Philip Dampier's Blog

Wyatt Brownlow leaves the Union Army after the Civil War is over and moves with his best friend to the Dakota Territories to begin a cattle ranch. After rescuing a mail-order bride things are great until he finds his bride and best friend in bed together. The reaction this causes and the travels across Wyoming that follow make for an interesting story of the search for personal peace and redemption. Wyatt makes another rescue and ends up with a most unexpected friend. That in itself is cause for trouble in the wild west of the Hole in the Wall region of Powder River. The sorrel mare is a link between the past and the future and a cause of some trouble herself. Join Wyatt on his way through Wyoming encountering bears, Indians, and saloon girls.

A story about the old west and the Dakota and Wyoming Territories. Chad Pennington, a former Union officer decides on a career as a United States Territorial Marshal and winds up in the middle of one of the most unruly towns in the new territories. He comes face to face with one of the worse outlaws in Wyoming and has to deal with him and his outlaw gang. Lucky for him one of his best friends from the war joins him as a deputy. Full of old west excitement and based on a true tale from Wyoming.

A creek runs through the middle of longhorn country and the lives of two families. The water is necessary for the cattle and the ranch’s success. When two ranches want the water trouble is not far off.

Isla McNeese is a Scottish immigrant to the United States not long after the Civil War ended. She brought her frugal lifestyle and knowledge of cattle with her. After a failed marriage, she followed the advice of the times and went west, arriving in Denver, Colorado, where she found employment as a cook. The announcement of free land in Wyoming stirred a desire in her to have a place of her own where she could raise cattle and be independent. Buffalo Creek and its valley were the perfect spots and she homesteaded an acreage which spanned both sides of the creek. Large cattle ranches flanked her on both sides and both ranches had been using her section of the creek to water their livestock. Isla must confront and defeat her neighbors one way or another or give up her dream. Two young men join forces with her and conflict and romance follow. The homesteaders face a once in a decade winter storm in addition to the two ranch owners.