Howdy History Riders,

Here is a bit of an update on happenings around The Reader’s campsite. First off, how about those radio shows? What fun! Now, I have several Reader contributors lined up to give you a break from me always doing the shows. Already, Weeks 16 and 18 are by Kid Curry Portrayalist Mike Miller and he, will no doubt, do some more, later in the year. I expect we will hear from Alkali Burns as well, before it’s over.
As always, lots of new articles, I have just completed a looong old project on the Mormon Hand Carts. Among others; still working on the huge Indian Tribes Page (forever) and the Indian Wars Timeline is getting caught up to what is actually in the WEEKS pages (It’s immense!). Speaking of Timelines, there are now over 40 completed and I get a new one done every week or so.
The weather in Colorado is Spring normal now but should soon warm up and I need to focus outside for while. I have been head-down on these keys for a good piece of the winter and The Reader shows it but it’s time for a break.
Thanks to FaceBook friends who have been suggesting new Players for The Reader, I think I added them all! Speaking of FaceBook, do you know that I post new events from The Reader pages every day? At: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-West-Daily-Reader/236605116359054. You will also find a weekly post, Friday evening, for the coming weeks History Riders Radio Show. (Show information for, Saturday to Friday, each week). Please keep those FaceBook “Likes” coming, both on the Reader FaceBook page and The Old West Daily Reader website. THANK YOU All!!

Doc

P.S. Have you ever seen my performance website at: www.dochollidaylive.biz? Take a look!

We have all been over a far piece of trail since I last slowed down and made blog. Sorta like makin’ sausage or ketchup, it ain’t always pretty in the process. Usually takes a certain amount of mental toe stubbin’, cussin’ and a tad of rye to git ‘er done. I don’t aim to be pretty here, just catch everyone up on the doin’s at The Reader.

The big event, of course, is History Riders Radio; now in the tenth week of 2013 and working well. I have had some nice feedback from listeners. Thank You! The six minute format seems about right. Turns out I can usually get at least one event for each day of a calendar week into the program. There will, no doubt, be some weeks where a big event might crowd something else out but I won’t let that happen too often. I like that everyday flow to the story. As noted previously, I usually post the new shows on the Wednesday preceding the week’s material, which runs from Saturday through Friday.

I’m still adding to various sections of The Reader, there are some forty completed individual Timelines now and I’m slowly working through the Indian Tribes section. Black History week had me chasing some notable characters and not getting as far as I might have wished. Still needing dates for Stagecoach Mary Fisher from Montana and I haven’t found a good photo of the new Bass Reeves sculpture that I can use for The Reader. Help is always appreciated on any of this.

I have continued to expand the Dictionary and recently added most of the North American fur bearers to the list along with a little more on the Mountain men. Eventually, I’ll do a time line for the fur trade references.

Plodding along here, I’ve got a slow mule but she don’t stop too often. Keep a watch on the show.

Thanks for ridin’ by…

Find the NEW! FREE! OWDR Radio on the Main Navigation panel.
NO Subscription required.

My other big web project, this fall, was a complete re-do of my Doc Holliday performance site. Caroline (Coyote Creative Graphic Design) did a fantastic new design for the site and gave me dashboard control. The site is full of NEW Content! As always, you can find the information to attend a Doc performance  (News) or hire me for one at your affair. Those of you who are interested in Doc and may have gone beyond the entries on Old West Daily Reader will find some additional tid-bits at www.dochollidaylive.biz. There will be additions from time to time…
This should be enough to keep you busy for a while anyway.
Thanks for ridin’ by!
Doc

It’s still a very busy summer here in Western Colorado. I’ve been performing Doc and working on a number of projects. Always new material for The Old West Daily Reader, but now, thanks to The Reenactors (.com), there is a weekly OWDR Internet Radio Show featuring the daily events in that week from the pages of The Old West Daily Reader. In addition to that, I’ve done two different new interviews on The Reenactors site.
Included herein is a link to a new page on The Reader (no subscription required to use) which posts the links to these various items. The new posts will usually go up on Saturday and the segments will run about five minutes. Get your daily dose of Western History for the coming week! Please check it out and keep giving us those Facebook “Likes“.  OWDR Internet Radio

Doc

Its been a while since I wrote here but I have been performing a lot lately and the garden and yard are running wild as spring turns to summer here in Western Colorado. That said, I have not been ignoring The Old West Daily Reader, several major projects are currently under way.

Perhaps the most difficult and certainly the slowest, is finding the information to bring the entries for any given day to a minimum of three. When it gets down to looking for an event on a specific date in Western History, it gets a bit difficult to find something suitable for The Reader. I have no idea how long this will take, I’m reading a lot! Not too many left though. Suggestions and help welcome!
I have finally gotten around to building some timelines for some major players and events; a listing of all the entries, in date order for that story. Some are quite small while others have 10 to 30 entries. It’s working out quite well but the whole idea is very time consuming since I do a certain amount of cross-referencing within the Weeks articles as I build the Timelines. It sure makes The Reader better though! There are 26 Timelines as of this writing, find them on the Players fly-out. Help is always welcome with these; the instructions are on the pages.

The regular (new) listings are, as always, proceeding as well, new ones all the time. As I noted in a previous blog, I’ve just slowed down due to the summer work load. There are always a few new quotes and a photo or two.

Thanks for all those Face Book “Likes”!  Keep ‘em coming! The Old West Daily Reader is just a bit past ten months on the internet now and membership is still slow but growing, I’m happy with the results so far. I have had some nice feedback from some of the gift subscriptions to the various Museums and Historical Societies. By the way, if you have a Historical Society or Museum in your community that would like a subscription to The Reader, have them drop me an email and I’ll give ‘em one.

Enough for now, I’m in research mode today and need to get a move on; safe trails and a happy summer to all, ‘til next time.

Doc

Well it’s springtime in the Rockies, nice if a little too dry here on the western slope. I have been doing some outdoor work but I haven’t ignored The Reader. A number of new articles and photos have gone up in the last month or so. I think I’ve settled into about 20 new articles a month but that could well drop off a bit as the summer come on. We’ll see…

The biggest news was a bad problem with the subscriber process. The last WordPress update disconnected it and I didn’t know it had happened. I can’t see that side of the subscription process and it had to wait until someone told me there was a problem. It’s fixed now but some potential subscribers were lost. I have sent out an email to those that left an address, explaining the situation, however, what I also didn’t know was that previously entered information blocked a new attempt (it already had that email address) so it wouldn’t complete a subscription request. I’ve now removed all partial entries and you should be able to start over and the thing will work. If anyone has further trouble please email me and I’ll work it out. Sorry all the way around about this one!

Take a look at Photo Gallery – Performer Photos and look at the pictures by Gertrude Stanton Käsebier (see: Wk. 41, 10/12/1934) of Indians who were performers in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Some of the best photographs of American Indians ever produced. I have put up six.

I have also added a little statistical page showing the number of articles in each day in the Weeks. References- Days – Entry Totals; over 1600 now.

That’s got it for now, please keep those Facebook “Likes” coming and watch for new things on The Old West Daily Reader.

Doc

Just a quick update on the latest doings on The Old West Daily Reader… Several new sections have been added: under The Originals; Doves and Night hawks, a listing of the Ladies of the Evening throughout the old west. Very incomplete, this one will grow with time; hopefully with your help. In the Photo Galley you will find a new section of Performer Photos. This one will also grow from here. As always there are new events here and there in the Weeks and therefore new listings in Players. Check out the updated Range Wars & Feuds.
Perhaps the biggest update the site has seen in several months is the plethora of new LINKS. They’re everywhere!  All the Movies and TV Shows, Trails, Battlefields and Massacres, Western Forts, etc. and hopefully throughout the site; the Links have gone RED. Try ‘em out and see if they go where they are supposed to go. If they don’t, drop me an email so I can fix ‘em. If you see a link that isn’t red, tell me about those too and I’ll get ‘em linked. This one is a big timesaver for everyone! Remember they only go to the Week, not the specific date. You still have to remember what you’re looking for when you use the link. Be sure to use the FIND [Control + F] when following something in the Weeks or Players.
This whole push for the last several months has The Reader looking and working great and I’m going to slack off for a while and slay some other dragons. I’ll keep adding things now and then but I’m ready for a break from the ten and twelve hour days on the computer.
Thanks to everyone for the rapidly growing number of Facebook LIKEs that have been coming in. Please keep ‘em coming. Invite you friends and relatives to take a look at the site and leave a LIKE even if they don’t subscribe. Helps the SEO you know!
Well, there it is, sort of short this time but as I said it’s time to take a break! Thanks again for the support and comments.

Doc

Before I start on my update on The Old West Daily Reader, I want to mention the accomplishments of OWDR Contributor McKendree “Mike” Long.  I spent my last Sunday afternoon reading Mike’s first novel. I’ll take the liberty of posting here, my comments to Mike…

My thoughts upon closing the final page of “No Good Like It Is”… – As the ghosts of the past and the phantoms of your fertile imagination rose through the gunsmoke and the dust of trails forgotten and newly forged; I was privileged to spend a wonderful afternoon lost in your concise and conscious picture of the stark, hard reality of the people and times who contributed so much to our world of today. Thank you for the careful research and the thoughtfully wrought words which so thoroughly, believably and completely, carried me away into the world Doby Walls and Jimmy Melton. I look forward with excitement and anticipation to the continuation of this wonderful adventure in “Dog Soldier Moon” and beyond…

Find Mike’s website where you can order the books on the Links to Friends page.

So, to the OWDR – I have been struggling with the entry on Custer’s “Last Stand” as it is often described; Wk. 26 06/25/1876. I never have been completely satisfied with it and I keep rewriting it, seeking an entry on this contentious subject which I feel truly represents my philosophy for The Reader. As you probably know; the subject is too large and complex to completely deal with in The Reader’s limited format but I do want to get it right, I’ll keep working on it ‘til I’m happy.

I have added numerous new entries on all sorts of issues, perhaps some of the more interesting being commemorative pioneer statues. See Pioneer Women; Wk 16, 04/22/1930.

New revolvers in the Photo Gallery – Weapons section. Mike’s Revolvers Pages 1 & 2. Yes, from Contributor, Author, Mike Long! Check ‘em out.

Enough for now but check back soon as new things are coming fast. thanks for ridin’ by…

Doc
Head Word Wrangler and Trail Boss

It’s been a busy almost two weeks since I’ve bent your sufferin’ eyes with output from the wordy waddie. Worth it though, quite a few new entries, a new photo section and some new photographs.
The Old West Daily Reader is honored to have a new contributor, Dirk Lagerwij. Can you pronounce his name? I can’t! This fine gentleman is from Holland and he’s got a sparkler of a gun collection and he’s allowed I can put some of ‘em up in the Photo Gallery – Weapons Photos section. Already have a few up but I plan to give him his own sub-section under that heading. I expect to get it going this week. It will be called Dirk’s Derringers under Weapons Photos – Watch for it! Dirk likes derringers and he’s got a nice collection of old timers and I have to admit, right off, he’s got some I’ve never even heard of.  You will enjoy Dirk’s guns! If you enjoy ‘em enough go buy one,  he’s got a few for sale. Find his website address and his picture on the Links to Friends page.
I’ve added another new section in the Photo Gallery, it’s call Pushin’ Up Daisies, Where are they now? Photographs of the gravestones of western characters. Help me with this one! Go pay your proper respects to them what’s departed and send me a nice picture of their stone. Email ‘em to me, with permission to use, at oldwestdailyreader@gmail.com . I’ll give you a photo credit and mark it copyrighted (for what’s that’s worth on the net) if want me to. Let’s plant us an electronic bury patch!  Check out the section to see sorta’ what we’re looking for. Thanks in advance!
Oh yes, I’ve pretty well completed the Western Forts list; if you find one in your state or anywhere else that I’ve missed, please email me. I’m also chasing founding and closing dates for ones already listed. Again thanks!
This ought to keep you busy in your spare time and maybe get you out into the great outdoors in this mild winter. I should have a foot of snow in the yard right now and the grass is peekin’ through everywhere! Could be a very exciting fire season next summer.

Shouldn’t be too hard to keep yer powder dry, take care…

Doc