I travel to Winterset, Iowa tomorrow for the celebration of what would have been John Wayne’s 100th birthday. I feel blessed to be a part of the book signing event that will include several other authors who have written about Wayne. I’ll also be visiting Dodge City, Kansas and gathering information for an upcoming book read more…

In the summer of 1849 Dr. Fayette Clappe from New Jersey arrived in San Francisco. With him was his small, blonde, vivacious wife. Louise Ameila Knapp-Smith Clappe was a published writer, but her most famous works were yet to come. For, as “Dame Shirley,” she would write a series of twenty-three letters from the gold read more…

My research on the new book about women miners of the Old West took me to Tonopah, Nevada today. I spent time poring over information about a tenacious prospector named Ellen Nay. On March 31, 1909, she discovered a 75 pound boulder full of gold at the base of the Sugarloaf Mountains near Salsbury Washington, read more…

Another day in the Old West. I am currently working on a book entitled A Beautiful Mine, Lady Miners of the Old West. Included in this work is a chapter about Baby Doe Tabor, the Silver Queen of Colorado. She is the least likeable character I’ve written about to date. A manipulative woman who, from read more…