Fascinating Friday Feature – The Pony Express Tale

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by Donna Schlachter Most people know something about the Pony Express, but few realize it only operated fromApril 1860 through to November 1861. The first ride left St. Joseph, Missouri heading west, andfrom Sacramento, California heading east, on April 3rd, 1860. The idea for a Pony Express was conceived in the minds of its owners because of the possibilityof winning the contract for the overland US mail. Another company, Butterworth, was running asouthern route that took up to three weeks to deliver to the west coast, and Majors and Waddellthought they could beat that time by taking the shorter northern…

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The Fascinating (Condensed) History of Alaska

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By Donna Schlachter In keeping with celebrating my second Switchboard Sisterhood book, Morgana, I thought I’d sharesome history of Alaska this month. While the area was likely settled thousands of years ago by emigrants from Asia and Eastern Europewho perhaps crossed a land passage, few details are available about these early settlers. They eventuallyestablished themselves and spread out over the area, becoming unique in their language and culture.In 1728. Vitus Bering from Denmark traveled into the area and discovered the strait now namedafter him. He returned in 1741 and explored the North American coastline. In 1776, the year the United…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – The Mafia in America

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Pre 1890s While researching my recent release, Claire, I uncovered several interesting facts about the mafia in America. In my book, Claire boards a train to flee New York after her mafia father is murdered and a contract is placed on her head. Toby, an undercover Pinkerton operative, heads for Denver, finding himself on a train with a woman who is vaguely familiar to him. Toby, to add to his cover story, has placed an ad for a mail-order bride. Claire replies to the ad, neither realizing their connection. Can they solve the mystery of who is trying to kill…

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Riding in a Covered Wagon – Vicariously!

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  By Donna Schlachter Several years ago, hubby and I visited a museum that offered a virtual Covered Wagon ride. We sat inside a wagon bed and looked ahead of us where the driver and oxen or horses would normally reside. Then a short film played about the wagon going down over the river bank and across a fat-flowing river. The wagon bed we sat in rocked and rolled according to the view on the video, and about the only thing missing was we didn’t get dunked. That was a lot of fun, and the experience gave me a whole…

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A Chat with Author Donna Schlachter

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Greetings from Marti Pieper in rainy and windy South Carolina! My husband and I are still adjusting to our new life here—and right now, we’re missing the warmth of Florida. Today, I want to bring some warmth to our CAN blog by introducing you to author Donna Schlachter. She has some delightful things to share with us about her newest book and more, so let’s get started! Welcome, Donna! We’re so glad to have you here on the CAN blog. Will you tell us about your book, please? Becky Campbell’s father is murdered. Zeke Graumann, a local rancher, might lose…

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