“Heat and Eat and Easily Repeat” T. S. & T. Genuine Oven Serve Ware

By Suzanne Skwarski, Plank Road Questers #236

Long before the microwave oven, housewives spent hours preparing a hot meal in heavy iron baking vessels. Most of these one pot meals were stews or meat and potato roasted dishes that weighed mightily and cooked unevenly.

Goodtime Girls: Prostitution in the Old West

By Suzanne Skwarski, Plank Road Questers #236

In 1849 when gold was discovered, men went west in unprecedented numbers. The result for women was a lack of men in the east and for many, a new sense of adventure. A few went west to find gold and adventure but most of the women who venture there were in search of a husband. Some who traveled west were members of the oldest profession, prostitution, but many others ended up in the trade as there was no other way to make a living in the wilds of the mining camps.