Peacock Ore [Paperback]

Drusilla Claridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2002

Every conflict has two sides,Every side has a reason to fight.Victorio and his Apache warriors fight for their existence...the 'White Eyes' fight for the peacock ore.A rousing tale of Irish miners and Apache power. Drawn by peacock ore, rock that glitters with the colors of a peacock's tail, Irish miners brave an isolated canyon Apaches have used for centuries. The meeting of Apaches and Manifest Destiny reveals hidden reserves of Apache power before it reaches its fateful conclusion.'Historical authenticity gives a solid underpinning to the fast-paced action of Peacock Ore. I recommend it to anyone interested in a good story and the frontier days of southwest New Mexico,' says Joann Mazzio, author of Leaving Eldorado.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Drussilla Claridge has combined a fascination with history and an appetite for the outdoors since coming to New Mexico as a college student in 1974. Her checkered career in the state has included fire lookout work, historic preservation work for the town of Silver City, marriage and divorce, and lots of outdoor adventures. It could be said she has tried just about everything there is to do in the out-of-doors in New Mexico.She has backpacked to Mogollon Baldy in the Gila Wilderness. She has ridden horseback to McKenna Park in the Gila Wilderness and to Reeds Peak in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. She has gone snow shoeing and cross-country skiing; and floated a portion of the Gila River. She has even donned moccasins and period gear and camped out in a teepee.That last activity is known as primitive camping, and it is practiced by black powder rifle enthusiasts nostalgic for the West before settlement. Claridge particularly enjoyed the creativity involved in making her own period gear.During her four seasons on a lookout tower on the Gila National Forest, Claridge took pictures and made a lot of notes. Her journal entries about the fire watch experience were included in Go Tell It on the Mountain. (Stackpole Books), a collection of lookout writings which contained the works of Edward Abbey.Following her divorce, Claridge lived in Santa Fe for two years and attended massage school. There, she continued to learn about the history of New Mexico, and enjoyed the benefits of living among artists and healers. After that she returned to Silver City to open a practice, and found herself writing about southwest New Mexico in her spare time.Claridge set herself the task of telling the story of the Mogollon Mining District, a remote and rugged area of the Gila National Forest. Peacock Ore springs from her love of the land, and her knowledge of the history and geography of New Mexico. The book merges a belief in the powerful spirituality of the Apache Indians with the historical

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (October 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403344426
• ISBN-13: 978-1403344427
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,479,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clash of Cultures, December 29, 2002

By 

Lindsay Lucke (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peacock Ore (Paperback)

This "Indians vs. the White Man" thriller is based on a real-life cavalry man in the 1870s who found ore of precious metals ("peacock ore" contains gold, silver, and copper, and it oxidizes to blue-green colors) in Indian territory in New Mexico. He stakes the claim despite the known dangers.

The story focuses on the struggle for the land - a struggle that is life-and-death for the Indians and "only" about wealth for the white characters. The author alternates point-of-view, between white and Indian, and does a great job of portraying both the acquisitive white culture and the mystical Native American culture as they would each want to be portrayed - in contrast to this reviewer, who feels judgmental about the whites. (Actually, of course, being white, I can only guess that Indians would find the treatment sympathetic, but it seems to me they would.)

Anyway, it's an exciting tale of vivid characters on the frontier, coping with horses, explosives, shoot-outs, and the amazing new wealth of the miners. It's full of local color, including the canyons, deserts, and hot springs of southwestern New Mexico. The Indians still get [swindeled], of course, but at least they are portrayed magnificently in the process.