I admit it.  I love doing the research for writing my historical romances.  When I decided to set my story in Durango, I called a bookstore in Durango and ask for their recommendation of a book on the history of Durango.  With the background and history in mind, I chose the time and came up with the characters for my story.

In the 1880s the smelters were the major industry in Durango and Wells Fargo shipped the refined gold and other minerals from the competing smelters.  One of the hints from the many workshops I've taken is that readers like to learn, so show them something they didn't know.  As you can imagine, this appeals to the teacher in me.

So what did I learn from researching for Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold?  I researched about smelters in the 1880s.  This gave my hero, Wes, a chance to do a little showing off to the heroine, Julie, demonstrating a small scale method of refining silver or using mercury (don't try this a home!) and wet leather.

But the best thing I found (again from something mentioned in a workshop) are the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.  From 1867 to 2007 the Sanborn Company made detailed maps of thousands of cities though out the country.  These maps were for the purpose of estimating the cost of fire insurance.  Using these maps for Durango, couples with the history book, I had a complete 'floor plan' of the city.

The maps show gas line, water mains, and everything else that might be of interest to an insurance company.  All the streets are labeled, along with all the sidewalks.  All the lots with buildings noted.  Not only what materials the building is made of, but what kind of business it housed.  I had this map of Durango taped to the wall while I wrote the story.  The visual map of the city also gave me incidents of the story.  The way Wes describes the whole block of saloons are right there on the map.  And there really was a Tiffany's Drug Store with a soda fountain, which gave me a chance for Wes to buy Julie a sarsaparilla (and, of course, to flire).  The map of Durango is rolled up and put away, so maybe someday I can give a workshop on setting, and tell other writers about this terrifice research idea.