The hens only lay egg-nog at Christmas-tide, but egg-nog will lay a man any time he tackles it,” reported the Idaho Avalanche on January 3, 1880. In 1881, The Herald in Omaha, Nebraska, also found eggnog a subject for humor: “Hens favor sobriety. They generally quit laying when the egg-nog season approaches.” Out on the frontier, eggnog was not just a holiday beverage, but also a saloon drink year-round. In 1881, eggnog was ranked as the eighth most popular saloon beverage. It was serve

December 2014
In This Issue:
More In This Issue
- A Dangerous Eggnog
- William S. Hart Sr.
- Pawnee Power
- The Marvels of Marlin’s Model ’89
- The Toughest Man West of the Pecos
- The Great McGinty
- Branded But Unbroken
- Fires Can’t Blacken Colorado Springs
- Criminal Intentions
- Ragtown to Riches
- December Events 2014
- The Little Big Man Hoax?
- Jim Rodgers
- What can you tell me about Virgil Earp’s time in Colton, California?
- What is Taos Lightning?
- Did cowboys actually use saddlebags?
- What was the preferred mode of Old West travel—stagecoach or train?
- Was abolitionist John Brown a good guy or bad guy?
- Dirt Floor Paradise
- 1776: A Continental Revolution
- Was Bat Masterson as handy with his fists as he was with a gun?
- A Horror Maestro Goes West
- Drum Beat
- Paul Cool: History Sleuth on the Trail of the Truth
- Rough Drafts 12/14
- Grand Adventures of an Early American Explorer
- A Tale of Vengeance and Redemption
- Pueblo Rights in the Land of Enchantment
- Living and Dying as Outlaw Brothers