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Private Notes
The famed bandit of the Motherlode Country, Joaquin Murrieta's life story is built from the obscurity of legend. Many argued that no one bandit could be in so many places in such a short time. But the legend lives on.
For James Hume, the Motherlode brought him not fortune, but respect, as he became one of the most successful lawmen.
William Barclay Masterson would wear many hats in a colorful life: buffalo hunter, sheriff, theater owner, boxing expert, and newspaper columnist. While his image was cold-blooded, he probably gunned down only one white man.
Who would believe that the most famous gunfight in Western history took place at a photo gallery? Charlie and Merlin discuss the events that led to the duel between the Earps, Doc Holliday, the Clantons, and McLaurys.
The song She Was Only A Bird In A Gilded Cage was inspired by this entertainment hotspot in Tombstone, Arizona. For nine years, the Bird Cage Theatre operated 24/7, with spectacular acts and frequent altercations.
Like any other performing theater, Piper's Opera House in Virginia City, Nev. provided entertainment as an escape from the harshness of the real world. John Piper staged political rallies, wrestling matches, and religious services there in addition to plays and dances.
Lola Montez was perhaps the most celebrated female entertainer of the mid-19th Century. After forsaking the theater, Montez befriended a young girl named Lotta Crabtree. She would go on to a spectacular performing career of her own.
The Old West was the perfect place for Mark Twain to begin his unique writing style. He worked the newspapers in Virginia City, Nevada and San Francisco, bringing color to ordinary stories. When he heard a tale about a jumping frog who was secretly fed buckshot, Twain shared the tale to the world when he wrote The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
Rescued from a burning building, Lillie Hitchcock began a life of service to the fire department of San Francisco. She seemed to attract attention everywhere, but was most beloved in California.
When he discovered gold in 1848, James Marshall and his employer, John Sutter, tried to keep the find a secret. Once the Gold Rush started, Marshall would be driven to bitterness.
A Swiss immigrant avoided debtor's prison by fleeing to America, claiming the title of ""Captain Sutter."" He acquired several square miles of land in Northern California, where he built Sutter's Fort. He may have looked the part of a rich nobleman, he walked a tightrope of financial distress. When one of his laborers, James Marshall, discovered gold on his property, Sutter's future collapsed.
Arriving in California on one of the first transcontinental railroads, Nellie Cashman devoted her life to aid the gold mining towns. She helped several lives and raised funds in uncommon fashion.
Virginia City, Nevada was the site of perhaps the greatest silver rush in history. Over 20 years, the Comstock (named for a braggart) was a training ground for miners all over the world, while Virginia City became immensely wealthy.
The ever-shifting sands of the Old West created the need for ever-shifting cities, labeled ""Hell-on-wheels towns."" Many followed the railroad companies linking the West in many directions.
The Central Pacific Railroad needed to hire people who were not interested in gold-seeking. Charles Crocker, in charge of constructing his end of the transcon-tinental railroad, proposed hiring Chinese. Charlie and Merlin discuss some of the Chinese work habits, as well as their spectacular feats.
Charlie and Merlin briefly recount the race between two railroad companies to create the Transcontinental Railroad. Both companies would build parallel to each other for 250 miles before meeting at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869.
The settling of America began with Jamestown in 1607. Born as a commercial venture, Jamestown was a small colony that played a big role in history.
At Colonial Williamsburg, Charlie and Merlin discuss the voyage three ships, hired by the Virginia Company of London, took to establish the Jamestown colony.
Churches were very much at the heart of the Jamestown colony. Charlie and Merlin discuss the early days of the first church from the oldest brick building still standing in Virginia.
Just fifty years after Columbus discovered islands in the Atlantic, the Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo founded a port on America's Pacific shore. First named San Miguel, the port of San Diego has been justly named ""the Plymouth Rock of the Pacific.""
After the Spanish laid its firm control of their California territory, Father Junipero Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first of several Catholic missions stretching through Baja California. This show details some of the early history of Mission San Diego, and examines the church today.
A tiny section in the section of Arkansas, bordering Indian Territory, was the most lawless place in the West. The U.S. Army needed to establish a permanent fort there. While it served well during tense times, Fort Smith never fired a shot in anger (and never received a shot either).
In the late 1840s, pioneers came up with the novel idea of having men pull carts across the prairie to the land called Zion. Charlie and Merlin discuss one handcart company that met with great success and another that met with great failure.
George Donner and James Reed uprooted their families and sought the fertile soil of California in 1846. Rather than take the Oregon Trail, the Donner Party chose to heed an open letter by someone who promised to show them a shorter route. It was the first ill-fated decision in a succession of decisions that made The Donner Party suffer bitterly during a most bleak winter.
This Cherokee Indian conceived and perfected an alphabet. His idea was to break words into syllables. That language made the Cherokee people literate in an amazingly short time.
Isaac Charles Parker served more than 20 years as the presiding judge at Fort Smith, Arkansas. In his tenure, 79 men were sent to the gallows. Charlie and Merlin reflect on Parker, his hangman, and three groups of hangees.
He is wrongly credited with the phrase ""Go West, young man, go west."" Indeed, Horace Greeley did confirm the strike that launched Colorado's 1859 gold rush. What he didn't know was that the miners had salted the gold mine.
The citizens of Central City, Colorado demanded the best in entertainment to go along with the city's fabulous wealth. Thus was built the Central City Opera House. It brought the latest technologies to the stage arts.
Margaret Brown had been a magnificent woman with magnificent adventures in Denver. What she really wanted was to be accepted by the Denver elite. Her surviving the Titanic disaster opened that door.
Horace Tabor was one of Colorado's richest men, cornering the silver market. He was an icon in Leadville, Colorado. But he was not an icon to his wife. When a young ""Baby Doe"" caught Tabor's eye, the path of his life changed dramatically.
Central City, Colorado, entered national prominence after gold was discovered. Charlie and Merlin talk of much of Central City's boom days, stop by the Teller House, discuss a fire that could have cost the city, and hint at the Central City Opera House.
One may not know of Louis DuPuy, but it was his compassion that led, ultimately, to DuPuy's establishing the Hotel de Paris in Georgetown, Colorado. Charlie and Merlin show off the hotel's amenities.
The colorful life of Belle Starr is spelled out to some extent. Charlie and Merlin discuss her husbands, her unorthodox way to ride a horse, and some of her unorthodox adventures.
""Snowshoe"" Thomson delivered the mail through the snowy Sierra Nevada Mountains on wooden skis. For all the stories told of how he got the mail through, he never received the money owed for his services.
The dream of a trans-Canada railroad would have to undergo many obstacles. Wild terrain was only the start of it. Financial and political distress threatened not to complete this longest North American railroad line.
From its origins on the Frazier River, the gold rush to British Columbia produced some profits and great hassles. But it led to the creation of a new province, one that would make Canada stronger.
