In 1866 Richens Lacy Wootton built a toll road over Raton Pass with the help of a tribe of Utes under Chief Conniache. He improved some twenty-seven miles of it and built a tollgate, as well as a double storey house, which acted as a home, a hotel, and saloon. He charged $1.50 per wagon and buggy, 25 cents for a horse and man, and cattle, horses or mules, 5 cents.
He sold the right of way to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe for the paltry sum of $1in 1879. They had originally offered him a small fortune for it, but he turned it down, instead accepting a pension from them for the rest of his life. He also kept the house.
He died in 1893.
Those readers who know, will see the liberties I’ve taken with this part of the story which includes the fictional character who runs the toll road.
Like the road over Raton Pass, the Goodnight-Loving Trail also existed. It started in Texas and eventually finished in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Along the way it touched places such as Fort Sumner, Pueblo, and Denver. It crossed rivers such as the Pecos, Canadian, and South Platte.
There was no town called Dobson and no railhead to go with it. Deadman speaks for itself.
The battles of South Mountain and Antietam were real, but the author has manipulated some events to suit the storyline. And while some events happened, others didn’t, so please remember, before write to tell me I got some things wrong, that this is a work of fiction.