I'm Back - Miss Me?

[Bruce Tackett]

Oct 8, 2017 3:45:33 GMT TexasRanger said:

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My wife has family in Kansas and Missouri...the midwest wooden homes with the big old trees lining the streets are so cool.

A cool piece of history not too far from you: I had a customer meeting in western KS five or six years ago, landed in Witchita and while driving west on 70, I spotted this huge shape in the distance and decided, as I got closer, to check it out.  

A lot of history (not quite Europe, but...)  Church of the Plains

Turned out to it is an old Catholic church with a lot of history:

Here is one of the most magnificent buildings in Wichita - Friends University.



A bit of history - Wyatt Earp began his career as a policeman in Wichita. He was forced to resign when he beat the living daylights out of someone. From there he moved on to Dodge City where he was a deputy marshall, and then on to Tombstone, Arizona.

[TexasRanger]

Bruce - My wife has family in Wichita and we've been up there a number of times, most recently for a funeral. Her cousin and husband have a beautiful home in the old section of the city including wooden floors that are incredible.

Recommendation: if you want some history of the area, check out the book Dodge City by Tom Clavin (St. Martin's Press). The Earps were from western Missouri and while the father found his way out west, Earl and his brothers made their way around Kansas, Montana, etc., were in Tombstone, AZ*, for a a while before returning to Dodge City for the "Dodge City Wars".  Masterson's travels took him to the panhandle of Texas at one point for an interesting standoff in a town, from what I can tell on Mapquest, isn't there any longer.

Other key characters in the book include Bill Tilghman (Marshall Matt Dillon of the TV show Gunsmoke was allegedly based on him), Doc Holliday along with Wild Bill Hickock and others like Katie Elder (remember John Wayne's movie the Sons of Kate Elder), etc.  Eddie Foy -- father of the famed Foy entertainment family -- was also big in Dodge City, if you can believe it.

www.amazon.com/Dodge-City-Masterson-Wickedest-American/dp/1250071488/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1507474792&sr=1-1&keywords=dodge+city+tom+clavin

One fact that is repeated throughout the book: Earp, along with Masterson, rarely resorted to their guns even though both had incredible reputations with their firearms. Tombstone was one of the rare occasions where Earp had no qualms about shooting the opponents, however, the true story (according to the author and his sources doesn't resemble the movies).

The book -- if you're a history buff -- is also incredible for the pictures of the Earp family and Masterson, especially Earp in the 1900s (he's buried in Los Angeles!) and Masterson.

(*For what its worth, I was in Tuscon staying at the same hotel as the cast of Tombstone...I rode on the same elevator with Sam Elliot when I was heading out for a run. He walks on, I look at him and said "If I'm not mistaken you look a lot like Sam Elliot" or something along those lines. He smiled and said "I've heard that" I said "Sound like him too." He grinned and we talked for a minute or two, he shared he was in town for a movie. A little later my wife was gushing as she was telling me about eating breakfast next to Kurt Russell...)

[bob44]

When I got out of college in 1976, my wife and I took 7 weeks and traveled the US and slept in a Subaru. Our first stop was at Niagara Falls and we were impressed by the falls. Our first night sleeping was in a parking lot near the hydro-electric plant. The next day we took a tour of the plant and learned that they could divert the water from the falls if they wanted and basically turn off the falls. Just knowing that there is an on/off switch for the falls took away some of the awe of the falls for me.

[TexasRanger]

Did you all (Bob, Bruce, others) happen to drive along the river -- Niagra Parkway? I'd read where Winston Churchill had once called it "the prettiest Sunday drive in the world" and convinced my wife to check it out. The park is nice, but, guessing the area's changed since the days when Churchill visited as we didn't have the same sentiments. North of the falls on the Canadian side was an area we really liked, but, I think there are other places in that region like the Hudson Valley River area including the Pallasades Parkway that are far, far more deserving of accolades.  (And just having driven through there last week with leaves starting to change...wow!)  

Not my pics:

[Bruce Tackett]

Fascinating stuff, Tex. I will look up that book. Here in Pratt we call Wichita "Tall Town". That's where we go for things found only in a city; Home Depot, fine dining, movies, etc.

I once stumbled across Paul Newman and Lee Marvin filming a movie in Phoenix.

I recently finished an absolutely fascinating book, "My First Hundred Years" an autobiography by Nino Cochise, who was the grandson of Cochise and the nephew of Geronimo. The book is out of print. He was born in 1874 and died in 1984. As a toddler, his father didn't want his clan to be forced on a reservation, so he had them, including his wife and son, escape to mexico where they lived as primitives, secluded in the mountains. Eventually Nino was made chief of the Chiracaua Apaches and they gradually interfaced and connected with the outside world. His comment concerning his Uncle Geronimo - "He wasn't the brightest guy in the world". Nino became great friends with Texas John Slaughter and Buck Green. He eventually became the personal body guard to the Copper King, Colonel Greene and found himself traveling by train to New York City. As the years went by he made his way to Hollywood where he played in movies and then started a crop-dusting business with a partner. In the 1960's he played Cochise in a couple episodes of High Chaperral.

My first introduction to Kansas - first town over the Oklahoma border:



The view from my front porch on Main Street:

[mr potatohead]

Oct 8, 2017 15:24:22 GMT bob44 said:

When I got out of college in 1976, my wife and I took 7 weeks and traveled the US and slept in a Subaru. Our first stop was at Niagara Falls and we were impressed by the falls. Our first night sleeping was in a parking lot near the hydro-electric plant. The next day we took a tour of the plant and learned that they could divert the water from the falls if they wanted and basically turn off the falls. Just knowing that there is an on/off switch for the falls took away some of the awe of the falls for me.

Indeed! It's not nice to fool Mother Nature.

[Bruce Tackett]

No, We didn't go on that Niagara drive. Didn't know about it.

[Kubla Khan]

Main Street sounds better than our High Street.Not a bad view from your house m8.

[TexasRanger]

One place I've wanted to visit is Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.  Both Geronimo and Quanah Parker are both buried there and I've always wanted to go after reading Quanah Parker's biography.  (Quanah Parker was a little more astute than Geronimo per his bio, hiding the Comanche in Palo Duro Canyon until supplies and winter finally forced their surrender.  But, he went on to do some great things politically for the Comanche following his tenure as a warrior leader.  But sadly, the Comanche already had many of their lands taken by force.)

Anyway, I read The Apache Wars last year (https://www.amazon.com/Apache-Wars-Geronimo-Captive-American/dp/0770435831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507482993&sr=8-1&keywords=the+apache+wars) which outlines an amazing amount of history regarding the Apache nation along with the Comanche, Utes, etc.  The book alludes to the same thing regarding Geronimo including decisions to go headlong into live US Army rifle fire with limited weapons and bows & arrows, in many cases leaving the women and children exposed and without hunters to gather food, etc.

I've got friends up in Talequah, OK, who are Cherokee and gave me a beautiful book during one visit which is a combination of current and past history along with a wealth of pictures that I'd also recommend:



Will have to look for your book!

Love that picture of your street...looks very peaceful and laid back.

[TexasRanger]

Also up the road on I-35 is Pauls Valley, OK: if you saw "Logan", the rural ranch area was filmed in that area.  newsok.com/article/5540414  Just as important, you have the world's largest collection of action hero figures in the world.  Last count, I believe it was close to 15,000:


www.actionfiguremuseum.com/site/

I've got some pictures of their displays from my visit and it is without a doubt an amazing little gig the owner has put together.

[mr potatohead]

Anyone else read the Allan W. Eckert series of books?
How about John Tanner - The Falcon?
Triggernometry?

[Bruce Tackett]

Unfamiliar with those, mikey. I take it you're recommending them?

Here's a bit of Kansas history. Carl Switzer, also known as "Alphalfa" from "The Little Rascals", in later years had a farm about 40 miles east of us in Pretty Prairie. He was killed in a gun fight, having something to do with money owed. It was ruled self-defence.

[mr potatohead]

Yes, Bruce, I highly recommend them for pre-history up to late 1800's of this continent - mostly the US.
Triggernometry is a book about the real gunfighters of the 1800's.
John Tanner was a white boy, captured by Indians when he was about 9 and became a yellow-haired Indian who developed some living skills better than some of his real Indian brothers - hunter, for example.
Allan W. Eckert - read his bio, you'll understand what makes his historical "novels" so educational, compelling and entertaining. He was a detail freak.

[Bruce Tackett]

Sounds very interesting.

Mickey Free is another white boy captured and raised by Apaches. He was the cause of the Apache war, or more accurately, it was the U.S. Army's mishandling of his capture that started the Apache war. He later became a scout and tracker for the U.S. Army. Nino Cochise called him the best Indian tracker in the Army.

I have read a couple of books that named various figures who played prominently in the West. It's one thing to read accounts by writers who have researched their material and history, but it was really interesting to read Nino Cochise's first hand accounts and personal associations with some of these same people.

[mr potatohead]

If you want to see a movie that is as faithful to the truth (as I understand it - this has been a never ending dispute which started immediately after the event) as a movie might be, depicting the Earp family, Masterson, Holliday, the McLaurys, Clantons, et all, watch "Doc" starring Stacey Keach, Faye Dunaway and Harris Yulin.
IMO, "Tombstone" is nothing more than a Candyland, Hollywood tale for entertainment only. "Wyatt Earp" w/ Kevin Costner and crew is much better, but is told from the biased Earp point of view.

edit:
".... the event ...." noted above is the shootout @ OK Corral.