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I’ve just finished a project about pioneers in Wyoming whose interviews I conducted in 1951. This does mean that they have all died in the meantime and so the articles are ‘dated’ but are still precious bits of history of the western frontier. This booklet is a rewrite of those original interviews and contains pictures of each of the dozen or so individuals.
Titled Pages From the Past; Stories From Niobrara Homesteaders, this booklet will be published by the Niobrara County Historical Society and will be on sale at the Stagecoach Museum in Lusk, Wyoming by this summer.
I want to share some of the early adventures of these brave settlers on the frontier. Adventures that stirred my mind and may do the same for you. Most of them take place in the late 1800s or early 1900s, as homesteaders went west to find work and a new place to raise their families.
Alone in their soddy cabin, one young woman was tending her kitchen tasks when she suddenly felt eyes boring into the back of her head. Turning her head toward the one door in the single room building, she saw a large timber wolf standing on the door step staring intently at her. What thoughts crowded through her mind are awesome. They stared at each other for some time before the wolf tilted his head as though uncertain what to make of her, and then slowly turned away and left.
‘Go West Young Man, Go West’ was not an idle slogan in those days. One young man was so excited by stories his friend brought back from a trip to Wyoming, that he took all his savings and a few pieces of clothing and without telling his family or other friends, headed to Wyoming for his own adventure. He and his friend discovered that cowboys had to have their own horses and so did not get to join the roundups. Later he completed the dream.
Early attempts to make a pie or biscuits provided a challenge for some homesteaders. Lack of a good recipe book made the product inedible, but definitely a lesson in resourcefulness.
Entertainment on the frontier varied from Saturday night parties at someone’s house to hunting and fishing, as well as chokecherry picking. One man chose to collect rattlesnake rattles – from the abundant supply of snakes that were there first. After filling a large matchbox, he gave up and just kept removing these snakes to provide safety for his family.
Those early days called for hard physical labor, self-sufficiency, resourcefulness, and courage. Many people died young, especially women in childbirth, and children from various diseases. What a contrast their life was with ours today.
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When Globe Pequot Publishing informed me that I had to downsize my manuscript, the request felt catastrophic.
Deleting about 20,000 words from the original 75,000 word manuscript for Frontier Madam was both daunting and irritating, but I realized early on that these deletions could be shared here, so here’s some of the deleted material …
Burr Bryant said that somebody turned his granddad in one time, they never knew who did it.
But during the drought, land was so dry you could see any car coming on those dusty roads, and you knew it had to be the Sheriff cause he’s about the only one who had a car.
It was about a quarter of a mile of our road to the house and here we seen this car coming. Father was just ready to make a delivery on this whiskey, had it all bottled up. He seen this car coming, knew it had to be the sheriff.
And what’s he going to do with the whiskey. He had it right there.
At that time, a man named Bill Hassed was the sheriff and he came in and said, “I got a search warrant for your place.” Course old Bill was a good friend of father’s but that didn’t stop the sheriff. If he had a search warrant for you, he’d arrest you. He didn’t care how much of a friend he was.
Mother was there doing the washing. She had maybe three kids in diapers and she was washing diapers. She had this tub full of water so she just moved the diapers over and threw the whiskey in the tub and covered them over with dirty diapers.
The Sheriff come in the house and searched it, and he looked at that tub of diapers. Two or three times he reached over like he was going to reach down in there but he didn’t like them dirty diapers so he didn’t reach down in there. He left without finding any whiskey.
Then another time, there was a guy called Slim, who had some whiskey he was ready to run off. He says to Burr’s Granddad, “They’re right on my tail. They had me once and put me in jail, and they’re watching me closely. I’ve got this mash ready to run off. I can’t run it off at home cause they got their eye on my trailer day and night. If you’ll take it and run it off, I’ll give you half.”
That night Father went to the man’s place and got it. He set it up in a tent by a water hole and run it off. It took a couple three days. And one day, the sheriff come by, wanted to know what the tent was.
Father says, “Well we’re calving, and when one of the new calves gets cold we just put it in that tent and warm it up.”
The sheriff looked at the tent, but went on without even looking inside.
When Slim came back, he asked Granddad, “Did you get that mash ready?”
“Yeah. You rode right past it. Did ya see that tent down by the water hole?”
Boy, you never seen anybody run and get in their saddle as quick and get out of there as old Slim did.
Then there’s the time Fred was working for Jess. And Jess didn’t have any money to pay him, so he asked if granddad would wait for his money.
Fred said, “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to.” Then he thought of something. “I tell you what. If you put on a dance this weekend and let me use one of your bedrooms, well, after it’s over we’ll call it square.”
In those days, it was a common thing to hold a party or dance at your house of a Saturday. Good country entertainment and folks from all around came to visit.
Well, Fred had his whiskey all bottled up and he brought it in. He put it in that bedroom and sold it out the window. After the dance was over, Jess asked, “Did you come out all right?”
Fred said, “Yeah! I done all right; you don’t owe me a thing.”
Even children were drawn into bootlegging situations. One day, while five-year-old Russ Christensen and his brother were playing up in the hills north of the house they found an old bucket with copper tubing in it. They were delighted with their find and were sure they could clean it up and sell it.
When they packed it back to the house, they discovered their dad was talking with revenuers who became quite interested in their find. Thanks to the rusty condition of the bucket, they decided the tubing was not part of a still currently in operation and the Feds went on their way. The boys later sold the tubing, happily making a good profit.
Another time, the Christensen children were sent out to gather the chicken eggs. In a nest in the hay, they discovered two jugs of whiskey. Undoubtedly left by a man who had visited the day before – just before the Feds came and picked him up.
Artist Evelyn Vantrek's rendition of the Yellow Hotel
The raucous roller coaster years of Prohibition created work, excitement and above all, financial and emotional relief from the depression and issues that bore down hard.
For some country families it was the only cash crop they had during the drought filled depressed years.
Not everyone was excited about producing moonshine; there were some who objected strongly to what production and consumption of alcohol did to drinkers.
Many who produced whiskey during the Prohibition era stopped making it when the prohibition was lifted and times got better.
Works in Progress
As a Gemini, I have a hard time doing just one thing, and at the same time, I have a hard time keeping up with all the things I say yes to.
The half dozen historical fiction short stories I started before Frontier Madam was published are still on a back burner. I began establishing the setting mid-Wyoming while I visited that state last summer.
Another project I have longed to do for some years is coming to fruition. In 1951, the Lusk, Wyoming, Lusk Herald published interviews I conducted with about a dozen pioneers. After publication that summer, the newspapers went into the archives. From time to time, I have thought about reproducing them as a booklet.
A North Carolina friend, Peggy Rooks is doing the layout for the booklet, now titled Pages From the Past; Stories from Niobrara Homesteaders. With the help of descendents and my sister, Phyllis Hahn (in Lusk), I have been able to locate pictures for all of the pioneers. Originally, there were no pictures published for several people.
This booklet will become the property of the Niobrara County Historical Society in Lusk for sale in the Stagecoach Museum by this coming summer. Artwork of a pioneer type cabin was provided by Joe Chapman, Jay Em, Wyoming.
At the same time, I have already begun a major project – the story of Running Water Ranch where I grew up. I have several boxes of old letters I am transcribing, along with account and journal records of ranch activities
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After I finished writing Frontier Madam, I decided to delve into the history of my family and the people I had interviewed and began writing short historical fiction stories.
Now I want to revise a historical fiction story, I’m calling “Back Home”. I knew it dragged along telling the story from the grandmother’s point of view and I could not seem to bring it to life.
As I talked about this story with friends I was surprised to learn how many people do not have a clear concept of what they might call back home. Some people don’t even have a ‘back home’ at all.
My ‘back home’ is based on growing up on the Running Water Ranch in eastern Wyoming. I know exactly where and what that means to me, as a backdrop to my values, my sense of background and where I come from. A deep sense of belonging to something, someone, somewhere.
In more recent times, this sense has been called into question as the land changed hands, the house was demolished, and weather made natural changes in the landscape in my absence. It has been a challenge and pleasure to deal with these issues in this story.
But shifting the story to attract readers was a challenge until one morning I awoke with it all laid out for me. I was surprised to suddenly ‘know’ exactly what had to be done, with an outline in mind. It was as though someone had put the outline in my head while I slept – my muse maybe? So where I am right now is in the revision process.
At the same time that I am revising, I am preparing presentations and schedules for Frontier Madam in two states – NC and WY. Another challenge – exciting and fulfilling.
Writer's Tips
Feeling at a loss for direction? Everybody else is writing something and you want to but just can’t get started? Looking at the page and keyboard or paper and pencil and thinking I can’t do this, until you turn away and feel an itch to write?
I prefer not to label this as writers’ block, though some folks do. I prefer to simply notice it, and turn to my journal pages. Which by the way are not all labeled journal. There’s a section I can AFD pages – Anxiety, Frustration and Despair. This sums up my feelings of ‘I can’t write’ and often after I admit to myself that is where my hesitation is coming from, writing gets easier.
Exploring the AFD also gives me a chance to vent some of those feelings as well as locate the source, and consider alternative ways to resolve them, if possible. Admittedly there are some issues I can’t resolve, and those I have to commend over to a Higher Power, or someone else. But at least I can do an attitude change that permits me to proceed.
Another way to look at this would be to realize that there are some things in our lives that interfere with writing. Being hungry. Getting over tired. Having a fight with someone. Having too much on your plate – too many times you’ve said yes and more than one human can possibly do. Getting or being sick. No time available. No convenient place to write.
If any of these are interfering with your writing, it’s time to take action – a small action, but action. First, a tall glass of water, followed by sitting and looking out the window – see the trees, animals, people outside for a short while. Then, go to your writing space – or begin to make one – and write about what’s stopping you. What is it that making it difficult to write? You can write, you’ve already proven that, but this is a ‘right now’ temporary setback that can be managed.
After you have written about the issues, you may want to take a break, stop for the day, or you may be ready to star the biggest or easiest one or two, and begin considering how you can work with that. Later you can work on the others, one by one – and some will actually dissolve over time.
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What makes me think I can write a column about tips for writers? Well … I’ve been writing, learning about the writing process, and teaching writing classes for all ages of writers for at least 40 years. For the past five years I have been teaching writing nonfiction for adults and stories for children at Guilford Technical Community College.
Regardless of the length of your current writing project, or whether it is fiction or nonfiction, there are times when it is hard to get moving. I am a firm advocate of journaling; and if you are a devotee of Julia Cameron/The Artist’s Way, much of this may be redundant – or perhaps a reminder of its value.
I recommend keeping a journal daily. Three pages or half an hour would be optimum. Even if you don’t produce this much every time, this is a good goal.
What goes into the journal? Not a diary though some entries may read like one, the journal is more the repository for almost anything you want to put there. Laundry lists of things you need to do today, this week or this year. An account of the fight you had with your significant other or child. Examination of a feeling, experience or idea you might have.
Exploration of a story idea or a scene, description of a setting or character all fit into the journal. Each entry offers an opportunity to practice putting your words on paper, letting them roll off your finger tips.
What about those days when you really don’t want to journal? Well, I suggest to my students that they have a good argument with me. Such as: “I don’t want to write in this stupid journal today even though June says I should! (Use lots of exclamation points here!!) I don’t even know what to write today. I can’t think. This is dumb and it …”
As you keep writing you may notice that perseverance brings you to actually writing something more productive in time.
In addition to being an opportunity to explore pieces of a manuscript you are writing, the journal gives you a place to move past the initial hesitation of putting words on paper. Sometimes we fear getting started lest it not be perfect enough, lest it appear silly, etc., etc., but the journal is forgiving of all that. And the next time you want to really write something, your writing gears have been lubricated by the practice.
One question that often faces new writers is where do ideas come from? How do I know what to write about?
The answer is right under our noses – ideas are everywhere, whether it’ll be how to make the garden grow well in dry weather, or an imaginary trip into space based on a TV research-based show, a childhood memory or some chance remark made by a friend.
As my brother asked, why did I want to write about a prostitute? Well… I had never really hankered to write about a prostitute and that’s not the way it started.
I had always known that Dell Burke ran the Yellow Hotel ‘down that street’ past the railroad depot, but my activities almost never took me down there. And as a child growing up in the country with lots to do and think about out there, I was not overly curious about the Madam.
It took the opportunity in 1981 to tour her hotel one year after she died when her estate was on sale to pique my curiosity. Listening to people tell anecdotes about Dell, and noticing the contents of the hotel, began to bring her to life for me.
However, other events in my life took precedence as I landed my first counseling job after I completed my doctoral program in Texas. I wrote a number of non-fiction pieces for the newspaper in Worland, for distribution to our clients at the mental health center there, and occasionally my imagination would carry me away to play with other subjects (not written for clients however).
About 20 years later, I chanced onto a reminder that Dell’s story was still of interest to people and I decided to pursue the subject.
I would warn you aspiring biography writers that you will want to spend years (at least 3 or more) just researching your subject in order to locate and validate as much information as possible.
Talk with people who knew your subject. Read what other people have said about him/her. Read about the experiences of others who held similar occupations and were involved in similar activities. Go where your subject lived and worked. Talk with their family and friends if possible. Get a flavor of the surroundings that were important to your subject and why.
Consider why you would want to write this biography? Notice whether this person would be of national or regional interest – whether other people have written biographies about this person and how yours would be different.
Then dig in. And digging you will be. The deeper you dig, the more you will realize how little you really know about what went on in his/her mind.
If you continue to pursue this project – this biography – to its conclusion, you may come to feel you know this person better than anyone else in the world does, or at least that you know him/her as well as you know your own family.
In my case, Dell had been living a double life and few people in Lusk knew her family. At the same time, she had been careful to tell her family only that she ran a hotel in Lusk, but not what went on there. Known to them as Marie Fisher Law, she loved her family and stayed in close contact with several members. It was satisfying to bring the two sides of Dell Burke/Marie Fisher Law together to help her be appreciated as a whole unique person.
Recently I was asked how I conducted my research for Frontier Madam: The Life of Dell Burke, Lady of Lusk. Good question since there were no diaries, journals, or other written records kept by the discreet madam. What a treasure trove that would have been. Oh well…lacking that I went to work to find what was available.
My guiding decisions were to search for the story of the woman, not to do an exposé, or to write a pornographic piece. I wanted to write Dell Burke’s story, so I went to people who had known her and learned from them what she had told about herself.
This meant looking for folks in their 70s and 80s, especially for residents from her hometown of Lusk, WY, as well as younger ones. Hearing the same story told by contributors with different time frames helped me verify the stories and when the events occurred. Gathering so much information also added to the challenge of putting it all together.
In all, I interviewed over 100 people, of whom about two dozen chose to talk anonymously, and a few had ‘tasted the delights’ of the Yellow Hotel. Many contributors were business people who had served Dell and her girls, some were neighbors, and others had listened to tales she had told. Putting these stories together was aided when several contributors gave the same information, though perhaps they had a more exact date or details.
After I came back to Greensboro with tapes and tapes of interviews, I turned to friends who helped transcribe the contents (most for a small fee). Since the material was collected as it rolled out of memories, it required considerable sorting and selection to place it into decades and relevance.
Once that was done, the next step was deciding what to include and what to leave out, then how to tell the story. I chose to tell each event from the viewpoint of Dell herself, even though it was told by an outside person. This was a challenge, but a worthwhile one.
Even while conducting the interviews I realized that there were many unanswered questions so I searched further. Local newspapers, such as The Lusk Free Lance and The Lusk Herald (and its predecessor The Lusk Herald and Van Tassel Pioneer) yielded valuable information. Personal information about Dell was rarely reported. Even when her main man of at least 25 years died in 1955, she was not mentioned in the front-page article that described his death. Her own 1980 obituary was abbreviated.
The Lusk City Police Docket described appearance she and other madams made over the years. From these, I learned what she was fined – often $100/month – and that she was accused of “the crime or offense of maintaining a disorderly house.” On the same dates a number of girls were in court “accused of the crime or offense of being inmates in a disorderly house.” I could also tell that she stopped having to face the court monthly by the end of 1930.
Many other areas of her life were described in letters written by Dell and other documents shared by contributor Bruce Bergstrom (her CPA in the 1960s), items from the Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas, WY, the Stagecoach Museum in Lusk, and Loraine Fisher, Dell’s great-niece.
The Pioneer Memorial Museum has a Dell Burke Collection, which yielded information about Dell’s interests, reading and shopping habits. Loraine Fisher shared boxes of Dell’s documents and memorabilia which validated Dell’s real estate purchases and other items. An especially interesting item was a scrapbook Dell’s mother had kept of newspaper clippings, recipes and various other items, which provided interesting bits and pieces of information.
Various friends gifted me with information about or books written about brothels, madams and prostitutes in Wyoming and the west about the time the Yellow Hotel was in operation. As one friend said, “I have a most interesting library now.” Only he said pornographic library and I corrected him – for actually almost none of the books delve into pornography, but rather talk about the lives of these women.
These books helped me see why someone would enter the business, and how their lives were affected. I could better understand the conditions under which they lived, and could even more appreciate Dell’s success and reasons for implementing her personal and business behavioral rules.
Other resources included online information, encyclopedias, and books written about that era as well as about the business.
A long week-end visit (as well as numerous emails) with her family provided me with another way of seeing her. From their experience, Marie was a special, interesting, yet private woman who loved her family and did what she could for them. This was a unique view of the Lusk madam and pointed up once more how she kept the halves of her double life separate.
I will admit that in this process, I stopped thinking of Marie Fisher Law, dba Dell Burke, as a prostitute or madam. I came to see her as a well-rounded woman with family and friends, pride and shame, AND a long-lasting business that was illegal and publicly unacceptable to most people.
