FINDING A WELL-FITTED HORSE SADDLE During the cold winter months of north-central Idaho, my horse saddle spent most of its time on a stand in my Winchester office. I built a strong stand and cinched it down because most guests who came in to talk to me liked to climb up on it. It made […]
NEVER SADDLE OTHERS WITH A DEAD HORSE I guess, among other things, you could call me a small town politician. I happened to serve on the city council and was mayor of Winchester, Idaho at one time. Now, these weren’t really demanding jobs, since the official population of the place over the years ranged from […]
A Father-Daughter Model A Story by Michael S. Bly We all have passions. Passion for our spouse and our kids. Passion for family and friends. Also, passion for our country, our work, and our favorite sports teams. Lin Thomas had all those passions, in spades. But he also had great passion for God and old […]
Open Winter Beetle Blues Winters up here in the mountains of Idaho happen in various degrees of severity. This last one was what we call an open winter. That is, we experienced a fairly mild winter with few blizzards or cruel, relentless storms. The snow never got past two feet deep, and the temperatures never […]
GOLD FEVER EVERYWHERE I lived in the little town of Winchester, Idaho, population about 350, and found a surprise one day. Down at the meat market I discovered people standing six deep at the cash register. I suspected a bit of gold fever happening. You see, the meat market sold lottery tickets and the jackpot […]
Got a Ghost Town Near You? A couple hours from where I lived, there once existed one of our state’s most booming frontier towns. Florence, Idaho ghost town was settled in 1861 with the discovery of placer mines on the southwest side of the Salmon River canyon. By 1862, ten thousand people reached the settlement. […]
Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, A Country Girl Tale Whether we’re city folks or a country girl like me, we never know when we’re about to face a frightening moment of decision. My Winchester country girl friend and I blithely drove down an Idaho countryside highway one winter’s day. Speed about sixty miles per hour. […]
More Power to Jerky Did you know that jerky helped settle the West? For mountain men and prospectors, surveyors and cowboys, a handful of jerky provided critical nourishment. This in a time of no preservatives or refrigerators. Didn’t matter whether the jerky came from beef, deer, elk, or buffalo. All retained their flavor and value. […]
Bad Behavior Excuses Progress came to Idaho with the Lottery. Promoters presented their supposed good reason. “Folks travel across the state border to spend their money in other states’ lottery. Let’s keep that cash in Idaho.” I guess the logic convinced many. But I wondered if that was such a good way to make a […]
Living on the Spiritual Western Frontier A lot of people in our country think the Western frontier fully settled in the nineteenth century. But that’s not true in places like the old logging town of Winchester, Idaho. Regions like that still remain vast, unpopulated, very pragmatic and independent, sometimes dangerous, and always a bit wild. […]
Comments on the Blog