Author’s Note
Thank you for coming along on another Baker City Brides adventure. I love getting to spend time with the sassy and rugged characters from this series.
Unlike Delilah, I’m not much of a bird watcher. But since I started researching this story, I find myself listening more closely to the birdsong outside and looking to see which little feathered friend is offering the serenade.
I happened upon an old book, written during the Edwardian era, which offered a list of birds found in Baker County during the 1890s. Among the expansive list were sandpipers, mourning doves, turkey vultures, various hawks, osprey, owls, kingbirds, magpies, crows, meadowlarks, finches, sparrows, sage thrasher, swallows, chickadees, juncos, robins, bluebirds, and calliope hummingbirds. If you’ve never seen a , their colors are quite spectacular and they are listed as the tiniest North American bird.
During the time period of this story, the Audubon Society had not yet formed although protecting water bird populations was a hot topic among many ornithologists. The slaughter of millions of water birds, particularly egrets and other waders, for the millinery trade, led to the foundation of the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and Mina Hall. By 1905, the National Audubon Society was founded, placing the protection of gulls, terns, egrets, herons and other water birds high on its priority list for conservation.
In the story, Delilah belongs to the American Ornithologists’ Union. The AOU was founded in 1883 out of concern for bird conservation and interest in developing the field of ornithology in North America. It is said those early efforts led to the formation of the Audubon Society as well as the Biological Survey (known today as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). At one time, the AOU was the largest ornithological society in the Western Hemisphere and one of the oldest organizations in the world devoted to the study and conservation of birds. The AOU archives are housed at the Smithsonian Institution.
As a dedicated ornithologist, can’t you just see Delilah, pencil and sketchpad in hand, sitting on a tree limb and watching one of her beloved birds.
From my research into Baker City, I knew the town had a meteorological station. What I didn’t know was why. But I found that information as I delved into the past.
Weather, it seems, has always been important to the citizenry of the United States. As far back as the 1600s, colonists kept records of the weather, noting the harshness of the New World. Many of the Founding Fathers observed the weather with avid interest including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. During the early and mid 1800s, weather observation networks began to grow and expand across the United States.
Then the telegraph became operational in 1845 and visionaries saw the possibility of forecasting storms simply by telegraphing ahead what was coming. A man named Joseph Henry, Secretary of the new Smithsonian Institution, envisioned communication system opportunities that could extend across the North American continent. A plan was approved in 1848 for volunteer observers who could report the weather via telegraph and by the end of 1849, 150 volunteers were reporting weather observations to the Smithsonian regularly. By 1860, five hundred stations were daily furnishing weather reports.
President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law a resolution in February 1870 that established an agency for reporting the weather. Although the brief resolution was given little press at the time, the agency it created would affect the daily lives of most citizens through its forecast and warnings.
Through the resolution, weather stations would operate under the War Department’s Signal Service Corps. This organization, The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce, laid the ground work for the National Weather Service we know today. On November 1, 1870, the first synchronous meteorological reports were taken by observer/sergeants at twenty-four stations in the new agency and transmitted by telegraph to the central office in Washington, D.C.
The work of the new organization demanded men familiar with observations, theoretic, and practical meteorology. Commissioned officers detailed to Signal Service work were required to acquire meteorological knowledge by studying, consulting and learning from leading meteorologists of the time. For the education of the weather observers (enlisted men), a school of meteorology was added to the existing school of instruction in telegraphy and military signaling located at Fort Whipple (Fort Myer), Virginia.
The Signal Service’s field stations grew from twenty four to almost three hundred in 1878. Three times a day, each station telegraphed an observation to the home office including observations about the barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, wind velocity, pressure of wind, clouds, and general state of the weather.
One such station existed in Boise, Idaho, but it closed just two days before Idaho became a state in July 1890 and moved to Baker City. Baker City was chosen for its location where it was deemed a great place to collect reports of a variety of weather.
Then, in July 1891, the weather stations, telegraph lines, apparatus, and all the office equipment right down to every accounted-for pencil were transferred from the Signal Corps to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s newly formed civilian Weather Bureau. The bureau created the basis of the weather service we know today.
Baker City is home to a wonderful museum housed in what was once a natatorium, built in the 1920s. The Baker Heritage Museum offers everything from glimpses into the lives of prominent historical figures of the area and a fun display of Paint Your Wagon memorabilia to an amazing collection of rocks and minerals. If you ever find yourself in Baker City, make time to visit the museum, located right across the street from the park and close to the library. The beautiful cobalt color of one of the crystals there gave me the idea for the color of Seth Harter’s eyes.
In today’s modern world, I think it’s safe to say most of us don’t give a thought to rabies. Perhaps we should.
Rabies is a dangerous virus spread through the saliva of animals sick with the disease. Anyone can get it if they handle or are bitten by an animal with the virus. What was shocking to me as I did a little research on rabies was the number of people who contract it every year. Around 40,000 people in the United States (and a reported 15 million worldwide) receive a rabies prevention treatment called post-exposure prophylaxis because they had contact with a potentially rabid animal.
In the United States, an average of less than four cases of rabies are reported in humans each year, but worldwide, an average of 60,000 people die every year from rabies. Left untreated at the time of exposure, the disease is most often fatal.
I truly had no idea that people today still perish from rabies. Be careful out there.
You might be asking yourself why I included a raccoon in the story. The answer is for several reasons. A raccoon played well into the concern about rabies stirred by Elmer Muldoon’s horrible demise. The furry little critter also made an unlikely yet unique pet for Delilah. And it gave me an opportunity to recall a fun pet from my childhood.
My oldest brother acquired a raccoon and brought it home to his house just down the hill from my parents’ home. I was young enough at the time, I don’t recall where or why he came to have it, but the raccoon spent a lot of time at our house. In fact, the raccoon developed quite a talent for removing the screen on one of the windows and sneaking inside the house. He could steal shiny treasures (like Mom’s watch) faster than you can blink.
Dad often would take a snack with him when he left the house after lunch, like a few cookies in his shirt pocket. One day, he was working in the shop and the raccoon started pawing and clawing at him. Dad thought for sure the beast had gone rabid. Turns out, he just wanted Dad’s cookies. I’m not sure who was the most relieved when the raccoon got the cookies and settled right down (but I’m guessing it was probably Dad!).
I had such a lovely time envisioning Delilah’s yard. In fact, I spent many a happy moment studying images of gardens bursting with blooms as well as varieties of bird feeders and bird baths. While writing this story, I learned Victorians were the first to seriously pursue the art of growing grass. The green expanses in front of homes were orderly and neat. The back lawn would have grass interspersed with flower beds and gardens. Parties were often held here, in a beautiful setting of nature. If you’d like to create your own Victorian oasis, here are a few plant ideas to get you started: Ageratum, Aster, Begonia, Bluebell, Caladium, Campanula, Chrysanthemum, Coleus, Dianthus, Dusty Miller, Ferns, Fuchsia, Geraniums, Heliotrope, Impatiens, Lobelia, Marigold, Morning Glory, Nasturtium, Periwinkle, Petunia, Roses, Snapdragon, Sweet Alyssum, Verbena, and Zinnias.
Are you excited about the arrival of Jemma and Thane’s son Bolton? I debated so long and hard trying to decide if the baby should be a boy or a girl. I finally settled on a boy. Who do you think should be next to welcome a baby in the Baker City Brides series?
Truly, I am so thankful you came along on the next adventure in Baker City. If you have suggestions on characters to include in future stories, please let me know. I love to hear from readers and can be reached at shanna (at) shannahatfield (dot) com.
Best wishes to you and happy reading days ahead!