By Marlene Brown
The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) monthly membership meeting at the Palmer Lake Town Hall on Sept. 19 featured guest speaker Mike Torreano, presenting an author’s talk titled Cowboy Stories. Torreano has a military background, and his focus is on American history and the Old West. His most recent book, Fireflies at Dusk, was released in November 2023 and is set during the Civil War era—a time when the Old West did not have any laws, just the Code of the West.
Torreano has won two Firebird Book awards for Western fiction and historical fiction. He has taught journalism and English at the Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado.
His traditional Western style is inspired by Zane Grey’s books that he began reading in the fifth grade. He said he has always loved the cowboy life. He tries to write his stories with the Code of the West in mind. Some of the code values are:
- Doing what’s right.
- Taking responsibility for one’s actions.
- Working hard.
- Showing respect.
The Old West is a culture. As Tom Mix, a silent-film actor from the early 1900s, said, “The Old West is not a certain place, in a certain time, it’s a state of mind. It’s whatever you want it to be.” Learning to live a life according to the Code of the West can surely help many learn that there are consequences to one’s actions.
There was a lively discussion of the TV shows, films, books, and songs that have come from the Old West with a question at the end: What can you do to keep the values of the Old West alive?
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The Palmer Lake Historical Society is a nonprofit 501C3 and holds regular meetings on the third Thursday of the month. Membership information and future presentations can be found at palmerdividehistory.org
Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me.
Other Palmer Lake Historical Society articles
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Jan. 15 – 2026 board installed at annual meeting (2/4/2026)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Oct. 16 – Ancient days of Garden of the Gods explored (10/30/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Sept. 18 – Pioneers Museum: past and present (10/2/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, July 19 – The power of print (7/31/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, June 15 – Father’s Day Ice Cream Social (7/3/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, May 15 – Author recounts life of Nikola Tesla (6/7/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, April 17 – Women of the Colorado gold rush era (5/3/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, April 21 – General Palmer’s life explored (4/5/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Jan. 16 – 2024 events recalled (2/1/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Dec. 19 – Palmer Lake holds 91st annual Yule Log Hunt (1/4/2025)