While Buffalo Roamed: The Wild West History of Colorado

Desperate, lost and starving, Daniel Blue of Illinois prolongs his life by eating the flesh of his decaying friend and two brothers while traveling the Smokey Hill route to the Pikes Peak gold region in February of 1859.

This story of disaster and privation is THE first hand account, written by the survivor - Daniel Blue.

Alfred Packer is credited as the original "Colorado Cannibal", but this story takes place in future Colorado (Kansas Territory "K.T." at the time) fifteen years before Packer's accounts supposedly occurred.

Listen carefully, for the story has some interesting...

Listener Discretion Advised

A horror story on the Smokey Hill Trail - Deadly fire blows through mountains - The Boulder County Marshal Fire 2021/2022 - How to make Apple Cider Vinegar according to 1859 - Obituaries - Mountain Tour

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    While the miners mine in future Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties, a fire sweeps through the mountains killing 3 and their two animals.  Two men freeze to death on the plains, leaving evidence that in the next to last stage of hypothermia, the suffers feel so hot they remove their clothing.  A tornado rips through the plains killing one and sending loaded wagons skyward.

     This episode, filled with primary information, is a collection of newspaper articles published between May and July of 1859 in the Rocky Mountain News.  Thank you for listening.

The South Park Miner Ambush of 1859

LISTENER Discretion ADVISED

Topics of this show include: suicide, homicide, human decay, dismemberment and terrible suffering.  

Bent's Fort - La Junta Colorado - J.B. Kennedy S.D. (L.J.) Shank (Schank) William Slaughter (cover art) Christopher "Kit" Carson - Ute Tribal People - THE South Park of Colorado - Miners Ambushed - Mysterious Location - Murder/Suicide 

    Three miners embark on a prospecting tour of THE South Park.  Ute tribesmen in the area appear friendly, until they prove otherwise.  One man (William Slaughter) escapes, survives the trek back to the Gregory Diggings (Mountain City), and a party (of 100) is formed to bury the bodies and "chastise" the "Indians."

Hear the rest of the story, and if  (the mysterious location) is found, please share it with me - I can be contacted through the link below.  

Thank you!

http://dasarowin67.podbean.com

Rocky Mountain News

Gilligan's Island - Thank You - Spotify  - Mail vs. Express - Henry Allen wins "Mr. Auraria" - Denver City "Post Office" - Real Mail Arrives - Backwards

Almost 700 miles and a month away from friends, family and business (the network connection) the frontiersmen men and women in western Kansas Territory just want a little "network" service (at a fair price...with regularity...like other Americans).

Postage was 3 cents to get a letter 3,000 miles - so why did it cost 28 cents (11 dollars today) to mail a letter back home?  Find out by playing the episode...

Thank you,

Big-time newsmen arrive to see the Pike's Peak gold fields for themselves.  They are asked to publish their findings "as they were seen", which the editors do.

Horace Greeley (New York Tribune)

I present...THE REPORT

Mark Twain, Horace Greeley (cover art) and the Stage (intro)

Horace Greeley and the stage line come to town.  Denver City gets a boost when the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company land in the new West Kansas town.

Just after the first stage arrives, three important and trusted newspaper editors ride into town - to set the record straight.  Horace Greeley (the most famous visitor yet - and publisher of the New York Tribune), Henry Villard of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette and Albert Richardson of the Boston Journal.  

Does West Kansas impress or repulse?

Back to the Rocky Mountains and gold.  The bonanza is on, riches for the quick, the latecomers want a fair chance.  

Return of William Green Russell (cover art), the Russell diggings, first strikes, first laws of the Rocky Mountains, John Gregory, Dr. Casto, Defrees, routes to the mines, Horace Greeley

Thank you for listening!

JB

A James P. Beckwourth (cover art) story for your entertainment, chosen at complete random to better your day.  It is a rather tame Beckwourth tale!

This episode is a slice of life from the trappers who proceeded the gold hunters in western Kansas

Thank you

Walt Whitman - Henry David Thoreau (cover art) - Horace Greeley - Arapahoe and Cheyenne - Man's Condition

It's never enough is it?  Or, isn't it?  For the tribal people "it was enough", life, the pursuit of happiness.  For the white man, a different path perhaps.

Do we know what we want, or have we proven so already, by our actions?    

Happy Thanksgiving - JB

Alexander Hamilton (cover art) and Aaron Burr Duel - Thomas Jefferson - Constitutional Convention - First Politics and Government in Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory - The Jefferson Territory

In this episode government and politics arrive at the center of the Pikes Peak Region - Denver and Auraria. County elections (March 28, 1859) and town elections (precincts) were held - all void and illegal, for the true authority was 600 miles away in Le Compton Kansas Territory.  

After county and city elections, it is determined to create a new state (yes...that fast).  The idea of the Jefferson Territory is created and examined.

Government and Politics: While Buffalo Roamed

Thank you for listening - JB