Writer's Group, Steamboat Springs Colorado


Site Navigation	Regular Writers Group Members: Harriet Freiberger
Home Weekly Writer's Group Special Events Members Contact Us.. Ellen Bonnifield Paul Bonnifield Jodi Foy Buchan Judith Carol Day Tony Crawford Kathleen Guler John Grassby Harriet Freiberger Karen Leslee Edith Lynn Hornik Beer Graydon D Hubbard Michala Miller Joyce Phillips Cesare Rosati Sandra Sherrod William D. Skees Bill Stocks Susan de Wardt Bonnie McGee Marian Tolles Glen Poulter Tina Weintraub Robert Howe Todd Kelly Buy this author's book at Off the Beaten Path's Online Bookstore	Her writing about America's western history began in 1989 with an article in Steamboat Magazine about Clark, Colorado, a town without boundaries, on the Centennial anniversary of its founding. Presently, she is working with photographer Ken Proper on Then and Now: A History of Steamboat Springs. The book's publication is being funded by The Bud Werner Library through a grant from the State Historical Fund, and all dollars from its sales will go to the Local History Room in the new library. Following is an excerpt from her first published book: LUCIEN MAXWELL, VILLAIN OR VISIONARY The Biography of a Famous Land Baron Published, 1999, Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico ©Freiberger, 1999 www.lucienmaxwell.com Three quarters of a century is a long time to remember an unmarked grave, but Lucien Maxwell's life was its own memorial. For two decades he built on land granted by Mexico's governor long before New Mexico became a state. He farmed, ranched, and traded where a thousand miles and a two-month journey separated western outposts from Saint Louis and "civilization." Through his efforts a town grew, a town where, for the most part, people were happy and could live without fear, where strangers were welcome and travelers on the Santa Fe Trail partook of his hospitality. In a place and time when lawlessness was the rule, he proved himself capable of maintaining order, nurturing the future of the territory that would become the forty-seventh state. Everyone who traveled the mountain route knew the name of Lucien Maxwell. All were welcomed into his home, for a meal and a night's rest under a roof. Hundreds of American Indians, Mexicans, and Anglos thrived under his leadership. Only after most of them died did the need for a marker at his grave site occur to anyone. Even now, one hundred twenty-four years after his death, the stories continue to be told about the man who left more than a physical imprint upon New Mexico, the man who welcomed into his home and at his overflowing dinner table Indian, Mexican, and Anglo; soldier, trader, and preacher; rich, poor, stranger, and friend. Back to the top
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