Roundup: February 12, 2014

Almansor Court – 700 S. Almansor, Alhambra, CA.
Social Hour: 5:00 PM
Dinner: 6:00 PM

Speaker: Will Bagley
Subject:  Hurrah for the Handcart Scheme!

“We cannot afford to purchase wagons and teams as in times past, I am consequently thrown back upon my old plan―to make hand-carts, and let the emigration foot it, and draw upon them the necessary supplies, having a cow or two for every ten,” Brigham Young wrote in 1855. “They can come just as quick, if not quicker, and much cheaper.” This decision to rely on what a Danish emigrant called “two-wheeled torture devices” set in motion the worst disaster in overland trail history, one that killed six times as many people as died with the Donner Party. Will’s third presentation to the LA Westerners, “Hurrah for the Handcart Scheme!,” will resolve a few puzzles left unresolved in his 2009 article, “‘One Long Funeral March’: A Revisionist’s View of the Mormon Handcart Disasters,” which is available here:

http://user.xmission.com/~research/central/handcart.pdf

Will Bagley has written about overland emigration, frontier violence, railroads, mining, computers, and Utah and the Mormons, and as novelist Sandra Dallas says, “No one tells the history of the early western trails better” than he does. He has appeared in dozens of films, including the American Experience episode of “The Mormons” and the Discovery Channel’s recent “Gold Fever.” The Salt Lake Tribune published more than 220 of his historical commentaries. Bagley had edited the Arthur H. Clark Company’s 16-volume documentary series, Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier. He has won the Western Heritage Award (the Wrangler), three Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, and Best Book awards from the Western History Association, the Denver Public Library, and Westerners International. His fourteenth book, South Pass: Gateway to a Continent, will be out in April.

Jim Macklin           
Deputy Sheriff

 

Additional Upcoming Roundups: 

Wednesday, March 12, 2014:

Speaker: Jerry Selmer
Subject:  A Great American General – War Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

 Wednesday, April 9, 2014:

Speaker: Brian Dervin Dillon, Ph.D.
Subject:  Camanche:  California’s Forgotten Ironclad

 

Corral  News & Other Subjects

About Dinner Reservations:

Dinner reservations are $35 and the deadline is Friday, February 7, 2014. Late reservations can be accepted, but reservations made on time will assure you the entrée of your choice. Walk-ins are $40.00 for potluck.

Checks are payable to “Westerners, Los Angeles Corral”. Please mail to Registrar of Marks & Brands Pete Fries, 28160 Newbird Drive, Santa Clarita, CA 91350-1836. You may call Pete at (661) 296-7713 with questions or for late reservations.

2014 Dues Notice:

Thanks to those who submitted their 2014 dues checks based on the request in the January Roundup mailing.  Over 65% of the members have already paid their dues!  If you have not yet responded, please send your check for $45 payable to “Westerners, Los Angeles Corral” to the Registrar of Marks & Brands, Pete Fries, 28160 Newbird Drive, Santa Clarita, CA 91350-1836.  New members since September 30, 2013 and Honorary members do not have to pay 2014 dues.

You can use the accompanying Roundup reply envelope to submit your check.  If you are sending in a reservation for the February 12th Roundup, you can include both payments in one check or include a separate check for the annual dues.  Remember that your dues may be tax deductible.

Looking for a Little Sunshine:

Michele Clark, the Corral’s new Sunshine Wrangler, would like to hear from you about any of our members or their spouses who are under the weather, recuperating, or need some attention from the Corral.  We cannot reach out to people unless we know about what they are going through.  Please call Michele at (626) 799-6211 or email her at mclark216@earthlink.net.  Give her as much information about the member’s situation as you can.

Requesting Corral Chips for the “Branding Iron”:

Is there some development in your professional life – research, publications, presentations, honors, etc. – the rest of the Corral would want to know about?  Please complete the Corral Chips Reporting Form enclosed with this Roundup notice.  If have any questions about reporting Corral Chips, please contact Steve Lech, the Corral’s Publications Editor at (951) 686-1476 or rivcokid@gmail.com.