M. Mark Miller, Author

Category: Free Reads

  • A Little Romance and A Lot of Fun

    In 1913 L. Louise Elliott publish a book titled Six Weeks on Horseback Through Yellowstone Park. Elliott and her husband toured the park with a touring company that moved its camp from place to place. Most tourist at the time travelled between hotels or permanent camps where tents were put up early in the season and left up until Fall. Others had their own wagons and camping equipment and stayed anywhere they could find space. They were called “Sagebrushers” because sometimes the only places they could find were on undesirable sagebrush flats.

    Elliott sent kept a detailed diary but when she tried to convert it into a book she decided a simple description of sights and activities needed a plot to six weeks cover make things interesting. She created a fictional character, a young schoolteacher from Lander, Wyoming, who took a job as a camp assistant and wrote the book as letters from the teacher to her mother.

    In her preface, Elliott confesses that she used several techniques that critics now might label “new journalism.” She created composite characters by combining traits of her camp companions, and made up a “little romance” for her protagonist.

    We can forgive Elliott because she provided an explicit disclaimer—and an entertaining portrait of  travel to Yellowstone Park in the early twentieth century. While her tales must be taken with the proverbial grain of salt, we probably can take her word that “the camp episodes and jokes, the weather and scenery, and the statistics” were all accurate descriptions copied from her diary. (more…)

  • Introducing Free Reads

    I’ve used this blog to post stories I’ve found about early travel to Yellowstone Park and occasionally other stories. Also, I like to let people know about my other a ctivities: writing, speaking and occasional personal notes. Of course, I’ll keep doing those things, but with some new twists.

    Yellowstone travel stories are getting harder to find. I’ll keep an eye out and post stories when I see them, but I’l going to add what call “Free Reads.” That is, book, articles and reports that are available on the internet at no cost. I’ll provide links so you can read them whenever you want to learn more about Yellowstone Park Adventures

    I’ll begin with the Earl of Dunraven’s book, The Great Divide, which chronicles his trip to Yellowstone Park in 1874. The Earl was a wealthy Irish lord who loved adventure, hunting and fishing. He had been a newspaper correspondent and was a skilled writer. He could describe his adventures in bone-chilling detail or with wit and humor. His book is the source of many posts on this blog that you can see by selecting the “Dunraven” button at the left of this page.

    You can find complete copies The Great Divide online in several locations. I like seeing page-image versions like the one available at the Internet Archive.  Seeing what the book looked like gives a feel of authenticity and the illustrations can be great. They are in this book. Google Books is another internet site where you can get a copy of The Great Divide.

    So grab yourself a free copy of The Great Divide or read it on line. If you find anecdotes or stories in it that would make good additions to this blog, please let me know. Remember you can check to see if I’ve already published them by checking for “Dunraven” under the Categories Button to the left of this page. 

    I’ve added “Free Reads” under the Category Button and plan to add items there regularly. You should watch for them.