I enjoy rereading historical novels by authors that are largely forgotten today. Here I am relaxing at home with a copy of Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger. I wrote about Shellabarger and Rafael Sabatini, two of my favorite forgotten authors, in my recent contribution to the blog Mad About MG History. You can read it here: http://madaboutmghistory.blogspot.com/
My writing of The Iron Horse Chronicles owes a lot to earlier historical novels that are seldom read now. I study current western and historical authors to keep abreast of trends in writing. For example, over the years, the use of point of view has changed significantly. I continue to enjoy the great stories told by the old masters, such as James Fenimore Cooper and Alexandre Dumas, even though their style is more flowery and ponderous than today’s readers expect.
On October 29, 2016, my novel Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two, received the Will Rogers Silver Medallion Award for 2016 Western Fiction for Younger Readers. The Will Rogers Medallion Award Committee’s program states that books in the Younger Readers’ category “contain excellent stories, deal with growing up (and grown up) problems and themes, provide inspiration and, most importantly, hours of enjoyment and entertainment.” The program further indicates that “outstanding books in this category will fill an almost impossible task of being interesting to an entire age span [from older elementary school children to young adults] and to adults as well.”
You may recall that last year Eagle Talons, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book One, received the Will Rogers Bronze Medallion Award for 2015 Western Fiction for Younger Readers.
Michael is an outstanding writer of western and historical novels. His books have won numerous awards including the Western Heritage Wrangler Award and Western Writers of America’s Spur Award. You can learn more about Michael Zimmer, his books, and his awards at his website: 
The travois is beautifully displayed in the Plains Indian Museum of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. There, an Indian family is portrayed moving across the prairie with the warrior in the lead serving as a scout and being prepared to defend his family. Trailing him is his daughter guiding a dog pulling a small travois which is loaded with household items such as bedding and cooking utensils.
The warrior’s wife rides a horse pulling a large travois. The larger travois were frequently constructed with the poles from the family’s teepee. The buffalo skins that covered the poles to make the teepee were then loaded on the cargo area of the travois. The travois could also be used to transport sick or wounded people. I describe various uses of the travois in Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two.
On my return trip to Nevada after attending the Wyoming State Historical Society annual meeting, I passed through Cody, Wyoming, in order to visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. The center consists of five different museums. As you can see from this photo of the entrance, the day I spent there was blustery with intermittent rain and snow.
The Plains Indians Museum contains a wealth of artifacts and information about the Northern Plains tribes. I was particularly interested in studying those items pertaining to the Sioux, the Arapahos, and the Cheyennes, because those tribes will feature predominantly in my next novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Draper Natural History Museum. The visitor can stand close to a grizzly bear and envision what it would be like to face one of these creatures in the wild. Will Braddock, or course had two run-ins with grizzlies in Bear Claws. I also wrote in a post on February 8, 2016, about the movie The Revenant, in which the character Hugh Glass was attacked by a grizzly.
I was fortunate to be in the Cody Firearms Museum when a member of the staff presented a fascinating review of the types of revolvers, rifles, and carbines used in the mid-1860s. I describe many of these weapons in The Iron Horse Chronicles, and I will also be covering them in my new book about the Bozeman Trail. By coincidence, the recent November 2016 issue of True West magazine contains a feature article about the collection of firearms in this museum.
On September 11, 2016, I spent the day at Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming, touring the interpretive center, walking the remains of the old fort, and tromping the nearby battlefields. I had this opportunity because I was attending the annual meeting of the Wyoming State Historical Society in nearby Buffalo. At that meeting the society awarded Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two, the first place award in the category of fiction for 2016.
Fort Phil Kearny was built by the U.S. Army in 1866 on the Bozeman Trail to protect travelers heading to the Montana goldfields from attack by the plains Indian tribes that resisted the encroachment on their final good hunting grounds. Red Cloud’s War made life miserable and dangerous for the travelers and the military defenders for two years before the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos prevailed and drove the soldiers away. They promptly burned the fort down. No original structures remain at the site, but a marvelous layout of the dimensions with identification markers for the buildings and facilities enables the visitor to gain a valuable picture of the installation.
More fights occurred at Fort Phil Kearny between the Indians and the Army than at any other post on the western frontier. The largest loss of life (81) by the Army occurred five miles from the fort when the Fetterman Massacre took place on December 21, 1866, at what is now known as Massacre Hill. This loss was not surpassed until Custer’s Last Stand a decade later. Red Cloud’s War is the only one which the Indians are considered to have won.
On Saturday, September 10, 2016, I participated in the 63rd annual meeting of the Wyoming State Historical Society in Buffalo, Wyoming. This friendly city of about 5,000 people, provided a grand welcome to the attendees at the meeting. As this Wyoming state historical sign in the center of the town proclaims, any direction from Buffalo is Powder River Country.
The town did not exist when the US Army erected Fort Phil Kearny sixteen miles north in 1866 and precipitated Red Cloud’s War. As a result of the conflict between the Native Americans and the White settlers bound for the Montana gold fields, the Fetterman Massacre occurred on December 21, 1866. The annihilation of 79 soldiers and 2 civilians by the combined forces of hundreds of Sioux, Northern Cheyennes, and Arapahos, was the largest loss by the western Army until Custer’s Last Stand, a hundred miles north, ten years later. In 1867 the Indians forced the abandonment of all the forts along the Bozeman Trail, and they burned Fort Phil Kearny to the ground.
I enjoyed my brief stay in Buffalo. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication of the members of the WSHS. Of course, I was thrilled when Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two, won First Place in the Publications Category Fiction, “in recognition of the outstanding accomplishments and contributions to Wyoming’s legacy.”
On Saturday, September 10, 2016, The Wyoming State Historical Society presented Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two, with First Place in the Publications Category Fiction, “in recognition of the outstanding accomplishments and contributions to Wyoming’s legacy.”
It is a great honor to receive this prestigious award from a dynamic historical society. I will post additional information and photographs over the next few week about my visit to Buffalo, Wyoming, my participation in the 63rd Annual Meeting of The Wyoming State Historical Society, and the research I did in the local area for the new book I am writing. My sincere thanks to the President and Awards Committee of The Wyoming State Historical Society.
As many of the readers of this blog are aware, every few weeks I contribute a blog posting to Mad About MG History. On September 1, 2016, I wrote about the 100th birthday of the National Park Service. In several previous blog postings on this website I have mentioned the research trips I have made to various National Park Historical Sites. Being able to walk the ground where the actual events occurred has been helpful in my writing of The Iron Horse Chronicles. I am thankful our nation maintains both environmental and historical sites for us to enjoy.
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