Fort Dodge Silver lost treasure

In the year 1853, a freighting train of 82 wagons full of silver left Mexico up the Santé Fe Trail. An old Mexican freighter named Jesus M. Martinez, who was well known by many of the plainsmen of that day for his honesty and bravery was in charge, unfortunately, The Santé Fe Trail was well known to the Indians, also. Martinez was wise to the Indians ways though and corralled the wagons every night and posted guards to give the alarm should danger approach in the way of Indians, bandits, or prairie fires.                                                                                     

Sante Fe Trail

  One day, as they began making camp, Martinez decided to be especially alert throughout the night. All that day, Indians observed in the distance, which could mean trouble. As the sun set, the dogs began to make a fuss, which aroused the suspicion of Martinez, Indians lurked nearby. He called a meeting to decide what would be the best course of action to pursue, and it was decided to prepare for the worst. The men dug trenches and piled dirt, and wood around the holes for protection. When  finished, they laid in the ditches, as they waited with weapons cocked. The Indians made a dash for the camp. Prepared the Mexican’s had the greater advantage and shot so much lead into the attacker’s direction; the Indians were forced to fall back. When morning came, the first wave of Indians hit the Mexicans position with little to no effect. All throughout the night, the Indians continued and attempted to find a weak spot in the Mexicans fortifications. For five days the siege continued with few Mexicans being killed, but not nearly as many Indians who had sustained a huge loss of warriors. The Indians were crazed for blood and vengeance was sought for the brothers and chiefs who had been killed and would fight to the last warrior. The Mexicans had been in a comfortable position for the first few days but  were low on ammunition,  and the Indians were not about to stop attacking. On the sixth night, the Indians made a desperate attack  through the Mexicans lines, but were driven back.The rifles ceased fire for lack of ammunition. Once the guns were still, the band of bloodthirsty Indians swept over the camp, engulfing the brave Mexicans. During the ensuing struggle, only one man is known to have escaped the fight. Old Jesus Martinez somehow slipped away and hid himself while his men were  slaughtered. He remained in his hiding place until morning.

when he was sure the Indians were miles away,  he crept back to what was left of the camp. All around him lay the signs of battle. Dead men were scattered everywhere, wagons overturned and burned, their food and clothing covered the ground and all the animals had been run off.  After searching through the wagons remains, he finally found the silver they were carrying. untouched by the Indians, since it was of no value to them, compared with a good horse and rifle. Martinez carried twenty-one bars of silver, valued at $1000 each, to a spot a little ways from camp, and buried them so they would be safe until he could return with help to recover them. Satisfied that he had hidden the money as well as he could under the circumstances, he started out on foot for his home in Mexico. Shortly after arriving home in Mexico, he died, but not before telling his son of the massacre, and the whereabouts of the hidden silver. Several years passed before his son was able to travel to the site of the battle, which was about four miles west of Dodge City, Kansas. From the directions his father had given him, he located the area where the silver was buried and began shoving a wire into the ground hoping to hit the treasure. He spent several weeks searching, but became disgusted and quit when he couldn’t find anything of value. Young Martinez next traveled to Fort Dodge, where one night while drinking heavily, he told two men what he had been looking for. The word of a hidden treasure nearby spread like wildfire and soon half of Fort Dodge was looking for the silver. Old Martinez evidently hid the bags better than he thought, or his son confused the directions to the site, because no one has ever found as much as one coin.

Thanks to Legends of America, and www.gwizit.com for detailed and quoted info.

The Original Mission House in Stockbridge Mass.

The other Mahican bands accepted Christianity, and the die was cast for their exodus to lands west of the Mississippi River as part of the great ethnic cleansing of the Atlantic coastal region of North America.
On November 15, 1756, Toanunck had too much of Robert Livingston’s arrogant pretensions as Lord of the Manor. He bullied the Indians into either serving as his quasi-slaves, or getting off “his” land, out of which, Van Guilder’s reservation actually took the lion’s share. Mutually aggressive words were exchanged between one of Livingston’s many tenant farmers. At which time Livingston roused the Sheriff, who deputized some other of Livingston’s men and they set out to confront and eject Van Guilder.
The Albany sheriff and Livingston posse, said to be unarmed, again attempted to evict several tenants, and destroy their houses. One of the tenants was apparently a good friend of Mohican John Van Guilder, who with two of his sons and a settler soon arrived on horseback at the tenant’s place.
The Van Guilder or Toanunck’s party was armed with guns, bayonets, and tomahawks, and Van Guilder threatened to kill some of the posse if they touched the house. The sheriff ordered his men to arrest them, and as the posse approached, the Indians gave a war cry. Van Guilder leveled his gun, and in self-defense shot and killed one of the deputies, then fled with his sons and his friend.
The sheriff’s men quickly captured “Toanunck”, one of his sons, and the settler, took them to the Albany jail, and put them in irons. It was rumored that Van Guilder’s other son vowed to involve the Stockbridge Indians, to capture one of the posse dead or alive, and to burn down Livingston’s house.
The most ancient and august of the Mahicans at the Stockbridge Mission wrote to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District of North America Sir William Johnson demanding immediately of “Toanunck’s” release into the custody of the Mahican tribe, on the ground that since the alleged crime had taken place upon territory for which no Indian treaty of cession could be produced, the Governor of New York had no jurisdiction to hold them or to put them on trial. Constitutionally the deal was that
the Indian tribes and the Crown colonies each had the jurisdiction and the responsibility to take care of their own and not to disturb the peace established by the constitution and the treaties under the constitution.

After a heated exchange, or at least as heated as words get in diplomatic communiques, Sir William persuaded the Governor that if he did not release the Van Guilders what was left of the Mahican tribe was joining with the Mohawk tribe and possibly the entire
Haudenosaunee Confederacy of Iroquoian speakers to join with the Algonquian speaking Mahicans and their allies throughout north-eastern North America. This was pretty crucial since at that very juncture of history the Seven Years War was about to get serious as a globally significant military event.

The point is, the world could well be a different place if the Governor of New York had not capitulated to the demand of the Mahican tribe to release the Van Guilders. Every part of the global struggle that was the Seven Years War was crucial to the success of Great
Britain and, by extension, to the United States and Canada that are the British Empire’s successors to British North America. The other critical players in the Seven Years War also included and certainly stood to affect the long-range interests of the “great maritime powers of Europe” that created the “doctrine of discovery” agreement that is the bedrock of the commerce, defense and treaty clauses of the several constitutional democracies that constitute today’s American Empire of Commerce.

This information was researched, and found to be truthful, however there may be certain mistakes, due to the fact that there was very limited information about this story, however all in all there is a little old west in the northeast as well. I thank Jackie Gordon for telling me this story so that I could research it, and depict a legend as this man was.

The reason I did, is because I keep hearing that same ole thing, just like many other western writers do, “Too bad Louis L’Amour’s gone. Nobody writes Westerns any more.”

However, we are writing westerns, many of us in fact. a small list of authors like W.R. Benton, Steven Law, Peter Brandvold, and Howard Hopkins come to mind, even myself.

The idea for this blog post came to me in a comment made on my Facebook wall, and I say this with all respect, and I quote “Unless you change it to Louis L’Amour no one will know who the new one is anyway.” which was in reference to a question, I asked about using a pen name for my western novels. This statement got me thinking, yes we all know Louis L’Amour, and at this point in my life not many have heard of me as an Author at this point,under my birth name or any pen name, but wasn’t there a time in 1951 that the public had not yet heard of Louis L’Amour and “Westward The Tide?” So it would stand to reason why people haven’t heard of me or will not know who I am when Laramie’s Thunder is first published either, I actually expect that at first, however with the several stories I have laid out to follow my first western, hopefully I will draw in some good readers, and prove that I am a western writer of the old frontier. I already know, I am not Louis, and I am certainly not Zane Grey either, but if you mix the two together, well in a simple kind of way you will be able to say that I can write among them as a western writer and author.

You see it started for me long ago, the first time I felt a that wild west wind blow through me, I was just 15 and was beginning a chapter in my life that later I would pursue as my adventures across the country. Rodeo season had begun, and a friend asked if I wanted to try to ride a bull, it sounded great so I had to give it a try, what I didn’t realize was that after I got up off the ground, tasting the arena dirt for the first time, and dusting off my wrangler jeans I looked out into the crowd, and I saw the great unknown, the desert sands under pounding hooves chasing after a band of outlaws, with a six-shooter and a horse as fast as you could see. At first I knew it was only my imagination running wild, but as time went on, I learned many things about myself, not only was I a modern-day cowboy, but something else entirely. The love of the old west always left me to wonder what could have been, why wasn’t I born a hundred years ago, and where do these visions keep coming from. It was simple I needed to tell these stories, write them down, and explore across the great divide, see as a writer, I live the story as my readers are reading it, and with each description, I show what I have dreamed about for the last decade, and show you from the beginning what I saw that one summer night as I looked out into the cheering audience.

So I hope that no matter what name I choose, you will see the west as I do, and see that western writing is here to stay. It is a part of our history whether it is fiction, or non-fiction, the western genre tells the story of what it was like, to live in a time where there were few rules, an open range and a six-shooter was judge and jury.

My writing has always had issues with punctuation, where do I put that irritating comma anyway? Sometimes I wish we didn’t need one, however in the sentence “A woman without her man is nothing.” punctuation says it all, so in this sentence myself as a man would naturally think that there is nothing really wrong with the sentence, however several women would probably change it to “A woman: without her, man is nothing.”  because the use of the comma and punctuation now dignifies the sentence, and makes it richer, more powerful, and more believable.

In Roy Peter Clark’s book  Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, he makes this a clearer picture by referring to a road. First punctuation comes from the Latin word Punctus meaning pointer. All of the points, dots, lines, and squiggles help writers to point the way for their readers. We punctuate for two reasons, one reason is to point the way, and set the pace for the reader. The second reason is to divide words, phrases, and ideas into convenient groupings.

when considering punctuation, you will surely realize the power, and purpose of pace and space. A sentence with no punctuation is like a straight road, with only one stop sign, no room for breath or space to soak in what the reader has just read. However, a  windy road with lots of stop signs is another analogy that describes a paragraph with lots of punctuation, which is an effect that will slow the pace of the story, the writer sets the pace for strategic reasons to convey emotion, achieve clarity, and to create suspense.

If the stop sign is a period then what are the other symbols of punctuation. A comma is a speed bump,  a semi-colon is a rolling stop, a parenthetical expression is a detour, a colon is a  flashing yellow light that announces something important up ahead, and the dash is a tree branch in the middle of the road.

So you see with punctuation you begin a flow,  like driving down a long windy road, slowing for speed bumps, taking pauses, making detours, adding a blinking light, and throwing in a tree branch every now in then creates a pace for your reader to relate to, and to settle into the story.

Use this rule, but also realize you have more options than you think, and enjoy as you set the pace for your readers, I know I sure will.

My narration, plot, and character description, has gotten a bit better, however, not  set in stone, and it makes me wonder what other writers experience as they begin their own writing process, of their first major piece of work? And, or is this a conflict of interest in every piece of work all the time? I ask myself these questions determined to go onward with such a wonderful story, but how?

Another road block is my genre who will publish me? and who will represent me as an agent? knowing that I am part of the western fiction genre, a genre said to be “dieing out” so to speak…

So where to turn from here, and also my cross with past tense and present tense, due to the fact part of the novel speaks about the characters present, but also very descriptive in times about their past. where they came from, the history in my bandits, etc.

So it draws me to crossroads, and which path do I take?  Do I take the one less traveled by, and make all the difference, this time I am not sure, I need to brush up on story structure, which is a huge part of this, well structure just is the issue that  I am having.  I have put together 15000 words of a story, and the structure is leaning towards the watering hole, that the horses are drinking out of.  I want it to be so much more, and possibly with any dream, have a shiny gold sticker on each copy that sells, wink wink.

Where can I possibly go from here to find my deus ex machina, or my inextricable problem in which is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.

Can I turn this thing around, and make it to the spur award? the breakout author? an agent to love it from the first five words? and a publisher that is sure that it will be the next NY bestseller? I know deep down that I think I can, just at this point, I am not sure how.

I get great feedback, although it is very spaced out, and wish I could catch the eye, of more readers that are also writers  here in my blog, just for more feedback to combine it all. what I get is awesome, however, I feel that I could use some extra insight this time around, and assist me into a journey of constructing a structure.

For me, the answer to this rhetorical question is, No.

I am a follower to wordplay, a great blog by K. M. Weiland, and this was a question she recently covered, and I myself, would like to express my opinion on this too.

Why?

Because it is very explosive for me to expand my writing, and research my writing.

My writing for me as a western genre writer, and a cowboy,makes me saddle up, and ride my 15 hands high chestnut bay back to 139 years ago. The 1800′s. The old west is my escape from what I know, so I have chosen to write about a generation of, pistol packin’ mamas, ruthless gamblin killers, a Lever action .44 caliber rimfire breech loading Henry Rifle, and a shootout at Dodge city town line, against the Marshal Wyatt Earp himself.

I feel we should “Want to explore people we have never met, places we have never seen, and situations we have never experienced.” -K.M.Weiland

We write fiction ladies, and Gentlemen, we are not writing our auto-biographies. We are telling a story with fictional characters, in fictional situations, and it is time to drop out of your perfect world, and coast back in time, or into the future or into the garden, etc. and begin with your imagination, then let it happen. Really I mean, we should express what we want to be, where we want to go, and then try to draw our reader into the same world, and story that you/we have created.

In my up and coming novel”Laramie’s Thunder. Laramie Taylor turns, on a silver Texas star encased in a circle, to avenge his fathers death, and finds friends that join him in the crusade. I must drop everything from my time, and my mind, and then become Laramie. If I am going to think like him, and make you the reader, want to know his story.

To do that, I have to make you ask why he chose to turn on the law to chase down a ruthless bunch of outlaws, and a law breaking governor. I want to leave you hanging to prepare you for the three books that follow, with this saga, and to also prepare you for the following two book saga about Laramie’s Brother and his life on the reservation as a military officer.

So if I was to write about what I know, then I would leave this story and never finish what I believe is a very edgy, and on your seat old west story, that will compel you, to want to be in the old west or on a train headed there, and not in your lounge chair just flipping a page.

For more info on my novel click the picture link below and read an excerpt of Chapter one.

Also feel free to check out my other two self-published books. “Pages Full of Memories” and “Rodeo Dayz”

I really began writing in 1993, during a troubling time in my life, I used my emotion in writing Poetry and Songs, and the feeling had always been there to explore many other things, at that point in my life, I just didn’t know how.

As the years have past I have picked up my journal, and written about good times, bad times, and where I have been and gone, and then I put it back down, to sit another year or so.

This all changed for me in 2009 when I lost my job to the economy this last time, I sat for many nights in front of my computer wondering where do I go from here. I had a journal with my poetry and songs collected over the years, and a half written chapter to a novel, that came to mind at one time or another, and a few short stories about rodeo life, this is about all I had left of the last 12 years, except for my wonderful wife and daughter.

So I began to research, how to publish a book, and I remembered a place that I submitted a poem to once, and received an award, they published books, but how?
For the most part the rest is history, and I am deep into my third book already, however, I still here the questions, what made you want to write?

It is simple for me, it is the story, the action and adventure all written in words to bring my reader to the edge of their seat and keep them lingering there, and grasping onto the page as if they were living the actual story, and I think if I can do that, then I have fulfilled what I sought out to accomplish thirteen months ago just sitting in my office with the sound of a piano echoing Lane’s Theme from the 8 seconds Soundtrack, and sipping on a hot cup of coffee freshly brewed at 2:30 in the AM.

Now I have your attention. I want you to sit back and enjoy, as I begin to tell you the journey I have taken over the last thirteen months.
At first it was only LULU.com, and I was sort of restricted. I wasn’t sure where else to look, however one night as I was in the midst of attempting to publish the first edition of my poetry book, I stumbled upon a writers digest community and some other forums in which people just like me were trying to become authors or already were self-published authors, and they knew the game I was about to play. Working night and day to do the best I could on what I had I needed to cry out for “HELP”, and the answer came back within just a few days, I met several people that were established in the writing world. I used their advice to my fullest extent, and It was just two months later, that the second edition of my book was available at Createspace. I was off and running, with a good book in front of me,which I had published, written and marketed all on my own. Now my sales still are not that great and mostly I gave away more copies than I sold, but I am an Author now, and I was very happy with what I had accomplished.
I just had to keep going, and I started to have fun with my rodeo stories. I realized i didn’t have enough for my own book, so I thought, if I get my friends in on this, and put a small book of what a rodeo cowboy, or cowgirl goes through, or what their emotions are when they compete, then we would have a masterpiece, and we have done just that, at least I think so. We ran into a few minor glitches, but things are beginning to run smoothly and possibly the book will be available just after the holidays. I call it Merry Christmas 2. Laugh Out Loud.

Now underneath all of this was that half chapter of a western novel just sitting around, and at this point I am already doing it, it being an author, why not continue, so I have embarked on a journey back in time in the late 1800′s and well once I get back in the saddle in the next week or so, will probably be living in a ghost town outside of Garret Texas, living and breathing the desert sand, and living the life of Texas Ranger Laramie Taylor. Many times I have been stuck, my writing dwindled for a bit due to a six month treatment I had to have, but it is coming to and end, and i am just beginning to pick up a pen or my keyboard and begin again, the year is 1877.

If you were a Texas lawman, in this era, what would you do when a ruthless bunch of outlaws guns down your father, would you cross the line, or will you stay the coarse hoping that justice is someday done, the question that I have to answer in about 65,000 words, and doing so with an 1860 colt .44-caliber revolver, nickel-plated, with ivory handles, and CAPT John Taylor engraved on the side. Guts or glory Laramie will seek Vengeance I have felt it since the beginning. I hope you all agree. Thanks. Ritchie White

To view a portion of this novel visit my web page

http://theofficialfanpageofritchiewhite.webs.com

I hope I answered the question why do I write, and if I haven’t in the above statements, well it is simple, I love stories, and the old west, and my child like imagination is still alive inside, and if I put history, the old west, words, wisdom, and imagination together, I can tell you a story, that will have you on the edge of your seat, and gripping the pages from the beginning of chapter 1 to the very end.

After we describe our character, and paint a picture of what our character looks like, we must then move to the cause and effect, plot, etc. Put our painted character in a situation/situations, to build a story.

When we have the situations that our characters are going into, we then will move forward to create a painting of the room, or the outdoors. What is your character in.doing? Colors also are very key in this description as well.

Is the sun golden and resting on the mountain side? and is the room darkened by the shades blocking the window?

How ever your, people, places, and things coincide with each other, you have to paint a picture with only words, and not a paint brush. However you are the Picasso in your story. Paint away.

You are kind, and you are brave.
You smile, just because you are here.
But in battle you are a warrior.
The toughest of them all they say.
They fight for food, and clothes.
You, you fight for honor, pride, dignity,
and freedom. Freedom from sickness.
You battle with courage and heart,
You love with your soul, and of the mind. You
wear only clothes, and nothing to protect yourself,
from the cancer.

You are a Knight Without Armor.

For Rocky
My Father-in-law