ORRIN SACKETT: Six years older than Tyrel; a handsome man with a fine speaking and singing voice, appealing to women. He liked people, mixed well, and had a way with words. He decided to study law, partly inspired by Tom Sunday, and to enter politics. He wanted a home of his own, and deeply regretted the loss of Mary Tripp, a childhood sweetheart who had died for him.
TYREL SACKETT: You had to push to start a fight with Orrin, but not with Tyrel. Boyish in appearance, although lean and dark as Sacketts were inclined to be, there was something cold and still inside him when trouble started. Never wanting trouble, he had grown up in the midst of a feud and the bushwhacking guerrillas of the Civil War period, and he was ready, always ready. The Sacketts had been raised to respect the law, God, and their country, as well as the equal rights of others.
REED CARNEY: He wanted to be known as a gunfighter; he believed he was a tough man. He swaggered a little, chose the company of men he thought were tough, and some of them were. It was easy to fantasize, easy to imagine. Then the day came when suddenly he was faced with the harsh reality. That despised “farmer,” as he called him, was facing him in the street, and he had a gun, too, and he was obviously ready, so very, very ready. Suddenly, the fantasy turned grim. The street was dusty, hot, and he was alone. Now he had it to do, but he was going to be shot at, perhaps killed. His mouth was dry and his knees felt like water. Suddenly he wanted to be away, far away, he wanted to be anywhere but here. Tyrel Sackett was letting him off the hook, he was getting a break, but should he? Was being known as a dangerous man worth the danger?
DON LUIS ALVARADO: A Spanish gentleman, ranching in New Mexico. A man who wanted only peace and time to develop his ranch and raise better cattle.
DRUSILLA ALVARADO: Don Luis’s daughter, and a girl who knew a good man when she saw one, even though he was not of her blood or her kind, not even of her religion.
MARTIN BRADY: A saloon-keeper, a man willing to murder or to have a man murdered, a man who changed because of what he saw in another man. His kind, too, helped to open the West, to blaze the trails and to open a business, even if it was a crooked one. But his kind did not last unless they changed with the times, as Martin Brady was to change.
CHICO CRUZ: Dangerous as a coiled rattler and just as remorseless, a man tight as a coiled spring and with a streak of madness in him.
JONATHAN PRITTS: A man with great pride in himself and a contempt for others. He had come west with the idea of taking land from the Spanish who owned most of the grants. He intended to do this by political means if possible, by force if necessary, yet as the moment neared he thought less and less of politics and more of guns. Wealth came slowly in the East, and men of older families held the offices he craved. In the West, it seemed, a strong man might take what he wanted. The Spanish he believed were to be dispossessed and he planned to be the first in line. He had prepared his political situation very well before going west and was sure that once in the saddle all would go well. He was used to using men; the trouble was that the Sacketts were not there to be used.
LAURA PRITTS: Jonathan’s daughter, a beautiful girl at first sight; at closer range, less beautiful. But she was a city girl from a background Orrin had never seen. It was as Tyrel had warned. He was seeing his dream, not the girl who was really there. She thought her father was the greatest of men, and wished to see him succeed in his endeavors, which he had convinced her were right and just. She despised the Spanish, the Indians, and most of the Anglo citizens, whom she considered trash. At first, she was much taken with Orrin, a handsome, dynamic man, but even in this she was influenced by her father’s wishes.
OLLIE SHADDOCK: From Tennessee; distant relative by marriage of the Sacketts; briefly an officer of the law in Tennessee.
DROVER’S COTTAGE: A restaurant in Abilene well-known all up and down the trail; a place for the big cattlemen to gather after cattle sales. Served excellent food; often as good as could be had in any big city cafe or hotel.
FETTERSON: A very tough man, rider for Jonathan Pritts, and his second-in-command, holding the job Pritts had planned for Orrin Sackett. Not above hiring a killing for Pritts, he could do his own shooting when need be. A tall, blond man with a twisted look to his mouth caused by an old scar.
SANDY: One of three who wanted to kill the wounded Miguel, and fancied himself as a gunfighter until he caught two slugs from Tyrel Sackett. He didn’t last long enough to realize his mistake.
BACK RAND: A would-be herdcutter who lived beyond expectation because one of the men riding with him was Aiken, from the Tennessee Mountains, who recognized Tyrel Sackett. Back Rand decided not to try cutting the herd.
JUAN TORRES: Foreman for Alvarado; a good man, wise in the ways of range cattle and horses. Jonathan Pritts wanted him dead.
BULLY BEN BAKER: A former keelboat man, a brawler and a tough, skeptical of Orrin Sackett, the new marshal. Some men took a lot of convincing.
CERAN ST. VRAIN: A former mountain man, trapper, and associate of Kit Carson. Highly respected in Mora, Santa Fe, and by all who knew him. An historical personage.
VINCENTE ROMERO: Another distinguished citizen; well-known, well-liked, equally respected in both Spanish and Anglo communities.
ANTONIO BACA: One of Alvarado’s men but one with no liking for Tyrel Sackett, and jealous of his relationship with Drusilla.
The Sacketts brought their mother west and found a home for her in the new lands where life would be easier and where her family would not be far away. Somewhere in those southern Rockies was where her beloved husband had disappeared, and she felt closer to him in Mora (New Mexico—see this page).
In most western communities, whether in mining or cattle country, there was a beginning when the country and the towns themselves were rough and wild, but not long after the first saloon and general store a church would be built, and then a school. The shootings, when they took place, were usually on the wrong side of town and interfered but little in the daily life of its most reputable citizens. And the shootings were a passing phase, a time of growing up, of shaking down, of getting the country settled, and the wild bunch either reformed or found their places on Boot Hill.
SACKETT
First publication: Bantam Books paperback, May 1961
Narrator: William Tell Sackett
Time Period: c. 1874–1875
In which William Tell Sackett finds a trail unlike any trail he had ever seen before, and he follows it to gold and a girl, in that order. Other men come to claim the gold but not to mine it. They come to cheat and steal, to reap the benefits without enduring the hard labor and the sweat needed to bring it from the ground.
If one rides the Durango to Silverton Railroad, as many do these days, he will find himself winding through a narrow and picturesque gorge with towering peaks above the rushing waters of the Animas River below or alongside. Waterfalls will tumble over the rocks beside the train and occasionally deer will be seen. Every bend of the track will offer some new insight into the West as it was, for the gorge can only be reached by the narrow-gauge train or a helicopter. Unless, of course, one wishes to hike in.
When nearing the end of the trip through the canyon one comes to Needleton. There some will leave the train to back-pack through the Chicago Basin and over Columbine Pass into Vallecito Canyon. The scene of most of the events of this story take place in the upper Vallecito, above Johnson Creek.
Today that train is loaded with tourists seeing the canyon and visiting Silverton at the end of the run. Many years ago, when I first made the trip, it was aboard a mixed train carrying a few passengers, a couple of cars of freight, and I believe at least one flatcar, but of that I cannot be sure. It was long ago and I had no particular reason to notice. I was riding the train to Silverton with the idea that I might obtain a job in one of the mines. I had no such luck, but on the return trip we left the train at Needleton, and back-packed through Chicago Basin and over Columbine Pass. If I recall correctly there were several prospects in the Basin being worke
d at the time.
Only a week or ten days before I’d been paid off at the mine where my friend and I had worked together. He was a machineman, I was a mucker and trammer, and I had some money, I believe something over two hundred dollars, so there was no pressing need that I go back to work.
Once arrived at his claim I helped a little with the assessment work but most of the time was spent in hiking around the country. My friend was in no hurry, either, working a little and loafing about enjoying the warm afternoon sun, the fishing and the mountains.
If memory serves there were two or three men holed up at Logtown but we saw little of them. Most of the time I hiked the mountains, climbing into some relatively inaccessible places, spots I would eventually write about in SACKETT.
Aside from Vallecito Canyon I prowled around Mt. Oso, Irving Peak, Half Moon, and Hidden Lakes. Much of it was rugged travel but I’d always liked high mountain country and this was my first opportunity to really indulge myself. Before I had been working for somebody or under the necessity to get someplace. Much of the time I did not know exactly where I was, only where camp was, and several times I stayed out all night because it was easier to hole up in some cave, overhang, or under a fallen tree than to hike back to camp. My friend was not a worrier and for all I knew he didn’t give a damn.
What I refer to in the story as the ghost lake was just a large pool of melted snow-water, probably only inches deep, but I never checked to find out. Several times I saw bears, one digging for a marmot, another turning over dead logs to look for grubs or whatever. I had good binoculars with me that I’d borrowed from my friend, and often I’d sit for a half hour or so just studying the country, watching the animals, and seeking out trails or possible routes. However, in that high country, as in many such places, following trails was always good business. Somebody had gone that way, and if it was worn, many people had, so it was possible. Many routes that seem good end in steep dropoffs and one has to climb all the way back. If there is a trail, stay with it. That’s my advice. Look around if you like but when you move on, stick to the trail.
It was the first time in my life that I had leisure and I made the most of it. I doubt if I was ever more than seven or eight miles from camp but it was mostly up, choosing my way with care.
In my years of wandering about in wild places, often alone, I have never taken unnecessary chances, and anyone who does is a fool. Recklessness is not bravery. I am inclined to agree with the explorer Roald Amundsen that what we call adventure is simply bad planning.
WILLIAM TELL SACKETT: The eldest of the five Sackett brothers of his family, he grew up in the Tennessee-North Carolina Mountains, joined the Union Army in the Civil War and rode most of the time with the Sixth Cavalry. He fought Indians in Dakota and Montana and rode on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The great love of his life was in his Civil War period, a tale yet to be told. He also appears in THE SACKETT BRAND, MOJAVE CROSSING, THE LONELY MEN, TREASURE MOUNTAIN, LONELY ON THE MOUNTAIN, and as just another working cowboy in DARK CANYON.
ANGE KERRY: An Irish-Spanish mixture; Tell found her in a cave high in the mountains above Vallecito Canyon. Discovered her, almost lost her, but eventually married her. It just goes to show you a man’s not safe anywhere, even at the end of a ghost trail past a ghost lake in a place where no one is likely to be.
CAP ROUNTREE: Mountain man, cowpuncher, stage driver, he’s done it all and carries the scars to prove it. Nobody knows how old he is and he isn’t talking. Some say that Pikes Peak was a mere hole in the ground when he first came west. He also appears in THE DAYBREAKERS, THE SACKETT BRAND, and LONELY ON THE MOUNTAIN.
MORA, NEW MEXICO: On the Mora River, in Mora County. The name’s origin has been credited to several sources. Some say it was named for the mulberry, some for a dead man found by Ceran St. Vrain, but it was probably a surname.
ELIZABETHTOWN: A onetime copper and gold mining town, about 5 miles east of Eagle Nest, in Colfax County. First settled about 1865. Prospectors found gold on Willow Creek. Town named for a daughter of John W. Moore. Now almost a ghost town.
WILL BOYD: Gambler, gunman; he loses a mustache under peculiar circumstances not altogether related to cosmetics.
JOHN TUTHILL: A banker whose interests ran beyond interest. He knew that gold was where you found it and he didn’t mind one bit if the gold belonged to somebody else. John Tuthill knew a lot about gold and even where gold was likely to be found. What he didn’t know was a lot about mountains when the weather has been nice in the late fall. He didn’t know much about weather in a country where if you don’t like the weather you just wait five minutes.
JOE RUGGER: A good man in bad company; he knew when to throw in his hand and draw fresh cards.
THE BIGELOWS: A group of very rough brothers with plenty of nerve but very poor judgment. One of them had no more sense than to try a bottom deal on a man whose father began teaching him about cards and crooked gamblers when he was five.
KID NEWTON: A would-be badman traveling in the wrong company.
BEN HOBES: Wanted in Texas and a few other places but not wanted in many more. A wise man in the ways of the wilderness, he gambled on the weather and came up the loser. Or did he? A tough man might make it, particularly if he had some Al Packer in him.
BENSON BIGELOW: The old he-coon of the Bigelow tribe; he had it made and could have walked away, only at the last he couldn’t leave it at that.
No Boot Hill graves are in sight, and those who lie there were buried deep and the ground smoothed out and the grass grows green where they lie.
There were no foundations laid for the buildings there, only timbers laid on the bare ground, and time and decay have done for them. Where they stood, wind blows through the grass and a few aspen have come up, and here and there a spruce among them. Only sometimes when hiking in the high-up mountains above Vallecito Canyon, up where the gray rock is splashed with leftover winter snow, sometimes, if you listen, you can hear a sound like a woman crying in the night.
She did not die there but her ghost came back to the place where she lost a grandfather, almost died alone, and then found for her own brief while happiness with a man she loved.
LANDO
First publication: Bantam Books paperback, December 1962
Narrator: Orlando Sackett
Time Period: c. 1873–1875
This is the story of Orlando Sackett and his racing mule; it is also the story of the Tinker, who was a tinker but also a pack peddler, once a pirate, and whatever else it took to pick up the loose chips.
When Orlando leaves the mountains on a quest for something better than he has, he does not know that he is also embarking on a quest for hidden treasure on which several relatives are also engaged, a trek that takes him south as well as west and eventually into Mexico and behind the walls of a Mexican prison.
He becomes a bare-knuckle prizefighter and meets an old enemy inside the squared circle, but along the way he encounters several very lovely ladies, and at the end has a six-shooter arbitration with some enemies of his own and some he inherited.
THE TINKER: A gypsy, of mysterious background; a pack peddler in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains who came from—who knows? Real name: Cosmo Lengro. His origin a mystery, his reasons for becoming a pack peddler even more so, except … a pack peddler, sooner or later, hears everything. People like to talk to a friendly stranger who is gone tomorrow, and often they tell him things in their quiet talk over a jug of ’shine or over a cup of coffee, things they would not tell their next door neighbor.
A wily young man with a gift for making things work, a man who makes knives of a quality unknown elsewhere and of a kind of steel possessed by no one, a steel that will cut through anything. His knives are sought by everyone but made for a chosen few. Even Lando, his friend, does not have one.
Mountain people eagerly await his coming. He has dress goods, needles, and all sorts of necessities, but he also has little gimcracks of gifty things that arouse eager interest. H
e also has news, the most precious of items, and gossip about what is happening elsewhere in the mountains and what women are wearing in the Settlements.
THE KURBISHAWS: Lando’s mother’s family; Aleyne Kurbishaw married his father contrary to her family’s wishes and there was hatred on the Kurbishaw side for Falcon, Lando’s father.
The Kurbishaws had a dark side of anger and bitterness. They thought much of themselves, and believed by rights they should have wealth except they considered themselves above the need to work for it. Work was for peasants, for common men, not for those of their presence, their family, their importance. And then to have one of the family marry a Sackett when she could have married money! It was too much.
WILL CAFFREY: Falcon Sackett left his son to be cared for by Will Caffrey, and a considerable sum of money to pay for it, and provide for his schooling. Caffrey used the money for his own purposes and to educate his own son, Duncan. Lando was forced to work, but when they tried to beat him, he ran away and went back to the deeper woods and the cabin in which they had lived when he was born. Lando left with Will Caffrey hating him both for the injury Will had done him in appropriating his money and for the beating Lando had given his son.
DUNCAN CAFFREY: Gambler, prizefighter, and boyhood enemy of Lando, but a fighter of brawn and skill.
HIGHLAND BAY: A noted racehorse with many victories behind him. Owned by Will Caffrey.
JEM MACE: An English prizefighter, said to have been a gypsy, and once bare-knuckle champion of the world. One of the very first scientific boxers. That he was an able and successful fighter, there is no doubt, although he boxed at a time when the gentry was less involved and the gamblers more so. His fistic career covered the years from 1855–1864, with most of his fights taking place in England before he came to America. Mace was born in 1831 at Beeston in Norfolk. There were no weight divisions in his period and his best fighting weight seems to have been one hundred and fifty pounds, although he often weighed less. Today he would be classed as a welterweight.
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