Arizona greeted the arrival of the 20th century like a frontier Jekyle and Hyde. The communities like Phoenix and Tucson were becoming cosmopolitan but the country along the Mexican border and the New Mexico line were still tied to a wild and woolly past. The wild Blue River country along the New Mexico border was one of the last sanctuaries in the West for bands of cattle rustlers.
Arizona’s notorious reputation as a habitat of rattlesnakes, scorpions, cactus, renegade Apaches, cattle rust

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