More Western Stories

By Burr Cook

This book consists of 3 stories.
1. A short story about a family who travel with a wagon train to Colorado in search of gold. They follow the South Platte to Thompson Creek where they make their new home. The daughter falls in love with the wagon master who turns out to have a reputation as a gunfighter. They eventually strike it rich but the gunfighter gets in trouble with a sheriff and narrowly escapes a hanging by a rowdy posse.
2. A young man returns from World War I after being gassed in a trench in France. He falls in love with a nurse and moves to Arizona where he can breathe and gets better.
3. A western story about a young man going west from Illinois following the Civil War and after getting in trouble with the law. He meets his idol, Wild Bill Hickok along with Calamity Jane in Abilene, Kansas. He marries a saloon worker and plays a lot of poker and engages in gun fighting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312479500

Book preview

More Western Stories

More Western Stories

Copyright 2014 Burr Cook

All rights reserved

ISBN:  978-1-312-47950-0

Preface

This book consists of 3 stories.

1. Under Western Skies A short story about a family who travel with a wagon train to Colorado in search of gold. They follow the South Platte to Thompson Creek where they make their new home. The daughter falls in love with the wagon master who turns out to have a reputation as a gunfighter. They eventually strike it rich but the gunfighter gets in trouble with a sheriff and narrowly escapes a hanging by a rowdy posse.

Book 1 Under Western Skies

Chapter 1 The Journey’s End

All twenty wagons made it to Denver City without incident. Before starting out they had been warned that it would be wise to wait for a larger party to travel with but the men were in the grip of what was called gold fever. They had left the main Overland Trail system to follow the South Platte River to Denver. They came from various eastern cities after the ending of the war between the northern and southern states.

They were encamped outside of Denver city where they planned to disband the wagon train and go their separate ways. Calvin Grant, the wagon master, sat by his camp fire partially day dreaming and partially night dreaming. He had just crossed the Great Plains for the fifth time and was thinking of looking for a different way to make a living. He was nearly forty years old now and tired of traveling. Cal - as his friends called him – had some mining experience so he would have no trouble finding work. He had met a family on the trail by the name of Rathbone and was especially interested in the daughter, Sally. She was beautiful beyond words. He was reminded of her as he watched the sun set over the Rocky Mountains.

Cal also got along well with Sally’s parents and had spent considerable time with her father Jeb. He had taught Jeb many useful tricks of the west including the use of fire arms. They had become good friends although Jeb was about ten years older. But Cal was mostly interested in Sally who was twelve years younger than himself. She was well schooled and somewhat shy she made him feel like the bird he watched gliding through the fiery sky to the west. He had spent a lot of time with her and even thought he might be in love although he didn’t think she felt the same. At any rate they had become good friends during the journey taking many walks together just talking about their very different past lives and sometimes holding hands. It broke up the boredom of the endless plains. They had both rejoiced upon seeing the mountains rising up out of the distant horizon and again when the glaciers became visible.

Sally’s hair was dark brown as were her eyes. She was shapely, kind of tall but didn’t look it next to his six feet with an added inch and a half in his western stile boots. Even though Sally was shy she would open up and discuss the most interesting things from books she had read and she listened attentively to his tales of the west.

He remembered the time he had scared her half to death when they were out walking. He had suddenly drawn his pistol and fired it just missing her foot. She gasped for breath never having had a gun fired that close to her. But when she looked at the ground she saw the reason for it. There right next to her feet laid a headless rattle snake. She couldn’t imagine how he had removed the gun from its holster so fast that she didn’t see it happen and more baffling was how he fired right into the head of the snake. If it hadn’t happened in exactly that way she surely would have been bitten.      

When Cal rolled out of his blanket the next morning he had made a decision. He would follow the Rathbones up Thompson creek where Sally’s father Jeb planned to search for gold. So after breakfast he approached Jeb and Jane Rathbone about the possibility of tagging along with them. I’d be very pleased if you came along, Cal. You’re a westerner and know how to handle guns. I would, in fact, feel much safer with you along. There’s just me and my wife and daughter as you know.

Ok Jeb, I’ll just do that. Maybe we’ll both come out rich. I’ve heard that Clear Creek and Cripple Creek are being pretty heavily explored but I’ve also heard there’s not many up on Thompson. 

Can we get the wagon up a ways?

Yeah Jeb, but you’ll have to abandon it at some point. It’ll get a little steep for a wagon. You’ve got a couple extra horses I see and I’ve got an extra pack horse. We can haul plenty of supplies along and perhaps the wagon will be there when we come back. We’ll need some pans to check the creek bed and some boards to make a rocker box. Perhaps we should set up tents for the women at the base of the mountain. It could be a hazardous climb.

Cal liked the couple, Jeb and Jane Rathbone, a lot. They were a loving couple. They didn’t use alcohol at all and seemed to be hard workers and they weathered the trip quite well. They were tenderfeet in the west but learned fast. Jeb was getting better at shooting and was becoming good at hunting. Jane had become adept at cooking outside as well as washing clothes and dishes in rivers and creeks.

They rested another day getting things together and discussing what should be left behind and the next morning they started out early following Thompson Creek, while most of the Waggoners headed further south. A few followed along with the Rathbone family. It was early evening when they reached a point where the mountain pass was far too steep for the wagon so they decided to camp there for the night. There was a small settlement at the foot of the mountain consisting of several family sized tents. It was soon discovered that the men from the settlement had staked out claims along the creek but not too far up they would find unclaimed territory. The new arrivals soon got acquainted with the families in the settlement which had no name as yet except just The Thompson Creek Settlement. It was decided that it would be prudent to leave the women here with the rest of the families. They would be safer with the group and following the creek up the mountain side could get a little rough.

The men stayed at the settlement for an extra day getting things set up and making sure that the women had supplies. They also left them with an extra rifle just in case. The women had learned how to shoot on the trail although the skill had never been needed.

The next morning Cal and Jeb started up through the mountain pass following the stream which came from glaciers at the top. By nightfall they were well beyond the portion of the creek that was already claimed. On the way they had met some of the miners who said that they were finding a little dust but were a long ways from rich as yet. Some were panning and some were sluicing. At one site three men were digging into the creek bank. The men said that they frequently checked on the families at the settlement. Cal and Jeb were glad to hear that.

They set up camp, had their supper and slept well. When morning came there was a light rain falling. The men were prepared with water proof