There was a real-life Grizzly Adams (but very different from the 1970s TV character). John Adams was born in Massachusetts in 1812 and went West for the California Gold Rush. After failing at a number of trades, he began training and showing grizzly bears.
But a wild bear put an end to things. Adams was attacked in the California Sierras in 1855, suffering severe head and neck injur

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows