ranching history – Linda Ford

FALLING FOR THE RANCHER FATHER.

Linda — Sat, 03 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I love the cover for my May release. This is the 7th story in my Cowboys of Eden Valley series.

I am enjoying writing this series especially as it takes place in my own stomping grounds. I’ve also enjoyed the research.

Here are some tidbits you might find interesting:

The western territories of Canada were vast grasslands in the 1800s and were leased for ranching under the following conditions (list not complete-just what interested me): Leases were for a period of 21 years, to be stocked at the rate of one head per 10 acres within 3 years. Leases not to exceed 100,000 acres, the lessee had the privilege of purchasing land covered by the lease on which to construct buildings at $1.25 per acre but this land was not to exceed five per cent of the area of the lease., rent was $10/year for each thousand acres.

The estimated costs of stocking and living on a lease: $10,500 for livestock. $2500 for buildings, corrals and equipment. $3000 for incidental expenses. $165 for lease and homestead of 100 acres. Total: $15, 765.

No wonder they needed bunch of investors.

In a story about the MCC Ranche, the owner, Col. H. F. Strange set out to start his ranch. He hired two Blackfoot Indians from the nearby reserve to help him build a log shack. While the men cut trees from a wooded island in the Bow River and fashioned a crude house, their wives cut poles and grass for the roof and chinked the cabin with mud. The original log shack was inadequate for a home for his family. They drew up house plans and sent them east where they were turned into a prefabricated house—right down to the window sills. The men assembled it like a puzzle. The two story, nine room, terra cotta colored house was christened Strangmuir. The Crowfoot chief was welcomed for tea but no lesser rank.

And I found this list of supplies needed for a winter:

600 lbs flour, 100 lbs sugar, 100 lbs oatmeal, 25 lb. coffee, 50 lbs. Salt, 1 10 lb box of each dried apples, dried peaches, dried apricots, dried prunes, 2 kegs salt herring, Matches and Coal oil.

I hope you enjoy yet another Eden Valley story.

HELLO SEPTEMBER!!!

Linda — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

August was busy garden time.

It’s Sept. I’m glad. I love September.

I know I’m supposed to bemoan the end of summer but I just can’t find it in my heart to do so. August, especially, was crazy busy.

I contemplated hot to describe the month without whining and I know how annoying whining is. It screeches through you brain, invading every corner. But I digress.

I decided I would settle for simply telling the good and bad.

August was the month my husband got a cochlear implant and had it turned on. The bad? Many many trips to the city for adjustments. The good? He can hear!!!! We can have a conversation for the first time in years.

August is busy garden time. I got lots of peas and beans and raspberries. No saskatoons, thanks to the juvenile robins. The bad? Busy busy busy. The good? Lots of fresh vegies from the garden and a freezer full for the upcoming winter.

August is time for visitors. The bad? Nothing, I guess. I love having friends and family stop in. The good? Visiting, remembering old times, watching the little ones play, wiener roasts, barbecues, fresh berries and ice cream.

This year, August was deadline month for two books but knowing how busy I was going to be, I had them ready and submitted before the month began. That left me free to develop another 3-book series. This will be books 4, 5, and 6 of the Eden Valley Cowboys. Plus the novella that is out in Oct. in The Gift of Family. This series is near and dear to my heart. It is set in SW Alberta in the early 1800s when big ranches dominated the scene. I have read many books on ranching history. Huge land grants, massive herds of cattle, and real cowboys. I think the real cowboys might have been dirty, dusty and smelly and often crude. But not the heroes of my stories.

I chose a beautiful ranch as the setting for my stories though it has been fictionalized to suit the needs of my series. The Bar U Ranch is an historical site open to visitors. It is choke full of information that lends itself to my stories. And a beautiful setting. From the first time I visited I knew it would become the background for a series of stories.

Now with summer over, I can devote more time to writing the next set in the series.

Nope. I’m not too sad to see summer end. And a slower season to begin.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH.

Linda — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I love traveling with the express purpose of doing research. I have a new series starting in Oct. with a Christmas novella and followed up with three books in 2013–January, March and May. I hope to have 3 more following that.

These stories are set in the south west portion of Alberta known for ranching. There are a number of historic ranches still in the area. Doing research, I visited a number of them. The scenery itself is wonderful and the ranches great places to visit.

The Bar U Ranch is designated as a national historic site and has a museum-like atmosphere. It began as the North-West Cattle Company and like other early ranches faced many set backs such as falling cattle prices, deadly winters

William Winder had come the North West in 1873 as a member of the North West Mounted Police, but after he retired he decided to take up ranching. With the help of his father-in-law, Charles Stimson, he convinced Sir Hugh Allan, a highly successful businessman and head of the Allan Steamship Line in Montreal, to set up the North-West Cattle Company in March 1882. Fred Stimson, Winder’s brother-in-law, was appointed manager, and went to Chicago in 1881 to look over and select appropriate bulls coming to market from western ranges. On the trip up to the Highwood River area, a snowstorm hit, but Stimson allowed the cattle to drift south to the Old Man River area, where they could graze. His decision saved the herd.

Another wise decision on the part of ranch owners was to invest in horse ranching. Soon the ranch was known everywhere for winning prizes and awards, as well as a reputation for breeding some of the finest horses in the world.

A number of famous and infamous people have been part of the Bar U. John Ware—a big black cowboy who impressed his rivals by riding horses no one else had. Ironically, he died when his horse stepped in a hole and fell on him.

An outlaw—The Sundance Kid, part of the Hole-in-the- Wall Gang in Montana-came to the Bar U to lay low. He worked and signed his real name, Henry Longbaugh.

The book, The Virginian, is modeled after a man called Everett, or Eb Johnson. The author, Owen Whistler, met him in Wyoming. After Eb left Wyoming, he headed for Canada and was hired as foreman of the Bar U.

From the 1880s to 1930s the cowboys got paid a dollar a day plus keep.

Another famous ranch I visited was the OH ranch. In 1876 Lafaytte French, a buffalo hunter and Indian trader from Pennsylvania, USA, met Orville Hawkins Smith, a mule skinner who drove teams between Salt Lake City and Montana, and the seeds of the OH Ranch were planted.

In 1878 the two frontiersmen established an Indian trading post at Blackfoot Crossing, only to have it closed by the North West Mounted Police a year later because of the usurious prices charged. Nonplussed by the event, the two men moved to what is now High River, Alberta and opened the soon-to-be town’s first legitimate business, a stopping house for settlers traveling to their new homesteads.

In 1881, the two raconteurs bought some cattle and began squatting at what is now the Main Headquarters of the OH Ranch. The two men decided to use Smithy’s initials to brand their cattle. The OH brand was the twenty-fifth cattle brand registered in what was then known as the North West Territories. Perhaps unknown to the two fledgling ranchers, the letters O and H are two of only seven characters which cannot be branded upside down or backwards.

It was interesting to visit these ranches and see some of the original buildings still intact.

Research is such fun. And not just for me. My client enjoys it as well

DO I CALL IT VISITING OR RESEARCH?

Linda — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

My trip to Colorado was both. I filled my research well with lots of colors and sights and sounds.
First, there was Breckenridge–an old mining town with 125 historic buildings that is now a recreational center. Lots of skiing, lots of hiking and lots of shopping. A beautiful mountain town steeped in history.
Here is a picture of a building on main street–now a pizza parlor.

And just across the street, another flavor of history.

The scenery coming down the mountains was great too–suddenly we are in flat plains with snow-capped mountains guarding the perimeter. We saw old mining towns standing much as they were back in the 1800s. Like this one.

If that doesn’t make you fell like you fell backwards in time, maybe this one will.

There were lots of historic looking ranches like this one. (Make me want to hunker down and write a romance.)

I had a great visit. I came back with lots of story possibilities. I think I have enough to last about 10 years. And they will multiply as time passes.
Julia Cameron, author of The Right to Write and The Artist’s Way, suggests taking time to see and absorb new images and ideas and to nourish the creative artist within. I’ve just done that and it was wonderful.