Towns Grew Mighty

Not all mining towns died away after the ore was gone.  Some achieved permanence and grew into major cities - case in point, Denver.  The area around Pike's Peak had been rumored to be full of gold.  In 1850 prospectors headed for California found traces of it, but not enough to stay.  By 1858 a small group of miners spread word of another Sutter's Mill-like find,  By March of 1859, wagon trains were forming along the Missouri River with "Pike's Peak or Bust" on them.

About 50,000 seekers flooded into the new town of Denver.  Few were rewarded for their effort in gold, however.  Their wagons now read "Busted, by God!" and were known as "go-backs" as they went back home. Still thousands remained and in the 1870s they actually found a bonanza of silver. 

Another town called "the Gateway to the Mother Lode" was Sacramento.  In 1839 John Augustus Sutter had founded his baronial estate there at the junction of the Sacramento and America Rivers.  When Sutter came near to bankruptcy, he transferred his property to his son, who founded the town of Sacramento that same year.  Steamboat traffic sprang up on the river, carrying freight and passengers from San Francisco to the mines.  It became a headquarters and supply depot for those headed for high country.

When the mining boom ended, Sacramento was already the state capital and the center of farming of the Great Valley.  It became the westernmost point of overland mail and stage line, in 1869 the transcontinental railroad brought more fame. 

Next time - The Famous Comstock Lode
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On July 27, 1806, Meriwether Lewis shoots a Blackfoot Indian trying to steal his horses. The Blackfoot were one of the fiercest tribes of the Great Plains around the Marias River.  Lewis had hoped to meet peacefully with the Blackfoot but that all changed with the shooting.

The Goddess of Chance

The Goddess of Chance, Madame Vestal, was a celebrated female gambler in the Wild West.  She reported moved from Denver to the Black Hills overnight, in what we would call today a trailer, was then known as a
"horse drawn boudoir" on wheels.

Ms. Vestal was linked to a member of Kansas' own Quatrill's Raiders who had quite a passion for violence.  Madame Vestal's man was lynched by the vigilantes, after which Vestal drifted from Las Vegas, Tombstone, and finally to San Francisco where she died, full of whiskey on Skid Row.

After her death it was discovered that Madame Vestal was actually the famed Civil War spy for the Confederacy, trusted agent of General's Forrest and Price - one Belle Siddons.

Next time: Necktie Parties circa 1880

The Duel of Mattie and Katie

Seems that Mattie had problems keeping Mr Cort, her escort, occupied, as she challenged Ms. Katie Fulton to a duel to decide who Mr Thompson "belonged to".

So one day on the banks of the Platte River at a resort known as the Olympic Gardens owned by the Denver Brewery , Mattie and Katie faced off in front of every no good Denver resident who turned out to watch - gamblers, dealers, con artists, pimps, bartenders (not a good reputation in the old west), and sports promoters.  All bets were placed. No doubt the town brewery had the brew flowing to add to the festivities
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The ladies armed with revolvers, marched to their respective positions amid the cheers from the crowds.  The guns blasted simultaneously and the spectators screamed in anticipation.  When the smoke cleared, it seems Mr. Cort Thompson, who was a spectator himself, had been shot behind the ear by Mattie.

The next day, the Rocky Mountain News ran a stern editorial calling on the Denver Brewery to prevent the repetition sporting events in the future.

Still Mattie and Katie's duel remains the only known duel between two women even fought on the frontier.  It makes one wonder if the duel was really just another opportunity to teach Mr. Thompson another lesson!

Next time...Big Nosed Kate Fisher

The Legend of Mattie Silks

Mattie Silks was probably the most enchanting of the gun toting women of the frontier.  She was always dressed as an exact replica of the Ruben portrait of Marie de Medici in a long cloak with a velvet train over a tight bodice and a high turned up color.  In this attire, she was known as the Queen of Denver and the ranking Madame.  Mattie had two special pockets built into her cloak, one for gold coins (she never acknowledged paper money), and the other held her pearl handled six-shooter. 

Ms Silks ran a brothel of notorious size and her escort, one Mr Cort Thompson, spent her money for her.  One such legend says that one day Mattie found out that Cort had begged her for money in which to visit one of her rivals brothels belonging to Ms. Jennie Rogers.  Belle decided to pistol whip him in front of a good sized crowd of men,  none of whom tried to stop her.

Note: In the 1880's pocket revolvers sold for $3 by Western GunWorks of Chicago.  Their motto was "Everyone should go armed".

Next - more of Mattie and her female rivals...