1850: The Lighthouse

By Jason Kowalczyk

All hauntings have a beginning, even the cursed Lighthouse of the city of Alucard Heights. When an odd stranger to the western town of Alucard Heights and makes a deal to build a Lighthouse, the price may be more than one family is willing to pay.
Jullien Froste wants to be able to to care for his family without a struggle, but with alcohol and women getting between him and his family, the stranger may be altering the deal just to enjoy himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329658073

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1850: The Lighthouse

1850

The Lighthouse 

By Jason Daniel Kowalczyk

978-1-329-65807-3

© 2015 by Jason Daniel Kowalczyk.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal. All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

1850

Jullien stood at the bar, waiting for the tender to bring him the drinks he ordered. His construction company had been utterly failing for the past few months. The man who asked to meet him here said that he could turn things around for him. He was a man who stood out in this time. He had a strong, square jaw, large brown eyes, and a thin mouth that would pull in woman's gaze when he would allow a smile to show.

It was the mid 1850's, the promise of gold put this town on the map, but it was shipping that made it prosperous. The Compromise of 1850 held the Union together for another rough decade. The dispute was over the admittance of additional states into the Union, while maintaining the balance between free and slave states. The immediate question was the clamoring of California to be admitted to the Union as a free state. The debate was started by a frail Senator Henry Clay, who called for a compromise between the North and South. Senator John C. Calhoun, who was dying of tuberculosis, gave his last speech in the Senate in which he once again championed the cause of the South, yet called for compromise.

Buildings were going up like weeds in the garden when Jullien founded Froste Construction. However, he did not know the right people to get to the top quickly.  This man was not one who likes to socialize with the elite of town, which made it difficult to get them to hand over their money. He was being underbid on jobs, which kept his profits low and workforce nearly nonexistent. He was a good and honest man, but if you can’t pay your workers, you won't keep them for long.

He got his whiskey and a hot tea for the man who sat in the corner of the Saloon. Beer hit the saloons in the 1850s but Jullien was not a fan at all. It was cheap to produce so most towns of any size quickly erected a brewery. There were also beer gardens. Monks created vineyards in the San Francisco area in the 18th century. Trade whiskey, was the rotgut used to trade with the Indians. It was also called firewater because traders would toss a little in the fire, where it would crackle, to prove to the Indians it wasn't just water. Many drinks were at least 100 proof and drinkers did not water them down, though some bartenders watered down the liquor before passing it on to the patron. Some bartenders put coloring in oil or turpentine. Others bought cheap tequila and put