Dennis Drabelle came to The Post in 1984, after working as a government lawyer, mostly for the Interior Department, where his subject areas were national parks and endangered wildlife. A native of St. Louis, he is a graduate of St. Louis University and the University of Pennsylvania. His books include “Mile-High Fever,” a history of the Comstock Lode silver rush and the forthcoming “Taming the Octopus: How Two Great American Writers Took on a Notorious Monopoly.”