MDM Books

Waiting my turn at a hawk and knife competition at the Fort Restaurant.

Taken on a five day+ horse trip into a National Rendezvous in Wyoming. What a wild trip! Sank Jim's Ram up to its bumper in a bog, finally dug it out and left our only map to the camp in the truck when his wife took off (this was before cell phones!). We bushwhacked the 30+ miles across an area we had never been in before, by piecing together what we could remember from the maps. Forded streams and rivers, through blow downs, saw a wolf (had a few howl around us at night), saw a few moose and a had a small number of animal problems. The fifth day, we knew we were close to the Nationals but did not where to go from there. The next morning, I asked Jim which way to go - he said right after the stream we were camped next to, I said left. When I asked him how he knew - he said he heard the cannons when he went out to p*e that night. One day late, with not much food left; we topped the hill and rode down into its horse camp. Ahh, memories!

A mid 90's camp of the Jim Baker Party (AMM). It was held in the middle of South Park; cold - temperature was -9 with maybe a 20 mile an hour wind. Great camp! We had three other shelters besides the Ken Zuraski's tipi; Bill Klesinger and I stayed in a big wedge. Yes, most are smiling - but not all!

One of the few partial walls still standing at Turley's Mill. This picture was taken maybe thirty years ago, when my friend, Pat Surrena and I measured and drew a rough map of the place. All private land now and access is restricted. If these walls could talk!

Here is a picture from my past. A group shot of some of the Jim Baker AMM party. - this one was taken probably twenty years ago, around Kiowa, Colorado. A few in this are not around anymore, the rest are older; the fond memories of camps like this, live on in our hearts.

For those who want to test themselves on early west skills - I found a game that will give you everything you would want in this and more: https://oregontrail.ws/games/the-oregon-trail/

No downloads, some side bar ads; see if you could survive!

The Oregon Trail - Play game online Play The Oregon Trail game online, in a web browser.

Had a first this morning, was checking a reference to a Shakespeare quote on my computer to open a new book and Bing told me there was not a quote like that - double check my spelling. I did, which I found to be right and then went to Bartlett's "Familiar quotations, Messages, Phrases and Proverbs (traced to their sources) and I was correct. Bing 0, Mike 1

“Time travels in divers paces with diver persons. I’ll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops withal and he who stands still withal.”

And it comes from As You Like It.

I did a quick search where my readers could find my books at. The latest, Foods of the Early American West, can be bought at the Muzzleloader. com website and a few on Ebay and Thrift Store books (at a little higher price). Amazon gives it a three-star rating out of five. Maybe my readers could improve this?
Older books of mine? Abe Books has a few copies of Life in the Early West for between $45 to $65 dollars each. They sold new for $17.95. Some of my books are getting really hard to find - Rocky Mountain Album is now rare.

Ten years ago, this came up as one of my memories: There is a first time for everything:

Denise Moore came home with one of my books she bought at an estate sale for 50 cents. Always wondered how I would feel when this happened for the first time.
Guess it is not bad; I can pass on a copy to someone very cheaply and know that a book that usually brings twice the copy price on most resale book places had done its original purpose and now will be given a new life in someone else's hands.

A picture of me, taken while at one of the Fort's rendezvous.

My article in the latest (Jan/Feb 2025) Muzzleloader magazine on "The Use and Benefit of a Well Maintained Weapon" looks good.

This week in the early west:
Joseph (Dixon) Dickson was born 1775
Job Dye was born (funny to write that combination of words) in 1807
The Taos uprising happened in 1847! Charles Bent (the American appointed governor then) and Stephen Lee (sheriff) were killed when it started. Many others died on both sides - a tragedy that many killed on both sides.