I haven’t been feeling too well so I asked my friend Cynthia to contribute something to the blog. I thought it might be a bit more interesting than my usual rants. She didn’t disappoint.
“Having grown up here in California in the gold country, stories of cowboys and Indians, gold minors and woman of the west have always been intriguing to me. Local history seems to still be alive here. I can smell it in the air, hear it in the roaring waters of the once gold filled rivers. History so rich I can almost taste it. Just walk down the streets in towns such as Virginia City, Bodie, Nevada City or even Grass Valley. It makes a person wonder, or at least me, what took place here on these streets back in the days of gun fighters and madams. If you let your imagination run wild, you can hear the horse hooves heading towards the nearest saloon, the piano music coming from inside, gun fire in the streets either from celebration or a dispute. You can see the history in the architecture here. History is all around you but, what’s the real story?
I love to read but, history books aren’t really a favorite of mine. I have to admit, I like excitement and a good love story. I need to be hooked from the beginning in order to stick around for the end. I don’t have a lot of free time for such luxuries as reading but, when I do, I not only want to be entertained but enlightened. There are a lot of history books out there. A lot of dusty boring ones. I think they’re all in my son’s eighth grade history class. Oh, the stories have the facts. It’s just that the attention span of a 14 year old boy needs a lot more than facts and my prodding to get through one. Now I don’t know if author Chris Enss books can hold the attention span of a 14 year old boy, the only thing to hold my son’s is extreme snowboarding but, they certainly hold mine. The content is exciting and comes alive on the page for me. Maybe it’s because I’ve sat next to her in a dusty library and touched things such as a letter written by Annie Oakley to George Custer. Maybe it’s actually knowing I’m standing right on the spot where an outlaw was shot by a relentless sheriff bent on justice. But Chris Enss style or writing brings the old west alive for me.
I also appreciate the time and effort she puts into her research. I’m amazed she has the time, given her own personal struggles and pursuit for justice. But, I’ve seen her sit for hours digging through those dusty history books. Talking to family members and looking through personal belongings of a real western hero, looking for the story behind the story. She’s called me from familiar sounding places where I’ve watched scenes play out in western movies, digging up facts that might have been overlooked. Stepping inside the cold cell where a prison inmate on death row spent his last days. I’ve walked through overgrown graveyards with her, looking for the tombstone of an almost forgotten settler or gold miner. I’ve seen her tear up over a cross marking the spot of six unnamed babies and heard the excitement in her voice when she called to tell me that she was given the change to hold the pistols that once belonged to Bat Masterson and Bill Tilghman. I’ve seen her walk the dusty streets of a ghost town, dressed in period costume. She not only looks the part but, the old west is in her heart. You can see it in her face. Hear it in her voice as she captivates the group of history fans that have shown up for her book signing. Sitting in rundown airports, driving long distances with a GPS devise and a CD of old time radio shows. Doing the hard work for me so that I can sit and read about real places and people of the old west. Bringing them alive for me. Making history interesting and colorful. I hope there are always books out there that will allow the love of knowledge and the old west to live on in the hearts and minds of our next generation. History rich with lessons to teach us about truth, justice and love.”
