The article is about a new poster that was found dating back to 1887 promoting Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The poster was used an as advertisement for the show in London when they toured in England.

Here is a portion of the article:

DENVER – He may just be Denver’s most famous resident: Buffalo Bill Cody. Buffalo hunter, pony express rider, Indian fighter, and of course – showman.
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His famous Wild West Show brought a slice of his life to millions of people all over the world. It featured cowboys, Indians, horses and Annie Oakley, the most famous markswoman in history.

Flash forward 122 years. Coloradan Steve Woodruff collects vintage posters. Recently he found a doozie – a 9 foot high, 28 foot long billboard promoting Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in London in 1887.

It’s so big, that he injured his arm remodeling his gallery in Edwards so it would fit.

“I just realized what an amazing piece of American history it is,” Woodruff said. “Just decades of American history all rolled into one piece of art.”

It features Buffalo Bill and his trusty horse Charlie bowing to Queen Victoria.

You can find the full article here.

Located in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Elkton came to life in the 1891 after a blacksmith from Colorado Springs named William Shemwell staked a claim in the Cripple Creek area. The town sprung up around the mine to support the miners and their families. By 1892, the mine still had not produced results and Shemwell decided to sell the claim to three brothers: George, Douglas and Sam Bernard.

George, Douglas and Sam Bernard

By 1894, the Bernard brothers had also been unsuccessful and gave the mine only two weeks before they would consolidate their loses. Near the end of these two weeks, a vein of gold was discovered which produced $40,000 within a week. The mine had finally become a success.

In 1899, a man by the name of Ed De LaVergne proposed to merge his mine located directly next to the Elkton with the Elkton. With this move, the Elkton mine became one of the largest mines in the Cripple Creek area. Total, the mine would yield more than $16 million in gold and would be active until 1956.

Elkton Mine in October, 1903. Source.

Several of the men involved, including Ed De LaVergne and the Bernards, became millionaires, but most of them were dead broke again by the time of their deaths.

The town itself never actually was platted, but the area simply became known as Elkton, Colorado. It had its own post office for a while and grew to reach a population of 2900 people at its peak.

This is kind of a brief overview of the town and the mine. If you would like more information or to see more pictures, visit Mike Hurtt’s website History of Elkton Mine.

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Sources:

Hurtt, Mike. “History of the Elkton Mine.” The Cripple Creek History Site. http://www.cripplecreekhistory.com/elkton_history.htm (accessed July 18, 2009).

The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America by James Wilson

I realized today that I haven’t changed the featured book for quite a long time. So, I’ve changed it to another book about Native Americans called The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America by James Wilson. It is a fascinating history of the Native Americans that gives each region of the United States its own chapter from pre-contact with Europeans, to contact and beyond. Wilson did an excellent job writing and it was an absolute pleasure to read. I highly recommend it.

1. Lincoln’s first solution to slavery was a fiasco
2. Hungry ladies effectively mugged Jefferson Davis
3. The Union used hot air balloons and submarines
4. “Dixie” was only a northern song
5. Paul Revere was at Gettysburg
6. Mark Twain fired one shot and then left
7. The armies weren’t all-male

Again, the article with more details is here.

A couple of my favorites come from the Civil War collection and are posted below:

President Lincoln at Antietam

I really like this photo of President Lincoln at Antietam because shows Lincoln in a semi-private moment which is a rarity among the photographs taken of President Lincoln during his presidency.

Gallows

I suppose I like this one for more morbid reasons. Perhaps because it shows a darker side of the war.

In any case, I would take a look through the collection of old photos, located here: http://www.old-picture.com. There is also a blog that goes along with it that I would also take a look at.

There are no tricks, just pure logic, so good luck and don’t give up.

1. In a street there are five houses, painted five different colours.
2. In each house lives a person of different nationality.
3. These five homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke different brand of cigar and keep a different pet. 



THE QUESTION: Who owns the fish?

HINTS

1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The Green house is next to, and on the left of the White house.
5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

Good luck!

And here it is: http://www.the-west.net.

'The West' Online RPG

Although I haven’t really played it much due to a complete lack of time, it looks like quite a fun game. The idea is that you are new to the wild west and from there, you can be a wandering cowboy, a farmer, a shop keeper, bar tender, etc. You can found your own towns, engage in gun fights with other players, etc. I am not the type that usually enjoys role playing games, but I suppose you might say this game has a theme that hits home with one of my biggest interests. I am going to delve into it more as I go along.

I really wish I could find a game like it in English, but unfortunately have been unable to find anything even remotely similar. If I do run across something however, I will also post about it here.

You can find the game at http://www.the-west.de.