big mouth and said,

Take it easy, he will be with you in a few minutes.

Say friend why don’t you keep your mouth shut or it will be your last day on earth.

With that statement, I grabbed him by the shoulders, and with my six foot five frame, threw him to the sawdust covered floor and said,

Over my dead body friend.

As he lay on the saloon floor on his back looking up at me with hate in his steely blue eyes, the whole saloon suddenly became deadly quiet. He slowly stood and said,

You my friend you are a dead man, and went for the gun on his hip. Of course, that was his big mistake of the day, for I place two 44 slugs in the middle of his chest before his gun cleared his holster. As he fell to the dirty sawdust covered saloon floor with a surprised look on his face and blood oozing out of the two bullet holes I had placed in his chest, the din of noise returned to the saloon. As I was looking down at my latest gunned victim, I observed a tall, slim, grey-headed man, approaching me with a large silver star on his leather vest and a low-slung gun belt who was obviously the Marshall. He walked up to me and said,

I don’t know what your name is, but you are a very lucky man to have out drawn Randy Franklin. I am not sure how many men he has killed in supposedly fair gunfights in Canyon Creek. In your case, you have ridden the town of a troublemaker and it was self-defense, so there will be no charges against you. By the way what is your name?

Ethan McCoy.

Mine is Matt Murphy, are you from around here?

Yea, my Brother, and I have a ranch in the back- country.

Well if I were you Ethan, I would make your stay here in town as short as possible. Randy Franklin, who you just shot, has a lot of gun happy friends plus three brothers, who will come looking for you once they hear about his death.

I will be leaving along with my brother once we purchase the supplies we came for at the dry goods store. We should finish by tomorrow afternoon and leave the following morning.

"Ethan, I would suggest you and you brother