Stories from the Bench

An Introduction

Throughout history men have sought out a place to brag of their exploits and embellish upon the stories told by others.  Long before and after the first newspapers this “place” provided a forum for conversations on the happenings of the day.  Blowsand and his forefathers went to this “place” to discuss the history of the United States; from Virginia in the 1760’s when King George III of England forced his edicts on what would become the Original Colonies, till the 1900’s, when the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, with the approval of the Eastern Establishment, forced their edicts on the West.  It was accepted and even expected, that actual events would be overstated to provide interest and color.  The colorful characters that we read about generally existed, but their feats have been repeated, filtered and magnified to the extent, that the stories we enjoy today have little in common to actual events. 

In the West this meeting place became a metaphorical Bench, located somewhere up and down the main street of town.  Every place that men congregated had a Bench.  It could be in front of the local saloon, merchandise store or livery stable; the location was not important, but it was important that everyone in the community knew the location.  In isolated environments it could be under a tree, adjacent to a spring, next to an over-hanging ledge, inside a mine tunnel, or at the cabin of a lone adventurer. 

While men loved to congregate at the Bench the women loathed “that place”, as they called it, in much the same way as they disliked that little house that was set apart from town where those "other women lived".  It was on Benches across the West that men became legends, for both their good and bad exploits.  Blowsand’s father, grandfather, and great grandfather, throughout history visited these Benches, listened to the stories told there, and passed them from generation to generation within the family.  The writings found here are the fruits of these sources and other public records; they are to be read and appreciated in that light.  

There will be those, as there always are, who will differ with the accounts written here and believe, in fact insist, that they know the “true” story of the events, when in all honesty, they know only a different version that was told and distorted by other characters on these same Benches over time.

So take a seat on the Bench, grab a cold one, and enjoy the stories about those who wandered “Mojave Desert Trails” with Blowsand Burns………………